Coronavirus Australia live news: ‘Very real’: NSw second wave alert; Victoria mulls ‘cautious’ return to offices; Households amass $100bn in savings
As NSW reported four new cases, warning testing ‘critical’ to detecting a second wave before it destroys months of hard work.
- Victoria mulls ‘cautious’ return to office
- Households amass $1bn savings buffer
- Victoria records one new case, no deaths
- Chances of third wave ‘minimal, but not zero’
- Households amass $100bn in savings
- How the west was won despite heartbreak of lockout
Welcome to The Weekend Australian’s rolling coverage of coronavirus crisis. Victoria has recorded just one new case of COVID-19 and now new deaths in 24 hours as the state’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton declares the chances of Melbourne experiencing a third COVID-19 wave are minimal but not zero.
Hannah Moore 6.20pm: ‘Very real’: NSW second wave alert
Health authorities in NSW have issued an urgent call for more testing, warning the risk of a second wave is “very real”.
As the state reported four new cases, NSW Health said increased testing was “critical” to detecting a second wave before it runs rampant, destroying months of hard work.
“NSW Health is particularly calling on the people of south west Sydney, where there have been a number of recent cases in the community, to come forward for testing,” the statement read, noting high rates of testing allowed early detection of emerging clusters,” a spokesman said.
“ NSW Health has been able to get the recent clusters in south west Sydney under control with the support of the community, but their emergence shows that the risk of a resurgence of cases in NSW remains very real if we don’t continue to practise COVID-safe behaviours and get tested immediately when symptoms appear.
“Most people receive their test results within 24 hours.”
There have been four new cases of coronavirus diagnosed in New South Wales up to 8pm on Friday.
Of these, only one is locally acquired, with the other three diagnosed in returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
Saturday’s new cases include a student from Cabramatta High School, which was announced on Friday evening.
All staff and students at the school have been advised to self-isolate until further advice as to who is at risk is available.
The new case also attended Flip Out Prestons Indoor Trampoline Park, and has been linked to the Hoxton Park cluster, which now has five cases attached to it.
NSW Health spokeswoman Dr Christine Selvey said investigation into close contacts remains underway, with the school working closely with authorities to ensure nobody is missed.
Testing increased slightly overnight, with 13,134 tests reported up to 8pm on Friday, compared to 12,785 the day before – but this still falls well short of the 20,000 per day the government has indicated it wants to see.
Dr Selvey said it was important that anyone who experienced even the mildest symptoms of COVID-19 came forward for testing immediately.
There are currently 73 active cases of coronavirus in NSW, with one patient in intensive care, on a ventilator.
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Melissa Yeo 5.15pm: A tale of two cities’ horse racing hopes
Sometimes in sport, it is a matter of who is the last one standing, just ask Steven Bradbury.
In racing’s case, Victorian Premier Dan Andrews’ drawn-out reopening has delivered an advantage for NSW in its fight to usurp Melbourne as the home of the Spring Carnival.
Cast your mind back to this time last year — and Victorian Racing Club chair Amanda Elliott and Racing NSW chief Peter V’landys were trading blows on which state had the most prizemoney and who was pulling the most punters.
Fast forward to the official start of Cup Week on Saturday and it is a very different story, with more guests set to step out to Parramatta’s Rosehill racecourse than the famed lawns of Flemington for the $7.5m Golden Eagle Day — Australia’s third-richest race.
V’landys was far more reserved this week, telling this very paper that the intention of feature races in Sydney was to “complement the Melbourne program”. Funny how things can change.
Among the attendees, Margin Call hears Tabcorp’s David Attenborough will be in the stands, marking his last spring racing carnival with the group after almost 10 years, and well away from its spiritual home in Melbourne, but closer to his own home in the Harbour City.
Read the full sotry here.
Didi Tang 4.30pm: Chinese test five million in four days
Chinese authorities are celebrating testing five million people over four days in an effort to quash an outbreak.
All 4.7 million people in the western city of Kashgar, in Xinjiang, were tested this week after an outbreak was confirmed on Saturday. Local authorities assembled a team of 2,500 technicians within hours and the provincial government another 600 from other cities, the state news agency Xinhua said.
“We assembled a team of most experienced technicians within two hours,” said Zhang Long, who led a team from Bayingolin, about 600 miles from Kashgar. “The first group of 54 people set off for Kashgar on a coach around noon [on Sunday]. The remaining 17 travelled there by train and via flight with aid supplies.”
Mr Zhang, whose team tested at least 40,000 samples, said that the workload was heavy. “Everyone worked an average of at least 16 hours a day,” he told Xinhua. Swab collectors worked day and night to test local residents, who queued one metre apart.
