As the day unfolded: Scott Morrison upgrades travel ban, RBA cuts interest rates to record low

Thanks for following along today. Here's what you need to know:

• There are now 709 confirmed cases in Australia
• The global tally is now roughly 215,000
• Both the NRL and AFL went ahead this evening, in empty stadiums
• Qantas will temporarily stand down most of its 30000 workers this month
• Thirty-five people linked to a wedding south of Sydney have tested positive for coronavirus

We'll continune to cover the latest developments overnight and into Friday in a new blog, which you can read here.

And if you want to stay up to date with our COVID-19 email newsletter, you can do so for The Sydney Morning Herald here, and for The Age here.

Queensland's 50 new novel coronavirus cases stretch from the Gold Coast near the NSW border, up to Cairns in the state's far north, but there is a clear concentration area.

“The bulk of those [new cases] are in the south-east, 32 in Brisbane, 12 on the Gold Coast - although we do have new cases in Rockhampton, Townsville and Cairns," Health Minister Steven Miles said on Thursday afternoon.

“There are more than 7000 Queenslanders returning home a day, and all of them are required to go into quarantine for 14 days. They are returning from right around the world.”

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said only one patient was almost sent to the intensive care unit, the rest were "mild" cases.

Dr Young said she expected COVID-19 cases to continue to increase next week and it was all hands on deck to trace those who came into contact with the state's confirmed cases.

“I see that it is really important to contact trace every single case and I am grateful to all of the support we are getting," she said.

"We have had retired doctors put up their hand saying they want to come and help, we have had medical students put up their hand, at this point in time, the biggest workforce I need are people to help us contact trace all of the people who have been in contact with a confirmed case."

Living in cramped dorm rooms and with casual work drying up, backpackers are weighing up whether to stay or leave as coronavirus fears heighten.

German backpacker Smilla Meermann, who is staying at Nomads Backpackers in St Kilda, has been in Australia for six months, but only arrived in Melbourne yesterday.

“It’s a bit scary with the coronavirus going on because, we've never had a situation like that before,” she said.

Self-isolation and social distancing can be tough when you are staying in a dorm.

“We are in a room with I think 14 people and you don't really have the chance to stay away from people because there's so many people in one tiny room,” she said.

James Boggott, from Leeds in England felt the same.

“It's a bit concerning. It's not the best place you want to be when something like this is going around. The minute anyone starts coughing or sneezing and stuff, you kind of give them a bit of a look,” he said.

Charlotte Urban, an 18-year-old from Germany, has been backpacking across Australia for seven months and is now weighing up whether to stay or leave.
“At first, I was trying really hard not to panic because for me, it's like, I can't do anything anyway. But by now, I'm kind of getting more worried because it's getting more dire.”

Others are leaving because casual hospitality work has dried up.

Danish backpacker Clara Ahlefendt, 19, was hoping to stay in Melbourne and work, but is now leaving the country on Thursday.

“I don't think it will be that easy to get a job nowadays. Which sucks,” she said.

Similarly, Charlotte Kennedy from Newcastle in England is heading to Adelaide to do farm work because of a lack of job opportunities.

“I didn't know whether to fly home or not. I've been spending all week trying to work but I can't find any jobs because of the coronavirus,” she said.

She’s hoping COVID-19 doesn’t have the same impact in Australia, as it has in Europe so she can stay, and so does Mr Boggott.

“I think it'll all blow over in a few months. I hope it does. And then yeah, I'll just go from there. But yeah, I intend on staying.”

Concerns over the coronavirus haven't just led to panic buying in big cities. Empty shelves on key staples are also in evidence across western NSW, including Cobar.

Robert Khan owns a network of 11 Supa IGA stores, all but one of those scattered across regional NSW.

Small towns are also running out of stock due to coronavirus panic buying. Cobar IGA owner Robert Khan, left, and manager, Matt Carey.Credit: Janie Barrett

In the outback towns of Cobar and Lightning Ridge, Mr Khan owns the only supermarket servicing locals for hundreds of kilometres.

He made the eight-hour journey from his Picton head office to Cobar on Thursday morning to support his staff, following reports of groups of panic buyers targeting regional supermarkets.

On Thursday, the Cobar IGA shelves were out of essentials including pasta, flour, rice, tinned and frozen vegetables and toilet paper. Limits had been put in place of one per customer for items in short supply.

Some of Queensland's remote Indigenous communities have already started enacting travel restrictions for both visitors and residents in order to protect their most vulnerable members from coronavirus.

Residents fishing at Quintell Beach, Lockhart River.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Palm Island, off the coast of Townsville, has advised only those involved in "essential community services should travel to the island and asked those who are ill or even had close contact with someone who had been sick or recently returned from overseas to stay clear.

