Coronavirus Australia live news: Coles distribution worker among new Victoria cases
A Coles distribution centre worker who worked last week while infectious is linked to a family outbreak based in Keilor Downs.
- Coles distribution worker tests positive
- Record collapse for cars, petrol imports
- Andrews: we’ll all pay a price
- Victoria records 17 new positive cases
- 1m cases in 8 days: WHO slams ‘politicising’ virus
- Melbourne’s six COVID-19 hot spots revealed
Welcome to live coverage of the continuing coronavirus crisis. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews raises the possibilty of not only reinstating restrictions locally but across the state if the Melbourne spike can’t be contained. Health officials are braced for Melbourne’s coronavirus infection spike to continue for days and possibly weeks.
AFP 9pm: EU summit on recovery package
The leaders of the 27 EU member states will meet in Brussels on July 17, their first physical summit since the coronavirus lockdown began, to discuss an economic recovery package.
The two-day meeting was confirmed on Tuesday by a spokesman for European Council president and summit host Charles Michel, as capitals wrangle over the terms of the huge rescue plan.
READ MORE: Moody’s affirms Australia’s AAA debt rating
AFP 8.20pm: Germany orders first local lockdown since easing
German authorities ordered a new lockdown for an entire district on Tuesday — the first since easing coronavirus restrictions and a major setback to hopes of a swift return to normality.
“For the first time in Germany, we will return an entire district to the measures that applied several weeks ago,” said Armin Laschet, state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia.
“We will reintroduce a lockdown in the district of Guetersloh,” he said, adding the restrictions that cover 360,000 people and will be valid until at least June 30.
The move came after a coronavirus outbreak at a slaughterhouse in the town of Rheda-Wiedenbrueck that has left more than 1500 workers out of a total of nearly 7000 infected.
The outbreak in Germany’s most populous state is the biggest since the country began lifting the lockdown early last month.
The new lockdown means a return to measures first introduced in March, with cinemas, museums, concert halls, bars, gyms, swimming pools and saunas shut down, Laschet said.
READ MORE: Spike makes White House nervous
Associated Press 7.45pm: Saudis limit hajj numbers
Saudi Arabia will allow only “very limited numbers” of people to perform the annual hajj pilgrimage that traditionally draws about two million Muslims from around the world.
The decision comes after weeks of speculation over whether Saudi Arabia would cancel the pilgrimage altogether or allow the hajj to be held in symbolic numbers.
It’s unclear why the government waited until just five weeks before the hajj to announce its decision, but the timing indicates the sensitivity around major decisions concerning the hajj that affect Muslims around the world.
Saudi kings have for generations assumed titles as custodians of Islam’s holiest sites, and their oversight of the hajj is a source of prestige and influence among Muslims globally. The hajj generates around $US6bn ($8.7bn) in revenue for the government.
Saudi Arabia has never cancelled the hajj in the nearly 90 years since the country was founded. The government said its decision to drastically limit the number of pilgrims was aimed at preserving global public health due to the lack of a vaccine for the virus or a cure for those infected, as well as the risks associated with large gatherings of people.
Read the full story here
Amanda Hodge 7.10pm: Singapore PM calls election
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will take his government to the polls next month to seek a fresh mandate amid a global pandemic that has caused the city state’s worst economic contraction.
Mr Lee said in a national address on Tuesday that he had asked President Halimah Yacob to dissolve parliament in preparation for an election “that will be like no other we have experienced, not just because of the special arrangements to deal with COVID-19 but because of the gravity of the situation and the issues at stake”.
“The government you elect will have critical decisions to make (that) will impact your lives and livelihoods and shape Singapore for many years to come, far beyond the five-year term of the next government.”
Mr Lee’s speech, highlighting his administration’s actions to deal with the pandemic and protect jobs and businesses, was an acknowledgment that the election would be a referendum on his government’s handling of the pandemic and the economic devastation it has wrought.
Read the full story here
Patrick Commins 6.00pm: Moody’s reconfirms Australia’s AAA rating
Moody’s has reconfirmed Australia’s AAA debt rating despite the country suffering through its first recession in nearly 30 years and ballooning debt and deficits as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
“The rating affirmation and stable outlook reflect Moody’s expectation that Australia’s economic and institutions and governance strengths will continue to support the sovereign’s resilience in the face of shocks including the current coronavirus pandemic,” the global ratings agency said.
Moody’s analysts noted the “significant widening in the fiscal deficits and increase in the government’s debt burden”, but said “that a longstanding consensus on prudent management of public finances will continue to prevail, and as the economy recovers, the sovereign’s fiscal strength will remain broadly resilient”.
READ the full story here.
Lilly Vitorovich 5.35pm: ABC board to take 10 per cent pay cut
ABC’s board members will take a 10 per cent pay cut for six months, as the public broadcaster prepares to announce up to 250 jobs losses on Wednesday as part of its long-awaited new five-year strategic plan.
The ABC board, which is chaired by Ita Buttrose, has written to the remuneration tribunal and received their consent to cut board fees by 10 per cent from July to December, an ABC spokesman said on Tuesday.
“The board has made this decision in response to and in recognition of the difficult economic challenges being felt by many Australians at present. Consideration of the staff wage increase deferral is still in discussion.”
READ the full story here.
Rachel Baxendale 5.05pm: Half of new cases ‘tracked to families'
Daniel Andrews said Victorian health authorities had a “really good handle” on where the state’s community transmissions were coming from.
“It is principally families, larger families often, making decisions that are not in accordance with the rules, and are not the right thing to do,” he said.
Asked how many people linked to the family clusters had breached quarantine, Mr Andrews said: “There are a number, but it’s an isolated, it’s a small number, a small number of people who have tested positive, and have then gone and pretended that they didn’t test positive.”
“That is not a large number of people, but this again makes the point, it only takes one or two people to do something like that and all of a sudden you’ve got many cases.
“In today’s numbers, there’ll be a significant number of these cases that are attributable to family activity. I’m not suggesting that it’s people that have (breached quarantine), but they are outbreaks, they are transmission within family groups, and of course I’ll take you back to that point that since ... June, we’ve had ... about half of our new cases, the transmission of the virus can be tracked back to families.
“I understand why families want to get together. I understand why people are deeply frustrated that this virus is with us, but there are ways to do that and everyone has to make a contribution, otherwise we will all suffer because we won’t be able to contain this.”
READ MORE: KPMG to repay some virus pay cuts
Richard Ferguson 4.40pm: ‘Law fee hike understandable, arts not’
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has labelled the Morrison government’s overhaul of university fees “puzzling” and said he could not see a reason to double the cost of arts courses.