The numbers screened are in stark contrast to many other countries facing rising cases this winter. The Chinese authorities have developed a system where samples from up to ten individual swab tests are screened at one time. If a sample is positive, the individuals in the group are then tested again, and their swabs screened individually.
Beijing says it means that infections can be identified and cases quarantined more quickly and contact tracing is more efficient. At its peak, Kashgar was processing 275,000 samples a day, and by the end of the week new infections had fallen from about 40 a day to 20.
China says that it has a daily screening capacity of nearly five million tests. More than 4,900 medical facilities and 38,000 technicians were trained.
The Times
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Agencies 3.45pm: Covid-hit Slovenia cools on Melania
In contrast to the enthusiasm evident four years ago in Melania Trump’s homeland Slovenia as she ascended to the status of US First Lady, now even her hometown has cooled on the country’s most famous daughter.
In 2016 Slovenia’s media followed the US presidential campaign with bated breath, but now the coronavirus pandemic is dominating headlines and crowding out coverage of whether Melania will stay in the White House alongside her husband President Donald Trump after Tuesday’s US election.
Most Slovenian media have portrayed Trump’s bid for re-election as an uphill struggle and many speak of disappointment at the low-key role Melania has played.
A rare voice of enthusiasm for Trump has been centre-right Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who tweeted his support earlier this month — but even he forgot to mention the family ties to Slovenia.
Jansa said Trump’s Democratic opponent Joe Biden “would be one of the weakest presidents in history,” adding: “a free world desperately needs STRONG US as never before. Go, win, Donald Trump!” Jansa thus joined his political ally, nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in openly backing Trump for a second term.
But unlike Jansa, many politicians in Slovenia have backed Biden or diplomatically avoided taking sides.
Even Srecko Ocvirk, mayor of Melania’s hometown Sevnica, can’t bring himself to utter an endorsement.
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Tessa Akerman 3.10pm: Can this race restart the nation?
This year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival will be without the trackside crowds, without the celebrities in the Birdcage, and without the barefoot women staggering or being carried to the train at the end of the day.
But whether it’s in a pub with just 20 patrons or a house with two families, the odds are that Melburnians will still frock up for the biggest party of the year.
Victoria Racing Club chair Amanda Elliott said the carnival was important for Melbourne and Australia as it provided “a sense of perfectly timed hope to drag us out of what has been a depressing year”.
“It will feel very different at Flemington without the roaring crowd that 90 years ago this year saw the wonder of Phar Lap thundering down the Flemington straight to lift the spirits of a nation during the Great Depression,” she said.
“And we think those 24 lucky Lexus Melbourne Cup jockeys will feel the nation behind them, even if it has to be virtually this year. They have an important job in bringing hope and unity to all Australians in a year when we really need it.”
Read the full story here.
Steven Swinford 2.35pm: National lockdown looms for Britain
Boris Johnson is considering the imposition of new national lockdown restrictions from next week amid concerns that hospitals across the UK are being overwhelmed.
The prime minister met Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the exchequer, Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, and Matt Hancock, the health secretary, to discuss “alarming” new National Health Service (NHS) data yesterday.
He is expected to hold a press conference on Monday to announce the new measures, under which everything could be closed except essential shops and “educational settings”, including nurseries, schools and universities. The new restrictions could be introduced on Wednesday and remain in place until December 1.
A senior government source said that the measures were under discussion and no final decision had been made. Tougher regional measures, known as Tier 4, are also being considered but ministers are said to favour a national policy. “The data is really bad,” the source said. “We’re seeing coronavirus rising all over the country and hospitals are struggling to cope. There has been a shift in our position.”
Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, warned ministers on Thursday that the virus was running out of control. Until now the government has been determined to stick to regional restrictions but medical figures suggest that this is not enough.
The Times
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Emily Ritchie 2pm: Victoria to take cautious approach to work
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the state would be taking a slow and cautious approach in allowing people to return to work over coming weeks.
“If we can see that these chains of transmission are in check then I think there is a reasonable chance of a slow and steady, but a graduated return to the workplace,” he said.
“But it won’t be a wholesale movement on a particular day, it will be a consideration about what it means to be able to go back to workplaces and maintain that distance and not be packed into office spaces, which, you know, are obviously a higher risk as an indoor setting.”
He said there would be “pinch points” such as public transport and elevators that would need to be worked through to ensure a safe return.
“If the numbers remain low then those risks become much, much less in the office space as well,” he said.
