Coronavirus Australia live news: Defence to deploy up to 500 on border as two cases detected in Albury
Up to 500 Australian Defence Force personnel will support the NSW Police Force in enforcing checkpoints on the Victorian border.
- Two cases detected in Albury ahead of border closure
- ‘We are all at risk of virus resurgence’
- Second Victorian dies in less than 24 hours
- No way in as NSW ‘can’t afford spread risk’
- NSW-Victoria border set to close
- Flight crew drafted to quarantine hotels
Hello and welcome to The Australian’s rolling coverage of the continuing coronavirus pandemic. Two suspected cases of COVID-19 have emerged in the NSW border town of Albury, just over a day before the border with Victoria closes. It comes as Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd says the outbreak in Victoria should serve as a reminder to the nation that the pandemic ‘is not behind us’. Two men in Victoria have died in the past 24 hours as the state records its highest daily rise in cases. The border between Victoria and NSW is set to be closed after crisis talks between the states’ premiers.
AFP 9.05pm: Kenya to reopen to international flights
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced a “phased reopening” of the country, with the resumption of international flights from August 1 as well as the lifting of internal travel restrictions.
The move comes as pressure mounts to kickstart the country’s ailing economy after four months of coronavirus restrictions, which have devastated key industries such as tourism.
Mr Kenyatta said in a televised address on Monday that “international air travel into and out of the territory of Kenya shall resume effective 1 August 2020”.
He also announced the lifting of a ban of movement in and out of the capital, Nairobi, the port city of Mombasa and northeastern Mandera, but warned he would not hesitate to “revert to lockdown” if the situation worsened.
READ MORE: Influencer fined for ‘quarantine escape’
David Ross 8.30pm: Coles, Woolworths to end buying limits
Coles and Woolworths will remove almost all purchasing restrictions, on Tuesday after several waves of buying restrictions in recent weeks.
Read the full story here
Geoff Chambers 8.05pm: Up to 500 Defence personnel on border
Up to 500 Australian Defence Force personnel will support the NSW Police Force in enforcing checkpoints on the Victorian border.
The Department of Defence is finalising arrangements with the NSW government ahead of deploying between 350 and 500 ADF staff to the NSW-Victoria border.
“The first of these personnel are expected to deploy to the border to achieve the NSW-government-directed border closure timings, pending finalising the agreement with NSW authorities,” a Defence Department spokesman said.
The Defence spokesman also confirmed they were in discussions with Victorian authorities to deploy five additional ADF personnel to provide “planning support to the state government-led restrictions within areas designated by the Victorian government”.
“This assistance is in addition to approximately 200 ADF medical personnel currently supporting public health testing initiatives as part of Operation COVID-19 Assist. About 190 of these members are involved in the Victorian government’s public health testing initiatives, with the remainder involved in planning and headquarters roles.”
“Medical personnel are deployed at DHHS testing locations around Melbourne, this support includes nasal swab testing.”
The ADF is also preparing to assist Victorian authorities in transporting COVID-19 test samples for processing.
“This may include both air and road transport in Victoria and interstate to provide a surge capacity if required.”
A federal Department of Health spokesman said they were “helping co-ordinate 200 clinical staff” from affected jurisdictions to “help free up other clinical staff to do door-to-door testing”.
Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Alison McMillan is also on the ground supporting Victorian health officials in response to the outbreak.
READ MORE: Listen as the locked-down roar
John Lethlean 7.50pm: Star chef Neil Perry retires
Neil Perry’s deal to buy back the farm has fallen over dead, with the Sydney chef announcing his “retirement” from the Rockpool Dining Group and the shelving of plans to buy back most of the key premium restaurants his name is associated with from Quadrant Private Equity.
Perry, 63, announced a deal earlier this year that would have seen him split from an acrimonious relationship with his Quadrant boss, American Thomas Pash, and keep the premium restaurant brands Rockpool, Spice Temple and Rosetta, in three states.
But the reboot has stalled. The savaging of the restaurant industry by the COVID-19 pandemic killed any hope Perry had of keeping the financial backing he had in place for the seven-restaurant buyback deal. It’s understood Perry was presented with a “move or move-on” scenario by Quadrant.