The nation’s two highest-profile university chancellors - former chief justice Robert French and ex-foreign minister Julie Bishop - have told The Australian university funding changes may drive more students into humanities courses - despite the government’s intentions to push them away from such subjects.
Mr Turnbull said on Tuesday that he supported hiking students fees for law subjects, but could not see a reason to target the arts and humanities.
“I am all in favour of encouraging people to do more quantitative subjects. To do more
maths, to do engineering, to do science, or at least to do units, quantitative units in their degrees,” he told ABC News.
“To be honest, I can’t see the rationale for increasing, doubling the cost of humanities degrees. I would say the only part of this that I have got a little sympathy for is the effort to discourage people from doing law.
“I think it is baffling. They’ve got a point about law, but apart from that, I find the changes very puzzling.”
Education Minister Dan Tehan’s reforms are intended to push students towards STEM courses — science, technology, engineering and maths — by reducing how much they pay, and leading them away from law, arts and humanities, for which they would need to pay more.
The Australian revealed on Monday that universities would receive less funding to teach STEM courses under the reforms, as changes to government contributions do not make up for revenue lost via student fees.
READ MORE: Bashing humanities a recipe for a dumb nation
Rachel Baxendale 4.35pm: Community transmission ‘we weren’t aware of’
Asked why Victoria was seeing a spike in cases when NSW, with a similar pandemic history and demographics is not, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he suspected there had been low levels of community transmission of which authorities were unaware.
“I would note there was a (case of) community transmission (in NSW) yesterday,” Mr Andrews said.
“There will be community transmissions, there’ll be cases in different parts of the country at different times.
“It’s a good question and one that we’ve been working very hard to try and get an answer to.
“I think the most likely outcome is that we had low level chains of community transmission that we were not necessarily aware of.
“Now, the fact that we weren’t aware of that, even though we did a testing blitz of the best part of 175,000 tests just makes the point, unless you test every single Victorian at the same time, and then somehow get the results of those tests at the same time, you can never have a total and complete picture of how much community transmission, how many albeit isolated chains of transmission are out there in the Victorian community.”
READ MORE: Tough times tougher as more limits loom
Agencies 4.30pm: Global cases top nine million as pandemic ‘accelerates’
Global coronavirus infections topped nine million as the World Health Organization warned the pandemic was accelerating and Saudi Arabia announced it would scale back the hajj Islamic pilgrimage next month.
Europe has steadily eased its travel lockdowns in recent weeks, and France on Monday took its biggest step back to normality by allowing millions of children to return to school.
But many parts of the world, including Latin America and South Asia, are only beginning to feel the full force of the pandemic, while other regions are being hit with second waves.
“The pandemic is still accelerating,” the WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual health forum organised in the United Arab Emirates.
Tedros said the greatest threat was not the virus itself, which has now killed over 470,000 people, but “the lack of global solidarity and global leadership.”
“We cannot defeat this pandemic with a divided world,” he said. “The politicisation of the pandemic has exacerbated it.”
READ MORE: WHO warns not to ‘politicise’ pandemic
Rachel Baxendale 4.10pm: At least 4 cases in 11 Victoria LGAs
Victoria now has 11 local government areas with at least four cases of coronavirus, with the state’s worst hotspots of Brimbank and Hume recording seven new cases between them on Tuesday alone.
Cases have also popped up in regional locations where the virus has not been seen for weeks, including one new case on Tuesday in a resident of the Swan Hill LGA in northwest Victoria, and two new cases since Monday on the Mornington Peninsula.
Analysis of Tuesday’s figures shows Brimbank, in Melbourne’s outer west, now has 15 cases, including four new cases on Tuesday, while Hume in the outer north has 14, including three new cases.
Concerningly Whittlesea, on Melbourne’s northern outskirts, is now Victoria’s third-worst LGA, despite not yet being classified as a hotspot by authorities, with eight cases including two new ones.
Casey in the outer southeast also has eight cases, down from nine on Monday.
Moreland, in the inner north, has seven cases, including one new case, while Marybyrnong in the inner west has six cases, down one since Monday.
Neighbouring Moonee Valley has five cases, including three new cases. Cardinia in the outer southeast also has five.
Melton, in the outer northwest, and Greater Dandenong, in the outer southeast, both have four cases each, including one new case.
Darebin, in the inner north and previously classified as a hotspot, also has four cases.
There are 20 cases in the City of Melbourne (down six since Monday), but these are primarily understood to be recently returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
Victoria’s other new cases on Tuesday include one case in Glen Eira and two in Kingston, in the southeastern suburbs, one on the Mornington Peninsula (the second case there since Monday), and one in Swan Hill.
There are currently 131 active cases of coronavirus in Victoria, an increase of six since Monday.
Active confirmed cases of COVID-19 by LGA with change since yesterday in brackets:
(Note that the City of Melbourne figures are primarily due to hotel quarantine)
City of Melbourne: 20 (-6): Brimbank (outer west): 15 (+4); Hume (outer north): 14 (+3);
Whittlesea (outer north): 8 (+2); Casey (outer southeast): 8 (-1); Moreland (north): 7 (+1); Maribyrnong (inner west): 6 (-1); Mooney Valley (northwest): 5 (+3); Cardinia (outer southeast): 5; Melton (outer northwest): 4 (+1); Greater Dandenong (outer southeast): 4 (+1);
Darebin (north): 4; Glen Eira (southeast): 3 (+1); Knox (outer east): 3; Maroondah (outer east): 3; Kingston (southeast) 2 (+2); Mornington Peninsula: 2 (+1); Wyndham (outer southwest): 2; Boroondara (east): 2; Monash (southeast): 2; Bayside (southeast): 2; Swan Hill (northwest regional Vic): 1 (+1); Latrobe (Gippsland, eastern regional Vic): 1; Port Phillip (inner south): 1; Stonnington (inner southeast): 1; Nillumbik (outer northeast): 1; Whitehorse (east): 1; Yarra (inner northeast): 1; Campaspe (northern regional Vic): 1; Interstate: 3; Unknown: 2 (-2)
TOTAL: 131
Rachel Baxendale 3.30pm: Door knock checks find people ignoring quarantine
Victoria Police carrying out door knock checks have discovered 13 people required to quarantine were away from home..
Police Minister Lisa Neville said police had conducted 174 checks on Monday on people who have either tested positive to COVID-19 or been required to quarantine as close contacts.
