• North Adelaide player tests positive
• NSW records 3057 daily cases
• Boosters, masks and rapid antigen tests on national agenda in face of Omicron
• More Adelaide exposure sites and long testing queues
• England aiming for Ashes comeback after Second Test drubbing
• New home for SA cultural collections

North Adelaide player tests positive

North Adelaide Football Club says one of its players has tested positive to COVID-19.

In a statement this morning, the club said that the unidentified player, 20, was in home quarantine and all close contacts are isolating while awaiting test results.

“It is understood that the player may have contracted the virus late in the week whilst in close contact with a friend who later tested positive,” the statement said.

“The player started feeling lethargic late on Sunday and immediately went to get tested and isolated, before receiving the positive test result on Monday night.

“The Club’s League and Reserves squads trained together on Saturday morning at an outdoor beach session at Henley Beach. All players, coaches and support staff who attended this session have been advised and are getting tested.”

North Adelaide CEO Craig Burton said the player was double vaccinated and currently had mild symptoms.

“I want to commend him for the urgency he has demonstrated in getting a test at the first sign of his fatigue, informing our football manager and club doctor and doing everything possible to protect his teammates and our staff,” Burton said.

“As a club we are taking every precaution to ensure the health and wellbeing of our staff and the broader community. Appropriate wellbeing supports have been put in place to support the player, his family and those who are isolating during this period when families are getting together for Christmas.

“Our coaches and players who were either in attendance at the beach session or in contact with the player over the weekend are all getting tested. The clear processes the club and SANFL have in place has ensured that those who need to isolate are isolating. ”

NSW records 3057 daily cases

New South Wales has recorded 3057 new cases and two deaths overnight, with Victoria reporting another 1245 cases and six deaths.

The NSW cases was an increase of 556 on Monday’s 2501.

There are 284 COVID-19 patients in hospital – up from 261 – and 39 people are in ICU – up from 33.

Two people have died from the virus and 136,972 tests were carried out.

The NSW Opposition has criticised the NSW Government’s refusal ton reinstate mask mandates indoors.

Chris Minns is isolating after one of his staffers contracted the virus.

He said Premier Dominic Perrottet’s refusal to listen to health experts and reintroduce mask mandates put everyone’s Christmas celebrations in jeopardy as cases spiral, forcing thousands into isolation.

“The main thing here is that Christmas isn’t ruined and we don’t go back into lockdown,” he said.

Introducing mask mandates would make sense and be easy, he said.

“We’ve gotten used to wearing masks, there’s strong evidence they work – preventing the disease from spreading more than it otherwise would.”

The Royal Australian College of Physicians is the latest medical body encouraging state and territory governments to reintroduce COVID-19 restrictions to stop the spread of the Omicron variant.

RACP president John Wilson says he is wary of the increasing COVID-19 case numbers in states like NSW.

“If not checked a surge in cases will further burden our already exhausted health systems due to an overwhelming rise in hospitalisations.

“The relaxation of restrictions in some jurisdictions, especially those associated with mask-wearing, QR code check-ins and large gatherings, can have dire consequences,” he said.

The NSW vaccination rate remains the same with 94.9 per cent of people aged 16 and older having had one dose, while 93.4 per cent of people are fully jabbed.

Boosters, masks and rapid antigen tests on national agenda in face of Omicron

Speeding up booster shots, requiring people to get three COVID-19 jabs to be considered fully vaccinated and mask mandates are on the cards in a bid to curb Omicron infections.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will on Wednesday meet with state and territory leaders to discuss rising COVID-19 cases following the easing of pandemic restrictions and opening of borders.

Up for discussion is whether to mandate masks across indoor settings and the time frame of booster shots.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation is reportedly looking at whether to require people to receive a booster shot before they’re considered fully vaccinated.

States including NSW are pushing for the interval between second and third shots to be cut further from five months.

University of Melbourne epidemiologist Nancy Baxter backs reducing the interval at least to four months.

“More people getting it (the virus) means more people are going to transmit it and more people are going to have that risk of developing serious illness even if they’ve been vaccinated,” she told ABC radio on Tuesday.

“We know that boosters help get around that.”

Deputy Nationals leader David Littleproud reassured people Australia had enough boosters despite concerns pharmacies were struggling to secure sufficient supplies to match demand.

“Over the coming weeks we will get a better picture (about Omicron), then the premiers will be able to make decisions on mandates around masks,” he told the Nine Network.

Morrison earlier said the government would follow the health advice when it came to masks. Different parts of the country have different rules.

Masks are encouraged but not mandated indoors in NSW. In Queensland, they’re mandatory in some retail settings and hospitals, but encouraged elsewhere.

Tasmania has brought in an indoor mask mandate while Victoria still requires them in retail settings.

There’s also a push to make rapid antigen tests free amid lengthy delays at traditional testing sites as cases increases and people rush to obtain negative results required for interstate travel.

“We need a certain nimbleness that we haven’t had to date in terms of thinking about how we do alter the testing procedures,” Professor Baxter said.

She favoured incorporating rapid antigen tests into Australia’s existing nose and throat swab screening regime at state-run clinics.

NSW recorded 2501 new cases on Monday and Victoria 1302 infections.

South Australia reported 105 new infections, while there were 59 in Queensland. The ACT recorded 13 cases and Tasmania three.

More Adelaide exposure sites and long testing queues

More Adelaide restaurants and a nightclub have been added to a growing list of COVID-19 exposure sites, with the Opposition accusing the Marshall Government of failing to provide enough contact tracers to keep up with rising cases and leading to late or incomplete public health advice.