None of the Rockpool Dining Group’s premium restaurants has reopened since lockdown.
Read the full story here
Angelica Snowden 7.15pm: Shorten delivers food to Melbourne towers
Bill Shorten has delivered food to residents locked in public housing flats in Melbourne’s north.
A video of the former Labor leader showed he had pulled down his facemask to drop off the donated food to the Flemington towers.
Mr Shorten said care packages donated by a local butcher was “community at its best”.
“Thanks to local butcher Macca Halal Foods, these care packages have made it to the Flemington Towers,” he tweeted.
At least 500 police officers are stationed at the nine public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne. About 3000 residents are in the towers and they are not allowed to leave for at least five days amid fears of a COVID-19 outbreak.
READ MORE: Out of the bat cave: China’s deadly maze
Angelica Snowden 6pm: Two suspected cases on border
Two suspected cases COVID-19 have emerged in the border town of Albury, NSW Health has confirmed.
The health authority said it was investigating the possible cases in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District after two people returned positive coronavirus results on preliminary testing.
Close contacts have been identified and told to quarantine.
One person recently travelled to Melbourne and had returned before hot spot travel restrictions were put in place.
A pop-up clinic will be opened at the Mirambeena Community Centre tomorrow and NSW Health has urged anyone with the mildest symptoms to come forward for testing.
The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services’ local government figures for Monday include one case in the Wodonga local government area, on the Victorian side of the Murray.
It is not yet clear whether this is separate to the two cases confirmed by NSW authorities, or is one of those cases.
The Australian has contacted the Victorian health department for comment.
A total of six COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Albury since the start of the pandemic, according to data on the NSW Health website. All those cases have recovered.
In the four weeks up to Sunday, 1391 people had been tested for coroanvirus in the city.
READ MORE: Influencer fined for ‘quarantine escape’
Richard Ferguson 5.37pm: Border closure ‘regrettable but necessary’: PM
Scott Morrison has backed the “regrettable but necessary” closure of the NSW-Victoria border, saying the latter state needs to isolate itself from the rest of the country to contain COVID-19.
The Prime Minister signed up to the border closure in a phone call with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Monday morning.
Mr Morrison said on Monday that Victoria’s border closure was different to other states’ clampdowns as it was essentially quarantining itself, rather than keeping other Australians out.
“We had a three-way hook-up to discuss the issue and agreed now’s the time for Victoria to isolate itself from the rest of the country,” he told Sydney’s 2GB radio.
“This is not other states closing their borders to Victoria, this is Victoria understanding the need to contain an outbreak.
“It’s regrettable but this has been necessary. We’re one country and that’s important and it’s important for our economy, but so is maintaining our strong health performance.
“All the other states and territories – seven of them – have virtually no community transmission … it’s important to put that protection in place for the time that is needed.”
Mr Morrison said it was not clear how long the border would have to stay closed, and asked for border town residents to be patient while new arrangements were put in place.
READ MORE: Influencer fined for quarantine ‘escape’
Jared Lynch 5.12pm: No rush to cross the border as deadline looms
There was hardly a stampede of Victorians heading across the NSW border on Monday after the state premiers announced they’d close all 55 crossings from Wednesday.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been facing mounting pressure to close the border over fears the spike in COVID-19 cases Victoria would travel north.
But the main thoroughfare between Victoria and NSW, the Hume Highway, was hardly bumper to bumper on Monday. Most of the traffic was one way heading towards Victoria. In 300km, only one police car – one of NSW Police’s new BMWs – was seen travelling towards Victoria about half an hour north of Albury.
The were no security checks at the Albury Wodonga border crossing on Monday afternoon a couple of hours after the border closure announcement. The only COVID-19 reminder of there was a flashing overhead sign, warning of fines if people had travelled from a coronavirus hotspot.
Ms Berejiklian has for months urged all states and territories to open their borders to interstate travel, but said the situation in Victoria required an exceptional response.
