Australia news live: race on to solve Sydney's mystery Covid cases; NSW police fine North Bondi partygoers

According to Surf Life Saving New South Wales, large numbers of people led some beaches to be closed by councils over the weekend.

Despite swimming at beaches for exercise being allowed under the lockdown on the northern beaches, beachgoers were encouraged to stay at home because of the crowds.

SLS NSW said “Covid restrictions were an issue at some locations” on the northern beaches on the weekend.

SLS NSW also said on the South Coast at Batemans Bay and in parts of Wollongong, beaches were deemed to be overcrowded and restrictions were implemented.

SLS NSW chief executive Steven Pearce said lifesavers responded to a number of incidents, including 158 rescues conducted by volunteers throughout NSW.

Emergency incidents have been significant this weekend – 71 in total. There were 38 on Sunday alone.

Despite Covid-19 cases continuing on the Northern Beaches, SLS NSW said flags will be flying at beaches on Monday, with lifeguards providing patrols across the region.

Since 1 July, there have been 17 coastal drownings recorded in NSW waters.

Byron Bay residents are “outraged” at unauthorised mass gatherings of about 300 people that police had to break up on the weekend, according to Byron Shire deputy mayor Michael Lyon.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, NSW police had to break up several gatherings, including parties at Main Beach and Belongil Beach after approximately 300 people gathered at each location.

About 200 people were dispersed and music equipment seized with 73 parking infringements issued, police said.

Lyon, speaking to ABC News this morning, said the partygoers were international students and backpackers, and that they showed “such a lack of respect”.

Our community is outraged.

It was started … with the English language schools, because I understand it’s international students hiring the sound equipment. The word gets out to hostels and the backpackers find out.

This is not going [to be] a return to the days of the Byron party town. We worked hard over the last few years to get rid of that.

New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian will provide a Covid-19 update at 11am.

Berejiklian could shed a light on what New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney will look like as early as today, as authorities continue efforts to quash the northern beaches cluster.

She will appear with NSW police assistant commissioner Mick Willing. Read into that what you will.

Australians suffering from one of the most common blood cancers will soon be able to access a new medicine that mobilises the patient’s own immune system to fight the disease, reports AAP.

Darzalex will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from 1 January, federal health minister Greg Hunt announced on Monday.

The medicine will be part of a second-line treatment for people with multiple myeloma, which is an incurable cancer of plasma cells found in bone marrow.

More than 2,000 people are diagnosed with the illness in Australia every year, and around 18,000 people are living with it at any one time. The five-year survival rate is just 51%.

The medicine “targets the Achilles heel of the myeloma cancer cell, while simultaneously activating the body’s immune system to attack the cancer,” he said.

This is the first time we have been able to directly target myeloma cancer cells, while also putting the immune system to work against the cancer.

A Darzalex script will cost $41.30, or $6.60 with a concession card. The medicine would otherwise cost up to $160,000.

New South Wales health authorities updated again on Sunday its list of hotspots Covid-positive people have visited while infectious.

Those who attended some locations must isolate immediately for 14 days after you were last there, others must monitor for symptoms.

Here’s an overview and what to do if you’ve visited them.

Here’s more on those coronavirus restrictions breaches I mentioned earlier, from AAP:

NSW police had to break up a party at North Bondi, fining 11 young people for failing to comply with Covid-19 rules.

At least 40 people were at the party and most ran away when officers arrived just after 11pm on Boxing Day.

Two women and nine men were fined $1,000 each for breaking Covid rules, which limit indoor gatherings to 10 visitors in greater Sydney.

Another man was fined on Christmas Day after he allegedly went from an unauthorised party at Bronte Beach to a gathering at Centennial Park that also exceeded coronavirus restrictions.

And a Newtown restaurant has been fined $5,000 after police attended on 23 December and learned that the owner did not have a Covid-safe plan.

Police said there were 27 people too many inside and a crowd outside and, while officers gave the owner an opportunity to reduce the number of people inside, the venue’s capacity was still exceeded.

For all you tennis fans:

Andy Murray has been awarded a wildcard for February’s Australian Open.

“We welcome Andy back to Melbourne with open arms,” said the tournament director, Tennis Australia’s chief executive, Craig Tiley.

“His retirement was an emotional moment and seeing him come back, having undergone major surgery and built himself back up to get on to the tour again, will be a highlight of AO 2021,” Tiley said.

The main draw entry for the first grand slam of 2021 comes two years after the former world No 1 and five-times runner-up in Melbourne played what he feared would be his final match there, losing in the first round to Roberto Bautista Agut.

The Australian Open has been pushed back three weeks to start on 8 February because of Covid-19.

The EU has officially launched its program of mass vaccination against Covid-19, with the goal of making shots available to all its adult population by the end of 2021.

Meanwhile cases of the new coronavirus variant first detected in the UK were confirmed in at least eight European countries, piling further pressure on the vaccine campaign to help get the pandemic under control.

Yesterday South Australian health authorities also revealed they had detected the strain in a returned traveller who had tested positive to Covid-19. The traveller has been transferred from a medi-hotel to the Royal Adelaide hospital.

It remains one of the most dramatically successful outcomes in the battle against Covid-19. A cheap treatment for inflammation was found to save lives of seriously ill patients while a trio of much-touted therapies were shown to have no effect.

Here’s my colleague Robin McKie on the breakthrough medicines that could change the course of Covid-19:

Good morning, and welcome to the Australia news live blog for 28 December. I’m Elias Visontay. Here’s what’s making news this morning.

-Health authorities in New South Wales are racing to uncover the source behind a mystery case they hope will shine light on the initial northern beaches outbreak, as further cases with unknown transmission threaten Sydney’s new year’s eve. Five of the nine locally-acquired cases in NSW under investigation are people who live outside the northern beaches.

–Police in NSW have issued 15 infringement notices since Christmas Eve to Sydneysiders who have broken Covid-19 restrictions. The fines include 11 people who remained at a house party in North Bondi, after the majority of the party’s 40 visitors ran away when police arrived at the home on Saturday night. Two businesses have also received fines.

-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is expected to provide an update on the northern beaches coronavirus cluster this morning. On figures announced over the weekend, authorities noted a steep decline in daily testing numbers, from almost 70 decline in testing numbers – from about 70,000 on Christmas Eve to about 24,000 on Saturday.

-A woman who fled hotel quarantine in Perth has tested negative to Covid-19 after police found her at a Perth hospital. Western Australia’s health minister Roger Cook has blasted the traveller for making a dent in “fortress WA”, as she faces a fine of up to $50,000 or 12 months in prison.

If you want to get in touch, please send me an email to [email protected] or get in touch via Twitter @eliasvisontay.