A professor of intensive care has warned Australians "you will have blood on your hands" if you fail to self-isolate and spread the disease.
A professor of intensive care medicine has warned Australians "you will have blood on your hands" if you fail to self-isolate and spread the disease.
Speaking on ABC's 7.30 program, Professor Hugh Montgomery said the "massive rise" in confirmed cases in Australia will be followed "some time six to 10 days down the pipeline by the same exponential rise in hospital cases and intensive care cases. We're hitting that about now."
Meanwhile, ABC's Insiders host David Speers has said the government will likely be moving to stage three restrictions in the future.
It comes as Western Australia recorded its second coronavirus death, bringing the national death toll to 13.
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As states and territories closed their borders for the first time in a century, NSW, Victoria and the ACT yesterday warned residents to brace for even more job losses under tougher measures that will shut down a broader range of businesses and further restrict social movement, with Canberra's leader promising only that "we will keep the power on, and the water running".
More than 2800 cases of COVID-19 have now been confirmed across Australia with 1219 in New South Wales, 520 in Victoria, 493 in Queensland, 231 in Western Australia, 235 in South Australia, 53 in the ACT, 42 in Tasmania and eight in the Northern Territory.
Thirteen people have died – two in WA, seven in NSW, one in Queensland and three in Victoria.
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Five new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the Northern Territory.
They include four Territorians – a couple from Katherine and a couple from Central Australia – and a Queenslander who was transiting through Darwin.
All five had recently returned from overseas travel and are now under supervision, according to NT Health.
A total of 12 Territorians have now been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Five people have received infringements in New South Wales for failing to comply with the new Public Health Act rules.
"Earlier today, officers from Sydney City Police Area Command were conducting a patrol in the Sydney CBD as part of a proactive police operation to ensure individuals and businesses were complying with all ministerial directions related to COVID-19," NSW Police said in a statement.
The female owner of a massage parlour on Sussex Street in Sydney was fined $5000 for continuing to operate, it said. Three female staff members were also issued with $1000 fines.
In a separate incident, a 65-year-old woman was fined $1000 last Saturday for failing to quarantine after arriving back from a holiday in Bali.
The woman arrived at Sydney International Airport and was advised she was required to quarantine for 14 days, police said.
"After receiving information that the woman had contravened the order, officers from Lake Macquarie Police District attended her Redhead home about midday on Monday (23 March 2020) and issued her with a warning for breaching the order," police said.
"Police received further information that the woman had left her home during the morning today (Thursday 26 March 2020) and was in breach of the order."
Retail hardware giant Bunnings will reduce trading hours and introduce a tradies only session in new coronavirus rules for customers.
Stores will increase cleaning of counters, trolleys and baskets and tape warehouse floors to mark 1.5m distancing spaces between customers.
Bunnings announced Thursday evening it would cancel all sausage sizzles, and also close stores two hours early in the evenings between Monday and Friday.
It has also closed its playgrounds, shut its cafes, provided staff with gloves and hand sanitiser and encouraged used of tap and pay over cash.
From Monday, Bunnings stores will open exclusively for trade customers and emergency services personnel before 9am on weekdays.
While weekend trading hours will remain the same, until 9pm, Bunnings stores will close two hours earlier – at 7pm Monday to Friday.
Bunnings announced this was to "enable team members to re-stock shelves and conduct a thorough clean of the store".
Bunnings said retail customers would be "able to shop from 9am midweek and weekend hours will remain the same with no exclusions on Saturdays and Sundays".
"We also want customers to be aware that there may be some delays in our busier stores as we try to ensure we are doing everything we can to ensure social distancing measures," it said in a statement.
Its new measures included increased cleaning of counters, trolleys and baskets, and "social distancing measures including taping floors to mark 1.5m".
They also included moving stock on pallets around to open up space, and trestle tables in front of service areas to create more distance.
– Candace Sutton
A professor of intensive care at the University College in London has warned Australians "you will have blood on your hands" if you fail to self-isolate and spread the disease.
Speaking on ABC's 7.30 program, Professor Hugh Montgomery said the "massive rise" in confirmed cases in Australia will be followed "sometimes six to 10 days down the pipeline by the same exponential rise in hospital cases and intensive care cases. We're hitting that about now."
Mr Montgomery said according to the UK's Department of Health, London is set to run out of intensive care beds in two days.
When asked what was his best advice for Australians, he pointed to social distancing measures and criticised the British public for "picnicking" and "partying".
"For most people they won't even notice they've got it. If they do get it, it won't be bad. But this isn't about you. It's about other people," he said.
"If you spread this and you spread it three times without even knowing you're doing it, 10 cycles later you have been responsible potentially for 7,000 hospitalised cases and you will have blood on your hands.
"So, please, please, please, heed the advice your government is giving you. Stay at home. If you have to go out, stay 2m away from everyone else.
"This is droplet spread. Very, very hard to catch at a greater distance than that. Wash your hands before you leave in case you're an asymptomatic carrier, wash your hands when you come back in and do it rigorously all the time.
"This will be hard, but if you do this you can, as we talk about, flatten the curve. This is about turning a tsunami into a long, slow roar.
