Hi there. It’s Monday, January 3 and you’re reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of the news you need to know about.
One thing you should know
Most of us have seen the pictures of the long lines of cars at testing clinics around the country over the Christmas and New Year’s period.
For many, PCR COVID-19 test results are still taking days to come back, leaving people in isolation or travel limbo as the overwhelmed system tries to catch up.
- Some returning Queenslanders have had family reunions and work disrupted due to long waits for test results
- One woman says she called to check her results after four days and was told it wasn’t even in the system yet
- Some Queenslanders are being encouraged to get re-tested because of the long delays and missing samples.
One thing you’ll be hearing about today
No surprise here: it’s COVID, COVID and more COVID.
- Victorian health authorities confirmed more than 7,000 new cases yesterday, but that comes off the back of the lowest testing figures in more than a month
- Related hospital admissions in South Australia are up to 82, compared to just 17 patients a week ago
- Sydney charity the Reverend Bill Crews Foundation is pleading with the NSW government to urgently provide it with free rapid antigen tests for homeless and vulnerable people
- Some COVID-19 restrictions in Perth are due to end tomorrow, but they’re looking increasingly unlikely to ease, with dozens more exposure sites listed, including 20 in popular tourist locations in the south-west
- Canberrans are being warned shortages of rapid antigen tests could continue until an order from NSW arrives on January 17
- Testing is ramping up on Palm Island, just off the coast of North Queensland, with six cases recorded in the Indigenous community, including a pregnant woman who had to be air-lifted to hospital in Townsville
- Popular Hobart bar Bar Wa Izakaya has voluntarily shut its doors, saying in a scathing social media post that the “border opening will slowly suffocate us” and that “most restaurants did not want this”
- The Northern Territory hit a new daily record for COVID-19 cases yesterday, with more than 80 in greater Darwin alone
- Oh yeah, and Lionel Messi‘s tested positive too.
You can keep across the latest COVID-19 news from around the country and beyond here.
News while you snoozed
- A man has been arrested after a fire caused significant damage to South Africa’s parliament in Cape Town. There haven’t been any injuries reported, but there are fears that priceless artefacts and historical documents have been destroyed
- Twitter has permanently suspended the account of US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene for violating its COVID-19 misinformation policies. In a statement, Ms Greene responded by saying Twitter is an “enemy to America and can’t handle the truth”.
What Australia has been searching for online
- Blake Ferguson. The former NRL player has been arrested in Tokyo on drug charges, his new rugby union club says. Ferguson was set to make his debut for the NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu this week — it’s unclear at this stage whether that’s still on the cards — and the club says it “fully cooperates with the police investigation and strives to understand the situation”
- Brooke Blurton. Australia’s first Indigenous, bisexual Bachelorette has confirmed that she and Bachelorette winner Darvid Garayeli have broken up after he announced their split on Instagram, but says she wasn’t expecting it to go public. “This was a surprise to wake up to just as much as it was for you guys,” she posted.
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One more thing
Are you keen to get back to cruising?
About 2,800 hopeful holidayers in Europe were, but may have packed those suitcases too soon — German operators of a cruise ship hit by a COVID-19 outbreak have pulled the pin on a New Year’s voyage after being stranded for days.
The AIDAnova docked in Lisbon on December 29 while en route to the island of Madeira for NYE celebrations, but the ship was unable to continue the journey after 52 COVID-19 cases were detected among the fully vaccinated crew.
Local radio was told by the port’s captain that the ship had been allowed to leave and head to the Spanish island of Lanzarote — but then another 12 people, including four passengers, tested positive.
Captain Diogo Vieira Branco said multiple crew who tested positive were isolating in Lisbon hotels, and passengers would be transported home by air.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised people to avoid cruise ships, regardless of their vaccination status, despite cruise ships returning to the seas after being significantly impacted by the pandemic.
You’re up to date
Stay tuned for more news updates throughout the day.
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