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Rachel Baxendale 5.09pm: Where the virus cases are in Melbourne
Analysis of Victoria’s coronavirus cases by local government area on Monday shows the LGA of Wyndham, in Melbourne’s southwest, has the second-highest number of active cases, despite none of its postcodes being locked down.
Wyndham has 86 cases – a net increase of 26 on Monday – and is second only to Hume, in the outer north, with 124 active cases.
The City of Melbourne, which takes in some of the locked down housing commission towers as well as the CBD is third, with 82 active cases – an increase of 31 on Monday.
Of Victoria’s 645 active confirmed cases, 282, or 44 per cent, are in local government areas with no locked down postcodes.
READ MORE: China’s deadly Covid maze
Rachel Baxendale 4.35pm: How Victoria’s outbreak compares to last peak
Until Monday’s increase of 127 COVID-19 cases, Victoria’s previous highest daily had been 111 cases on March 28.
A comparison of some other numbers shows the current situation is much more dire.
On March 28, Victoria had recorded just 21 cases with an unknown source, compared with 416 on Monday, including 145 in the past week alone.
In March, Victoria had 491 active cases of COVID-19, compared with the 645 active cases as of Monday.
READ MORE: Telstra store hit by COVID-19 outbreak
Olivia Caisley 4.23pm: ‘Withdraw support for Palmer’s High Court case’
Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has asked Scott Morrison to formally withdraw his support for billionaire Clive Palmer’s “ridiculous” High Court border challenge after a spike in cases across Melbourne prompted NSW to shut its border with Victoria.
In a post on his Facebook page on Monday Mr McGowan said the commonwealth’s involvement in the challenge had become ridiculous in light of recent developments and called for the “nonsense to stop.”
“The announcement today between NSW and Victoria to close their border is one that I support,” he said. “But the idea our hard border is being challenged in the High Court is now clearly flawed and completely unnecessary.”
Mr Palmer is seeking a High Court ruling that WA’s border closure, enacted as part of the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, is unconstitutional.
His private company Mineralogy has launched a similar claim against Queensland, arguing that the border ban is hurting its business in that state.
Mr McGowan said the High Court challenge was consuming the resources of many of the state’s top public servants, as well as its Solicitor General, Chief Health Officer and Police Commissioner.
“In light of the new NSW-Victoria border closure, today, I have asked the Prime Minister to formally withdraw their support from Clive Palmer’s High Court challenge,” Mr McGowan said.
“It does not make sense for the federal government to be supporting a border closure between NSW and Victoria, but on the other hand, challenging WA’s border in the High Court of Australia.
“Quite frankly, the legal challenge, and especially the commonwealth’s involvement has now become ridiculous. This nonsense has to stop. And it has to stop now.”
He said Western Australia’s ‘island within an island’ strategy has been an integral part of its success in keeping the coronavirus at bay.
The Western Australian Premier also revealed he has asked the federal government to place a cap on international arrivals into Perth Airport to help the state manage quarantine arrangements for arrivals.
“I have asked the Prime Minister to agree on a cap for Western Australia. This would be something in the vicinity of one flight per three days. We need to slow the flow of arrivals,” he said. “This will help us manage the arrivals and quarantine arrangements to the highest standard.”
READ MORE: Palmer tests WA closure in High Court
Angelica Snowden 4.13pm: Closure leaves Albury-Wodonga residents ‘agitated’
Albury’s deputy mayor Amanda Cohn says the snap decision to close the border between NSW and Victoria has “agitated” residents, many of whom are healthcare workers who need to travel between the states.
“Having to wait up to 72 hours for a permit to cross the border is unacceptable for a lot of people, particularly in healthcare,” Ms Cohn told the ABC.
“We’ve only got an intensive care unit and cancer treatment centre in Albury and we’ve only got a maternity centre in Wodonga,” she said.
“For (Gladys Berejiklian) to say there will be difficulty and we should expect queues and disruptions for 72 hours when they’ve had months to prepare for this happening is unacceptable.”
State governments should have considered enforcing a border that was either south of Wodonga or north of Albury, Ms Cohn said.
“We are in a really unique situation here where we got a community of 100,000 people where the state border is in the middle of our community – it doesn’t divide us,” Ms Cohn said.
