Australia news LIVE NSW COVID-19 cases continue to grow Victoria on track to ease lockdown

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Sajid Javid’s debut as Britain’s new Health Secretary has been savaged as “bloody daft” after the minister was forced to apologise to Britons for saying that they should not “cower from COVID”.

Mr Javid ran into trouble on Saturday when he was forced to delete a tweet from earlier in the day and apologise.

Sajid Javid has apologised after health workers and their families responded angrily to his recent comments about COVID-19. Credit:Getty

“Please â€" if you haven’t yet â€" get your jab, as we learn to live with, rather than cower from, this virus,” the Health Secretary said.

Health workers and their families responded angrily to the comments given Britain has recorded Europe’s highest death toll from COVID-19. A further 28 deaths were recorded on Sunday, taking Britain’s overall pandemic toll to 129,158.

Read the full story here.

A global expert in tracking coronavirus transmission among children has called for an end to Victoria’s blanket school closures during lockdowns, as has the principal of one of the schools caught up in the recent outbreak.

Australian infectious diseases paediatrician Robert Booy warned that Victoria was sacrificing the health of children for the sake of the elderly by keeping schools closed.

Infectious diseases pediatrician Professor Robert Booy says children’s mental health is being sacrificed to protect the elderly.

Premier Daniel Andrews said on Sunday that he wanted to have students back at schools but could not definitively say that this would happen.

Read the full story here.

The federal government has left the door open to increasing financial support for small business owners and stood down workers across the country amid strict coronavirus lockdowns that have shut down large parts of the hospitality and retail sectors.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday said he and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg were continually evaluating the rapidly changing economic circumstances.

Mr Morrison said the current support program had been designed to deal with “the problem we have right now”.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

However, he all but ruled out returning to the previous wage subsidy scheme, known as JobKeeper, because he believed the current support system was more effective and flexible.

More on this story here.

Good morning and thanks for your company.

It’s Monday, July 26. I’m Broede Carmody. If you’re waking up in lockdown today, I hope you’re doing OK.

Here’s everything you need to know before we jump into our rolling coverage.

NSW is bracing for another day of high coronavirus numbers. Yesterday, the state recorded 141 new cases (with at least 38 infectious in the community). Two more people have also died. One was a woman in her 30s. To date, eight people have died in NSW as a result of the state’s current outbreak. There were 141 coronavirus patients in NSW hospitals as of yesterday. Of those, 41 are in intensive care and 18 are on ventilators.

The Victorian government is set to ease strict stay-at-home orders from 11.59pm tomorrow, but public health restrictions are expected to remain in place. The state recorded 11 new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19 yesterday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian are at odds over how to bring Sydney’s coronavirus outbreak under control. Ms Berejiklian insists a sharp increase in vaccinations is the city’s best chance of reopening, while Scott Morrison says lockdown is the only solution.

Meanwhile, Queensland is on high alert after a man illegally drove from NSW into the Sunshine State. A busy Brisbane shopping centre is among the contact-tracing locations. Queensland closed its border to all of NSW (bar border communities) last week after the Sydney outbreak leaked into the regions.

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