“Of those, one was fined and 12 are being investigated who weren’t there,” Ms Neville told 3AW.
“For example, people can go to a doctor, a medical appointment, so police are investigating those, but police are taking that very seriously.
“They work hand in hand with (the health department) on that, so they get the list of people who are supposed to quarantine or self-isolate, and Victoria Police will do a mix of phone calls combined with door knocking to see people are complying.”
Ms Neville said police were also doing compliance checks to ensure people were not having more than five guests visit their homes, or gathering outdoors in groups of more than 10.
She said there had been a significant increase in recent days in calls to the police assistance line about people breaking the rules.
“We were getting about 80 a day. Yesterday we got 363, so again, people are, I think, doing the right thing and making sure we’re aware of where there may be breaches, and police are following that up and particularly targeting the six LGAs,” Ms Neville said.
The local government areas of Brimbank and Hume in Melbourne’s outer west and north, Casey and Cardinia in the outer southeast, and Moreland and Darebin in the inner north have been designated as coronavirus hotspots.
The Andrews government and health authorities have urged people not to travel in and out of the affected areas.
Asked whether police would pull people over to check their reasons for travelling in the hospots, Ms Neville said no directives had been issued to enforce those rules.
“It’s really at this stage an advisory for people to think carefully about what they’re doing,” she said.
“If you don’t need to do it, don’t do it, and I think we’re all trying to avoid being in that situation we were in originally where there were the stay at home directions, which is when police were doing that, checking where people were going.
“Let’s hope we don’t have to go back to that, and I think if people follow the new directives, I’m hopeful that we don’t have to get back to doing that.”
READ MORE: Australia to lead ad bounce back
Anne Barrowclough 3.15pm: How Victoria is getting COVID-19 response wrong
The Victorian government is facing criticism over its handling of testing and contact tracing, with senior health officials attacking Daniel Andrews for being slow to contain possible outbreaks.
Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell said federal officials had given five reasons why the virus had hit Victoria harder than other states: Daniel Andrews; department was slow off the mark on testing, showed lack of consistency in testing, were clumsy in their contact tracing practices and had a lack of digital processes to get information out quickly in terms of positive test results.
Clennell said the Federal Government had shown concerns about Victoria’s contact tracing regime, especially in the wake of the Cedar Meats outbreak, which resulted in 98 positive cases.
“As of yesterday, there had been 734,000 tests in NSW during the pandemic compared to 667,115 tests in Victoria but that Victorian figure includes 100,000 tests in a week or so as things ramped up after the Cedar Meats crisis,” Clennell said.
“That did not make sense, as if you don’t do it consistently and do it in one hit, you do not pick up the community transmission.
“It is not a virus where you can play catchup on testing, one source said.”
READ MORE: State’s spike is nation’s problem
Matthew Denholm 2.50pm: Tasmania blames BLM rallies for border closure
Tasmania has blamed large Black Lives Matter rallies in Melbourne and Sydney for its decision to keep its borders shut for so long.
Premier Peter Gutwein, under sustained pressure from business groups and the Labor opposition to outline a timetable to reopen borders, on Tuesday blamed events elsewhere for the delay.
“It will be three weeks this Saturday since the major rallies were held on the mainland … and it is also going to be two weeks … since South Australia allowed 2,500 people to go to a football match,” Mr Gutwein said.
“So the timing of those events, both in terms of our restrictions being lifted and also our borders, was important.”
He suggested Tasmania waited to see how the rallies impacted on the number of coronavirus cases in mainland capitals before deciding on border reopening.
“It’s provided an opportunity to understand what was occurring in the rest of the country…and I make no apologies for that,” he said.
“It was important to pause and to wait until we had a clear picture of what had occurred in other states and territories.”
Mr Gutwein, who will on Wednesday detail an earlier than planned further easing of COVID-19 restrictions, confirmed he was taking advice on reducing the 4 sqm per person rule for indoor gatherings.
The new rules would apply from Friday, when he would reveal the government’s decision on borders. He suggested Tasmania was more likely to reopen to people from South Australia and New South Wales than from Victoria.
He said NSW did not appear to have “any widespread community transmission” of the virus, with its cases linked to overseas travelers in quarantine.
After “positive discussions” with his SA counterpart on Monday, he hoped to see direct flights between Tasmania and Adelaide. Allowing people to transit to and from Adelaide via Melbourne would likely be “low risk” in any event, he said.
However, Victoria’s resurgence of cases was “a different story”, warranting close attention before its residents might be allowed to visit Tasmania.
Tasmania had enjoyed almost 40 days since its last confirmed coronavirus case and about 10 per cent of its population had been tested.
READ MORE: Panic buying returns to Melbourne hot spots
Rachel Baxendale 2.25pm: Coles distribution worker among new Vic cases
A Coles distribution centre worker who worked while infectious is among Victoria’s 17 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed on Tuesday.
Victoria’s health department released further details of the state’s cases on Tuesday afternoon, confirming they comprise two cases linked to clusters, three identified through routine testing, one in a returned overseas traveller in hotel quarantine, and 11 which remain under investigation.
The Coles distribution centre worker’s case is linked to a family outbreak based in Keilor Downs, in the hotspot northwestern Melbourne local government area of Brimbank.
The health department said that outbreak now totals 13 cases across eight households, despite previously reporting it was 11 cases across nine households.
Close contacts of the worker, who worked last week while infectious, have been identified and quarantined.
“The centre commenced a deep clean last night. Due to its size, regular cleaning measures and physical distancing, the risk of transmission is very low,” the health department said.
“The centre will be able to continue to operate with strict physical distancing to ensure safe food and grocery supply across the state.”
A second case linked to the Keilor Downs family was on Tuesday confirmed in a student at Keilor View Primary School, who attended school while infectious.
That school and Brunswick East Primary school, in the inner northern Melbourne hotspot LGA of Moreland, have both been closed for cleaning on Tuesday.
An infectious student had also attended the Brunswick East school.
Contact tracing is underway for both school communities and testing will be conducted as necessary.
Five members of one family household in the City of Maribyrnong, in Melbourne’s west, have also tested positive.
Contact tracing is underway and investigations are ongoing into the source of the infection in this household.
There have been 233 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Victoria that have been acquired through unknown transmission, and there are currently 131 active cases in Victoria.
Currently, nine people with coronavirus infection are in hospital, up from just four last week, including three patients in intensive care.
There are 1712 people who have recovered from the virus, and the death toll is 19, with no recent deaths.
Of the total 1864 cases, there have been 1568 in metropolitan Melbourne and 241 in regional Victoria.
