Coronavirus: Smaller gatherings may soon be allowed, ATO lets nearly half a million Aussies access $3.8b in super
Community sport is among the activities being considered for relaxed restrictions in three weeks’ time, as the Morrison government looks at making changes to baseline restrictions.
Coronavirus
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Smaller gatherings may soon be allowed
Australia hit with inflated prices for PPE
ATO approves early super applications totalling $3.8 billion
Nearly 590,000 JobSeeker applications processed
Community sport and small gatherings are among the activities being considered for relaxed restrictions in three weeks.
Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy said he did not want to pre-empt health experts’ deliberations but hinted some smaller gatherings may soon be allowed.
“Things like community sport, some retail measures, all of those things will be in the mix,” he said.
“I personally feel that community sport is a really important thing and there are ways to make it safer, the National Cabinet will have to weigh up the public health risks vs the clear benefits of re-establishing community sport.”
Large gatherings such as weddings and major events are not being considered at this time.
“We certainly would not be contemplating large scale gatherings, (but) certainly some relaxing on the size of small groups,” Prof Murphy said.
“There is great concern that if we relax too much, too quickly we could get a second wave as has been seen in Singapore.”
Prof Murphy said the “cautious” measures were being considered by the Australian Health Principle Protection Committee, with recommendations to be handed to the National Cabinet in mid-May.
When asked about the future of community sport, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he would prefer to ease restrictions on lower-risk activities.
“I wouldn’t be offering a view on that. What we are seeking to do is focus on those activities that are more low-health-risk and more high-economic-value,” he said.
“My priorities are to get kids back to school, to get people back to work. That’s what my priority is.”
PM, TREASURER GIVE ECONOMIC UPDATE
Nearly 590,000 JobSeeker and other related applications have been processed in the past few weeks, the Prime Minister has revealed in his economic update.
“That is more than we do in a year,” Mr Morrison said.
“That has been an extraordinary effort from those services.”
Scott Morrison went into greater detail about a possible lifting of social distancing rules, saying that rate of transmission figures would be released tomorrow.
“We are one week down and we are making good progress,” Mr Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
“That also involves making good progress on things like testing kits, personal protective equipment, respirator supplies, the status of those and the supply lines are in place and they are strong and that is enabling us, I think, to make a lot of progress.
“We are on the road back and that is demonstrated by the measures that we already have taken and we are on the way back to a COVID-safe economy as well, which is what we have to achieve.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said 275,000 business had applied for the JobKeeper scheme.
The ATO has approved 466,000 applications to access super totalling $3.8 billion. The average withdrawal is around $8,000, Mr Frydenberg said.
“Those applications are now with the superannuation funds for their payment over the next five days,” he said.
“The average withdrawal is around $8000. And just to remind you that you can access up to $10,000 from your super this financial year and up to another $10,000 next financial year.”
It comes amid revelations Australia has been forced to pay “premium prices” for masks and personal protective equipment as global demand soars during the coronavirus pandemic.
Banks have been ordered to prioritise helping businesses lacking the cash flow needed to pay their workers $1500 a fortnight until the JobSeeker scheme kicks in.
The big four lenders have agreed to set up a dedicated hotline for customers seeking short term loans to pay their workers until the government’s wage subsidy starts on May 1.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg discussed the issue with the banks on Thursday morning, after concerning reports many business owners weren’t getting the funds they needed fast enough.
“It was a very productive discussion. And we emphasised the need for the banks to provide support to those businesses,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“They have agreed to set up, each of these four major banks, a dedicated hotline for their customers to call to receive the bridging finance necessary to pay their staff, ahead of receiving that money under the JobKeeper program.”
Mr Frydenberg said the banks had also agreed to “expedite the processing of all those applications to the front of the queue”.
“So our message today is, if you are a business or a not-for-profit that is eligible for the JobKeeper payment, as required, you need to pay your staff ahead of receiving the money from the Tax Office,” he said.
“Go to your bank. Ring their hotline. Ask for that support. And that support with be forthcoming.”
The JobKeeper payments from the government through the ATO to businesses will be backdated to March 1, but many employees have had no income while waiting for the scheme to kick at the start of May.
