Coronavirus Australia: Everything that’s happened in past 24 hours

Three in 10 travellers in Victoria’s quarantine hotels are refusing testing, the state’s deputy chief health officer has revealed.

Three in 10 travellers currently residing in Victoria’s quarantine hotels are refusing testing, the state’s deputy chief health officer revealed today.

The state reported it’s 10th consecutive day of a double-digit rise in new infections, with five of the new cases detected in returned travellers in hotel quarantine.

Deputy chief health officer Annaliese van Diemen said this morning, however, about 30 per cent of returned international travellers were not agreeing to the tests.

This could mean a number of coronavirus cases are missing from the state’s (and Australia’s) official tallies.

“At the moment, there is not a requirement that they must undertake testing,” Dr van Diemen told reporters.

“Everyone is offered testing on multiple occasions throughout their stay.”

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The state recorded 30 new coronavirus cases since yesterday, though Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said today it was “reassuring” that the daily numbers had remained relatively consistent, and there hadn’t been any “major escalation”.

“We’re seeing some continuing cases, 20 to 30 a day, in Victoria over this week. That’s what you’d expect,” Prof Murphy said, in his final day as CMO ahead of becoming the Secretary of the Health Department next month.

“That is absolutely what you’d expect as you bring this outbreak under control. The cases that are detected today were infected five to seven days ago. So the fact that we’re not seeing a major escalation in numbers is reassuring and we are very confident that the Victorian response is good, strong and appropriate, and it's focal.”

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New South Wales recorded six new coronavirus cases today. While five are returned travellers in hotel quarantine, one is a Year 7 student from Camden High School in Sydney’s southwest.

A statement from NSW Health said the case was under investigation, and all close contacts were being contacted and isolated. The school was also closed today for a deep clean.

It’s now the third Sydney school to be closed in recent weeks due to coronavirus infections, after Lane Cove West Public School closed on Thursday following a Year 2 student contracting the virus.

Queensland also reported a new case of COVID-19 today, ending its streak of nine days without any new infections.

The new case is a returned traveller from overseas – the first case in the state since June 17, when another overseas traveller tested positive.

Among Victoria’s new infections was a second worker at a Coles distribution centre, with the “entire cohort” being tested for the virus. A McDonald’s worker who also tested positive for COVID-19 is the latest case in an outbreak driven by “various household parties and gatherings”, state health authorities said.

An “entire cohort” of workers at a Coles distribution centre in Victoria will be tested for COVID-19 after a second staff member tested positive.

Meanwhile, amid reports of toilet paper stockpiling in Victoria once again, Woolworths has announced it will reintroduce a nationwide limit.

The move was implemented from 2pm this afternoon, with Woolworths Supermarkets Managing Director Claire Peters saying in a statement, “We’ve regrettably started to see elevated demand for toilet roll move outside Victoria in the past 24 hours”.

“While the demand is not at the same level as Victoria, we’re taking preventive action now to get ahead of any excessive buying this weekend and help maintain social distancing in our stores.”

Customers around Australia will once again be limited to two packs of toilet paper or paper towel per purchase.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison again reprimanded Australians for their panic buying behaviour, calling it “ridiculous” and urging them to stop.

“Stop it, it’s ridiculous,” Mr Morrison said at a press conference today.

“I’m sure it will pass as it did last time and there’s no need for it. I think today, it’s important to reassure people the outbreak doesn’t mean there’s a problem. The response to that outbreak is strong, which means that Australians can have confidence.”

BREAKING: From 2pm this afternoon Woolworths will reintroduce two pack limits on toilet paper and paper towel across Australia. Panic buying strikes again. pic.twitter.com/qr8mze13EO

— Matt Young (@MattYoung) June 26, 2020

In Tasmania, Premier Peter Gutwein has at last announced when the state’s border will reopen to travellers from the rest of the nation: Friday, July 24.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Gutwein called the border closures “an important safeguard with restrictions in place to help suppress the virus in our state”, adding Tasmania hadn’t reported a new case of coronavirus for 41 days.

Like other state leaders, Mr Gutwein said he’d be keeping an eye on the coronavirus situation in other jurisdictions over the next month, paying particular attention to the spike in Victoria.

“If the public health advice is that we should maintain our restrictions, then we will maintain our restrictions,” he said.

“I don’t care who is calling for it, whether it be a lobby group, the Prime Minister. If the public health advice is we should maintain restrictions, we will.”

Tasmania’s Premier Peter Gutwein has announced the state’s border will reopen on July 24. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Mr Gutwein’s announcement followed one from the Top End this morning, with Chief Minister Michael Gunner announcing its borders will remain closed to anyone who lives in a coronavirus hotspot.

The PM applauded the move, saying it was “entirely reasonable” for interstate travellers to quarantine, at their own expense, for 14 days before travelling freely around the Northern Territory.

“What that does is reinforces that this is about where the hotspot is and these are localised outbreaks,” the PM said.

Mr Gunner said this morning that the Territory has “stayed safe by closing our borders to all states”.

“In our next step, we will stay safe by keeping our borders closed to suburbs that are not safe.”

Speaking of borders, Professor Murphy told ABC ahead of his final National Cabinet address today that, as we’re all aware at this point, Australia’s borders are unlikely to fully reopen until a vaccine is found.

“To fully open the international border without any quarantining or any restrictions probably will require a vaccine to be able to adequately protect vulnerable people in the community,” he said.

“Until that happens, we’re going to have some sort of border measures … and if we don’t get a successful vaccine in the relatively near future, then we have to re-evaluate.”

And in Western Australia, where Premier Mark McGowan remains firm on his stance that the state’s border won’t reopen to the east any time soon, another round of restrictions will be rolled back from midnight tonight.

“We’ve got our economy open in part because of the fact that we have the hard border with the east and secondly because we have low infection rates,” Mr McGowan said today.

Under phase four, nightclubs will be among the businesses to reopen, and events – aside from large-scale music festivals – will be permitted.

Gyms can be unstaffed, though regular cleaning is required, and 50 per cent capacity will now be in place at major sport and entertainment venues.