The total number of cases is made up of 992 men and 872 women. More than 675,000 tests have been processed to date.
READ MORE: Millions face local lockdowns to halt spikes
Courtney Walsh 2.05pm: Bomber tests ‘may show how virus works’
Essendon’s chief executive Xavier Campbell believes Conor McKenna’s coronavirus positive and the frequent testing of his AFL peers this season will help medical authorities learn more about how the virus works.
McKenna, who is in quarantine along with teammate James Stewart as he awaits the results of another COVID-19 test, is reportedly in reasonable shape after inadvertently triggering a saga that saw Sunday’s clash against Melbourne postponed.
“This is an emerging virus on a global level and we’re really reluctant to talk to specific elements about this, because we’re not professional (medical experts), but they’re still working through how contagious the virus is,” Campbell said.
“In Conor’s example and when there’s thousands of tests going on a more regular basis, this will probably create quite a unique platform for medical experts to review.”
Authorities are yet to determine where McKenna, who initially showed an irregularity in a sample last Friday, contracted the virus. He reportedly attended five home openings when looking for a new place to move as he is nearing the end of a lease at his current residence.
McKenna had returned to Ireland during the season suspension but underwent quarantine on returning to Australia. He recorded a series of negative tests prior to the positive.
“That’s something for the Department of Health and Human Services to work through now and clearly that’s their domain and they have the expertise to work through that now,” Cambell said.
“We’ve got full faith in them, just like we have in the process they’ve been delivered here.”
Whether this constitutes a breach of the AFL’s COVID-19 protocols remains to be seen, with Campbell stating it was not a clear cut case. Footballers are allowed to attend home openings if seeking to buy a residence, but there is nothing in the rule regarding those who are renting.
Campbell said he was concerned about some of the reaction to McKenna when his COVID-19 status became public.
“I still feel like we’ve got to stick to a process and see out a process and conclude a process when it comes to Conor and this situation and that can sometimes put undue pressure on individuals when they’re working through something like this,” he said.
“It’s hard enough, just the public spotlight, let alone the particular narrative that may or may not be accurate. All in all, Conor is doing well.”
Essendon’s physical fitness and welfare staff are working with Stewart, who has been placed into isolation because he was McKenna’s “wrestling” partner at training last Friday, and McKenna.
Being isolated at home will have an impact on their ability to return to football once the quarantine period is through, but club officials are working with health authorities to see whether training equipment can be delivered to their homes.
READ MORE: New isolated star McKenna’s partner
Patrick Commins 1.45pm: Record collapse for cars, petrol imports
The COVID-19 crisis triggered a record collapse in the imports of cars and petroleum in May, while still booming iron ore exports were not enough to prevent another monthly drop in the value of exported goods.
The latest, preliminary international merchandise trade figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, showed there was a 40 per cent monthly plunge in the value of imported motor vehicles in May to $1.6bn – only half of May 2019 levels and the lowest figure since April 2011. Car imports dropped 10 per cent in April.
Imports of petroleum plunged by a third in the month to $1.2bn – the lowest in 15 years – to be 64 per cent lower than a year before. Imports of crude petroleum and aircraft fuel were the hardest hit by the decline in demand due to COVID-19 restrictions and lower oil prices, the ABS said.
READ the full story here
Robyn Ironside 1.25pm: More Qantas jobs may go
Qantas pilots have been told the airline will need to reduce its workforce in response to the devastating impact of COVID-19 but it will try to avoid compulsory redundancies.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce is expected to deliver an update on the airline’s future in the next week to provide more certainly for the 30,000 employees.
More than 25,000 remain stood down although up to 2000 will return to work as Qantas and Jetstar increase domestic flights in coming weeks.
With international services now scrapped until October, the future is much less clear for employees in that part of the business, particularly those who crew Boeing 747s and A380s
READ the full story here.
Rachel Baxendale 1.10pm: Andrews deploys ‘health army’ to doorknock hot spots
As he did on Saturday, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews again linked the state’s spike in coronavirus numbers to “large families who have gathered in numbers beyond the rules”.
“That is just not on. It is not acceptable, particularly if anybody in those family groupings has even mild symptoms, let alone if anybody in those family groupings has been told to quarantine as a close contact or even as a positive case.”
As of Monday, no more than five guests are allowed to visit households in Victoria.
“And, again, some common sense: it doesn’t necessarily mean you have five guests around to your house every single lunch and every single dinner,” Mr Andrews said.
“It doesn’t matter how many people are doing the wrong thing, everybody, everybody will pay the price if we get to a point where restrictions, either localised or across the state, need to be reintroduced.”
Mr Andrews outlined a range of measures his government is taking to reinforce health messaging in key COVID-19 hotspots and communities, including the deployment of an “army” of public health officials to doorknock.
“There has been a very deep engagement with localised communities, multicultural communities, multi-faith communities,” Mr Andrews said.
“We think that’s appropriate, and we’re really, really working hard to make sure that every Victorian, regardless of the circumstance, knows and understands the rules, knows and understands how serious this is, and knows and understands that their conduct, the conduct of each of us will have a direct bearing on what all of us have to deal with,” he said.
“I can also confirm for you that there is literally an army of people going out door-knocking, there will be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people from our expanded public health team out their door knocking in hotspot suburbs, and other areas if that’s deemed appropriate.
“They will do that job of providing public health advice and making sure that everybody (understands), where language and other issues like that won’t be a barrier.
“It is standing up now, but it will certainly expand in the next couple of days, and I would encourage people if you get that doorknock, take the time to have a conversation with the dedicated public servant who’s going to speak to you, because they’ll give you some information that you can in turn pass on to others, and that might lead to better behaviour, might lead to people doing the right thing across the board, and that’s critical in order to get on top of this.”
Mr Andrews also emphasised that Victoria, like the rest of Australia, is pursuing a strategy of suppression and not eradication. “It is very important that we remember national cabinet has endorsed a suppression strategy,” the Premier said.
“Now it’s fine for people to measure a suppression strategy against the results that come from an eradication strategy, but they’re not the same thing. Eliminating this virus is a different task to suppressing it.
“We would hope to get to a point where there are many days of zero. We all hope for that, but in the interim, we’ve all been very clear, from the Prime Minister, the Chief Medical Officer, myself, all of us, that we would see more cases, we would see more outbreaks, and that’s why the public health team are working so, so hard.
“Please work with them. Please make their job a little easier by doing the right thing in every setting, in every way. That’s how we will beat this.”
