Coronavirus Australia live news: Simon Birmingham says ‘more likely’ Australians won’t travel overseas until next year
Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham has some bad news for Australians itching to fly off for a foreign adventure.
- No overseas travel till next year
- Cases spike in Victoria
- $10 drug ‘biggest breakthrough yet’
- NSW attacks ‘crazy’ border plan
- Beijing’s ‘extremely severe’ surge
- US tennis open gets green light
Welcome to live coverage of the continuing coronavirus crisis. Trade and Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham says it is “more likely” Australians won’t travel overseas until next year, and international passengers from countries other than New Zealand will also not be allowed in Victoria has recorded its biggest case spike in more than a month. A “boring” $10 drug that was developed more than half a century ago has been hailed as “the biggest breakthrough yet” in the treatment of coronavirus. And an increase in credit card spending is the first sign that the COVID-19 downturn may be over.
AFP 7.35pm: ‘Disinfection tunnel’ protects Putin
Visitors meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin at his country residence must first pass through a walk-through device that sprays them with disinfectant, to protect him from the coronavirus, officials said.
Mr Putin has been self-isolating at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow under lockdown although he made a public appearance without a mask at an outdoor event on the June 12 Russia Day holiday.
As part of precautions to protect the President, visitors walk through the device and get sprayed from above and the side, a video posted on Twitter by Kremlin pool journalists from RIA Novosti state news agency showed on Wednesday (AEST).
Ð’ резиденции Путина Ð´Ð»Ñ Ð·Ð°Ñ‰Ð¸Ñ‚Ñ‹ от коронавируÑа уÑтановили Ñпециальный туннель. Он предназначен Ð´Ð»Ñ Ð´ÐµÐ·Ð¸Ð½Ñ„ÐµÐºÑ†Ð¸Ð¸https://t.co/jjwWbuZ2EX pic.twitter.com/h62KWARvsr
— РИРÐовоÑти (@rianru) June 16, 2020
The authorities in Penza region east of Moscow where the device was made boasted that it “ensured the safety of the head of government and all those who visit him”.
The Penza regional government said the President’s staff got in touch with the manufacturing company, which until the virus outbreak specialised in automatic cleaning equipment for industrial use.
The device includes facial recognition technology and can take people’s temperatures, according to the manufacturers.
The Kremlin has imposed a range of measures to protect Mr Putin including regular virus testing of the leader and all those who come into contact with him.
Visitors have to take a virus test before meeting Putin, his spokesman said. The President began holding video conference calls with officials in April, although there have been a few exceptions.
READ MORE: $10 drug dexamethasone hailed as COVID-19 treatment breakthrough
AFP 7pm: India’s death toll jumps by 2000
India’s official coronavirus death toll leapt by more than 2000 on Wednesday as the hard-hit country struggles to contain a ballooning health crisis that has overwhelmed hospitals.
The news came as Germany urged its nationals in India to consider leaving for their own safety, while France warned its citizens in New Delhi to stay home unless going to an airport to return to Europe.
Authorities said the sharp increase in fatalities to 11,903 was mainly due to Mumbai and Delhi updating their figures.
Death tolls in both cities have been increasing in recent days. Mumbai blamed unspecified accounting “discrepancies” for the increase of 862 to 3165 deaths.
Delhi added more than 430 fatalities, taking its total to over 1800. Officials said 93 of the Delhi deaths and 55 in Mumbai had been in the previous 24 hours.
The epidemic has badly hit India’s densely populated major cities and Chennai in the south has ordered a new lockdown from Friday because of a surge in cases.
Hospitals in Mumbai have been overwhelmed, while the government has sent specially-adapted railway carriages to Delhi and authorities have taken over hotels and banquet halls to accommodate coronavirus patients.
READ MORE: Predictions of doom prove wrong
AFP 6.15pm: Nepal to deport Australian protester
Five foreigners from Australia, China and the US will be deported from Nepal and barred from returning for two years after protesting against the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, officials say.
The five were among seven foreigners detained on Saturday when hundreds of people defied a nationwide lockdown to take part in the peaceful demonstration.