After a record 105 new cases were announced yesterday, SA Health later named the following sites as close contact locations:

Mars Bar from 9pm Saturday December 11 to 5am Sunday December 12

Parlemento Restaurant from 1pm to 2:30pm Thursday December 16

Raah Cafe from 11:45am to 12:45pm Thursday December 16

Secrets by the Sea restaurant from 7:30pm to 10:15pm Wednesday December 15

Guardian Childcare and Education Christmas Party at West Croydon from 5:30pm to 7:30pm Thursday December 16

SA Health says unvaccinated contacts must immediately quarantine for 14 days and get tested immediately and again on days six and 13, while vaccinated contacts must immediately quarantine for seven days and get tested immediately and again on days six and 13.

But Labor said that SA Health had released the exposure sites after no prior information for 47 hours and despite 185 new cases.

It said that a community Facebook site had been launched to “take contact tracing into their own hands”, with the Marion Hotel stating it was an exposure site after a positive case last week but was still waiting for SA Health advice.

It comes after people last night reported waits of up to eight hours in huge queues at testing at sites across Adelaide, following long waits at swamped testing sites yesterday.

England aiming for Ashes comeback after Second Test drubbing

Joe Root is convinced a humiliated England can conjure a Bradmanesque miracle and win the Ashes after going two-nil down.

But Root says that can only happen if England learn in six days what they’ve had four years to study.

After being crushed by Australia in a 275-run defeat in the second Test in Adelaide, Root’s side must win the three remaining Tests to reclaim the Ashes.

Only one team has ever come from two-nil down to win an Ashes series: Don Bradman’s Australians in 1936-37.

“I don’t think that Australia are that much better than us in these conditions as the scorelines might suggest,” Root said.

Root said he was “fine” after being struck twice in the testicles on Sunday.

But he admitted frustrated this England team, which lost the first Test by nine wickets, hadn’t learnt the lessons from four years ago when Australia at home won 4-0.

“Four years ago we got it wrong and we didn’t learn from it,” Root said.

“We have got to learn those lessons very quickly over the next week.

“I am convinced that we have got what we need to win over here, it’s just we need to be better.

“We can’t keep making the same mistakes.”

On Monday, Australia were made to toil for a triumph which extends their perfect record in day-night Tests: nine games, nine wins.

Set 468 runs to win, the tourists were bowled out for 192 with some 21 overs remaining on the final day at Adelaide Oval.

Comeback quick Jhye Richardson took his first Test five-wicket haul but the locals had to overcome a stubborn knock from England’s Jos Buttler to prevail after the tea break.

Buttler (26) soaked up 207 balls before being out hit wicket in the final session.

Playing a short Richardson ball to cover, he took off for a run only for his right heel to nudge into the stumps and gently dislodge the bails.

“I wasn’t getting nervous,” Australia’s stand-in skipper Steve Smith said.

“I was still pretty confident but it was bizarre the way that wicket happened.

“He gave them a bit of a sniff there for a while.”

Australia celebrates the dismissal of England’s James Anderson at Adelaide Oval. Photo: AAP/Dave Hunt

Smith hailed the performance of his bowlers, with Richardson’s 5-42 complemented by Starc taking six wickets for the match and Nathan Lyon taking five.

And victory was achieved without captain Pat Cummins and fellow paceman Josh Hazlewood (side strain), first and fourth in world bowling rankings respectively.

Cummins, who was ruled out of the Adelaide Test when deemed a close contact of a COVID case, is certain to play in the third Test in Melbourne starting on Boxing Day.

Hazlewood will also return to Australia’s camp in days with the hosts naming an unchanged 15-man squad for the three remaining Tests in Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart.

And while England’s Root believes in miracles, Australia’s Smith was already being asked asked about the prospects of a 5-0 clean sweep.

“We would love to,” Smith said.

“But we will take it one game at a a time at the moment, that’s all we can do.

New home for SA cultural collections

An $86 million building will become the new home of South Australia’s important cultural and artistic collections.

As reported by InDaily in August 2019, only five per cent of the SA Museum’s vast collection is displayed at North Terrace, with most of the remainder housed in a leaky, ageing former printing warehouse at Netley.

The SA Museum holds the biggest and one of the oldest collections of Indigenous Australian cultural material in the world, with more than 30,000 spiritually- and anthropologically-significant pieces sourced – ethically or otherwise – from across Australia’s approximate 250 Aboriginal language groups.

Among the Netley collection is a remnant from the first Aboriginal flag, an Eora man’s wooden club that Lieutenant David Blackburn fashioned into a whip upon arrival in Australia on the First Fleet, and intricate contemporary Yolngu bark paintings.

Those pieces lie alongside 5000 spears, 3000 boomerangs, 500 bark paintings and drawers brimming with hundreds of intricately woven baskets, neck-pieces and sculptures, to name a few.

Aboriginal spears stored on shelves at the Netley site. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

Items from the collection rotate on display through the Art Gallery of SA, South Australian Museum, the History Trust of SA and the State Library.

The new building, which will remain off-limits to the public, is expected to open in 2024. It will store the state’s collections in a temperature and humidity-controlled environment, with integrated pest control, robust security and specialised fire protection services.

“This new facility will allow a more collaborative approach between our cultural institutions and deliver a venue to securely protect South Australia’s collections,” Premier Steven Marshall said.

“The storage is fundamental to the care and safekeeping of the state’s cultural treasures, which in turn are fundamentally important to South Australians and our identity as a state.”

Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre Ambassador David Rathman said the journey to preserve, restore and safely store Aboriginal cultural heritage had taken many years of advocacy.

“Today is the first step in enabling 30,000 irreplaceable items of our heritage to be housed in a state-of-the-art facility,” he said.

“This world-class centre will enable future generations to be able to continue to appreciate the Aboriginal collection, which reaches back into the 60,000 years of Aboriginal story of country.”

-With AAP and Reuters