News blog, January 20: Fires at Toolamba, Nagambie; Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce announces federal funding for Foodshare

UPDATE 4:45 pm: Wrapping up

I think we might leave it there for the evening.

Reporter Monique Preston and photographer Rodney Braithwaite are on their way back from Toolamba.

They will have the full report about the blaze for you soon after.

Stay safe all!

UPDATE 4.25 pm: Toolamba fire still burning

There are 14 response vehicles at, or on their way to, the scene, with two helicopters helping extinguish the blaze.

Toolamba Rd is closed between Toolamba-Rushworth Rd and Pogue Rd.

A CFA officer said the firebombing helicopters were currently putting their efforts into protecting a house and paddocks containing horses.

CFA has issued a grass fire warning for Dhurringile, Tatura and Toolamba West.

The witness that reported the fire to authorities said the blaze started on the side of road and spread into the nearby paddocks.

UPDATE: 3.40 pm: Grass fire warning issued for Mullers Rd fire

Just as I hit update on the last post, Vic Emergency has issued a grass fire warning for Nagambie, Tabilk, Wattle Vale and Mitchellstown.

The fire is travelling from Mullers Rd in a westerly direction.

CFA have asked travellers to keep Mullers Rd clear and avoid the area.

UPDATE 3.35 pm: Fires at Toolamba, Nagambie

We’ve just heard there is a fire on Toolamba Rd, between Toolamba-Rushworth Rd and Bitcon Rd.

There are currently three vehicles responding and there are reports air support is on it’s way.

We’ve also heard of a possible vehicle and scrub fire on Mullers Rd, Nagambie.

More to come.

UPDATE 2.40 pm: Federal government pledges $600k to new Shepparton Foodshare building

News reporter Nicola Ceccato has returned from the deputy PM’s press conference with the reason behind his visit:

The Liberal and Nationals Government have pledged $600,000 to go towards a new building for Shepparton Foodshare.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Barnaby Joyce, attended a press conference today in Mooroopna to announce the funds.

“Ensuring Foodshare has a facility to operate out of in the future is the least we can do for a service that does so much for so many across this region,” he said.

“A huge thank you to these people (at Foodshare) because we wouldn’t be giving our $600,00 if we didn’t have the people to do the job they needed to do.”

This decision comes as Foodshare found themselves in higher demand with a 70 per cent increase in distribution over the last two years of the pandemic.

The full story from Daneka Hill will be online soon.

UPDATE 1 pm: GV Health update

Across the Goulburn Valley public health unit, 252 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded today.

Of those, 71 were in Shepparton, 37 were in Moira, and 71 were in Mitchell Shire.

In total, there are 2722 active cases across the public health unit.

GV Health chief executive Matt Sharp said it’s the third day in a row when around 200 cases have been reported, hinting at a possible plateau.

“It’s an encouraging trend,” he said.

As for the Code Brown staffing issue, Mr Sharp said the number of furloughed staff due to COVID-19 has dropped to 61.

“We’ve had a reduction of around about 100 staff that were furloughed,” he said.

“I’m really grateful for the GV Health staff, particularly those who were close contacts that are now able to return to work.”

I’ll have the full update online for you soon.

UPDATE 11.40 am: Deputy PM to visit Shepparton

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is set to hold a press conference at Shepparton Foodshare at 1pm today.

Country News reporter Daneka Hill and News journalist Nicola Ceccato will be there to bring back the scoop.

UPDATE 10.50 am: Infant’s body found in Corowa home

A woman has been arrested after a baby’s body was found at a home in Corowa, NSW.

Police searched the house in the Murray River region on Wednesday night after hearing concerns about the child’s welfare.

When they found the body, they arrested the 40-year-old woman.

More to come.

UPDATE, 10.30 am: Additional 166 million RATs ordered by Victorian government, wait times for PCR results down to 24 hours and Novavax approved in Australia

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters this morning the government has ordered another 166 million rapid antigen tests, on top of 44 million that began to arrive last week.

“This is a very significant order we’ve placed,” he said.

Three million RATs were delivered to Victoria last week from the previous order, and Mr Andrews said another 4.4 million arrived this week.

Of those, the government has distributed 2.2 million to health services and vulnerable community across the state.

In terms of testing wait times, Victorian COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said numbers are beginning to stabilise.

The majority of PCR results (86.5 per cent) are now coming back the following day, and wait times at testing centres have lowered to an average of half an hour, he said.

There are now 3900 health care workers in Victoria unable to work due to COVID-19, down from more than 4000 earlier in the week.

And Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt also held a press conference from Canberra to announce the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use in Australia by the nation’s medicines regulator.

“We know that some people have waited for this vaccine,” he said.

UPDATE 9.50 am: Victorian COVID-19 data

Victoria has recorded 15 coronavirus related deaths today and another 21,966 cases.

More than 10 thousand of those were reported from rapid antigen tests.

There are now 1206 people in hospital with COVID-19, 122 of those are in ICU and 40 are on ventilators.

UPDATE, 9.20 am: TGA approves novel COVID-19 oral treatment and IVF treatments to resume in Victoria

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has granted provisional approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 oral treatment, PAXLOVID.

Without getting too technical, it’s an antiviral therapy in the form of tablets, to be taken by people aged 18 or over (who do not require supplemental oxygen) at the first sign of infection.

Pfizer Australia and New Zealand Managing Director Anna Harris said PAXLOVID aims to reduce hospitalisations in Australia.

“This at-oral therapy, developed to reduce hospitalisations and save lives, has the potential to transform COVID-19 treatment and help lessen the devastating impact of the virus that has now taken over 5 million lives globally,” she said.

And in Victoria, it’s been announced IVF procedures will resume, after they were paused to help hospitals deal with COVID-19 hospitalisations.

Some services will start from today, and hospitals will scales their operations up for all procedures to resume on Tuesday, January 25.

Acting minister for health James Merlino acknowledged the IVF journey was a tough one for anyone to go through.

“We thank Victorians for their patience as we’ve worked through critical workforce issues, and we’ll keep working to have other services restored as soon as we can.”