Professor Sutton flagged that the renewal of economic activity, particularly in Melbourne’s CBD, would also be a key deciding factor in the return to work plan.
“I think some can and should return but again always depending on the numbers, clearly there’s economic activity by virtue of returning to work, especially here in the CBD, and that should be a consideration but it has to be safe and steady for sure,” he said.
“There’s potential that it’s a changed workforce forever, I think people have discovered things about how they can be supported in remote working arrangements ongoing and I think people will choose that, but it clearly needs to be negotiated by those employers to make it work.”
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Robyn Ironside 1.20pm: Airline bosses livid over Queensland border plan
Qantas and Virgin Australia have both lashed out at the Queensland Government over its continued border closure to residents of greater Sydney and Victoria.
On the eve of the state election, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Queensland would reopen to regional New South Wales from 1am on November 3, but not greater Sydney.
“Frankly this is ridiculous,” said a statement from Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce.
“Sydney is the biggest city in Australia and it probably has one of the best track records globally of managing a virus that is clearly going to be with us for a long time,” he said.
“Keeping the doors bolted to places that you can’t reasonably call hot spots makes no sense from a health perspective and it’s doing a lot of social and economic damage as well.
“Compare this to the far more rational approach of Tasmania, the Northern Territory and South Australia.”
Read the full story here.
Emily Ritchie 12.30pm: Sutton tells Victorians to ‘enjoy themselves’
Brett Sutton says Victorians “deserve to enjoy themselves” on the first weekend since restrictions were eased, with the state recording just one new case of coronavirus and no new deaths on Saturday.
“We got to this incredible point where case numbers are very low and we have days of literally no new cases, so we should go out, with all the precautions we talked about, we need to enjoy our lives after three months of really constrained activity,” the state’s chief health officer said.
Professor Sutton said, with hygiene, cough etiquette, mask wearing and physical distancing, Victorians could “go about their lives and should not be fearful”.
“I cannot speak for someone’s personal levels of anxiety but I am confident in going out. We know how to protect ourselves.”
He reminded people to adhere to social distancing rules ahead of Monday’s public holiday.
“I want people to enjoy the sunshine, the company of others. but to do it within those rules and if that is how people go about it, it will be a great day,” he said.
“I think we will feel the uplift with a public holiday where people are getting out and about.”
The state’s new Health Minister Martin Foley, stepping up to face the media as Premier Daniel Andrews took a rare day off, said the state’s single new case was a hospital patient who had previously recorded several negative tests.
“All of which continues to show that the sacrifices and hard work that Victorians have made in getting us to the point where we can open safely,” he said.
Professor Sutton said it could be known later today if the case was a false positive.
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Christine Kellett 12pm: No new cases in Queensland as booths open
Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed no new cases of coronavirus have been detected int he state as voters hit the polling booths for the state election.
The Queensland Premier was not in the mood to take reporters’ questions as she popped up in the marginal seat of Aspley to support Labor’s Bart Mellish, but she did reveal another doughnut day for the sunshine state.
Ms Palaszczuk has copped heavy fire form the aviation sector over a decision to lock Sydneysiders out of Queensland, but it seemed a low priority if photos from the polling booths this morning are any guide.
READ MORE: Queensland — beautiful one day, shut the next
Emily Ritchie 11.05am: One new case recorded in NSW
NSW has recorded one new case of locally transmitted COVID-19 in the 24 hours to Friday night, as well as three new cases in hotel quarantine.
The new local case is linked to a known infection in Sydney’s southwest, bringing the new Hoxton Park cluster to five cases.
The new case is understood to have been infected while at the Flip Out Indoor Trampoline Park at Prestons at the same time as another known case.
NSW Health said this case was publicly reported on Friday but was included in Saturday’s official numbers. Contact tracing and investigations are underway.
The new case is a teenager who attends Cabramatta High School, which will be non-operational and thoroughly cleaned over the weekend.
The school is working closely with NSW Health to identify close contacts.
NSW Health said it was treating 73 patients with the virus across the state, one of those in intensive care.
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Emily Ritchie 10.30am: US virus infections now top nine million
As of Friday afternoon there had been 44,888,869 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,178,475 deaths, reported to the World Health Organisation from across the globe.
The US officially passed nine million coronavirus cases on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker. The country’s infection figure stands at 9,007,298, the highest in the world, followed by India with 8,088,851 and Brazil with 5,494,376.
The US also has the highest death toll globally with more than 229,000.
The country’s jump from eight to nine million only took a fortnight, with 42 states seeing record daily increases in cases. In the last week alone, the US has twice reported daily infection numbers of over 80,000.