They demanded better virus testing, quarantine facilities for returning migrant workers and transparency from the government.
They were being deported for joining a political rally in “a breach of tourist visa rules”, Nepal’s immigration department chief Ramesh Kumar KC said on Wednesday.
“They will be sent to their respective countries when international flights resume. They have also been banned from entering the country for two years,” he added.
Nepal has suspended international flights until July 5.
Of the group, three Chinese and an American were additionally fined 10,000 rupees ($18), while an Australian was slapped with a 20,000-rupee penalty for also taking photos.
A Norwegian woman arrested was fined 5000 rupees but avoided being deported as she is married to a Nepali.
Nepal has reported 6591 cases of the coronavirus, with 19 deaths.
READ MORE: How do you catch coronavirus?
Richard Ferguson 4.40pm: Unis to fly in 300 foreign students
More than 300 foreign students from different countries are set to be flown into Canberra next month and quarantined in hotels to revive Australia’s hammered international education sector.
In a national first, the University of Canberra and the Australian National University will organise a hub flight from an international airport — with Singapore among several options — to Canberra Airport late next month for postgraduate, honours and final-year undergraduate foreign students.
The universities’ pilot program for bringing back foreign students has been given the green-light by ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr and praised by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, giving Canberra a head start in re-energising universities post-coronavirus.
“We need to do these things safely, we have to be very considerate of the appropriate quarantine measures,” Mr Barr said on Wednesday.
READ FULL STORY here.
Imogen Reid 4.30pm: Expect case number icreases: Chief Nursing officer
Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Alison McMillan has issued a reminder to the public to expect a slight increase in coronavirus cases as thousands of Australian’s return from overseas travels every week.
Of Victoria’s 21 new cases, 15 are returned travellers, a point Ms McMillan reiterated during an address to the media.
“It is important to remember, in the context, that we are seeing about 6500 people, Australians, returning to our shores every week and so while these numbers are a little more than we have seen in recent days, we are seeing people return from places where there is a very high prevalence of COVID-19,” she said.
“We should continue to potentially expect to see people returning and remember, everyone is in quarantine and they are strictly adhering to those 14 days.”
Ms McMillan addressed reports emerging from the UK of the success of a common drug, called dexamethasone, on hospitalised COVID-19 patients requiring ventilation.
“We are cautiously pleased to see this report but obviously these reports are currently media reports and so that has been considered today and we will be making a statement in relation to the study in the media,” she said.
“We must remember that even if a treatment has been found we will need to see the published data, that does not in any way detract from the need for us to continue to prevent the spread across Australia.”
ABC’s Norman Swan said the reports on the treatment came from a press release, not a scientific paper.
“It has not had experts running the rule over it to see if the conclusions are valid,” Dr Swan said.
“Experts are surprised at this because dexamethasone is an old drug, it has been studied in years gone by with people with viral pneumonia and influenza and it has not saved lives with those studies.
While Dr Swan said there is no evidence to show it has saved lives with over viruses, he pointed out that COVID-19 is a different virus that affects the immune system in an uncommon way.
“It’s plausible that could work,” he said.
Throughout the pandemic, there have been a total of 7370 cases of coronavirus recorded in Australia, with 16 people in hospital, three of which are receiving intensive care.
READ MORE: $10 drug hailed as treatment breakthrough
Richard Ferguson 4.25pm: Vic Labor dominates question time
The Morrison government has used question time to heap pressure on embattled Labor MP Anthony Byrne over the alleged bugging of his office, which sparked the Victorian Labor branch-stacking scandal and brought down ALP powerbroker Adem Somyurek.
Attorney General Christian Porter led the government’s attack in question time and said the use of surveillance in Mr Byrne’s office was of “serious concern”.
“Everyone in this parliament would agree that the idea that a non-law enforcement device, if you like, appeared to have been installed in the office of any member of this parliament is a matter of some serious concern,” Mr Porter told the House.
“Whether or not that matter might require further inquiry would turn very substantially on whether the member in question had themselves authorised or otherwise had knowledge of the installation of that device.”
