500 Aussies have been hospitalised by contracting COVID-19 as nation’s death toll hits 40
Up to 500 Aussies have been hospitalised by COVID-19 as the nation’s death toll hits 40 and Aussies are urged not to wear medical grade face masks to “leave them for people who really need them”.
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Almost 500 people with the coronavirus are in hospitals across Australia, with just under 100 fighting for life in intensive care units and 35 requiring ventilators.
Speaking in Canberra on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly revealed a number of the most serious cases were people in their 30s without underlying conditions.
“I would stress that some of those people that are in intensive care are relatively young, so in their 30s,” Prof Kelly said.
“This is not just an old person’s disease.”
Professor Kelly added COVID-19 could affect anyone – not just the elderly.
“As has been seen around the world so far, the more cases you get, the more likely it is that you will find people without any vulnerability to start with and relatively young people having this disease very severely,” he said.
“This is a wake-up call for all of us.”
Of the 5795 cases across Australia so far, about eight per cent were contracted through local transmission.
Compared with other countries, with death rates sitting above one or two per cent of all cases, Australia was faring well, according to Professor Kelly.
“Our low mortality rate and our low percentage positive in our testing shows me that we are actually finding people early in this disease, isolating them and breaking those chains of transmission that spread through the whole population,” Prof Kelly said.
“These are very encouraging signs indeed.”
His comments come as the nation’s death toll rises to 40 after an 84-year-old WA man, who travelled on-board the Ruby Princess cruise ship, succumbed to the disease.
The man’s death follows the state closing its borders to the rest of the country during the pandemic.
Exemptions are in place for compassionate grounds, health workers and emergency services, as well as FIFO workers provided they undergo a 14-day isolation period upon arrival.
WA is also enforcing intrastate travel restrictions.
It also follows the death of two others in Victoria – a man in his 50s and a woman in her 80s.
In the press conference, Professor Kelly encouraged Australians to also refrain from wearing medical grade face masks amid the coronavirus pandemic to “leave them for people who really need them”.
He said Australians should only wear them if they are sick or work in the medical field, in aged care or disability sector.
“In terms of protecting yourself from others, that may give us a false sense of security,” he said.
“We really want to reserve them for our healthcare workers, our aged care workers, disability workers, people on the frontline who are there to care for all of us, but particularly if we have this COVID-19 problem.”
His comments follow the US Center for Disease Control recommending Americans to wear cloth masks when they go out in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.
STRANDED AUSSIES TO FLY HOME
Australians stranded in South America during the coronavirus pandemic are set to fly home this week.
Australia’s Ambassador to Peru and Bolivia Diana Nelson tweeted on Monday a flight into Melbourne had been organised for Australians in Lima, Cusco and Iquitos.
However, demand looks to surpass availability.
“Working hard to get you home,” she confirmed in a post on Twitter.
Delighted to confirm âœˆï¸ to Melbourne this Wednesday for Australians in Lima, Cusco and Iquitos. Booking details sent to all registered on consular.lima@dfat.gov.au. 2nd âœˆï¸ being planned for Lima. Working hard to get you home. 🙠for patience.
— Diana Nelson (@embauslima) April 6, 2020
More than 4000 Australians registered with the consulate to return home on the next available flight.
Two separate planes will depart the South American country to connect with a Santiago-Melbourne flight. Each seat will cost $2550 per person.
ELEVEN COVID-19 DEATHS LINKED TO CRUISE SHIP
Eleven coronavirus deaths, and more than 600 cases, have been linked to the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which docked at Port Kembla early today.
Police on Sunday announced a criminal probe to examine if the ship’s operator, Carnival Australia, downplayed potential COVID-19 cases before it docked in Sydney last month.
Attorney-General Christian Porter today backed the NSW Police investigation.
“Of course, there’s a whole range of offences, including civil fraud, that may have been possibly committed and that’s what the investigation is about,” he told ABC Radio.
“If those offences can be substantiated by evidence then they would be very, very serious indeed.”
More than one million casual workers without a one-year tie to their employer are also set to miss out the $1500 a fortnight coronavirus wage subsidy.
Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter has rebuffed calls for broadening the federal government’s $130 billion scheme to include casuals with links to multiple employers.
Under the JobKeeper program, coronavirus-hit businesses will receive a $1500 fortnightly payment to pass on to each employee for six months. Six million workers are expected to receive the subsidies.
However, unions and Labor are concerned 1.1 million casual workers will miss out because of the eligibility criteria.
Casuals not eligible for JobKeeper can apply for the $1100 fortnightly JobSeeker payment, which has been increased during the pandemic.
Legislation will be debated in parliament on Wednesday as bureaucrats scramble to draft the laws.
COVID-19 DRIVES CITIZENSHIP ONLINE
Citizenship online is set to surge with the coronavirus outbreak limiting people from taking their oath of allegiance in person.
There are 85,000 people awaiting a ceremony, who are legally required to make a Pledge of Commitment to Australia before a presiding officer.
The Department of Home Affairs has begun one-on-one ceremonies for those already approved for citizenship.
Citizenship applications will remain open during the crisis but interviews have been put on hold.
Additional resources will be deployed to cut through the backlog once the pandemic subsides.
GOVERNMENT TACKLES COVID-19 WITHOUT PARLIAMENT
Meanwhile, the Morrison government has declared it has better things to do than sit in parliament to deal with the response to the coronavirus.
Parliament has been recalled for a single day on Wednesday to pass legislation giving the legal underpinning to the $1500 fortnightly wage subsidy for businesses hit by the virus crisis.
But the government continues to insist its scrapping of all planned sitting days between March and August is the most sensible thing.
Australia is alone among similar democracies in having dumped so much of its parliamentary time.
Leader of the House Christian Porter said parliament was “a very flexible organ of government”.
“But why would we set down a regular sitting schedule over the coming weeks and months, in the most irregular time Australia has ever known? What is the point of that?” he told ABC Radio National today.
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“If people want to sit out there during the greatest economic crisis Australia’s experienced and read practice and procedure of the House of Representatives, good luck to them. But we’ve got better things to do.”
Constitutional expert George Williams said the Australian approach is a poor contrast to what was happening elsewhere.
He pointed out parliament continued to sit and keep up its oversight and accountability roles during World War I and II.
“The current crisis demands that we place high levels of trust in our leaders. However, it would be naive and foolish to rely on trust alone,” Prof Williams wrote in The Australian.
“Taking parliament out of the equation is unwise when governments are exercising authoritarian powers. There is a lot that can go wrong.”
WA BORDER CLOSURE LIKENED TO BREXIT
Western Australia’s unprecedented temporary border closure is in place, separating the state from the rest of the country during the coronavirus pandemic.
Premier Mark McGowan likened the move to Brexit and described WA as an “island within an island”.
He warned travel restrictions could be in place for about six months, even though it would turn lives upside down.
However, he said WA and the rest of the country was in a state of emergency.
“It’s going to be a long, hard winter of restrictions and that is a very unfortunate reality,” he told reporters on Sunday.
Exemptions are in place for health workers, emergency services, freight workers, people providing specialist skills, judicial services and on compassionate grounds.
FIFO workers and their families will also be exempt but must follow a 14-day isolation period upon arriving in WA.
GOODSTART NOW ELIGIBLE FOR $130 BILLION PROGRAM
Australia’s largest child care provider has been thrown a lifeline after the Morrison government eased rules around its wage subsidy scheme.
Goodstart and other charities will now be eligible for the $130 billion program if they have suffered a 15 per cent decline in turnover as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
The government announced wage subsidies for child care workers last week; but Goodstart was not eligible as it earns more than $1 billion each year and could not demonstrate a 50 per cent cut to its turnover.
MORE BEACHES CLOSE IN AUSTRALIA
Some of the nation’s most famous beaches will close after crowds flocked to popular surf breaks breaching social distancing laws and risking the spread of COVID-19.
Surfers Paradise, The Spit and Coolangatta beaches on the Gold Coast will close from midnight Tuesday to deter Brisbane day-trippers, in harsh restrictions handed down by Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate.
