LATEST COVID-19 DEVELOPMENTS:
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* With another day of record cases, Australian authorities continue to press the case for getting vaccinated as soon as feasibly possible.
* NSW reported 1218 new locally acquired cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday. It also recorded six deaths: three people in their 80s and three in their 70s. None were fully vaccinated.
* The NSW toll for the current outbreak sits at 89. There are now more than 810 patients in hospital, with 126 in intensive care and 54 ventilated.
* There were 25 new cases in the Western NSW health district, bringing the total number in the region during this outbreak to 510.
* The NSW government says it will restore freedoms to all fully vaccinated residents once the state hits 70 per cent double-dose coverage regardless of virus case numbers.
* Victoria will remain in lockdown after recording 92 new locally acquired cases, including more than 30 not yet linked to existing outbreaks.
* The tally is a jump from the previous day's figure of 64 and the highest number of new cases recorded since early September 2020.
* Victoria's caseload stands at 778, about two thirds of them in Melbourne's north and west while the outbreak in Shepparton in the Goulburn Valley region has also grown with nine new cases there.
* The ACT has recorded 13 new cases, all linked to outstanding infections. Eight were already in quarantine and the other five were infectious in the community.
* Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says Queensland is doing everything it can to resolve its COVID border dispute with NSW but it's for the southern state to get its act together.
* Hopes of ending weeks of heartache for southern Gold Coast and Tweed region communities were upended on Saturday, with a new war of words over a proposal to move COVID checkpoints south.
* Brisbane Entertainment Centre will operate as Queensland's next mass COVID vaccination centre from September 8 and is expected to accommodate up to 3000 candidates a day.
* Queensland reported one new virus case on Sunday.
* Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt expects to be able to make the Moderna jab available to young Australians as the vaccination program ramps up in coming weeks.
* The Therapeutic Goods Administration has already given the green light for the Pfizer vaccine to be available for 12-year-olds and above, with bookings to start from September 13.
AUSTRALIAN VACCINATION NUMBERS:
* There have been 18,927,313 doses administered in the national COVID-19 vaccination rollout up to Saturday, including 220,686 in the previous 24 hours.
* Of the total, 11,042,386 have been administered by the Commonwealth (an increase of 98,089 in the previous 24 hours).
* 10,279,999 have been issued in primary care (+92,801) and 762,387 in aged and disability facilities (+5288).
* 7,884,927 have been administered by the states and territories, including 122,597 in the previous 24 hours.
AUSTRALIAN CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS:
* Australia reported 1324 local cases on Saturday: 1218 in NSW, 92 in Victoria, 13 in the ACT and one in Queensland.
* There were also seven overseas-acquired cases reported: three each in NSW and South Australia and one in Victoria.
* The national death toll is 999: Victoria 820, NSW 145, Tasmania 13, WA 9, Queensland 7, SA 4, ACT 3. (Two Queensland residents who died in NSW have been included in the official tolls of both states).
GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS:
* Cases: at least 215,933,160.
* Deaths: at least 4,493,955.
* Vaccine doses administered: at least 5,167,789,096.
Data current as at 1730 AEST on August 29, taking in federal and state/territory government updates and Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre figures.
Australian Associated Press