The Attorney General then mocked Anthony Albanese for saying earlier in the day that he did not know Mr Byrne’s office had appeared in Nine’s 60 Minutes program on Sunday and the Opposition Leader’s admission he has not spoken to the Victorian Federal MP over the allegations.
READ MORE: All today’s updates in the Victorian Labor crisis here
Gerard Cockburn 3.15pm: Super fund returns expected flat this year: Chant West
Superannuation research company Chant West found there was a growth spurt in funds through May, despite volatility in the sharemarket during lockdown and the economy’s move into recession with the effects of the coronavirus crisis.
Chant West said median growth funds gained 2.2 per cent over the month, with continued rises in June expected to bring a flat line return for the 2020 financial year.
Chant West senior investment researcher Mano Mohankumar said a yearly return of zero would be an excellent outcome given the impacts of the pandemic on Australia’s near $3 trillion retirement pool.
“One key reason that funds appear headed for a better than expected result is that they manage well-diversified portfolios invested across a wide range of growth and defensive asset sectors including, for many, a meaningful allocation to unlisted and alternative assets,” Mr Mohankumar said.
READ FULL STORY here.
David Ross 3pm: Coronavirus slams G8 childcare, cash in reserve
ASX-listed early childhood network G8 Education said the coronavirus lockdown has slammed the business, but it has large cash reserves to take advantage of opportunities that might result.
Taking advantage of the government's initial relief for the childcare sector, where all parent’s costs were paid by the Commonwealth, G8 Education raised $301m through an underwritten institutional and retail entitlement offer.
Speaking at their 2020 annual general meeting, G8 Education chairman Mark Johnson said the capital raising came at the same time as “the difficult but prudent decision” to delay payment of the final dividend until October 2020.
G8 has its sights set on buying new centres, acquiring 15 in 2019, divesting 25 and closing 16 in Australia.
READ FULL STORY here.
Max Maddison 1.45pm: Worldwide deaths hit another grim milestone
Global coronavirus-related deaths have reached another morbid milestone, as the figure passes 440,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The data, which tracks official government records, puts the global death toll at 441,505. However, the figure is likely to be significantly understated, due to under-reporting and different testing rates.
READ MORE: Superspreaders, heavy breathers and close talkers: catching COVID
Rosie Lewis 1.15pm: Foreign travel ‘some distance off’: Birmingham
Trade and Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham says it is “more likely” Australians won’t travel overseas until next year, and international passengers from countries other than New Zealand will also not be allowed in.
In the shorter term, Senator Birmingham said Australia would open up to international students and other visitors who tend to stay here for a longer period of time, such as business travellers prepared to undergo two-weeks of quarantine.
“Those who might not only be international students but be here for longer term work purposes or longer term business and investment purposes, logically you can extend those sort of same safeguards to them and their state,” Senator Birmingham told the National Press Club.
“In terms of other countries and how we look at shorter-term visitation, that becomes much more challenging once you move beyond New Zealand but not impossible.
“I hope that we can look eventually at some of those countries who have similar successes in suppressing the spread of COVID to Australia and New Zealand, and in working through that with those countries, find safe pathways to deal with essential business travel that helps to contribute to jobs across our economies.
“But I do, sadly, think that in terms of open tourist-related travel in or out of Australia, that remains quite some distance off, just because of the practicalities of the volumes that are involved and the need for us to first and foremost keep putting health first.”
Asked if the international border would reopen next year rather than than this year, Senator Birmingham said: “Honestly, I think that is more likely the case.”
READ MORE: Explainer — when can you travel overseas?
JACQUELIN MAGNAY 12.30pm: UK, EU in race to seal trade deals with Australia
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said there would be “competitive tension” between the United Kingdom and the European Union as to which economic area would be first to sign a free-trade agreement with Australia.
Australia and the UK officially launched formal talks for a free-trade agreement at lunchtime Wednesday with expectations from both sides to have a “bold and ambitious deal” quickly wrapped up by this Christmas.
Senator Birmingham told The Australian that the Australia-UK talks — estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of additional export opportunities for Australian farmers, industry and business — “is hoped to move very quickly to (completion in) the last quarter of this year”.
But he said the existing Australia-EU trade talks were similarly poised.