“I didn’t want to do this but over the weekend shows me that especially people visiting from Brisbane are not listening to us,” Mayor Tate said.
“I say to Logan and Brisbane people – we love you but we don’t want you to visit us right now.”
LENDING CLOSED PUBS A HELPING HAND
Australians can give their closed local pub a hit of cash by buying a beer they can drink when coronavirus restrictions are wound back.
Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) and the Australian Hotels Association have launched a campaign allowing people to buy a pint of Carlton Draught at their favourite pub, with the cash to go straight to the venue.
They will also get a free pint, with both beers able to be drunk when the pub reopens.
CUB said it will donate up to $1 million worth of kegs to venues to back the For the Love of Your Local campaign and could stump up more cash if required.
Venues can sign up for the campaign, and people can choose to support them at loveofyourlocal.com.au.
The beers are purchased through PayPal, allowing the cash to go straight to the venues, and customers will be sent a voucher to claim their beers when the businesses open their doors again.
US BRACES FOR ‘9/11 MOMENT’
It comes as the number of cases in the US climbed to at least 335,524, with at least 9562 dead, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Of those deaths, 1344 were reported Saturday – the most fatalities recorded in the US in a single day.
Americans were bracing for what the nation’s top doctor warned would be “the hardest and saddest week” of their lives, while Britain assumed the unwelcome mantle of deadliest coronavirus hotspot in Europe after a record 24-hour jump in deaths that surpassed even hard-hit Italy.
“This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment,” US Surgeon General Jerome Adams told Fox News Sunday.
In London, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was hospitalised – a step his office said was for tests because he still has symptoms 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19.
New York City, the US epicentre of the pandemic, saw a glimmer of hope, with Governor Andrew Cuomo saying that daily deaths had dropped slightly, along with intensive care admissions and the number of patients who needed breathing tubes inserted.
Still, he warned that it was “too early to tell” the significance of those numbers.
Italy and Spain also got some encouraging news. Italy registered its lowest day-to-day increase in deaths in more than two weeks – 525, said Angelo Borrelli, the head of the national Civil Protection agency.
The pace of infection also seemed to be slowing. The country recorded 4316 new cases Sunday. Earlier in the outbreak, daily increases topped 6000. Even so, Mr Borrelli warned, “This good news shouldn’t make us drop our guard.”
Confirmed infections fell in Spain too, and new deaths declined for the third straight day, dropping to 674 – the first time daily deaths have fallen below 800 in the past week.
“We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said.
OUTLOOK REMAINS BLEAK IN UK
The outlook remained bleak in Britain, which recorded 708 new coronavirus deaths on Saturday compared with Italy’s 631 deaths. With 600-plus more deaths reported Sunday, Britain has recorded more than 4900 virus deaths overall among nearly 48,000 cases. Italy still has by far the world’s highest coronavirus death toll at almost 16,000 out of nearly 130,000 confirmed cases.
Downing Street said Mr Johnson’s hospitalisation was a “precautionary step” and that he remains in charge of the government.
The 55-year-old Conservative has been quarantined at his residence.
There are wide fears that Johnson’s government did not take the virus seriously enough at first and that spring weather will tempt Britons and others to break social distancing rules.
In a rare televised address to the nation, Queen Elizabeth II appealed to Britons to exercise self-discipline in “an increasingly challenging time.”
The 93-year-old monarch said the pandemic had caused enormous disruptions, bringing grief, financial difficulties and daunting challenges to everybody.
It was only the fourth time since her reign began in 1953 that she has given such an address.
“I hope in the years to come, everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge,” she said. “And those who come after us will say that the Britons of this generation were as strong as any.” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said sunbathing in public places was not allowed and the UK might even ban outdoor exercise if people still “flout the rules.” “The vast majority of people are following the public health advice, which is absolutely critical, and staying at home,” Mr Hancock told Sky TV.
“But there are a small minority of people who are still not doing that – it’s quite unbelievable, frankly, to see that.”