The government told businesses they could pay employees $1500 a fortnight backdated to March 1 with “confidence” of getting that reimbursed in May, but most employers have reported lacking the cash to do so.
Those that then turned to banks for a loan have struggled to secure the funding quickly, prompting the government’s intervention.
AUSTRALIA ONLY BUYING HIGH QUALITY EQUIPMENT
Despite the inflated prices health officials have been told to “spend what you need to make Australia safe,” a senate inquiry into the federal government’s COVID-19 response heard on Thursday.
Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy said a large team of people were working to ensure Australia purchased only “high quality” equipment.
“Obviously there have been lots of people offering PPE,” he said.
“There have been some people who have been making fairly outrageous price demands … we certainly have been paying premium prices, but the … message from government all the way through has been do what you need to make us safe.”
Prof Murphy said the domestic requirement for PPE was a balancing act based on how widely the outbreak might spread.
“At no stage have we ever been in a position where I have felt that any safety has been compromised by a lack of PPE,” he said.
Prof Murphy said if Australia had suffered a “very big outbreak” early in the pandemic the country may have reached a point where PPE was “not sufficient,” but that worst case scenario had been avoided by successful measures cracking down on early cases and closing borders.
“The reason we are not in the position of the UK or the US is because we were well prepared … we got on top of all of those early cases in China … and in other countries they spread.”
Prof Murphy said he did not believe there was a large number of asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers in the Australian community.
“We have at no stage had widespread undetected community transmission like those other countries have,” he said.
The senate committee heard Australia moved ahead of World Health Organisation advice to close borders with China amid fears the country was at a high risk due to the large volume of travel.
“We had a huge amount of traffic from China … I think 160 plus flights a week from China,” Prof Murphy said.
“China was clearly in that early phase, the epicentre, and we knew that the greatest risk to uncontrolled transmissions was in imported cases.
“As an island we were in a position of perhaps doing border measures better than other countries … I think in retrospect our colleagues in the UK and the US regret that they didn't so the same.”
Prof Murphy said Australia was now in a “wonderful position” but there remained a “permanent risk” of further coronavirus waves as the disease was highly infectious.
He said officials were closely watching Taiwan, which has successfully suppressed the coronavirus through border measures and a strong public health response rather than social distance restrictions.
“At the request of the National Cabinet are now looking at in terms of can we reduce some of our distancing measures by enhancing some of our public health measures, and that means testing like you’ve never seen testing before,” he said.
“Taiwan I think is a good example of very strong public health measures.
“Singapore is very interesting, their approach was very similar to ours … and now they have had a second wave.”
The senate committee, which is chaired by Labor and includes senators from both major parties and the cross bench, was formed to provide oversight of the measures introduced by the government during the pandemic.
Labor Senator Katy Gallagher said the first hearing would focus “predominantly on the issues that are front of mind for Australians”.
“For example, parents want to be clear on when they can safely send their kids back to school,” she said.
“Australians are concerned about what protections are in place for the rollout of the proposed tracing app, and people are very keen to understand the Government’s plans for the easing of social distancing restrictions.”
LAS VEGAS OFFERED UP AS ‘CONTROL GROUP’
The Mayor of Las Vegas has stunned the world with her claim that she offered up her city as a “control group” to see if social distancing really slowed the spread of COVID-19 – but she was “turned down”.
Demanding the city be allowed to reopen its casinos, Mayor Carolyn Goodman also said “we’ll find out the facts afterwards” after she was asked why she doubted the benefits of social distancing.
“Unfortunately, we all do better in hindsight.
“We offered to be a control group. It was offered, it was turned down.
“This isn’t China, this is Las Vegas, Nevada.”
“Assume everybody is a carrier. And then you start from an even slate. And tell the people what to do. And let the businesses open and competition will destroy that business if, in fact, they become evident that they have disease, they’re closed down. It’s that simple.”
Meanwhile, lockdown measures in the UK will be needed until the end of the year to control coronavirus – until a drug or a vaccine is found, according to Britain’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty.
British politicians will be looking at different scenarios for lifting the strict measures in the coming weeks, but some rules will still be needed for a long time to come, according to The Sun.
The Chief Medical Officer said that some form of the measures will have to be in place for a long period of time to make sure the transmission rate doesn’t grow, as the virus could begin spreading again.