The EU discussions have been ongoing since 2018 and the seventh round of talks was completed last month.
Senator Birmingham said “our ambition is that each deal is done as quickly as possible” but added “we also want to get great deals”.
READ THE FULL STORY here.
Max Maddison 12pm: Ardern brings in military after quarantine bungle
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed the military to oversee New Zealand’s borders after a quarantine bungle that allowed COVID-19 back into the country.
“My view is that we need the rigour, we need the confidence, we need the discipline that the military can provide,” Ms Ardern told reporters on Wednesday.
A 24-day run with no new cases was broken on Tuesday when it emerged two women who recently arrived from Britain were allowed out of quarantine early without being tested for the virus, even though one had mild symptoms.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced changes to quarantine at New Zealand’s borders. Compassionate exemptions from quarantine have been suspended and changes will be made to ensure quarantine continues to be effective in stopping community transmission of COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/tAz0QafcXe
— New Zealand Labour (@nzlabour) June 17, 2020
The nation, which has recorded only 22 deaths among a population of five million, declared last week it had eliminated community COVID-19 transmission — allowing it to relax social distancing measures and rely on strict border controls.
One of the two women — who travelled from Britain via Doha and Brisbane — showed mild symptoms after landing at Auckland airport on June 7, but her symptoms were ascribed to a pre-existing condition, local media reported.
The pair were allowed to leave two-week isolation early on June 13 on compassionate grounds and drove by car to Wellington, making contact with no one on the way, health department director-general Ashley Bloomfield said. He said they tested positive after arriving in Wellington and were in isolation, along with the only relative they had contact with in the capital. Officials immediately began tracking anyone that came in contact with the pair, aged in their 30s and 40s. Bloomfield said he was not fearful the cases could lead to a fresh outbreak because systems were in place to trace their movements.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Ms Ardern said the two travellers were allowed to leave quarantine restrictions to visit a dying relative.
“However, there is no room for error — even if it is human error. It is totally unacceptable that procedures we were advised were in place were not. Our job is now to fix that and that is exactly what I intend to do,” Ms Ardern said.
She said while a review would be undertaken, a new quarantine program would be put in place. “That is also why we required not one, but two tests to be undertaken of those facilities. One at day three and one at day 12. That should have happened in the cases we learned about yesterday. It did not and there are no excuses,” she said.
READ MORE: Creighton — Inflated pandemic estimates weaken climate forecasts
Max Maddison 11.50am: US cases soar as restrictions start to ease
Six US states have recorded highest numbers of coronavirus infections for the second straight week, as they seek to ease restrictions.
Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas are facing a surge in cases, with health authorities in many states attributing the spread to businesses reopening and Memorial Day weekend gatherings in late May.
The uptick in cases in straining already struggling health systems, with only one intensive unit bed available at Arizona’s Tucson Medical Centre.
Fears of a second wave of infections have been compounded by the mass Black Lives Matter protests that have swept across the nation.
Alabama and South Carolina have also seen cases skyrocket in the past week.
— With AAP
READ MORE: If Melania doesn’t like you, you’re gone
Max Maddison 11.30am: NSW Treasurer outlines ‘challenging time’
The end of JobKeeper in September will be a “very challenging time” for NSW, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet says.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Perrottet said while he was starting to see “green shoots” across the state, the government was concerned about the looming September deadline and was focused on transitioning as many people off the wage subsidy program and onto paid wages.
“I think that’s going to be a very challenging time,” Mr Perrottet said. “That’s always been a concern for me, a concern for our government. That’s going to be a difficult time for us, that’s why, in terms of the restrictions we’ve been lifting … we have as much of the NSW economy operating by that deadline as was pre-pandemic.”
Discussing his desire for tax reform, Mr Perrottet said the states needed to be “bold” in their push for better outcomes.
“We don’t just have an opportunity to reform, we have an obligation. A one in one-hundred-year obligation to see up our states and nation for success,” he said.
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Agencies 11.15am: Foreign-owned companies pitch for JobKeeper
Australians working for foreign-owned companies are hoping federal parliament votes to include them in the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme, AAP reports.
