Victoria opens door to Sydney returnees as health workers told to "psychologically prepare."

Victoria has opened the door for residents stranded in Sydney to come home after the state's construction union headquarters were officially listed as a top-level COVID-19 exposure site.

From Thursday, Victorian residents in extreme risk zones such as Greater Sydney can apply for a permit if they are fully vaccinated, test negative within 72 hours of departure and isolate at home for 14 days.

Those who have been to an exposure site, are close contacts of a COVID-19 case or with symptoms will be knocked back, while non-Victorians are not eligible.

Victoria recorded a daily record 950 new locally acquired cases on Wednesday, 87 more than NSW as its outbreak trends downwards.

Unprecedented demand on Victorian hospitals leaving frontline workers to deal with what some paramedics are describing as "apocalyptic" conditions. #9Today pic.twitter.com/4MJyv3dR7V

— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow)

One health official told The Age that the government’s health and safety watchdog, Safer Care Victoria, told them to "prepare psychologically because most of Victoria’s going to think 'this is great' [when lockdown is eased], meanwhile as a healthcare worker, it'll feel like a war zone."

It comes as the CFMEU's Melbourne headquarters were listed as a COVID-19 exposure site on Wednesday, a week after it was the scene of anti-vaccination protests.

The Elizabeth Street office was named by the Department of Health as a tier-one site for September 20, forcing union staff and officials into isolation for two weeks.

The outside of the building has also been classed as a tier-two venue, with protesters asked to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Four positive cases have been linked to the office so far, and CFMEU state secretary John Setka blamed the "disgusting behaviour of selfish and reckless" protesters for the outbreak.

Contact tracers in the state are moving away from phone calls to deal with the rising number of infections.

A text message will ask a number of questions to help contact tracers prioritise higher-risk cases.

Lockdown support to end as jab targets hit.

Workers and businesses will have lockdown support payments wound back once key vaccination coverage milestones are reached.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Wednesday outlined a plan to phase out billions of dollars in federal cash assistance once 70 and 80 per cent of over-16s are immunised.

The COVID disaster payment provides $750 a week for people who have lost more than 20 hours of work and $450 for those under that threshold.

People on income support who lose eight hours can access $200 a week.

Workers and businesses will have lockdown support payments wound back once key vaccination coverage milestones are reached. MORE: https://t.co/z60NhTw5x2 pic.twitter.com/5oyxbQvzoS

— The Project (@theprojecttv)

But once a state reaches 70 per cent two-dose vaccination coverage, workers will have to reapply each week for the payments to prove they are eligible.

At 80 per cent, there will be a two-week transition to support being cut off.

More than 1.5 million Australians living under lockdowns in NSW, Victoria and the ACT are receiving the payments.

Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie said there was a gaping hole in income support payments for people hardest hit by the pandemic.

"It's unconscionable to be cutting off payments to people on low payments when the government is not ensuring safe vaccination rates," she toldAAP.

Co-funded federal business support payments will also taper off under agreements to be worked out with states and territories.

In the first week after a state of territory hits 80 per cent vaccination coverage, people who have lost more than eight hours work will receive a $450 payment.

Those on income support will have their assistance halved to $100.

In week two, the payment will mirror JobSeeker at $320 and be ended for income support recipients.

The pandemic leave disaster payment for workers forced to isolate or care for someone with coronavirus will remain until the end of June next year.

Australia has fully vaccinated more than 52.5 per cent of its population aged 16 and above.

Vaccination coverage in each age group for each state and territory pic.twitter.com/oLgS2vRG06

— casey briggs (@CaseyBriggs)

NSW students to go back to school earlier.

NSW students will return to schools one week ahead of schedule after the state exceeded expectations for vaccination take-up.

On Wednesday evening NSW's crisis cabinet agreed that school returns would start on October 18 for kindergarten, year 1 and year 12 students as part of a three-week re-entry.

Other grades will return to face-to-face learning on October 25 and November 1.

#BREAKING: NSW staged plan to re-open schools has been brought forward a week. Children in kindergarten, and students in years 1 and 12 will return on October 18. Years 2, 6, 11 will return on October 25, and remaining grades will return to the classroom on Nov 1.

— Gavin Coote (@GavinCoote)

It comes after Premier Gladys Berejiklian earlier on Wednesday said the original plan for students to go back from October 25 was under review because of how quickly NSW was tracking towards 70 per cent double-vaccination coverage.

Some 863 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed across the state in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday, and a record 15 deaths.

Visits to aged care homes will also be allowed from October 11 with two fully vaccinated people able to visit a resident per day.

While other restrictions are due to lift on October 11, NSW Police has indicated it won't be policing vaccination passports.

But the premier denied that meant no one would be enforcing the restrictions, arguing there were incentives for individuals and businesses to do the right thing.

Opposition Leader Chris Minns said businesses were still confused about their obligations once lockdown is lifted.

Meanwhile, Oberon has been placed into lockdown for one week due to an increased risk of COVID-19 transmissions.

