Coronavirus updates LIVE: Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews extends 5km restriction to 25km among other easings, state records two new cases, no deaths for Sunday; Australian death toll stands at 904
After recording just one new case on Saturday, Victoria followed up with two new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to Sunday morning. No deaths were recorded on either day. NSW confirmed five new cases for Sunday, four of them from hotel quarantine.
The brawl between federal and state governments over the movement of newly arrived travellers from New Zealand has intensified with Victoria and Western Australia criticising the Commonwealth's handling of the issue.
A late edition to the blog, thanks to Sumeyya Ilanbey. We now have some clarity on what the changes to restrictions will mean for the town of Shepparton, where there have been several cases in recent days. The headline news: restaurant and cafe reopening, announced for the rest of regional Victoria, will be delayed for a week in Shepparton. Here's the full announcement:
Shepparton locals have done an amazing job - responding to the call to get tested, to keep their community safe.
Every decision we’ve made since the beginning of the pandemic is based on data and advice from the public health experts and as we take cautious steps towards COVID Normal, we’ll continue to work with them to keep Victorians safe and slow the spread of this deadly virus.
While we’ve announced some changes to the roadmap for regional Victorians today, those that relate to indoor restaurants and cafes, will not apply to Greater Shepparton at this stage.
Hundreds of close contacts will now undertake testing at around day 11 since their last possible exposure. These test results will be available in the coming days, and are critical for giving us the certainty to make that change.
That means that the current rules apply where venues can serve up to 10 people per space indoors (for a maximum of 20 patrons) for one extra week. The delay only related to indoor patron caps - outdoors venues can still move to 70.
This decision, based on the advice of our public health team, is a precautionary measure to keep the Shepparton community safe - and as more people get tested and get their results, we’ll proceed with the changes announced today.
Thanks for being with us folks
By Liam Mannix
We're going to leave it there folks. Thanks for being with us, and please enjoy the new freedoms!
COVID spikes collide with fatigue and apathy in troubling global trend
By Liam Mannix
This story just dropped in from our world desk. As Victoria looks to further reopening in the rest of the world, Europe is in strife...
When the coronavirus began sweeping around the globe this spring, people from Seattle to Rome to London cancelled weddings and vacations, cut off visits with grandparents and hunkered down in their homes for what they thought would be a brief but essential period of isolation.
But summer did not extinguish the virus. And with the northern autumn has come another dangerous, uncontrolled surge of infections that in parts of the world is the worst of the pandemic so far.
The United States surpassed 8 million known cases this past week and reported more than 70,000 new infections Friday, the most in a single day since July. Eighteen states added more new coronavirus infections during the seven-day stretch ending Friday than in any other week of the pandemic.
In Europe, cases are rising and hospitalisations are up. Britain is imposing new restrictions, and France has placed cities on "maximum alert," ordering many to close all bars, gyms and sports centres. Germany and Italy set records for the most new daily cases. And leaders in the Czech Republic described their health care system as "in danger of collapsing," as hospitals are overwhelmed and more deaths are occurring than at any time in the pandemic.
People must continue to stay at home unless for the four permitted reasons – to shop for food and other necessary goods; for care or compassionate reasons; for work or education; for exercise or social interaction. From Monday, though, this now includes a chop and colour at a hairdresser.
From 11.59pm on November 1, the four reasons to leave home will be scrapped.
How many people can visit my home?
For now, Melburnians in single-person bubbles and intimate partners remain the only people who can visit someone else's home.
From November 2, Melbourne households can host up to two people (plus their children) once a day. All single-person bubble and exclusive arrangements will be scrapped.
Do we still have to wear masks?
Yes you do whenever you leave the house, unless you have an exemption. Premier Daniel Andrews is yet to announce a date for the relaxation of mask rules, but it won't be soon.
Can I sit in a restaurant or cafe?
Hospitality venues will be able to open from November 2. A maximum of 20 people will be allowed to sit indoors, while up to 50 could sit outdoors, subject to social distancing, council laws and density requirements. Group bookings will be capped at 10 people. Food courts will remain as takeaway and delivery services only.
What can I do for fun?