The Senate will on Wednesday vote on changing JobKeeper’s eligibility to include workers at foreign-owned companies, like airline services provider dnata. Dnata provides 90 per cent of catering for airlines in Australia and is owned by Emirates Group.
Labor is calling on Pauline Hanson’s One Nation to support the disallowance motion to get it over the line. Labor’s industrial relations spokesman Tony Burke says if the motion is supported, the company won’t see a cent.
ACTU president Michele O’Neil says the vote is an opportunity for the workers to be able to pay their bills and so they can stay connected to their jobs.
READ MORE: Reform is hard, splashing cash easy
Agencies 10.50am: Brazil hits record for daily virus cases
Brazil has reported a record 34,918 new coronavirus cases the same day a senior official helping lead the country’s widely criticised response to the crisis said the outbreak was under control, AAP reports.
Brazil, the world’s No. 2 coronavirus hotspot after the US, is fast approaching one million cases, although experts say the true number is likely higher due to patchy testing.
Brazil also registered 1282 COVID-19 deaths since its last update on Monday, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, bringing confirmed fatalities in the country to 45,241.
Walter Braga Netto, the head of the office of the president’s chief of staff, known as Casa Civil, and one of the top officials handling the crisis, said it was under control.
The World Health Organisation’s regional director, Carissa Etienne, said Brazil was a major concern and needed to strengthen social distancing.
READ MORE: Apple targeted by anti-trust regulators
Sarah Elks 10.25am: Details of Qld ‘election period’ revealed
Queensland’s October state election will not be a full postal vote, despite Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk flagging that as an option due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath told state parliament on Wednesday morning that there would be much more pre-polling available to voters, so the October 31 state election would be an “election period” rather than just an “election day”.
She said vulnerable voters would be able to vote over the phone, and some electorates could have total postal votes in consultation with Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young.
Ms D’Ath said the state’s experience with the March 31 local government elections - at the height of Queensland’s outbreak - was so good, other jurisdictions from around the world were asking the Electoral Commission of Queensland for advice on how to hold COVID-safe polls.
She said there were no cases linked to the March 31 elections.
There was much more pre-poll voting, postal votes, and telephone votes than ever before. Social distancing measures were enforced at polling booths.
Ms D’Ath said Queenslanders deserved a “stand up” voting experience in October, after performing so well at the local government polls.
“That means, more pre-poll locations, longer pre-poll hours and more pre-poll voting days in the two weeks prior to polling day,” she told parliament.
“That’s means every effort to provide a safe election day stand up vote, where Queenslanders can proudly attend their normal school or community hall to safely cast a ballot in person.”
“It means Queensland will have an election period – not just an election day.”
READ MORE: Qld Opposition Leader under fire
Agencies 10.15am: More than 30,000 back arts support
The Morrison government is under pressure from thousands of Australians who have signed a petition for the arts and entertainment sector to receive greater support to survive the coronavirus pandemic, AAP reports.
The petition is urging the government to extend JobKeeper wage subsidies to ineligible workers in the industry, as well as a tailored support package for the sector.
“Australian artists are the keepers of Australian stories. They give so much to our country and to the Australian identity - we cannot do without them,” the petition says.
“We need large and small companies and venues to still exist following the crisis so they can continue to employ Australian artists.”
The sector was one of the earliest to be hit by coronavirus restrictions, when gatherings of more than 500 people were banned in the early stages of the pandemic.
Authorities are yet to provide guidance on when crowds of more than 100 are allowed, hindering the sector’s plans to reopen.
READ MORE: Cancel culture bid comes unstuck
Rebecca Urban 9.50am: Victoria records biggest spike in a month
Victoria has experienced 21 positive tests in the past 24 hours, the biggest increase in more than a month.
The state’s Health Minister Jenny Mikakos revealed that 15 were detected in international travellers who had been staying in hotel quarantine. The state’s infection tally is now 1762.
However, she said there was also an increase in the number of community transmissions. They include a contractor working at the Stamford Plaza and a resident at Rosstown Community, an aged care facility, in Carnegie. Both sites have been closed for cleaning and close contacts asked to quarantine.