“I think what’s really frustrated people here in Albury-Wodonga is they had months to prepare for this happening.”
She said the flow of information “has been terrible”.
“As a local I’ve been bombarded by messages from people who don’t understand how to apply for a permit and what it’s going to mean for them.
“The flow of information has been terrible.”
READ MORE: Explainer: What NSW-Victoria border closure means
Rachael Baxendale 3.54pm: Victoria records 416 cases from unknown sources
Victoria has now had 416 cases of COVID-19 acquired from unknown sources, including 145 in the week to Monday.
The state’s number of active cases has risen by 357 to 645 over the same period.
Of Victoria’s total 2660 cases, 2307 have been in metropolitan Melbourne and 260 in regional Victoria.
READ MORE: Victorian Labor votes to dodge scrutiny
Angelica Snowden 3.51pm: ‘We are all at risk of a resurgence’: Deputy CMO
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd says the outbreak in Victoria should serve as a reminder to the rest of the country that the pandemic “is not behind us”.
“COVID-19 remains a risk for all Australians, it is critical we all continue to stick to the measures in place to support everyone,” Professor Kidd said.
“The outbreak in Victoria is a national issue,” he said.
“We are all at risk from a resurgence of COVID-19.”
Professor Kidd said the commonwealth supported the decision to close the NSW and Victorian border to prevent further outbreaks of COVID-19 and that Melburnians should not be “blamed” for the COVID-19 outbreak, Professor Kidd said.
“The majority of the people who found themselves in lockdown in Melbourne just like the majority of people across Australia, had been doing the right thing,” he said.
“They should not be blamed in any way, all need to support each other during these very challenging circumstances.”
The rapid increase in community transmission of COVID-19 in Australia has been “stark”, Professor Kidd said, after the majority of new cases in the country previously came from returned travellers.
“Over the past week 509 confirmed cases have been reported in Australia, only 80 of these cases or 16 per cent, were acquired overseas and diagnosed among people in hotel quarantine,” Professor Kidd said.
“This is a stark difference to over two weeks ago when 50 per cent of new cases in Australia were acquired overseas and diagnosed among people in quarantine, it shows us how quickly the pandemic can change,” he said.
In the last 24 hours, 140 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 across the country.
Ten of the cases were in NSW and three were in Western Australia – all were returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
There have been 127 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Victoria.
READ MORE: What NSW-Victoria border closure means
Rachel Baxendale 3.47pm: Cases at two separate Melbourne abattoirs
Two new cases of COVID-19 have been declared in separate abattoirs in Melbourne’s west and north.
The cases – one at JBS abattoir in Brooklyn, and one at Pacific Meats in Thomastown – come after Victoria’s worst cluster so far resulted in 111 cases linked to Cedar Meats in Brooklyn.
Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services said all staff at JBS were being tested, and the department’s “outbreak squad” would visit on Monday to ensure appropriate public health action was being taken.
The department said Pacific Meats had closed and workers would be tested.
Of other notable new cases on Monday, one has been detected in a healthcare worker at the Royal Melbourne hospital, who is a close contact of a known case, while another is in a healthcare worker at the Alfred Hospital, who is believed to have worked while infectious.
“Contact tracing is under way and the department is working closely with the hospital to ensure all appropriate public health actions are taken,” the department said.
Another of Monday’s new cases is in a worker from the Woolworths online distribution centre.
“It’s believed the person worked shifts while infectious and the contact tracing process is underway,” the department said.
The department is also investigating cases linked to Telstra’s Bourke St store in the Melbourne CBD, with close contacts quarantined and the store deep cleaned.
The Telstra case follows a case at Optus headquarters in the Docklands notified on Sunday.
READ MORE: Super could cop second wave hit
Remy Varga 3.45pm: Police assaulted by tower resident
A public housing tower resident has allegedly bitten a police officer after attempting to escape hard lockdown, Victoria’s top cop says.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton told reporters on Monday that a 32-year-old male of one of the towers in Flemington had been taken into police custody to be processed on charges of assaulting and resisting police as well as attempting to breach the COVID-19 order.