No official, organised outdoor entertainment will be allowed in Melbourne until November 2, when big outdoor venues with no seating – such as Melbourne Zoo – can reopen. Outdoor seated entertainment will also return then with a cap of 50 people or 25 per cent of the venue’s fixed-seat capacity. It is still unclear what this means for watching sports such as, say, a horse race on the first Tuesday in November.
Latest on the New Zealand traveller situation
By Liam Mannix
Here's the latest on the strange unfolding situation over 55 New Zealand travellers who flew into Melbourne after NSW opened a travel bubble with the country.
More travellers from New Zealand are set to fly to Victoria within days despite angry demands from Premier Daniel Andrews for federal action to prevent the state being drawn into a "travel bubble" across the Tasman, report Sumeyya Ilanbey, Chris Vedelago and David Crowe.
State officials are demanding faster access to airline passenger lists to help them identify the next travellers in a growing row with Prime Minister Scott Morrison over the international arrivals.
Victorian officials have asked the Australian Border Force to speed up the release of passenger manifests to prevent a repeat of the surprise arrival of up to 55 travellers from New Zealand into Melbourne on Friday.
But the Morrison government said it would not change its approach despite criticism from Mr Andrews and Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan over passengers flying to Melbourne and Perth.
How Melbourne beat the virus
By Liam Mannix
I spoke to a few epidemiologists to get their views on the changes today. The consensus: the changes make sense, but the government is being extremely cautious and could have gone further.
“It is a rational and principled approach. It is just an incredibly cautious one," said Professor James McCaw, one of the scientists charged with tracking Melbourne’s social distancing for the federal government.
Professor McCaw's data shows that Melbourne beat the virus by acing social distancing.
“Victorians are the most compliant with the rules, of anywhere in Australia. Our rules are the toughest and we’re the most compliant,” he said.
In terms of the 25-kilometre limit, Professor McCaw was unsold. "I don't see any real strong reason for a limit at all," he said.
We've run through the major changes, but there are also a bevvy of smaller changes that effect specific sectors, including businesses. Matt Dunckley wraps them up in full here, but here are the major ones:
Hairdressers can reopen. This is the major change to retail - other than this, businesses largely must remain closed.
Certain specified industries will be allowed to return to on-site work from Monday. However, the rest of us need to remain working from home.
Self-service car-wash businesses will be allowed to restart.
Mobile pet-grooming is back on. Good news for fido!
And outdoor photography can also resume.
The epidemiological situation
By Liam Mannix
Why was Victoria able to pull back on lockdown restrictions? Because the epidemiological situation has improved.
Melbourne's second wave was arguably seeded in or around late May, when health authorities were first notified of a hotel quarantine breach.
From there, the pandemic ran away from efforts to control it. On August 5, we recorded 725 new cases.
But almost from that day, our case numbers have been sliding - first quickly, and now more slowly as health authorities have battled to supress what they term the 'stubborn tail' of the epidemic.
This graphic shows Melbourne's 14-day average. It is now at 7.5, according to official government figures.
We can now make a comparison that seemed impossible only a few months ago. Victoria has recorded 55 new cases in the last seven days – less than NSW, which has recorded 61. However, almost half those cases were from overseas travellers; all of Victoria’s cases are local.
Recapping today's key changes
By Liam Mannix
Let's start by recapping the day's big news. Premier Daniel Andrews moved today to ease several major lockdown restrictions, although others remain.
Key changes:
There is now no time-limit on leaving your house. The two-hour limit has been removed.
The distance you can legally travel from your house has been increased from 5km to 25km.
Up to 10 people - from two households - can now legally gather outdoors.
Now open:
Hairdressers
Golf
Tennis
Skate parks
Real estate auctions, with a maximum of 10 people allowed
Outdoor pools, with a maximum of 30 swimmers
Indoor hydrotherapy pools
However, for the most part, retail will remain closed for at least another week.
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Liam Mannix here to take you into Sunday evening
G'day folks, good to be with you on this sunny Sunday afternoon. My name is Liam Mannix and I'm thenational science reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. Over the next few hours I'll run you through the day's news, and try to break down what the evidence says about where we are at and where we're going.