Read the full story here

Two cruise ships that were heading for Hawaii have been told their passengers will not be allowed to disembark.

The Norwegian Jewel and Maasdam have been turned into floating prisons after their original ports of disembarkment imposed bans on incoming cruise travellers. Several Australians are on board both ships.

“The health and safety of all people in Hawaii is always at the forefront of operational decisions. Presently, all state resources are focused and directed towards containing the spread of COVID-19," Hawaii's Department of Transportation director Jade Butay said.

"Allowing more than 2,500 passengers and crew to disembark will further strain these resources."

Denise Gordon, whose brother, Tim, is on the Norwegian Jewel, said he was in good spirits, but there was confusion about where they would dock.

There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on either ship.

The Queensland University of Technology has its first novel coronavirus case after a student tested positive on Thursday afternoon.

The Queensland University of Technology has its first novel coronavirus case.

The University of Queensland has had four students test positive and a Griffith University sessional law lecturer was confirmed as carrying the virus on Monday, but the staff member contracted the virus after they were last on campus.

In the latest development, QUT vice-chancellor Professor Margaret Sheil said the student was enrolled in the business school and was at the Gardens Point campus on Friday, March 13 from 10am to 11am.

"The lecture theatre attended by the student is being thoroughly disinfected and cleaned overnight," Professor Sheil said in a statement.

"As a measure of caution QUT has contacted all 186 students who may have been in the same class as the student but the actual number in attendance was about 50.

"One staff member who had also had potential contact with the student has been advised."

Queensland Health described the student’s contact with other students as "casual", meaning less than 15 minutes face-to-face contact or sharing a closed space for less than 2 hours.

On Wednesday, QUT announced it would pause classes for the next week and move all lectures and most other learning and teaching activity to online mode from Monday, March 30.

As the COVID-19 spreads, scores of cleaners have been tasked with disinfecting Sydney’s public transport network, which ferries thousands of commuters across the city each day.

A Sydney trains cleaner on a Tangara at Mortdale Depot. Credit: Louise Kennerley

Having rattled their way through Sydney’s rail network, the empty trains arrive once a day at several depots across the city, where teams of cleaners are waiting.

Only one person is allowed in a carriage at a time. The men and women - some contractors and others government employees - mop the floors, disinfect windows and handrails with chemicals that NSW Health says will kill the coronavirus.

Read the full story here

NSW public education authorities have urged teachers to keep children outdoors and to ventilate classrooms as much as possible as they ramped up cleaning and made a large-scale "soap drop" to ensure students could wash their hands frequently.

They have also reassured teachers that their work is valued and critical, with many in the profession concerned about their own exposure to viruses and feeling that, as one said, they are being "sacrificed to keep nurses working".

A toilet at a Sydney high school this week with a single bar of soap

It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued a veiled threat to private schools to follow government advice and keep their schools open or risk losing their public funding.

On Thursday, Newington College announced that the elderly father of the school's chaplain had died of the virus, one of the six deaths nationally previously announced. The chaplain, who had not visited the school since last Wednesday and wore protective clothing while visiting hospital, returned a negative test.

Meanwhile, the NSW Department of Education has boosted its efforts to ensure social distancing and hygiene in schools, sending out a large-scale "soap drop" on Thursday and boosting funding for regular cleaning of high-touch areas.

Read the full story here

The past two weeks have had a consistent theme: every day another list of arts and cultural events get cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Today has been no different:

• Opera Australia has cancelled its Melbourne season in May, including Madama Butterfly, as well as its Sydney season of Bran Nue Dae in April and May.
• Palace Cinemas has indefinitely cancelled its movie theatres.
• The Australian Ballet’s April season of Volt at the Sydney Opera House has been cancelled
• The So Pop concert – featuring The Pussycat Dolls, Steps and Jesse McCartney – cancelled its Australia and New Zealand events in April and May.
• The Spanish Film Festival, due to screen nationally through Palace Cinemas, has been postponed until August.
• Sculpture at Scenic World in the Blue Mountains, an exhibition transforming the rainforest into an outdoor gallery, has been cancelled.
• The Parrtjima Festival in Light in Alice Springs has been rescheduled from April to September.
• TarraWarra Museum of Art in Victoria’s Yarra Valley has been closed to the public indefinitely.
• Singer Damien Leith has postponed by 12 months all remaining dates of his Roy Orbison tribute tour.
• Bunjil Place in Melbourne’s southeast has been closed indefinitely, with performances and events at the precinct cancelled or postponed.
• The Canberra International Music Festival has cancelled its 2020 festival.