The US just reported 9 million coronavirus cases:
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) October 30, 2020
0 to 1 million: 98 days
1 to 2 million: 44 days
2 to 3 million: 27 days
3 to 4 million: 15 days
4 to 5 million: 17 days
5 to 6 million: 22 days
6 to 7 million: 25 days
7 to 8 million: 21 days
8 to 9 million: 14 days
France will impose stricter lockdown rules from midnight on Friday after reporting 49,215 new coronavirus cases in the previous 24 hours.
The country’s total number of infections has risen to 1,331,984 and the death tally has increased by 256 over 24 hours to 36,565. From midnight, people only allowed to leave their homes for certain essential purposes.
Belgium will also impose tighter lockdown rules from Monday, closing non-essential businesses and restricting household visits.
Canada has so far reported 10,074 deaths and 228,542 cases and continues to break daily records for the number of new infections. Health authorities have warned the government that tighter controls will be needed to stem the second wave, with some of the 10 provinces reintroducing bans on indoor dining and limiting the size of gatherings.
The number of coronavirus infections in Spain rose by 25,595 on Friday, the highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic and the second consecutive record after Thursday’s 23,580, health ministry data showed.
Infections in Italy rose by 31,084 on Friday, a jump of over 4000 in a day, while 199 more fatalities were recorded. Hospital admissions increased by over 1000 in a day, bringing the total number of people being treated in a hospital across the country to 16,994, of which 1746 are in intensive care.
On Friday the UK reported 274 more deaths and 24,405 new cases. According to numerous reports, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is poised to impose a full national lockdown next week amid growing concern that his regional three-tier strategy for England is not working.
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David Penberthy 10am: How the west was won despite lockout heartbreak
Australia’s de facto secessionist Mark McGowan might be hailed a hero in his home state, but the West Australian Premier was coming to be seen as a pariah by families who have been split apart by his hard border closure and are challenging him to provide health advice to back his actions.
The anger has been particularly acute in South Australia, which has recorded fewer COVID cases than Western Australia and just four deaths, but where many families working in mining, banking and public health have been barred from moving between states to see their loved ones.
Mr McGowan’s list of captors has included former fellow Labor premier Jay Weatherill, now based in Perth with his wife and two daughters heading the Andrew Forrest-backed childcare reform group, Thrive by Five, and unable to return to SA to see his aged parents. Mr Weatherill was not critical of Mr McGowan and said his detractors did not grasp the psyche of the state of Western Australia, saying the Premier was regarded as “a rock star” within WA.
Read the full story here.
Emily Ritchie 9.30am: Painless test for high-risk workers
Painless saliva swab tests for COVID-19 will soon be used at high-risk workplaces such as abattoirs and healthcare facilities to hunt down asymptomatic sufferers of the disease — but for now, most of us will have to put up with the unpleasant process of sticking things up our nose.
While the nasal swab is often uncomfortable, it is at the heart of Australia’s highly successful testing program, and scientists say it will remain the gold standard as the range of testing options gradually increases.
Deborah Williamson, a clinical microbiologist at Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, said the development of different testing methods — such as testing saliva or rapid point-of-care tests — was “fundamental in preventing the spread of this disease”.
Read the full story here.
Patrick Commins 9.15am: Australians amass $100bn in savings
Australians have rapidly amassed $100bn in total savings as a buffer against the COVID-19 recession, in a sign that the economic recovery is unlikely to be derailed by the scaling back of emergency income support.
New figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority show household deposits surged to $1.09 trillion by the end of September. This is an increase of $115bn over 12 months, and a $99.5bn increase on deposit levels in February before the pandemic took hold in Australia. In September alone, an additional $16.5bn flowed into deposit accounts.
With the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheduled to end in March and the JobSeeker coronavirus supplement expiring at the end of the year, Labor has accused the government of removing the key stimulus measures too quickly.
Read the full story here.
Adeshola Ore 8.45am: Melburnians make up for lost time
Salvatore Malatesta will transport his customers to a bustling Italian piazza this summer. The owner of Melbourne cafe St Ali Coffee Roasters has installed an outdoor dining space that coincided with the end of the city’s deep freeze.
The South Melbourne cafe’s doors flung open on Wednesday at 7am when the city’s retailers, pubs, restaurants and cafes began to reopen.
“It’s been like opening my first restaurant again — joyous smiles, virtual hugs. We’re so happy. It’s what we love doing,” Malatesta told The Weekend Australian.
The cafe, which is usually a walk-in venue, is booked out for the month of November. Malatesta said he opted to offer bookings from early November to cater to the city’s pent-up demand to sip on a barista-brewed coffee in a cafe.