READ MORE: One steroid, and all Europe, says lockdown must end
Tessa Akerman 12.45pm: Toilet paper shelves emptied in Melbourne hot spots
There are signs of a resurgence of panic buying in Melbourne’s coronavirus hot spots and neighbouring suburbs with toilet paper shelves again emptying in some areas.
While stores remain under the 200 person capacity, there are fewer signs of a focus on hygiene. Shoppers are no longer wiping their trolleys and staff aren’t standing by to disinfect baskets any more.
READ THE FULL STORY here.
Rachel Baxendale 12.30pm: Andrews tells Victorians: ‘we simply can’t pretend it’s over’
Daniel Andrews said he realised Victorians wanted the pandemic to be over, but it was not.
“We simply can’t pretend that the virus is not infectious,” he said. “If people do the wrong thing, if people, for instance, have a positive test or are asked to quarantine because they’re a close contact, and don’t do that, and then go and spend even a modest amount of time with others, it is almost certain that they will give the virus to other people.
“What I ask all Victorians to do is the right thing and the smart thing: if you are sick, you cannot go to work. If you are sick you cannot visit friends and family.
“If you are sick there’s only one thing you should do, even with the mildest of symptoms: you should come forward and get tested.”
So far, 675,000 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Victoria since the pandemic began, including 8149 for which results were confirmed on Monday, reflecting testing levels on Sunday.
Mr Andrews said he expected between 16,000 and 18,000 tests had been done on Monday, with numbers set to be confirmed later on Tuesday. “I want to thank all of those Victorians who have come forward and got tested. I know there’s been some delays,” he said.
“That’s just a function of many, many people doing the right thing, and I thank them profoundly for what is a really big and powerful contribution to our fight against this virus.”
READ MORE: Second lockdown harder, more complicated than the first
Courtney Walsh 12.20pm: Bombers set to return to the Hangar this week
Isolated Essendon footballer James Stewart was the wrestling partner of his COVID-19 positive teammate Conor McKenna at a training session last Friday.
Although Stewart tested negative to the virus on Monday, he will be forced to quarantine with his fellow Bomber for the next fortnight to ensure he is not incubating the illness.
The rest of the Essendon team and those inside the football department will be allowed to return to the club’s Tullamarine headquarters on Wednesday to prepare for Saturday’s game against Carlton.
The clash scheduled for last Sunday against Melbourne, which was suspended on Saturday when McKenna recorded a positive test, will occur later in the season at a date to be fixed.
The AFL’s legal counsel Andrew Dillon said the scare on the weekend, which led to the league tightening training and social protocols, was a reminder of the need for caution.
“The first priority is the welfare of Conor and James. The club, with the support from the AFL, will ensure the players receive the proper support while in self-isolation,” Dillon said.
“On behalf of the AFL, I would like to thank the Department of Health and Human Services for their work undertaken and Essendon’s ability to provide thorough and detailed reporting to assist the DHHS in determining an outcome quickly.
“What has unfolded over the last few days is a reminder to the whole competition that we must continue to be vigilant.”
READ MORE: Dons dodge bullet as one player isolated
Tiffanie Turnbull 12.05pm: No new cases detected in Queensland
The controversial closure of Queensland’s borders has actually helped the state’s economy reopen faster, the premier says. Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday said the strict response, which has been criticised for stifling the economy and costing jobs, has actually helped the economy.
Since the border closures were announced in March, Queensland has brought community transmission of the coronavirus under control and sustained a low rate of new cases.
The premier says this has allowed the government to relax restrictions and re-stimulate the economy faster.
#HygieneTip: wash hands when leaving and arriving at a location. By keeping your hands clean, you're helping to stop the spread of germs. pic.twitter.com/HurzNTY5BK
— Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) June 22, 2020
“It means we can open up our restaurants, our cafes faster,” Ms Palaszczuk told reporters.
“We can get life back to the new normal, but we can’t do that if we have community transmission.”
The state recorded yet another day of zero coronavirus cases. Reopening of the border has been pencilled in for July 10, but that will depend on Victoria’s ability to bring its infection rate under control after it recorded double-digit growth for the seventh day in a row, with 17 new cases. — AAP
READ MORE: Creighton — To get economy working, devil is in the retail
Agencies 11.50am: Trump adviser says China trade deal ‘is over’
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro says the trade deal with China is “over”, and he linked the breakdown to Washington’s anger over Beijing not sounding the alarm earlier about the coronavirus outbreak.
“It’s over,” Navarro told Fox News in an interview on Monday when asked about the trade agreement.
He said the “turning point” came when the United States learned about the spreading coronavirus only after a Chinese delegation had left Washington following the signing of the Phase 1 deal on January 15.
“It was at a time when they had already sent hundreds of thousands of people to this country to spread that virus, and it was just minutes after wheels up when that plane took off that we began to hear about this pandemic,” Navarro said. US-China relations have reached their lowest point in years since the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States hard.
President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly have accused Beijing of not being transparent about the outbreak.
Navarro has been one of the most outspoken critics of China among Trump’s senior advisers.
FOLLOW THE LATEST MARKET MOVES in our TradingDay blog
Craig Johnstone 11.35am: Only one Vic case traced through COVIDSafe app
Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young has revealed that Victorian authorities have struggled to trace the spread of the recent outbreak of COVID-19 through using the COVIDSafe app.
She said her Victorian colleagues had told her that only one case had been successfully traced through the app.
“It is unfortunate Australians have chosen not to download the COVIDSafe app,” she told a parliamentary committee hearing.
She said only a quarter of Australians had downloaded the app.
Dr Young said that since the pandemic began it had been discovered that people with the virus are most infectious in the 24 hours before they show symptoms.
READ MORE: Tracing app ‘vital’ but rarely been used
John Ferguson 11am: Second lockdown more complicated than first
Melbourne is dangerously close to a second hard lockdown that may spread way beyond just the six local government areas where the virus is most active.
This is a national problem, not a Victoria-only problem.
Seventeen extra cases on Tuesday amplifies the trend of double digit growth.
Health experts are widely acknowledging that there is less than a month for the Victorian government to get on top of the virus’s spread, largely in Melbourne’s outer suburbs to the northwest and to the southeast.
The hit on the sclerotic Australian economy would be significant.
The LGA maps also show that the transmissions are spreading closer to the city and a seventh area – Maribyrnong – is showing worrying signs
READ THE FULL STORY here.
Rachel Baxendale 10.20am: Victoria records 17 new positive cases
Victoria has recorded a double digit increase in coronavirus cases for the seventh day running, with 17 new cases confirmed on Tuesday.