In a stark warning to the public of what is to come, he said it is “wholly unrealistic” to think a return to normal life is possible anytime soon, Mr Whitty said.
And it comes as scientists have warned that a second wave of coronavirus could come this northern hemisphere winter.
There will be a “series of choices” and ministers will decide a mix of measures to try and ease some rules.
But whatever options they must not see the transmission rate go above one – as the cases could rocket again.
The only “exit” from lockdown will be a vaccine or drugs to treat coronavirus, he said.
And the chances of that happening in the next calendar year is “incredibly small”, even as the first human vaccines start tomorrow.
Professor Whitty told the country: “In the long run, the exit from this is going to one be one of two things … One of which is a highly effective vaccine.
“And/or highly effective drugs so that people stop dying of this disease even if they catch it, or which can prevent this disease in vulnerable people.
“I think we should be realistic about that.
“We are going to have to rely on other social measures, which are incredibly disruptive.
“Its going to take a long time. We need to be aware of that.”
It could mean that older people may not be able to spend Christmas with their loved ones if the crisis carries on, Dr Hillary warned earlier.
Dr Hillary said there was still a chance that Christmas could be “wonderful”, but that it was unlikely that the country would be back to normal.
Protecting the elderly would be likely to be the measure that is kept in place the longest.
US DEATH TOLL LIKELY ‘HIGHER’ THAN REPORTED
Meanwhile, America’s horrific coronavirus infection and death tolls are likely to be much higher than current reports after it was revealed two people who died were infected weeks before the first US death was officially recorded.
Public health detectives believe the discovery – and the fact neither person had travelled – reveals that the virus was already spreading quickly in local communities in America in early February.
That was long before the White House, Congress or state Governors publicly acknowledged the gravity of the situation and enacted strict stay-at-home lockdowns.
California’s Santa Clara County announced that two people who died at home on February 6 and 17 tested positive for COVID-19 during their autopsies.
It was previously believed that the first US victim of the virus was a man in Washington state who died on February 29.
Santa Clara officials believe that limited testing has led to an undercount of cases and deaths, a phenomenon that has played out in other municipalities and countries, including New York City.
“As the Medical Examiner-Coroner continues to carefully investigate deaths throughout the county, we anticipate additional deaths from COVID-19 will be identified,” the statement said.
Neither of the victims had a travel history, meaning that in all probability they were infected in the community, indicating that the virus was already spreading at that time – a reminder of how swiftly the epidemic has transformed life in the country and around the world.
TRUMP WARNS GEORGIA AGAINST RE-OPENING
President Donald Trump is taking issue with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s decision to begin reopening businesses like hair salons and tattoo parlours when the coronavirus continues to spread.
Trump says at a White House briefing that he disagrees “strongly” with the Republican governor’s decision to allow the reopening of businesses like barber shops where social distancing is impossible, saying they stand “in violation of the phase one guidelines” his administration released last week. While Trump says he wants Kemp to do what he thinks is right, Trump says he thinks opening beauty salons and barber shops during phase one ‘is just too soon.” “They can wait a little bit longer,” he says, “Just a little bit not much, because safety had to predominate.”
It comes as some American states continue to protest strict lockdown measures.
In the state of Georgia, non-essential businesses, including tattoo parlours, hair salons, movie theatres and bowling alleys, will be authorised to reopen from Friday – despite some health experts saying that this should not happen until June.
Most the states that have committed to reopening are still weeks away from the timing suggested in the latest modeling by the influential Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation based on the spread of the virus and social distancing.
And despite not meeting current guidelines, Mr Trump on Wednesday (local time) applauded the states by tweeting: “States are safely coming back. Our Country is starting to OPEN FOR BUSINESS again. Special care is, and always will be, given to our beloved seniors (except me!).”
In a sign of the incredible internal debate going on in the US about continuing the COVID-19 stay-at-home lockdowns, the Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is making the move despite criticism from black mayors and other doubters.
And Las Vegas is also keen to “get back to normal”, with the mayor offering her city to be a “control group” to test whether social distancing actually worked.
Atlanta’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is black, said she “will continue to urge Atlanta to stay at home, stay safe and make decisions based on the best interests of their families”.
