In July, the ACT waited for Pfizer to be available to the under 40s crowd, while Victoria remained locked down in an attempt to contain super spreads. Canberra researchers invented CRISPER, and Canberra median house price cracked $1 million.
New app a one-stop shop for COVID alerts across Australia
Researchers from ANU developed a new desktop and smartphone app that pulled together COVID-19 alerts and exposure locations from all over the country. The ANU researchers worked with the University of Queensland to create this COVID‐19 Real‐time Information System for Preparedness and Epidemic Response (CRISPER). The app was designed to help speed up contact tracing for epidemiologists, and build “outbreak mud maps” that assisted in understanding transmission patterns.
Man drowns at Batemans Bay beach
On Monday 5 July, a man died after he was pulled from the ocean at Surf Beach at 1pm that afternoon. Emergency services were called after reports that a man and a child were missing in the water. The man entered the sea when his nine-year-old daughter got caught in a rip. The 48-year-old father died at the scene, while his daughter survived and was taken to Batemans Bay Hospital.
Victoria to spend another week in lockdown
On 17 July, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced that his state would remain in lockdown at least until 27 July, hours before it was originally flagged to end. Red zone travel permits, required to get into Victoria from NSW, were halted – with only authorised workers and those on compassionate exemption able to enter.
Under 40s still have to wait to access Pfizer
On 23 July, Australians eagerly awaited the availability of the Pfizer vaccine to the under-40s crowd. The rollout of the vaccine to children aged 12 to 15 was approved, while the broader under-40s group were told to look towards September or early October.
Canberra median house price cracks $1 million
Canberra’s median house price surpassed the million-dollar mark for the first time in the June quarter of 2021. The Bush Capital joined Sydney and Melbourne in the million-dollar-median club in a “huge milestone for the city”. Despite the pandemic, Canberra house and unit prices recorded the highest rate of growth compared to all other Australian capital cities. That’s a growth rate of just over $1,000 per day. Research analysts said this was the steepest price acceleration in almost three decades.
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