Only one of those cases was detected in a recently returned overseas traveller in hotel quarantine, while two have been linked to known outbreaks.
A further three cases have been detected through routine testing, and 11 cases remain under investigation.
Premier Daniel Andrews said authorities expected to make more information about Tuesday’s cases public over the course of the day, as they were able to confirm it.
“There will be some significant community transmission within those numbers,” Mr Andrews said.
“This is still with us. This is not over.”
Mr Andrews confirmed two more Victorian schools had been shut down due to COVID-19 cases.
Both are in local government areas which have been declared coronavirus hot spots.
The schools are Brunswick East Primary School in the inner northern Melbourne LGA of Moreland, and Keilor Views Primary School in the outer northwestern LGA of Brimbank.
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Adeshola Ore 10.15am: NSW ‘shouldn’t accept tourists from Victoria’
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says businesses in the state should not accept tourists from Victorian coronavirus hot spots.
New South Wales has recorded one new case of COVID-19 overnight from more than 8,000 tests conducted. #7NEWS https://t.co/2CAAWoEsTI
— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) June 23, 2020
NSW recorded one additional coronavirus case overnight from a person in hotel quarantine.
Meanwhile, Victoria recorded 17 new cases, as the state grapples with a potential second wave of infections.
Ms Gladys Berejiklian said not accepting people from Victorian hot spots was “basic pandemic management.”
“Do not take the risk. It’s not worth it and people from those hot spots are actually disregarding what their own Premier and health officials are saying,” she said.
“People from those hot spots should not be travelling anywhere, let alone interstate.”
READ MORE: To get economy working, devil is in the retail
Courtney Walsh 10.05am: Just one Bomber forced to isolate
The isolation fallout for Essendon from Conor McKenna’s positive test to coronavirus is expected to be lighter than the club and AFL feared.
Health authorities who have reviewed footage of McKenna training and investigated other aspects of his conduct have identified only one teammate as having had sufficient contact to warrant a quarantine period.
James Stewart will also be forced to isolate over 14 days, which will see him miss Saturday nights clash against Carlton.
Essendon footballers received results from their testing last night. The AFL is set to discuss the matter later on Tuesday but it is understood all bar McKenna’s test were negative to the virus.
READ MORE: Bombers in nervous wait on tests
Cameron Stewart 9.45am: Sharp spike makes White House nervous
A sharp spike in new coronavirus cases in the United States threatens to sabotage Donald Trump’s hopes of an economic revival before the November election.
The spike, which has seen the number of new cases jump suddenly from around 20,000 per day to around 30,000 a day, is also likely to reshape the election campaign with the Trump White House reconsidering their strategy after the poor turnout at the Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Health officials in the US have been alarmed by the new coronavirus trends which come as the country’s economy reopens and as people travel and socialise again after three months of virtual lockdown.
READ FULL STORY here.
Rachel Baxendale 9.25am: Two more Victorian schools close
Two more Victorian schools have been shut down on Tuesday due to COVID-19 cases.
Both are in local government areas which have been declared coronavirus hot spots.
The schools are Brunswick East Primary School in the inner northern Melbourne LGA of Moreland, and Keilor Views Primary School in the outer northwestern LGA of Brimbank.
Premier Daniel Andrews is due to address the media at 10am.
It will be the first time he has spoken publicly since announcing the dramatic reimposition of social distancing rules on Saturday amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in Victoria.
WATCH Daniel Anderson’s 10am press conference in the video at the top of this blog.
Tessa Akerman 9.15am: Cars turned away in rush for tests at hot spot
A COVID-19 testing site in one of Victoria’s hot spots was turning cars away with people in the queue facing a two hour wait before the site even opened.
The push for testing in six local government areas named as hot spots comes as two more primary schools in those areas were closed overnight.
Keilor Views Primary School and Brunswick East Primary School will be closed for three days after students tested positive for COVID-19.
Australia’s Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Alison McMillan said it wasn’t at the stage where all schools in the council areas should be closed again.
She told Neil Mitchell on 3AW the transmission of the virus wasn’t happening at schools and children with symptoms shouldn’t attend schools.
She said it was also important for parents to maintain social distancing at drop off and pick up.
Ms McMillan said decisions about tightening restrictions in Victoria or the six municipalities (Brimbank, Darebin, Casey, Hume, Moreland and Cardinia) was a matter for the Victorian government and the chief health officer but said she understood how difficult the situation was for people.
“We need to watch very closely in the next few days what the figures are telling us,” she said.
She said there was always the risk of future outbreaks and she hoped the advice went out for people to stay home unless it was necessary.
One of the testers at Highpoint Shopping Centre which borders Brimbank local government area said there was a two hour wait at 8.30am before the testing began at 9am.
Samantha told 3AW cars were being turned away because they were spilling out onto the READ MORE: Tough times tougher as more limits loom
Debbie Schipp 9.10am: NSW, Victorian premiers to address media
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will hold a press conference outlining a major education announcement at 9.30am, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews also has a press conference scheduled for 10am. Both can be watched live on the Sky News COVID-19 channel at the top of this blog.
Adeshola Ore 9am: WA phase five — no social distancing — close: Cook
Western Australia’s Deputy Premier Roger Cook says he is confident the state will soon have no social distancing measures in place.
The state will move into phase four of relaxed coronavirus restrictions this weekend and maintain a hard border closure.
Mr Cook said stage five, which involves no social distancing, is scheduled to begin from July 18.
“We’re confident for two reasons. One, because we’ve listened to the best medical advice in terms of what to do to continue to keep the disease under control. Two, we’ve also seen Western Australians embrace all measures that are necessary.”
Premier Mark McGowan on Monday revealed his government had been planning to reopen the interstate borders from August 8.
But the outbreak in Victoria, where there has been significant community transmission, has led WA to abandon any border changes for now.
READ MORE: Tasmanian Premier eyes easing of new rules
Debbie Schipp 8.50am: Two more Trump rally staffers test positive
Two more members of US President Donald Trump’s advance team for his rally in Tulsa have tested positive for COVID-19, the Trump campaign said Monday.
The number of total positive tests among Mr Trump’s advance staff now stands at eight, and is expected to rise, NBC reports.
On Saturday — before the rally — Mr Trump’s campaign team revealed six members of the advance team on the ground in Oklahoma had tested positive, including Secret Service personnel, a person familiar with the discussions said.
Those six members did not attend the rally.
But the two staffers to since test positive did attend, though the campaign said they wore masks throughout. They were tested after the rally as a precaution for flying home.