She said: “As a parent, I am concerned. Our numbers are going up. [Mayors] are really at a loss.”
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said Georgia should not be reopening for business until June.
Governor Kemp said: “I don’t give a damn about politics right now.
“When we have more people moving around we’re probably going to see cases continue to go up. But we’re a lot better prepared for that now than a month ago.”
VACCINE EXPERT ‘REMOVED FROM POST’
The doctor who led the federal agency involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine said he was removed from his post after he pressed for a rigorous vetting of a coronavirus treatment embraced by President Trump.
The doctor said that science, not “politics and cronyism” must lead the way.
Dr Rick Bright was abruptly dismissed this week as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, and as the deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response.
Instead, he was given a narrower job at the National Institutes of Health.
“I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit,” he said.
“I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science – not politics or cronyism – has to lead the way,” he said.
Dr Bright pointed specifically to the initial efforts to make chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine widely available before it was scientifically tested for efficacy with the coronavirus.
“Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit,” he said.
Meanwhile, three US states, including worst-hit New York, are joining forces to create a tracing program that will enable some easing of the coronavirus restrictions that have been extended until mid-May.
New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo said a tracing app would be key to managing the virus while scientists race to find treatments and a vaccine.
Mr Cuomo warned New Yorkers the lockdown in his state was unlikely to end soon.
“This is not going to be over anytime soon, I know people want out, I get it … I also know more people will die if we are not smart,” he said.
Meanwhile, the European Commission says it plans to release new rules next month to enable the safe reopening of air travel.
EU transport commissioner Adina Valean said measures being considered included mandating the wearing of face masks as well as the disinfecting of airports and planes.
“All this should be part of those guidelines and probably by mid-May we can put forward this strategy we are working on,” Ms Valean said on Twitter.
The airline industry expects middle seats will have to be left vacant when air travel eventually resumes.
And as Europe also slowly emerges from lockdown, France and Holland are to re-open schools after weeks of lockdowns amid the coronavirus crisis.
French primary school pupils will return to school on May 11 for lessons restricted to around 15 children per class.
Youngsters across Holland will also be allowed to return to lessons from May 11 but only on a part-time basis.
Older children in France can return on May 18 if schools have met strict health conditions set out by the state.
MORRISON, TRUMP TALKS ON CHINA BAN
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has revealed he has spoken to Trump about how successful banning Chinese visitors from Australia was in the early COVID-19 response.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr Morrison criticised the World Health Organisation’s response in the early day to the virus, saying that not reforming the WHO and delaying information could lead to “hundreds of thousands” of deaths.
The PM told host Paul Murray he and Mr Trump discussed coronavirus strategies in their phone call on Wednesday which also probed what role misinformation from the World Health Organisation had on the pandemic.
Mr Morrison said that decision to close borders – which went against official WHO advice – “pretty much prevented that first wave” of the killer coronavirus from hitting Australian shores.
“One of the things we discussed in particular was the fact that we both made the decision about the same time to ensure that we blocked off those incoming visitors from China, mainland China,” Mr Morrison told Sky News.
“That was quite critical in our story”.
The Prime Minister became emotional during the interview and seemed close to tears when he was asked about which social distancing restrictions were the toughest to impose.
“There have been so many hard things,” Mr Morrison said.
“That one that really tears me up is how many people have had to deal with loved ones who’ve passed away and go through funerals with so few people there.”
Current restrictions designed to slow the spread of coronavirus prevent more than 10 people from attending a funeral.
Mr Morrison fought back tears while speaking about the human toll of such a drastic measure, describing the scenario as “just horrible”.
“We need … Let’s look forward to good days, mate. They’re going to come. They’re going to come.”
The Ruby Princess’s chief doctor has admitted she was surprised the cruise ship was allowed to dock and disembark passengers in Sydney before testing for the coronavirus had been completed, a move that has been linked to 19 deaths and more than 700 infections.
Speaking on the first day of a special commission of inquiry into Australia’s worst coronavirus infection fiasco, Ilse Von Watzdorf said if it had been her decision, she would have waited before – allowing passengers to leave.
Dr Von Watzdorf conceded the cruise ship should have been denied permission to disembark passengers before testing for the deadly pathogen had been completed.