As the numbers of infections rose, the deputy head of Britain’s National Health Service Providers said the agency needed to focus on quickly increasing ventilator capacity and getting more protective equipment for health care workers.
“I think that we are just a week away from the surge of this,” Saffron Cordery told Sky TV.
Italians have not been immune to lure of the good weather either. Top Italian officials took to national television after photos were published showing huge crowds out shopping in Naples, Rome, Genoa and even the hard-hit Veneto city of Padua. Lombardy Vice Gov. Fabrizio Sala said mobile phone data showed 38 per cent of the region’s people were out and about – the highest figure since March 20. Health Minister Roberto Speranza told RAI state television that all the sacrifices Italians have made since the nationwide lockdown began on March 10 risked being reversed.
Restrictions on movement vary from country to country. In Germany and Britain, residents can get out to exercise and walk their dogs, as well as go to the supermarket, the post office and other essential tasks. Yet in Serbia and South Africa, dog walking is not allowed.
In France, heat-seeking drones have been whizzing over Fontainebleau forest to identify rule-breakers after the former royal estate in the Paris suburbs was closed to the public. That hi-tech measure has been coupled with more traditional police patrols on horseback and roadblocks that turn back the cars of those seeking to escape urban areas.
In Sweden, authorities have advised the public to practice social distancing, but schools, bars
and restaurants are still open.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis celebrated Mass and blessed palms for Palm Sunday in a near-empty St. Peter’s Basilica. Usually tens of thousands of faithful would have crowded the square outside to attend a papal Mass. Holy Thursday and Easter services will be held the same way. In the pope’s native Argentina, the faithful were using plants at home for a “virtual” blessing during a lifestream of the Palm Sunday service.
Worldwide, more than 1.2 million people have been confirmed infected and more than 65,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. The true numbers are certainly much higher, due to limited testing, different ways nations count the dead and deliberate under-reporting by some governments. The vast majority of infected people recover from the virus, which is spread by microscopic droplets from coughs or sneezes. For most people, the virus causes mild to moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. But for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and lead to death. The World Health Organisation says 95 per cent of the known coronavirus deaths in Europe have been in people over 60.
The rapid spread of the virus in the United States has prompted a chaotic scramble for desperately needed medical equipment and protective gear. The result has been intense squabbling between the states and the federal government.
An Associated Press review of federal purchasing contracts showed that federal agencies largely waited until mid-March – more than two months after the first warnings of a potential pandemic – to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front- line health care workers.
By that time, hospitals in several states were treating thousands of infected patients without adequate equipment and pleading for shipments from the national stockpile. Now that stockpile is nearly drained just as the numbers of patients requiring critical care is surging.
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday that he hoped the pace of new infections would plateau soon, but that the virus is unlikely to be completely eradicated this year. That means the US could see the a resurgence during the next flu season, he said.
Speaking on US TV, Dr Fauci said the prospect of a resurgence is why the US is working so hard to be better prepared, including working to develop a vaccine and conducting clinical trials on therapeutic interventions.
TIGER AT BRONX ZOO HAS CORONAVIRUS
A tiger at the Bronx Zoo has tested positive for the new coronavirus, in what is believed to be the first known infection in an animal in the U. or a tiger anywhere, federal officials and the zoo said Sunday.
The four-year-old Malayan tiger named Nadia – and six other tigers and lions that have also fallen ill – are believed to have been infected by a zoo employee who wasn’t yet showing symptoms, the zoo said.
The first animal started showing symptoms March 27, and all are doing well and expected to recover, said the zoo, which has been closed to the public since March 16 amid the surging coronavirus outbreak in New York.
“These are extremely hard days for all of us – no matter where we live and work. We will ensure that whatever we can learn from these circumstances will be used to better understand and combat this disease,” zoo director Jim Breheny said in a statement.
The finding raises new questions about transmission of the virus in animals.
The US Department of Agriculture, which confirmed Nadia’s test result at its veterinary lab, says there are no known cases of the virus in US pets or livestock.
“There doesn’t appear to be, at this time, any evidence that suggests that the animals can spread the virus to people or that they can be a source of the infection in the United States,” Dr. Jane Rooney, a veterinarian and a USDA official, said in an interview.