“After another round of testing for campaign staff in Tulsa, two additional members of the advance team tested positive for the coronavirus,” Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said. “These staff members attended the rally but were wearing masks during the entire event. Upon the positive tests, the campaign immediately activated established quarantine and contact tracing protocols.”
READ MORE: TikTok users ‘prank’ Trump rally
Adeshola Ore 8.10am: Forcing Victoria hotspot lockdown ‘an option’: Hunt
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says a suburban lockdown of Victoria’s coronavirus hot spots “remains an option”.
More than one-million Victorians have been advised not to leave their suburbs, but the state government says it will consider making the advice legally enforceable.
Mr Hunt said a lockdown similar to the approach implemented in north-west Tasmania could be a viable option for Victoria, as the state grappled with a potential second wave.
“We effectively implemented this same approach where there was a significant outbreak around Burnie,” he told the ABC on Tuesday morning.
“It was very difficult for the local popular, but ultimately, it led to the control of what was a far greater outbreak in terms of cases to population number.”
Mr Hunt said extra Commonwealth support could be deployed to Victoria to bolster the state’s health resources.
“But I am hopeful that with this level of testing, and this level of awareness and the relatively small number of unidentified cases, that we will be able to control and suppress those cases.”
Mr Hunt said Victoria’s rise in cases would not impact the continuation of the AFL season.
A clash between Essendon and Melbourne at the MCG last weekend was cancelled after Bombers player Conor McKenna tested positive to coronavirus. A rescheduled date has not been set.
Mr Hunt said the AFL had the “best and most developed protocols in the country.”
“The AFL Has done an excellent job in planning and preparing and they have done exactly what they planned. Our view is that the season should and can continue,” he told Sunrise on Tuesday morning.
“Above all else, the thing that comes above everything, is player safety, the safety of the community and everyone around those players. They have responded in real-time on that front, so I think they are a model of how to react.”
READ MORE: Millions face local lockdowns to halt spike
Adeshola Ore 7.40am: Border closure fears more pain for aviation sector
Aviation experts are warning an extension of border closures will add further uncertainty of Australia’s aircraft industry.
As Victoria struggles to contain a flare up of coronavirus cases, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has urged residents to reconsider their need to travel to Melbourne.
Meanwhile, Western Australian Premier McGowan has defended his state’s decision to maintain its hard border closure.
Australian aviation industry expert Geoffrey Thomas said the news added further pain for Qantas that had begun preparing its fleets.
“They have got to make long-term plans about bringing the planes back,” he told Sunrise on Tuesday morning.
“They were making plans on various scenarios about opening around the country. Now the are on hold or have been postponed indefinitely.”
Mr Thomas said the extension of borders closures had also been a setback for Australia’s tourism sector.
“Bringing staff back, opening up facilities, all of those sorts of things are put on hold. It’s a major disrupter.”
READ MORE: Qantas ready to ramp up domestic takeoff
7.10am: US ‘doing too good a job’ testing: Trump
President Donald Trump says the United States has done “too good a job” on testing for cases of COVID-19, even as his staff insisted the president was only joking when he said over the weekend that he had instructed aides to “slow the testing down, please.” The president’s comments at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday brought quick rebukes from the campaign of likely Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as well as scores of Democratic politicians. In an interview with Scripps for its local TV stations, Trump was asked Monday whether he did indeed tell aides to “slow it down.” He did not directly answer the question.
“If it did slow down, frankly, I think we’re way ahead of ourselves, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said. “We’ve done too good a job,” adding that the reason the United States has more coronavirus cases is that it does more testing.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said any suggestion that testing has been curtailed is not rooted in fact, saying Trump made the slow-it-down comment “in jest.”
She said that Trump’s comments were an effort to criticise the media for its coverage of the coronavirus and its “failure” to understand that “when you test more, you also find more cases.” However, the U.S. is seeing disturbing trends in several benchmarks, including the percentage of tests that prove positive for the virus.
Health officials say that testing in the United States early on was insufficient for optimal containment.
In early March, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, testified that the nation’s testing system was “not really geared to what we need right now” and added, “it is a failing. Let’s admit it.”
But now, about a half-million people per day are being tested, and the president and his aides have been repeatedly touting the United States as leading the world in testing.
The US has confirmed nearly 2.3 million COVID-19 cases — about one quarter of the world’s cases. More than 120,000 people in the U.S. with COVID-19 have died. The next closest nation is Brazil, with 50,600 deaths. — AP
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Debbie Schipp 6.45am: Fears US outbreak spiralling out of control as cases soar
In the US, alarming surges in coronavirus cases raised fears Monday that the outbreak is spiralling out of control and that hard-won progress against the scourge is slipping away because of resistance among many Americans to wearing masks and staying away from others.
Confirming predictions that the easing of state lockdowns in the past six weeks could lead to a comeback by the virus, cases surpassed 100,000 in Florida, hospitalisations are rising dramatically in Houston, and a startling 1 in 5 of those tested in Arizona are proving to be infected, AP reports.
More than 120,000 have died of the virus in the US: the highest death toll in the world.
Over the weekend, the virus seemed to be everywhere at once: Six staff members helping set up for President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tested positive, as did 23 Clemson University football players in South Carolina. At least 30 members of the Louisiana State University team were isolated after becoming infected or coming into contact with someone who was. Meatpacking plants were also hit with outbreaks.
“It is snowballing. We will most certainly see more people die as a result of this spike,” said Dr. Marc Boom, CEO and president of Houston Methodist Hospital.
He predicted that in three weeks hospitals could be overwhelmed and
pleaded with people to cover their faces and practice social distancing, saying people “have let their guard down,”
Dr. Michael Ryan, the World Health Organisation’s emergencies chief, said that the outbreak is “definitely accelerating” in the US, dismissing the notion that the record daily levels of new cases simply reflect more testing.
“The epidemic is now peaking or moving towards a peak in a number of large countries,” he warned.
At Maryland’s Fort Washington Medical Center on the outskirts of the nation’s capital, workers described a scramble to find new beds, heartbreaking encounters with family members of critically ill patients and their frustration with Americans who do not believe the coronavirus threat is real.
Meanwhile, New York City, once the most lethal hot spot in the US, lifted more of its restrictions, moving a big step closer to normal. Restaurants can serve diners outdoors, customers can browse through stores and get a haircut, and children can return to playgrounds. – with AP.
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Debbie Schipp 6.20am: 1m cases in 8 days as WHO slams ‘politicising’ virus
World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says a lack of global leadership and unity in fighting the virus was a bigger threat than the outbreak itself, and that politicisation had made the pandemic worse.