“There was an issue there where that male tried to leave (and) a fight occurred where the police were assaulted,” he said.
“That male bit one of the members so he was taken into custody.”
READ MORE: Two dead in Victoria’s worst day
Rachel Baxendale 3.30pm: ‘Border towns bear brunt of Melbourne outbreak’
Wangaratta-based Hinch Justice Party Victorian state MP Tania Maxwell said towns in her northern Victorian upper house electorate would face “extraordinary inconveniences” as a result of the NSW-Victorian border closure.
“There are close to 40 border crossings (in the electorate) between Victoria and New South Wales, many with single lane roads,” Ms Maxwell said.
“Thousands of people face long delays getting to work and accessing essential services, in particular hospitals and general health services.”
Ms Maxwell said she had asked the Andrews government for an urgent briefing to understand how information about border controls would be communicated to border communities, and what support would be put in place.
“Border towns are really going to bear the brunt of the consequences of what is a metropolitan outbreak,” Ms Maxwell said.
“I appreciate the seriousness with which the spread of the pandemic needs to be managed, however, towns with low and no cases continue to experience massive inconvenience and financial consequences as a result.”
“Our communities would no doubt prefer controls on the movement of people to happen closer to metropolitan Melbourne.”
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Rachel Baxendale 3.20pm: Andrews won’t ‘get into silly games’ on closure call
Asked whether the NSW-Victorian border closure represented an acknowledgment from the Victorian government that the virus is not controlled within locked down postcodes, Premier Daniel Andrews said the move was “simply a precautionary principle being applied”.
“I spoke with the Prime Minister, I spoke with (NSW Premier) Gladys (Berejiklian). We agreed that this is the best thing to do at this time, out of a sense of caution,” Mr Andrews said.
He said that given the resources needed within Victoria to fight the virus, using NSW police to patrol the border was “much more logical way” to manage the situation.
“No one enjoys doing it, but it is I think the right step to take at this point,” Mr Andrews said.
“That won’t be a feature that goes on any longer than it needs to, and I’m grateful that it will be enforced on the NSW side of the border, so that it’s not a resource burden for us.
“We’ve got quite a bit to go on with the moment, and that’s where our focus and energy has been focused and will remain focused.”
Mr Andrews refused to be drawn on whose idea the border closure had been.
“I’m not going to get into silly games about who was the first person to mention the word ‘border’,” he said.
“It was a mature, a proper and completely necessary decision, and the conversation reflected that.
“I’m not going to get into trying to dissect the conversation as to who rang who and who spoke first.
“There’s been lots of conversations between officers, there’s been lots of conversations between leaders and there was a three way conversation an hour or so ago, and we all agreed that this was the right step to take.”
READ MORE: EXPLAINER: What Victoria-NSW border closure means
Rachel Baxendale 3.05pm: Victorian Labor votes to dodge scrutiny
The Labor chair of Victoria’s Parliamentary Accounts and Estimates Comittee has used her casting vote to prevent the committee from scrutinising the Andrews government’s handling of Victoria’s coronavirus crisis until August.
The committee is currently the only parliamentary body with authority to call the Premier, ministers and bureaucrats to account for their actions, but is made up of five Labor MPs, three Coalition MPs, a Green and a Liberal Democrat.
READ the full story here.
Rachel Baxendale 2.55pm: School now Victoria’s second-worst cluster
An Islamic school in Melbourne’s outer west is now the site of Victoria’s second-worst cluster after abattoir Cedar Meats, having been linked to 77 cases on Monday.
The new number represents an increase of 14 cases since Sunday in teachers and students at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina.
The Cedar Meats outbreak was linked to 111 primary and secondary cases.
Despite the Al-Taqwa College outbreak and another linked to a separate family outbreak of 16 cases in Truganina, the Andrews government is yet to lock down the area.
Of Victoria’s 43 new cases linked to clusters on Monday, 16 were in locked down housing commission towers in Melbourne’s northwest, 14 were linked to Al-Taqwa College, one was linked to the Truganina family outbreak, two were linked to a family outbreak in Patterson Lakes and Lysterfield, in the southeastern suburbs, and one was linked to a cluster of four cases associated with Camberwell Grammar School in the eastern suburbs.