Under the state government’s COVID-19 restrictions, the cafe’s outdoor seating is permitted to hold 50 diners, while 20 customers can be seated indoors.
“I think outdoor dining should be part of Melbourne forever. It’s what we all want, rather than a temporary set-up,” Malatesta said. St Ali will continue its takeaway service to make up for reduced capacity of in-person dining.
Read the full story here.
Christine Kellett 8.15am: Victoria records just one new virus case
Victoria has recorded just one new case of coronavirus in 24 hours, and no new deaths.
Metro Melbourne’s number of mystery cases has dropped to two, with the 14-day rolling daily case average is now 2.4.
In the past 24 hours, there has been 1 new case reported and no lives lost. The 14 day average is down to 2.4, and there are 2 cases with unknown source. More info: https://t.co/2vKbgKHFvv #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/4EdvsXsyfE
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) October 30, 2020
Premier Daniel ANdrews has taken the day off and today’s press breifing will be held by his Health Minister.
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Ewin Hannan 7.30am: A third wave ‘is still on the cards’
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has declared the chances of Melbourne experiencing a third COVID-19 wave are minimal but not zero, as Daniel Andrews urged residents to be responsible ahead of a weekend of eased restrictions.
Mr Andrews said he did not expect NSW to open its border to Victoria before November 22, saying it was reasonable for Gladys Berejiklian to wait two weeks from when the “ring of steel” separating Melbourne from regional Victoria was lifted.
Professor Sutton said the pandemic would not be over until a vaccine was distributed across Australia, meaning that industry and the public needed to follow the rules and advice.
Asked how great the threat of a third wave was as the state opened up, he said: “I think it’s minimal but I don’t want to say it’s zero because it will not be zero for any of us in Australia until there is a widespread use of a vaccine that’s effective.”
Mr Andrews said Victoria would eventually match NSW in integrating a QR code check-in system with contact tracing software, implementing the program as restrictions ease.
Ahead of the weekend, he reiterated that visits to homes were limited to one visiting event a day. “I know that’s challenging but if we want to keep doing that, and not be locked down again and unable to see the people we love, then we have just got to keep vigilant, we have just got to keep doing this,” he said.
Read the full story here.
Patrick Commins 7am: Households amass S100bn in savings
Australians have rapidly amassed $100bn in total savings as a buffer against the COVID-19 recession, in a sign that the economic recovery is unlikely to be derailed by the scaling back of emergency income support.
New figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority show household deposits surged to $1.09 trillion by the end of September. This is an increase of $115bn over 12 months, and a $99.5bn increase on deposit levels in February before the pandemic took hold in Australia. In September alone, an additional $16.5bn flowed into deposit accounts.
With the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheduled to end in March and the JobSeeker coronavirus supplement expiring at the end of the year, Labor has accused the government of removing the key stimulus measures too quickly.
NAB director of market economics Tapas Strickland said that, just as the tens of billions in emergency support helped bridge the COVID-19 recession, the savings amassed as a result of that support could now help households navigate a sharp drop-off in income payments over coming months. He said the savings data showed that, if employment continued to rebound as government support was tapered, the household sector had a “fair degree of liquidity that could underpin consumption.”
The figures come amid mounting optimism that the economy is charting a relatively rapid recovery after suffering a 7 per cent contraction over the three months to June. Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor Guy Debelle this week said he expected the economy to grow in the September quarter, which would technically spell the end of the COVID-19 recession in Australia.
Read the full story here.
David Penberthy 6.30am: How the west was won despite heartbreak of lockout
Australia’s de facto secessionist Mark McGowan might be hailed a hero in his home state, but the West Australian Premier was coming to be seen as a pariah by families who have been split apart by his hard border closure and are challenging him to provide health advice to back his actions.
The anger has been particularly acute in South Australia, which has recorded fewer COVID cases than Western Australia and just four deaths, but where many families working in mining, banking and public health have been barred from moving between states to see their loved ones.
Mr McGowan’s list of captors has included former fellow Labor premier Jay Weatherill, now based in Perth with his wife and two daughters heading the Andrew Forrest-backed childcare reform group, Thrive by Five, and unable to return to SA to see his aged parents. Mr Weatherill was not critical of Mr McGowan and said his detractors did not grasp the psyche of the state of Western Australia, saying the Premier was regarded as “a rock star” within WA.
“Mum and Dad are pretty elderly and I would dearly love to be able to see them,” Mr Weatherill said. “But you have got to understand the Western Australian people. A lot of them didn’t want to join Australia in the first place.”
Read the full story here.
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