Another household contact from a patient who attended Monash Health has tested positive, with this cluster now reclassified as linked to a family in the southeastern suburbs.
Ms Mikakos said there had been an influx of returned travellers from the subcontinent.
“Countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan are experiencing exponential growth in confirmed cases at the moment,” she said.
“Obviously that’s impacting on the increase in our numbers who are in hotel quarantine.”
Another positive test from a resident at aged care centre Rosstown Community in Carnegie has put the centre into lockdown.
The 53-bed facility run by Glen Eira council will have to undergo deep cleaning and contact tracing Meanwhile, a childcare worker has tested positive for coronavirus, prompting the closure of the Melbourne centre.
A health department spokesman on Wednesday confirmed a staff member from Inspira Early Learning Centre in Gladstone Park had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
The worker attended the centre while infectious for two days last week and families have been notified, while the centre has been closed for cleaning and contact tracing for at least a day.
The new confirmed case follows the closure of a third Victorian school this week, after a child tested positive to coronavirus.
The student at Strathmore Primary School was one of nine new COVID-19 cases recorded in Victoria on Tuesday.
The primary school was expected to remain closed for 24 hours on Tuesday while it was deep cleaned and close contacts were traced.
Pakenham Springs Primary School and St Dominic’s Primary School in Broadmeadows were closed on Monday after two students at each school tested positive. The four students are part of an extended family cluster that increased by one more case on Tuesday.
A total of 12 people in the family have now contracted coronavirus after attending gatherings across homes in Broadmeadows, Coburg and Pakenham.
— With AAP
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Max Maddison 9.40am: Fourth school closure hits Melbourne
A childcare centre worker has tested positive to coronavirus, forcing the fourth school closure in Melbourne this week.
A spokesman for the Department of Health confirmed Inspira Early Learning Centre in Gladstone Park would be closed for 24 hour after a staff member was diagnosed with COVID-19.
The employee attended the centre for two days last week while infectious. Deep cleaning of the school and contact tracing has commenced.
The childcare centre’s closure comes swiftly after Strathmore Primary School was closed on Tuesday. Pakenham Springs Primary School and St Dominic’s Primary School in Broadmeadows were closed on Monday after two students at each school tested positive.
— With AAP.
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Agencies 9.15am: NSW Premier attacks ‘crazy’ border exclusion
NSW has recorded just one new COVID-19 case, prompting the premier to again criticise domestic border closures and her state’s “crazy” exclusion from a South Australian travel bubble, AAP reports.
The case recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm Tuesday involved an overseas traveller in hotel quarantine after 12,000 tests were carried out.
Gladys Berejiklian is baffled at the SA government decision to lift border restrictions on travellers from Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania - but not NSW - from midnight last night.
Residents of those states and territories will no longer be required to quarantine for 14 days when they arrive in SA for business or holidays. “None of this makes sense to me,” Ms Berejiklian told reporters on Wednesday. “Yes, we comprise a number of states and each premier has led their state in a different way or (taken) a different approach, but that’s no reason to have internal borders ... I can’t see the logic in it. I think it’s crazy.”
SA plans to lift border restrictions related to NSW, Queensland and Victoria on July 20. However, it could be looking at an earlier date for Queensland.
READ MORE: Submarine drama continues
Agencies 8.50am: Popular theme parks to reopen
Theme parks in Queensland are set to open their doors on June 26, but visitors will be met with strict social distancing measures, AAP reports.
Sea World and Paradise County on the Gold Coast will both open by next weekend, while Australian Outback Spectacular will reopen on July 3. Movie World and Wet’n’Wild are both hoping to open by July 15, in line with the return of interstate travel.
Guests will be required to adhere to social distancing measures throughout all parks and venues.
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Agencies 8.20am: US Open tennis tournament gets green light
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has given the go-ahead for the US Open tennis tournament to be held in his state starting in late August - but without spectators.
Now that the US Tennis Association’s proposal to hold its marquee event has been accepted - including a “bubble” set-up with designated hotels, limited player entourages and a facility closed to the hundreds of thousands of people who usually attend the U.S. Open - the key question becomes: Who actually will end up competing on the blue hard courts in Flushing Meadows from August 31 to September 13?