READ MORE: Plea to stop all virus relaxations
Rachel Baxendale 2.40pm: More support coming for tower residents
Victorian Housing Minister Richard Wynne, who said he lives “next door” to the North Melbourne housing commission flats, said he wanted to “reassure” residents the government was doing all it could for them.
He said 900 residents had already contacted the government through a dedicated helpline.
“I know there’s been some commentary about perhaps people who have not necessarily received the level of support that they would have liked, but I just want to assure all of our residents that we are doing absolutely everything that we can to both reach out and support people in this really difficult time,” Mr Wynne said.
“I know how difficult it has been for my neighbours.
“This is tough, but I can assure all of the residents in those nine tower blocks that we are with them, we’ll stick with them and we will support them right through this incredibly difficult time.”
The Andrews government has partnered with organisations including the North Melbourne Community Centre, Fareshare, the Community Grocer, Coles, and the Victorian Trades Hall Council to deliver supplies to residents.
On Sunday night, 500 packs of “essential supplies” and more than 3000 meals were delivered to residents.
Mr Wynne said further support had been requested from Canberra, including additional Australian Defence Force strategic planners and logisticians to be deployed to Victoria’s state control centre to specifically work on the lockdown of the towers, known as Operation Benessere – adding to the group of ADF staff already working with the emergency management team.
Two field emergency management units have also been established – staffed by medical workers, GPs and nurses, with pharmacotherapy for people with drug dependency and medicines available on site.
“This includes wrap-around mental health and drug and alcohol support from both peer-support workers and clinicians, who are undertaking active outreach,” Mr Wynne said.
“Residents who need to continue treatment and recovery during lockdown will have access to pharmacotherapy and support programs.”
The Royal Melbourne Hospital and St John Ambulance have also worked together to establish a 30-bed urgent care clinic at Melbourne’s showgrounds, not far from the Flemington and North Melbourne towers.
More than 400 “activity boxes” including crayons, lego and puzzle books have also been delivered to the towers to keep children occupied.
To keep kids on the estate engaged and active, more than 400 activity boxes have been delivered, including crayons,
Each affected household is eligible for a state government hardship payment of $750 if they are unemployed, or $1500 for those with jobs, as well as two weeks’ rent relief.
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Geoff Chambers 2.28pm: Almost 1000 ADF personnel assisting with pandemic
Almost 1000 members of the Australian Defence Force-led Operation COVID-19 Assist are currently deployed across all states and territories, supporting border closures, contact tracing and enforcing quarantine measures.
The Department of Defence on Monday revealed there were 372 Joint Task Force personnel supporting Queensland authorities, compared with 229 staff in Victoria.
In Victoria, 186 ADF personnel are providing medical testing assistance to state authorities, with 9 staff involved in planning support.
The deployment to Victoria is expected to be expanded in the coming days.
The Queensland government, where COVID-19 cases have been contained and borders will reopen on Friday, is receiving support from 130 ADF personnel to enforce border controls, 57 supporting self-isolation compliance checks, 51 helping Queensland Police protect indigenous communities and 45 supporting state police with international arrivals.
In NSW, 136 ADF staff – from a total contribution of 167 Joint Task Force personnel – are supporting state police quarantine and self-isolation directions at Sydney Airport, local hotels and residences.
The Joint Task Force has 102 personnel supporting Northern Territory officials, 24 in Western Australia, 12 in South Australia, six in Tasmania and four in the ACT.
The Department of Defence said they were supporting the Department of Health with logistics and specialist staff, supplying clinical and epidemiological support to the National Incident Room and assisting in the development of the National Communicable Disease Incidence of National Significance Plan.
There are 33 ADF and Defence department staff embedded across Australian government agencies, including the Department of Home Affairs and Services Australia.
Defence said 55 of its 62 confirmed COVID-19 cases had recovered from the virus. A total of 26 ADF coronavirus cases were detected in overseas staff.
READ MORE: Inside tower ‘mayhem’
Richard Ferguson 2.22pm: Border closure to cost jobs: Treasurer
Josh Frydenberg says Australia’s economic recovery will depend on stemming the COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria, warning the NSW-Victoria border closure will cost jobs.