“If it was my decision, I would have perhaps waited,” Dr Von Watzdorf said. “I was surprised that we were allowed to do that without waiting for the results to come through.”
She also told the inquiry she would have kept the liner’s passengers and crew under quarantine until the test results were finalised, given the risks posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
WHO NEEDS MAJOR REFORM
Mr Morrison told Sky News the World Health Organisation needed to undergo radical reform after failing to provide accurate information in the early days of the coronavirus crisis.
“There are immediately things that can improve,” he said.
“One of the things that would have been very helpful to the world was if there wasn’t that delay and if there was the ability to get this information very early on that could have alerted the rest of the world to the greater risk that was occurring there.
“It did take a while and I don’t make that comment to be critical it’s just an observation and I personally think that it would be very helpful, in certain circumstances, and it wouldn’t matter if it was in Australia or South America, if it was in South East Asia or Africa or China or anywhere else that if there is a virus of this nature that is believed to be of pandemic potential and very dangerous to the world we need to know what is going on and fast.
“Very fast and if we have that ability that could potentially save thousands if not hundreds of thousands of lives and we need to have that sort of ability.”
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The head of the World Health Organisation was forced to deny reports that Taiwan told it that coronavirus was transmitting between humans on December 31.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has suggested that some developed countries criticising WHO’s handling of the pandemic are doing so because they “got into trouble” because they were unprepared for a public health crisis.
“The first report came from Wuhan – from China itself – so Taiwan was only asking for clarification and as some people were claiming, Taiwan was not reporting human to human transmission,” Dr Tedros said.
Mr Morrison’s proposal could involve boosting WHO powers to ensure they have the same authority as UN weapons checkers to enter countries and investigate outbreaks.
Mr Morrison said himself and Mr Trump had been able to “share those experiences” as to how each nation has addressed the virus
Mr Morrison said he wanted to see schools open again as soon as possible and that the most emotional part of the pandemic, for him, was the fact that grieving families farewelling their loved ones were restricted to small numbers at funerals.
HOW MORRISON WANTS TO REFORM WHO
Australia wants to give the World Health Organisation the authority of an international “weapons inspector” so experts can immediately enter any country to investigate future pandemics.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has discussed the idea with key allies, including the US, amid fears the world lost valuable time to contain the coronavirus in the early days of the outbreak in China.
Bolstering the WHO’s authority to intervene in a potential global health crisis earlier is seen by Mr Morrison as the best way to ensure no time is lost responding to future pandemics.
WHO experts were first allowed to conduct a field visit to Wuhan to observe the Chinese Government’s response to the new coronavirus on January 20 – a month after the disease was first detected.
Under Australia’s proposal, international health officials would be able to gain access to any country without permission, similar to UN weapons inspectors.
The federal government is also seeking a coalition of like-minded countries to back an independent inquiry of the COVID-19 outbreak and response, but will argue the need to improve the capability to deal with future pandemics should be settled now rather than wait years for a review result.
Australia’s preference is for the inquiry to take place through an independent mechanism, external to the WHO or other UN bodies.
Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said giving WHO inspectors more power was a “good idea” but warned it would need a “lot of work” to get international agreement.
FEARS VIRUS COULD BE SPREAD IN OTHER WAYS
How much COVID-19 virus gets into your body when you are first infected could determine whether you suffer a severe or a mild infection new research from China suggests.
And almost two in three patients have the virus detected in stool samples which suggests this could be another way the virus is spreading, the researchers have found.
Chinese researchers looked at 96 patients with COVID-19 treated in a hospital designated for virus patients in the Zejiang Province in China between January and March 20.
The study found the virus was present in stool samples for 22 days, much longer than it was found in respiratory samples (18 days).
It also found sicker patients had higher amounts of the virus in their body.
“We found differences in the viral load in patients with different disease severities,” the authors said in a report published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
“Those with severe disease showing a significantly higher viral load than those with mild disease, which suggests that viral load can be used to assess prognosis,” the researchers said.
Among the patients studied 22 had mild disease and 74 had severe disease, thirty patients with severe disease were admitted to intensive care but none of them died during the study period.
Infectious diseases expert Professor Willem van Schaik from the University of Birmingham told Science Media centre the viral load related to how much virus was transmitted when a person first got infected.