I love the US Open but it seems a little crazy that we’re still contemplating playing a grand slam there, right?
— John Millman (@johnhmillman) June 11, 2020
Some of the sport’s top names, including defending US Open men’s champion Rafael Nadal along with No. 1-ranked players Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty, have expressed reservations.
The US Open normally is the fourth and final grand slam tournament of each season but would be the second major of 2020, following the Australian Open.
The start of the clay-court French Open was postponed from May and currently is scheduled to begin a week after the US Open ends. Wimbledon was cancelled altogether for the first time since World War II in 1945.
READ MORE: Knights lock in ‘future immortal’
Agencies 8am: UK employment falls by more than 600,000
The number of people on British employers’ payrolls fell by more than 600,000 in April and May as the coronavirus lockdown hit the labour market, and vacancies plunged by the most on record, data showed on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
The jobless rate unexpectedly held at 3.9 per cent over the three months to April, but that was largely due to the government’s huge job retention scheme and a rise in the number of people not classed as unemployed as they were unable to seek work in lockdown.
During the same period there was a record slump in Britain’s overall economic output. Economists polled by Reuters had mostly expected a jump in the unemployment rate to 4.7 per cent.
“Unemployment will get worse before it gets better,” Nye Cominetti, an economist at the Resolution Foundation think tank, said, pointing to the scheduled expiry of the government’s furlough scheme at the end of October.
Figures based on tax data showed the number of people on employers’ payrolls fell by 612,000 in April and May, although the pace of decline slowed last month.
The impact of the government’s furlough scheme - which now covers 9.1 million jobs - was clear in Tuesday’s figures. The number of hours dropped by the most on record and pay rose at its slowest pace in over five years, reflecting how workers on the program only receive 80 per cent of their normal pay.
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Max Maddison 7.50am: SA opens up borders, but not to all
South Australia will open its borders on July 20, Premier Steven Marshall says, as the state lifts travel restrictions on half the country.
At midnight last night, restrictions were lifted from people entering SA from the Northern Territory, West Australia and Tasmania. Mr Marshall said Queensland was “not that far away”.
“We think that all states around the country, all jurisdictions are doing really well. Australia is doing really well. Australia is doing absolutely fantastically, but the reality is that 20 July is the date that we have set,” Mr Marshall told Nine’s Today.
“If we can open up jurisdictions earlier, we will do that. We have said from day one we don’t want to have those borders in place one day longer than we need to.”
READ MORE: Low debt saved Australia from disaster
Agencies 7.30am: US coronavirus deaths pass WWI toll
The US death toll has reached 116,526, according to Johns Hopkins University, AP reports. That surpasses the number of Americans who died in World War I, when 116,516 were killed – although both death tolls are far from precise.
The US has more confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19 than any country in the world. For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
The vast majority of people recover but the more difficult cases last for weeks and sometimes take a bad turn even after symptoms seem to ease.
Countries that appeared to have largely contained the virus are seeing new outbreaks.
READ MORE: Libs still trying to echo Howard
Max Maddison 7am: Global coronavirus count passes 8 million
Global total confirmed cases of coronavirus have passed 8 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The US represents over a quarter of the 8,092,109 total confirmed cases. In some Latin America hot spots, Chile, which just extended the country’s state of catastrophe for another 90 days, saw an all-time daily high with 6,938 cases. Mexico has seen daily numbers fall in recent days.
India continues to record over 10,000 new cases per day, while Pakistan doubled their previous daily record high, reporting 12,073 cases on Tuesday. Pakistan’s planning minister has warned that cases could double by July.
READ MORE: Mega computer joins COVID war
Max Maddison 6.25am: Beijing ban amid ‘extremely severe’ case surge
Travel to Beijing has been prohibited after Chinese health authorities warned that the surge in coronavirus cases was “extremely severe”.
Beijing residents have been told to avoid “non essential” travel out of the city, with tests being conducted on anyone entering or leaving the capital.
Fears of a second wave have heightened in recent days. On Saturday, 87 new cases were linked to the Xinfadi wholesale food market. Another 27 cases were reported on Tuesday.
