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Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 27 July 2021; Hits: 95

Norwegian experts say an unusually large meteor has been seen over parts of southern Scandinavia and illuminated southeast Norway with a powerful flash of light for a few seconds as many observers were reported to also hear a roaring sound afterwards.

The Norwegian Meteor Network said that it had analysed and reviewed several videos of the event on Sunday and said the meteor first appeared about 90km north of the capital Oslo and continued its trail in a southwest direction before fragmenting in several flashes of light.

"The meteor appeared at 1.08am on the night of July 25 and was visible for approximately for five seconds," the network said, which had posted a video on the phenomenon on its Twitter site.

Sightings of meteors - space rocks that burn brightly after entering the earth's atmosphere at high speed - aren't uncommon over Norway and the Norwegian Meteor Network has a number of cameras continuously monitoring the sky.

A meteor that survives passage to the ground is known as a meteorite.

Preliminary data suggested a meteorite may have hit earth in a large forested area, Finnemarka, not far from Oslo, the Norwegian Meteor Network said.

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 26 July 2021; Hits: 98

Two more people have died from COVID-19 in NSW, taking the toll from the state's latest outbreak to 10.

NSW Health confirmed a woman in her 80s had died at her home in Pendle Hill, in Sydney's west, on Monday afternoon, while a man in his 80s died while being treated at Campbelltown Hospital.

It brings the state's death toll since the start of the pandemic to 66 and comes a day after a Sydney-based Brazilian student in her 30s became the youngest woman to die of COVID-19 in Australia.

NSW recorded 145 new local COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, of which 51 were in the community for the entirety of their infectious period and 25 were in the community for part of their infectious period.

The NSW crisis cabinet met on Monday to devise a strategy to deal with the evolving crisis and to begin workshopping the restrictions to remain in place in Sydney over the coming months.

Greater Sydney's lockdown is due to end on Friday, though Premier Gladys Berejiklian flagged some restrictions may be tightened and others eased where transmission risk is minimal.

This may involve tightened or more targeted measures in virus-hit southwest and west Sydney, as well as changes to testing requirements.

However, some restrictions would remain until the majority of the NSW population was vaccinated, regardless of daily infection numbers.

The future of homeschooling is yet to be determined but construction activity, currently paused, will resume in some form from Saturday.

"We might need to go harder in some areas and release some settings in others," Ms Berejiklian told reporters.

"Our mission is to allow our citizens to live as safely and as freely as possible."

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said Greater Sydney's success rested on three factors - compliance with a tight lockdown, increased vaccination rates and the support and patience of the community.

She reiterated stronger lockdown measures would have marginal impact given the prevalence of transmission among critical workers who cannot stay home.

"The people of southwestern Sydney and western Sydney are the people that keep our city running. They do a lot of the work in distribution centres, food, logistics, transport," Dr Chant said.

"We should all reflect on that."

Dr Chant also indicated the NSW government would on Tuesday enable all people to walk up and receive the AstraZeneca vaccine at some locations.

She echoed updated expert immunisation advice that locked-down residents should "strongly consider" taking the AstraZeneca jab.

While Pfizer supplies remain constrained, the NSW government says it has plentiful AstraZeneca, which is effective in preventing hospitalisation or death.

Dr Chant also suggested NSW Health could administer more than 350,000 vaccines per week if its Pfizer supply was enhanced. This is separate from the federal government's vaccine rollout.

"We have to make really hard choices and what we're doing is looking at the best evidence (on) available supply," Dr Chant said.

"Ultimately, if we had more vaccine, we could do more ... but we do have a good vaccine, which is AstraZeneca."

It was later revealed frontline supermarket workers in five virus-affected western Sydney council areas would be eligible for priority Pfizer vaccination.

There are currently 44 COVID-19 patients in NSW in intensive care, of which 18 are ventilated.

The fate of three local government areas in regional NSW areas due to exit a lockdown on July 28 is also unclear.

Frustration over lockdowns boiled over on Saturday when about 3000 people marched through Sydney's CBD in protest. Some 57 people have been charged to date.

Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said on Monday he was aware of online talk about another protest on Saturday, and emphasised any attendees would be arrested.

A full list of NSW exposure sites can be found at health.nsw.gov.au

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 26 July 2021; Hits: 96

South Australia is likely to end its week-long COVID-19 lockdown on time after reporting one new virus infection linked to the Modbury cluster.

Premier Steven Marshall says the shutdown will end at one minute past midnight on Wednesday morning, provided there are no further "unlinked" coronavirus cases.

"Working together we've been able to demonstrate we can get through this very difficult situation," he told reporters on Monday.

"We're absolutely delighted with how the people of South Australia have worked with the restrictions. Everyone has made extraordinary sacrifices this week.

"We said we wanted to go hard, we wanted to go early and we wanted to knock this off."

When the lockdown lifts, SA will keep a range of heightened restrictions including a general density requirement of one person to every four square metres.

Masks will be required in high-risk settings, such as aged care centres, in medical services and on public transport.

The wider use of masks is strongly encouraged.

All food and drink consumption must be while seated and dancing and singing remain banned.

Family gatherings will be limited to 10 people although weddings and funerals can have up to 50.

Schools will also reopen on Wednesday.

Mr Marshall said more details of the transition would be released in the coming days, including arrangements for the resumption of sports training and competition and revised rules for people returning from interstate.

The new restrictions will remain in place for at least a week.

On top of the continuing measures, the premier urged all people to strongly consider their need to move around, with working from home a preferred option.

Business SA Chief Executive Martin Haese said local companies had dug deep during the past week and once again showed their resilience.

"These restrictions will continue to hurt many businesses, but Business SA's position remains that any restrictions should not be in place for a moment longer than needed," he said.

"We will continue to advocate that position, alongside additional support measures for affected businesses to both the state and federal governments."

With one new locally acquired case, an 87-year-old man, the Modbury cluster now stands at 19 confirmed infections.

The man contracted the virus after visiting the Tenafeate Creek winery near One Tree Hill last week, which is now linked to 11 infections.

However, Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said more cases could still crop up, most likely in close contacts of those already found to have the disease.

She said it was hoped any new cases would already be in quarantine.

"We've thrown 150 per cent effort at this. We have got our teams working around the clock, throwing the net as wide as possible," she said.

"But it is a very tricky virus and this is why when we come out of lockdown we all have to remain very observant, very cautious."

Prof Spurrier said of the 19 confirmed infections in the latest cluster, six people had received one dose of the vaccine and 12 had not been vaccinated.

The remaining person's status was unknown.

The Modbury cluster began with an 81-year-old man who recently arrived in Australia from Argentina and was quarantined in Sydney before travelling to Adelaide, where he tested positive.

Genomic testing has confirmed the man became infected while in Sydney, not while he was in Argentina.

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 26 July 2021; Hits: 86

The NSW government has begun the task of plotting Greater Sydney's COVID-19 settings for the coming months, with some restrictions potentially eased and others tightened.

NSW Health also believes it could vaccinate more than 350,000 people per week - if it had the requisite supply of the Pfizer jab.

With the city's lockdown scheduled to end on Friday, NSW recorded 145 new local COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday.

Of those, 51 were in the community for the entirety of their infectious period and 25 were in the community for part of their infectious period.

The NSW crisis cabinet met on Monday to devise a strategy to deal with the evolving crisis, and begin workshopping the restrictions to remain in place in Sydney over the coming months.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the government would this week settle on its post-July plans. Some restrictions may be tightened while others could be eased where transmission risk is minimal.