AFP RECRUITS BUSTED THROWING A PARTY
Australian Federal Police recruits have been caught throwing a party at their residential college in Canberra amid strictly enforced social distancing rules.
The AFP confirmed the party was held on Friday night and an investigation is underway.
ACT Police said they attended a gathering at the AFP College on Friday and spoke with the people in attendance.
In a statement the AFP said it expected members to comply with the law and relevant health directions, and any breaches of these would be dealt with in line with AFP professional standards framework.
“Any identified alleged breaches in behaviour by AFP recruits will be deemed totally unacceptable and will be subject to disciplinary actions.”
All current residents of the AFP College are recruits in training, and are isolated as much as possible at the college and designated AFP training areas, an AFP spokesman said.
‘HERO’ NAVY CAPTAIN TESTS POSITIVE
The US naval commander whose widely publicised plea for help for his coronavirus-affected crew led to his dismissal has reportedly himself tested positive for the disease.
Captain Brett Crozier’s COVID-19 test result was reported Sunday by the New York Times, just hours after US Defense Secretary Mark Esper defended the captain’s firing.
Esper told ABC that Navy Secretary Thomas Modly had “made a tough decision, tough call” in deciding to fire Crozier from his command of the aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt, now docked in Guam.
Asked about a report that President Donald Trump wanted Crozier fired, Esper replied, “This was the secretary’s call. He came and briefed me … It was the secretary’s call. I told him I would support it.”
The firing was widely condemned as a callous and unfair punishment of a respected officer who was looking out for the welfare of his crew when he implored his superiors to let him quickly vacate the ship after it docked in Guam.
“We are not at war,” Crozier wrote in a letter that leaked to the press.
“Sailors do not need to die.”
But some senior Pentagon officials said Crozier erred by letting his plea go public.
Crozier “demonstrated extremely poor judgment in the middle of a crisis,” needlessly worrying family members and undermining the chain of command, Modly said.
Trump, speaking in a news conference Saturday, supported the dismissal.
“He shouldn’t be talking that way in a letter,” he said of Crozier.
“I thought it was terrible what he did.”
The Times, in reporting Crozier’s test result, cited two of his former classmates at the US Naval Academy.
It said he had begun exhibiting symptoms before leaving the ship on Thursday.
Hundreds of sailors cheered Crozier as he left the ship, as seen in video that quickly went viral. Some called him a hero.
Democrats have also sharply criticised the dismissal.
Joe Biden, the leading Democratic candidate for president, condemned the firing on Sunday, telling ABC it was “close to criminal.”
“I think he should have a commendation rather than be fired,” the former vice president said.
And a statement from Democratic leaders of the House Armed Services Committee said Crozier might not have handled the matter perfectly, but that his dismissal was an “over-reaction.”
NEW COVID-19 TREATMENT HOPES
Meanwhile, a blood-thinning drug which is already in use for heart attack and stroke victims, could reduce the number of deaths from COVID-19 and the demand for ventilators.
A new research paper has argued for clinical trials of the drug, which contains a protein called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) which is ordinarily used to break up blood clots, on COVID-19 patients who are in acute respiratory distress.
The trials are based on emerging data from other countries that the COVID-19 patients have a profound disorder of blood clotting that is contributing to their respiratory failure even when they are on ventilators.
The lead author of the research Dr Michael Yaffe, A David H. Koch Professor of science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said “if this were to work, which I hope it will, it could potentially be scaled up very quickly, because every hospital already has it in their pharmacy.”
“We don’t have to make a new drug, and we don’t have to do the same kind of testing that you would have to do with a new agent. This is a new drug that we already use. We are just trying to repurpose it.”
Dr Yaffe, said the research which appears in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, showed in a previous trial that 20 patients who were in respiratory distress so severe they were not expected to survive, were given the drug and 30 per cent of did survive.
“What we are hearing from our intensive care colleagues in Europe and in New York is that many of the critically ill patients with COVID-19 are hypercoagulable, meaning they are clotting off their IV’s and having kidney and heart failure from blood clots, in addition to lung failure,” said Dr Yaffe.
