Australia news LIVE COVID-19 cases continue to increase in NSW as state hits vaccination target Victoria infections continue to rise

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Victoria Police are seeking the public’s assistance to identify eight men who attended Melbourne’s violent anti-lockdown rally over the weekend.

In a statement issued earlier this morning, police reiterated that several officers were assaulted during the rally, with multiple people charging and punching them. Flares were also set off.

Victoria Police are appealing to the public to help identify several men after officers were assaulted and flares were set off at a recent anti-lockdown rally in Melbourne’s CBD.

Police are looking to identify eight men who they believe can assist with their inquiries into those incidents.

Shortly after the anti-lockdown protest last week, police said six officers who attended the rally were hospitalised. One had to undergo surgery.

Pictures of all eight men police are looking to identify can be found here.

Coronavirus patients in Sydney’s hotspots will be triaged in makeshift units at Westmead and Blacktown hospitals to free up ambulances after paramedics were told to redirect some COVID patients as far as the north shore.

Today, Westmead will open short-stay units in the emergency department to manage surging case numbers, after the hospital last week saw 280 COVID-19 patients delivered by ambulance, triggering the hospital’s “code-yellow” alert.

Blacktown Hospital’s receiving bay for the Emergency Department. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Almost 80 per cent of the state’s available intensive care beds are now full, of which 17 per cent are coronavirus patients.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there was no doubt the hospital network was under severe pressure, when the majority of cases were located in the same region.

More on this story here.

The Andrews government has won back some support lost during the pandemic and is in an election-winning position in Victoria 15 months from polling day.

The findings, in a survey by Resolve Political Monitor conducted exclusively for this masthead, show Labor has regained support from voters who previously planned to vote for independent candidates.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Credit:Justin McManus

Since the last survey taken in May-June, the Andrews government’s primary vote has risen 3 percentage points to 40 per cent.

But the repeated lockdowns triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic have taken a toll on the government’s popularity. Labor’s primary vote is still 3 points lower than it was at the 2018 poll.

Read the full story here.

Good morning and thanks for your company.

It’s Thursday, August 26. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s everything you need to know before we get started.

There was a record 919 daily coronavirus cases reported in NSW yesterday. It’s the largest daily number reported anywhere in Australia since the beginning of the pandemic. Seventy-six people have now died with coronavirus as part of NSW’s current outbreak. There are 645 coronavirus patients currently in NSW hospitals. Almost 80 per cent of the state’s available intensive care beds are now full.

Victoria recorded 45 new cases yesterday, of which nine are mystery cases. Melburnians have spent more than 200 days in lockdown since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. And yet polling shows Victorian Labor has managed to claw back support. Its primary vote is around the same as the 2018 state election.

Queensland’s two-week pause on interstate arrivals has come into effect. People from NSW, Victoria and the ACT will be turned away at the border (however, there will be exemptions on compassionate grounds and vaccinated essential workers). Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says her state’s hotel quarantine system is stretched to its limit because people are flocking to the Sunshine State to escape lockdown. More than 5000 people are currently in hotel quarantine in Queensland.

And the ACT recorded nine new COVID-19 cases yesterday. The total number of cases in the territory’s outbreak is now 176. Canberra’s lockdown will not end before September 2.

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