“The epidemic situation in the capital is extremely severe,” said Xu Hejian, a spokesman for Beijing city, at a press conference. “Right now we have to take strict measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.”
Authorities have also locked down several districts and tested tens of thousands of residents, with Beijing’s testing capacity expanded to 90,000 a day, according to state news agency Xinhua.
READ MORE: Spending points to recovery
Agencies 5.30am: Eiffel Tower set to reopen with tight controls
Workers are preparing the Eiffel Tower for reopening next week, after the coronavirus pandemic led to the iconic Paris landmark’s longest closure since World War II, AP reports.
France’s tourism industry is opening back up, but the 324m tall wrought-iron tower won’t immediately welcome visitors the way it did before the country went into lockdown in March.
Only limited numbers of people will be allowed in when the Eiffel Tower opens again on June 25. Elevators to the top will be out of service, and only the first and second floors will be accessible to the public.
“At first, only visits by the stairs will be available,” Victoria Klahr, the spokeswoman for the tower’s management, said Tuesday.
Everyone over 11 years old will be required to wear face masks, and crowd control measures will be in place.
READ MORE: Never concede to the moral matrix
Jacquelin Magnay 4.55am: Dexamethasone approved for COVID-19 patients’ use
A “boring” $10 drug that was developed more than half a century ago has been hailed as “the biggest breakthrough yet” in the treatment of coronavirus.
Hospitals around the world are expected to follow the lead of the UK’s National Health Service in immediately approving the use of a steroid called dexamethasone, which has been shown to reduce the death rates of COVID-19 intensive care patients requiring ventilation or oxygen support.
Results from the #RECOVERYtrial. Low-dose dexamethasone reduces risk of death by one-third in #COVID19 patients on ventilators & by one-fifth for patients requiring oxygen alone.
— Martin Landray (@MartinLandray) June 16, 2020
A huge team effort across 175 NHS hospitals. https://t.co/kIwN6VsYHj
Dexamethasone is commonly used to treat arthritis, asthma and severe allergies and was developed in the late 1950s. It’s also used by pregnant women to help stop nausea, while mountain climbers use it to combat altitude sickness.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson said the work of British scientists assessing dexamethasone was the “biggest breakthrough yet” in dealing with coronavirus.
The first successful clinical trial in the world has found an effective treatment to improve survival of #coronavirus patients needing oxygen treatment. pic.twitter.com/OK235v8Jci
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) June 16, 2020
Read the full story here.
Adam Creighton 4.45am: First signs COVID-19 downturn may be over
An increase in credit card spending, rises in the number of people working, and new research showing people are poised to ramp up spending on entertainment and retail have lifted optimism the worst of the COVID-19 downturn may be over.
Customers of the Commonwealth Bank, the biggest financial instruction in the country, spent 6 per cent more on their credit and debit cards over the week to June 12, up from 5 per cent a week earlier, according to the bank’s own analysis.
Separately, Roy Morgan’s weekly confidence index rose for a 10th time in 11 weeks, which left the index 49 per cent above the record low of March 29.
ANZ economist David Plank said it was a “solid turnaround given the impact the pandemic lockdowns have had on employment and wages.”
Read the full story here.
Ben Packham 4.30am: Chinese ‘disinformation’ a threat to nation’s security
Marise Payne has warned Chinese “disinformation” is undermining democracy and creating a “climate of fear”, as she committed the nation to a new global push to strengthen international rule-making bodies which are vital to Australia’s security.
In a strident speech, the Foreign Affairs Minister pointed the finger at China and Russia for spreading false information during the pandemic to shore up their authoritarian systems.
The move came as Chinese soldiers clashed with Indian troops in the Himalayas in a “violent face-off” between the countries that reportedly left casualties on both sides.
The fatalities, including the deaths of at least three Indian soldiers, were the first along the contested border in 45 years, and raised fears of a more serious conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Just days after Scott Morrison declared Australia had “done nothing to injure” the nation’s relationship with China, Senator Payne told the ANU’s National Security College on Tuesday that China’s claims its students and tourists were at risk of racism in Australia were unfounded.
Read the full story here.
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