RUBY PRINCESS FACES CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
A fifth person has died in Queensland after contracting the virus while on board the Ruby Princess cruise liner.
The 78-year-old man died on Sunday at Brisbane’s Prince Charles Hospital. The man had underlying medical conditions and is the 11th person to have died after becoming infected with the virus on the cruise ship.
It comes after NSW Police revealed a criminal investigation will be launched into how cruise line operator Carnival Australia was allowed to disembark Ruby Princess passengers in Sydney, resulting in several deaths and COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the country.
“The only way I can get to the bottom of whether our national biosecurity laws and our state laws were broken is through a criminal investigation,” NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said on Sunday.
Mr Fuller told reporters transparency in information regarding patient health on board the cruise ship was a key question for the investigation.
“From my perspective there are many unanswered questions,” he said.
“There seems to be absolute discrepancies between the information provided by Carnival and what I would see is the benchmark for the laws of the federal and state government.”
He said there was clear evidence COVID-19 had come off the Ruby Princess and at least 11 passengers had died in Australia because of it.
The investigation will cover the actions of the port authority, ambulance, police, the NSW Health department and Carnival Australia.
Carnival Australia responded to Mr Fuller’s announcement on Sunday, offering full co-operation with the investigation.
“In addition to willingly participating in the investigation, Carnival Australia will vigorously respond to any allegations of which there must now be full disclosure and the basis for them,” a statement read on Sunday.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard is standing behind his staff who had allowed the Ruby Princess cruise ship to disembark in Sydney on March 19, despite knowing the results would be available within hours.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Friday said Mr Fuller would lead an investigation into the fiasco.
NSW Labor has called for Mr Hazzard to resign over the scandal, with the opposition labelling it “one of the greatest health disasters” in NSW history. Detective Chief Inspector Jason Dickinson of the NSW Homicide Squad will lead the investigation from Monday and the coroner will be notified.
‘SIX MILLION JOBS’ AT STAKE OVER JOBKEEPER SCHEME
Attorney-General Christian Porter says the JobKeeper wage subsidy will be passed on Wednesday “no matter how late we have to sit”.
“The change will be happening next Wednesday, six million Australian jobs depend on it,” Mr Porter said on the weekend.
Mr Porter said he was “listening” to calls for the package to be expanded to include more casual workers, such as those flagged by union chief Sally McManus this morning.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary said she wanted to see the wage subsidy expanded so that casuals who had worked for less than 12 months, and anybody who “reasonably expected” to be working will be covered.
“We’re worried that if you change the rights of workers unfortunately some employers might abuse that,” Ms McManus told ABC’s Insiders.
EASTER BUNNY IN BUSINESS
Aussie kids need not fear the coronavirus restrictions have shut down all the holiday fun after the country’s top medical adviser confirmed the Easter bunny’s work was an “essential service”.
Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy said the upcoming Easter holidays would be “very different” for every family this year, but one special job would continue.
“I’ve been asked about the Easter bunny and I’m told because he’s a solo operator and an essential service, Easter bunny, he or she, will be allowed to continue to operate,” Prof Murphy said on Sunday.
“But the rest of us will have to do things differently.”
Only essential workers who aren’t able to do their job from home are allowed to continue to travel to and from the workplace.
The National Cabinet has also agreed to allow people formally participating in religious services for Easter to travel to places of worship to do that work.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday that while churches remained closed to the public, singers and other service roles would be considered “essential” for the purposes of special ceremonies being broadcast or live streamed online for Easter this year.
Prof Murphy said while Australia had a lower COVID-19 death rate compared to many other countries, the measures to protect the population must continue.
“Easter is a time when people normally travel, get together and have social gatherings and we’re asking you not to do that,” he said.
“We’re asking you to stay with your family, in your place of residence, not travel where you might be unwittingly spread the virus, not have parties where you might unwittingly be sharing the virus with people who don’t have it.
“Particularly not with those older and vulnerable Australians.”
– with AAP, AFP, AP, Reuters