"The same number of people may get infected but if the tsunami doesn't happen, your health services have a much better chance to cope. If they can't cope, they can't help you survive and you get critically ill."
ABC 7.30 host Leigh Sales has grilled Australia's Deputy Chief Medical Officer on hairdresser time limits after the boss of Just Cuts earlier slammed the PM’s decision to backflip on the 30-minute haircut rule, calling for the industry to be shut down.
The National Cabinet of states, territories and the federal government backflipped on its decision to restrict hairdressers and barbers to 30-minute appointments on Thursday as part of the strategy to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in Australia.
In a statement today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he had listened to the feedback of the “practical implementation” of the COVID-19 measures and agreed with Premiers and Chief Ministers at National Cabinet last night that the “instruction regarding 30 minutes per patron will be lifted”.
When asked by 7.30 host Leigh Sales about social distancing and medical advice during a hair cut, Mr Kelly said: "In terms of hairdressers, it is impractical to keep the distance. You can't keep that 1.5m that we advise if you're cutting someone's hair.
"But there are many other things that people can do in relation to that. Minimising the time is one of them. There's nothing magical about half an hour but minimising the time is certainly something you can do.
"The less time you spend close to another person, the less the risk of passing that on.
"Second of all if you're sick, don't go and get your hair cut. If you're a sick hairdresser, don't go to work."
But host Sales grilled Mr Kelly further: "You're not answering the question which is regarding how the rule can be changed from one day to the next if the restrictions are based on the medical advice?"
Mr Kelly's reply indicated the government may be overriding expert medical advice.
"The advice we give goes to the cabinet. The cabinet have their discussions. I'm not privy to how those discussions went on on either the first night or the second one.
"Things are changing every day in relation to this virus and that was one of the things that was changed today."
Professor Kelly also said that “millions of masks” are expected to arrive in Australia over the next few months.
Western Australia has recorded its second coronavirus death, bringing the national death toll to 13.
A man in his 70s has died in Joondalup Hospital in Perth where he was taken after fainting in his home, according to Nine News.
It was originally reported the man was a passenger on the infected Ruby Princess that docked in Sydney last week. But not the case. The man was a passenger on another unidentified cruise.
From tomorrow all parking fees will be waived across Brisbane and parking officers have been asked not to hand out fines.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the decision was being made to help those that are still having to travel to work.
"From tomorrow, to help support those still at work, all Brisbane City Council parking meters will be switched-off, making more than 8,000 spaces free of charge," he said.
"Our two off-street parking stations at King George Square and Wickham Terrace will also have their fees slashed to $5 per day, saving users up to $30 per day."
Mr Schrinner also said Council parking officers had been asked not to issue fines except in cases where illegal parking is causing a dangerous situation.
South Australia and Western Australia have recorded 64 new coronavirus cases between them.
SA now has 235 confirmed coronavirus cases after 38 more people we diagnosed.
Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said 19 of the new cases were passengers from the Ruby Princess cruise ship.
"In total, we've had 60 people in South Australia who have had COVID-19 that they have contracted on a cruise liner," she said.
"Importantly, my team have not been able to find anyone who's not had an epidemiological link – ie a contact of a case – but most of our cases have had international travel, particularly the cruise liners and there are a smaller number who have had interstate travel."
Western Australia has recorded 26 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the state's total to 231.
WA Health Minister Roger Cook said 17 of the new cases are males and nine are females, with patients ranging in age from seven to 81.
"So there's just the one child and I understand that child is self-isolating at home with their family and is comfortable," he said.
ABC's Insiders host David Speers has said the government will likely be moving to stage three restrictions in the future.
"There is going to be a move at some point to stage three and I think the idea is to cope it as nationally coordinated as possible," he said.
Speers said it wouldn't be a surprise if NSW and Victoria introduce tougher shutdown rules sooner than other parts of the country.
"You see a different caseload in Victoria and New South Wales, particularly higher than you do in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Tasmania and so on," he said.
"It will be no surprise those two big states are going to move further towards shutting things down than some of the other states."
Picture: ABC
Speers said while schools may not shut down completely, we would likely see more businesses being told to close their doors.
"Once New South Wales and Victoria takes steps that others have not, you can imagine the sort of pressure they're going to come under to do so," he said.
"Whether they all move at once or soon after, I do think wore going to get to more restrictions sooner rather than later."
Australia's Minister for Education Dan Tehan has announced the child care sector should remain open despite the growing number of virus cases.
All child care centres, except where individual services have been directed to close by health authorities, have been instructed to stay open.
"The Government is aware of the challenges facing the Child Care sector because of reduced attendance," Mr Tehan said in a statement.
"I am working with the sector to minimise the impact of COVID-19, and we already have implemented additional support arrangements.
"To support the sector, we have increased the number of days, up to 62, that a child care service will continue to receive the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) when a child is absent from care. The CCS covers up to 85 per cent of the daily costs of a child’s care."
Grants ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 are available for child care providers through the Community Child Care Special Circumstances Fund to help cover business costs, including wages, to ensure services impacted by COVID-19 can continue to operate.
Families with financial difficulty can apply for funding through the ACCS (temporary financial hardship fund) to cover child care gap fees.
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