Amid the global surge, the head of WHO warned that world leaders must not politicise the outbreak but unite to fight it.
Mr Ghebreyesus, who has faced criticism from US President Donald Trump, said during a videoconference for the Dubai-based World Government Summit that it took over three months for the world to see 1 million confirmed infections, but just eight days to see the most recent 1 million cases.
Tedros did not mention Trump by name or his determination to pull the United States out of the UN health agency but warned: “The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself; it’s the lack of global solidarity and global leadership.” He added, “We cannot defeat this pandemic with a divided world.” Trump has criticised the WHO over its early response to the outbreak and what he considers its excessive praise of China, where the outbreak began, though his own administration’s handing of the crisis in the U.S. has come under attack. Trump has threatened to cut off U.S. funding for the WHO.
The WHO has been criticised by some member states, especially the US, which says it was too weak, too slow and too “China-centric” in tackling the disease at the outset. — Reuters
READ MORE: Passage from India, then whingeing started
6.05am: ‘Worrying increases’ as cases surge past 9 million
Coronavirus cases are soaring in several major countries at the same time, with “worrying increases” in Latin America, especially Brazil, the World Health Organisation says.
The world recorded more than 183,000 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the most in a single day since the outbreak started in December, according to the WHO. “Certainly the numbers are increasing because the epidemic is developing in a number of populous countries at the same time and across the whole world,” the WHO’s top emergencies expert Mike Ryan told an online briefing on Monday. “Some of that increase may be attributed to increased testing … and certainly countries like India are testing more. But we do not believe that this is a testing phenomenon.” Global cases surpassed 9 million on Monday, with the US, China and other hard- hit countries also reporting new outbreaks.
Ryan said there had been a jump in cases in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Panama, Bolivia and Guatemala, as well as Brazil, which had passed the 1 million mark.
Brazil, second only to the US in number of infections, reported a record 54,000 cases in the previous 24 hours.
Ryan said some of the jump in Brazil did not necessarily reflect changes in the reporting system.
” … we would say that this trend is not reflective of exhaustive testing, but probably underestimating the actual number of cases,” he said. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, sometimes called the “Tropical Trump”, has been widely criticised for his handling of the crisis.
The country still has no permanent health minister after losing two since April, following clashes with the president.
Bolsonaro has shunned social distancing, calling it a job-killing measure more dangerous than the virus itself.
He has also promoted two anti-malarial drugs — chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine — as remedies, despite a lack of evidence that they work.
rough just increased testing.”
READ MORE: WHO chief warns pandemic ‘accelerating’
Debbie Schipp 5.50am: Trump extends visa ban to non-immigrants
The Trump administration is extending a ban on green cards issued outside the United States until the end of the year and adding many temporary work visas to the freeze, including those used heavily by technology companies and multinational corporations, AP reports.
A senior administration official who spoke to reporters Monday on condition of anonymity says the ban will stay in effect until the end of this year in an effort to free up jobs in an economy hammered by the coronavirus.
The administration estimates the measures will free up to 525,000 jobs for Americans.
The ban on new visas applies to H-1B visas, which are used by major American technology companies, H-2B visas for non-agricultural seasonal workers, J-1 visas for exchange students and L-1 visas for managers of multinational corporations.
On Sunday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported a record increase in global novel coronavirus cases. North America and South America showed the largest rises.
READ MORE: To get economy working, devil is in the retail
John Ferguson 5.15am: Melbourne outbreak centred on six hot spots
Health officials are expecting double-digit increases in infections to continue for days and possibly weeks in Melbourne, where a coronavirus spike is concentrated on communities where English is often a second language or rarely spoken.
Census data shows health officials are fighting not only a difficult virus but a sharp shift in the demographics compared with March.
In March, the virus was spread in Victoria by wealthy travellers returning from the ski fields in the US and Europe, but now there are six local government areas where the government is most concerned. Those areas are Hume, Casey, Brimbank, Moreland, Cardinia and Darebin, with varying degrees of ethnicity and income.
Most of these people are in the north, northwest and southeastern suburbs and many were born overseas. More than a million people live in the affected areas.
The LGAs of Brimbank, Hume and Casey have 31 active cases.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos indicated on Monday that some of the key affected areas contained disadvantaged communities and included limited English.
The government will launch a community engagement campaign for culturally and linguistically diverse communities that will include talking directly to religious communities to ensure the message is getting through.
“This is designed to make sure our public health message is reaching everyone in our state, and everyone is aware about risks and their obligations,” Ms Mikakos said.
Read the full story here.
Rachel Baxendale 5am: One million-plus face new COVID-19 lockdowns
More than a million people in six Melbourne local government districts face renewed lockdowns from a coronavirus spike as Scott Morrison urges nervous premiers to keep opening up their economies despite higher Victorian infection rates.
A massive testing blitz was launched in coronavirus hot spots in Melbourne’s suburbs on Monday as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews faced criticism of his handling of the Black Lives Matter protest this month, and the message that it sent the broader community about social distancing.
The Prime Minister urged states to continue the reopening process, warning Australia “can’t just shut up everything forever”.
Read the full story, by Rachel Baxendale and Patrick Commins, here.
Agencies 4.45am: Dexamethasone production must be increased: WHO
The World Health Organisation has called for a rapid increase in production of the steroid dexamethasone, after British clinical trials found it had lifesaving potential for critically-ill coronavirus patients.
Researchers led by a team from the University of Oxford administered dexamethasone to more than 2,000 severely ill patients hospitalised with the new coronavirus.
Among those who could only breathe with the help of a ventilator, it reduced deaths by 35 per cent.
"Fortunately, this is an inexpensive medicine and there are many #dexamethasone manufacturers worldwide, who we are confident can accelerate production"-@DrTedros #COVID19
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) June 22, 2020
The WHO emphasised that dexamethasone should only be used for patients with severe or critical disease, under close clinical supervision. There is no evidence that the drug works for patients with mild disease or as a preventive measure, and it could cause harm, Tedros said.
READ MORE: One steroid says lockdown must end
Labor’s migration target to be overshot by 100,000
With arrivals outstripping expectations and departures less than anticipated, economists and immigrations experts say Labor will oversee a net migration intake as high as 495,000.
How retail umpire mediated a row while on Ukraine mercy mission
Food Code’s Chris Leptos spends his days arbitrating disputes between suppliers and supermarkets, but after hours he’s part of an international group helping to ease the plight of Ukrainians.