⚠️STAY-AT-HOME ORDERS INTRODUCED FOR OBERON⚠️ Stay-at-home orders for the Oberon Local Government Area (LGA) will be introduced from 6pm today for seven days due to an increased COVID-19 public health risk. pic.twitter.com/VxfyPWITNB

— NSW Health (@NSWHealth)

The stay-at-home order applies to anyone who has been in the Oberon LGA from September 20.

UK officer 'cited virus to detain' Sarah Everard.

A prosecutor has argued that a serving London police officer handcuffed a woman on the pretext of breaking COVID-19 lockdown rules before he kidnapped and killed her.

Wayne Couzens, 48, appeared at London's Central Criminal Court on Wednesday charged with the kidnap, rape and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, who disappeared while walking home from visiting a friend in south London on March 3.

Couzens has pleaded guilty to the charges.

He sat in court with his head bowed as members of Everard's family listened to prosecutor Tom Little open his case.

Ex-Met Police officer Wayne Couzens handcuffed Sarah Everard and snatched her in a "false arrest" before murdering her, court told https://t.co/TwoQl38zax

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking)

Little said Couzens wore his police belt with handcuffs and used his police warrant card when he detained Everard "by fraud" in a "false arrest".

He also had booked a car rental, the prosecutor argued.

There was "no credible alternative explanation for his need to hire a car other than to use that car to kidnap and rape a lone woman," Little said.

"His movements were consistent with the defendant looking for, or hunting, for a lone young female to kidnap and rape, which is precisely what he did," the prosecutor argued.

Couzens joined the Metropolitan Police in 2018 and had worked as part of a team protecting diplomatic premises in central London. He had worked an overnight shift at the US embassy on the day he kidnapped Everard.

Ahead of the court hearing, the Metropolitan Police department said it was "sickened, angered and devastated by this man's crimes, which betray everything we stand for".

A judge is expected to sentence Couzens on Thursday.

YouTube to block all anti-vaccine content.

YouTube says it will block all anti-vaccine content, moving beyond its ban on what it calls misinformation about COVID-19 jabs to also include content about other approved vaccines.

Examples of content that won't be allowed on YouTube include claims that the flu vaccine causes infertility and that the MMR shot - which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella - can cause autism, according to YouTube's policies.

The online video company owned by Alphabet Inc it was also banning channels associated with several prominent anti-vaccine activists including Robert F Kennedy Jr and Joseph Mercola, a YouTube spokesperson said.

YouTube is blocking all anti-vaccine content and banning prominent anti-vaccine activists https://t.co/IdvAE2ebQU

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost)

A press email for Mercola's website said in a statement: "We are united across the world, we will not live in fear, we will stand together and restore our freedoms."

Kennedy said in a statement: "There is no instance in history when censorship and secrecy has advanced either democracy or public health."

YouTube's new rules will prohibit misinformation about any vaccine that has been approved by health authorities such as the World Health Organisation and are currently being administered.

Qld sweats on test results after new cases.

Queensland authorities are resisting sending parts of the state's southeast into lockdown after the emergence of a number of COVID-19 cases in recent days.

The state recorded two cases on the Gold Coast on Wednesday, with authorities on high alert as the men were out in the community for several days.

The first is a close contact of an aviation training centre worker who tested positive on Monday night, and the second case wasn't counted in Queensland's tally because it was detected in NSW.

BREAKING: COVID-19 restrictions will extend to the Gold Coast after two cases were out in the community. Restrictions also apply to the Local Government Areas of Brisbane and Moreton Bay. #covid19 pic.twitter.com/cQxX9F7vLj

— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP)

It involved a truck driver who lives on the Gold Coast and regularly travels between Queensland and NSW.

He was active on the Gold Coast for three days, from September 25 to 27, including in Mermaid Waters, Merrimac, Nerang, Surfers Paradise, Miami Beach and Currumbin.

Brisbane has listed 24 new COVID exposure sites including hotels, restaurants, cafes, supermarkets, shops in the CBD, Spring Hill, Carindale Westfield, Camp Hill, Cannon Hill and Eatons Hill. Eight sites are considered close contact venues.

However, Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young said a lockdown wasn't necessary as authorities knew where all the infections had come from, but the coming days were critical.

"I'm watching this very, very carefully. At the moment, I am prepared to wait and see if we've got any local transmission," she said on Wednesday.

Tasmania doubles down on tough borders.

Tasmania's premier has doubled-down on his tough border stance, revealing modelling showing likely coronavirus deaths if the island reopened at an 80 per cent vaccination rate.

Peter Gutwein on Wednesday outlined what would happen, according to Doherty Institute predictions, if the state allowed travellers from NSW and Victoria with that percentage of its population fully vaccinated.

Over the first six months it would result in 14,900 cases, up to 590 hospital admissions, 97 intensive care admissions and almost 100 deaths, he said.

Mr Gutwein has targeted a 90 per cent full vaccination rate for people over 16 by December 1. He said Tasmania was "on track" to reach the number and aiming to reopen by Christmas.

Tasmania’s Premier has warned that the island state will not reopen its borders to all of the country until it reaches a 90 per cent vaccination rate against COVID-19