A Deloitte Access Economics Business Outlook report released on Monday predicts economic growth will contract by 3 per cent in 2020, but says Victoria will be one of the hardest hit as it plunges into lockdowns sparked by the new COVID-19 outbreak in Melbourne.
The Treasurer said on Monday the government wants the Victorian economy to re-open as quickly as possible, but the health issues in Melbourne are different to when the Queensland border closed.
“There is no doubt that closed borders cost jobs but we are facing a significant spike in cases with Victoria,” he said in Canberra.
“It’s very challenging, very challenging. We will continue to work with the states, to make sure not only the economy opens but we can get health support to those who need it.
“Of course once it’s brought under control we want the economy to get back to normal as soon as possible
“Australia’s success depends on Victoria’s success and stemming the tide of new cases and getting it under control.”
READ MORE: Woolies’ warehouse hit by new virus case
Remy Varga 2.18pm: Food, supplies barred from Melbourne tower
A local mosque is being prevented from bringing food and supplies to the residents of several public housing towers hard locked down by the Victorian government.
Cars loaded with supplies are lining up outside North Melbourne Mosque, which is just across the road from the public housing towers.
But volunteer Abdul Yusuf, 24, said Victoria Police were not letting volunteers into the tower.
“They’re not letting us take in any goods at all so we’re just trying to do our best to sort it out and see what DHHS want us to do,” he said.
Mr Yusuf said a lot of the residents came to the mosque regularly to pray.
“They come in to pray at least once a week on Fridays, so they’re familiar with the organisation here and they’re familiar with the workers.”
A Foodbank truck was allowed in just after 2pm.
READ MORE: ‘We’re so isolated; it’s like a prison’
Rachel Baxendale 2.05pm: Second Victorian dies in less than 24 hours
A second man has died with coronavirus in Victoria in less than 24 hours, bringing the state’s death toll to 22.
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos confirmed on Monday afternoon that a man in his 60s had died in hospital on Monday morning.
Sadly, we have lost two more Victorians to #COVID19. A man in his 90s passed away in hospital yesterday & a man in his 60s passed away in hospital this morning. My thoughts are with their families. Please stay safe. #springst
— Jenny Mikakos MP #StayHomeSaveLives (@JennyMikakos) July 6, 2020
The news follows the death of a man in his 90s in hospital on Sunday and comes as Victoria grapples with a record 645 active cases.
READ MORE: Sorry tale of Covid catastrophe
David Ross 2pm: Woolies warehouse hit by fresh virus case
A worker at Woolworth’s West Footscray customer fulfilment centre in Melbourne’s west tested positive to COVID-19 over the weekend.
As a result all deliveries out of the centre, which handles 20 per cent of Woolworths’ online orders for Melbourne, cancelled.
The news comes amid a worsening second-wave COVID-19 outbreak in Melbourne.
The centre has been deep cleaned on Saturday and Sunday, with normal operations resuming on Monday. The worker was reportedly last at work on Wednesday before they began showing symptoms on Thursday.
Workers at the site were being tested on Monday and some have been asked to self isolate.
“We’re continuing to make contact with our CFC team members and will provide our full support to those required to self-isolate at home in line with the advice from the Health Department,” a Woolworths spokesman said.
READ the full story here.
Richard Ferguson 1.15pm: Today axes Hanson over ‘divisive’ tower remarks
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has been banned from Channel 9’s Today Show following her attacks on ‘migrants and addicts’ living in locked-down Melbourne social housing towers.
Senator Hanson said in her regular Today Show spot on Monday morning migrants who cannot speak English and do not practice social distancing should not get government support while in quarantine.
After a social media backlash, Nine’s news and current affairs director Darren Wick announced hours later she would no longer be a regular contributor to the program.
“The Today Show has advised Pauline Hanson that she will no longer be appearing on our program as a regular contributor,” he said in a statement.
“We don’t shy away from diverse opinions and robust debate on the Today Show.
“But this morning’s accusations from Pauline Hanson were ill-informed and divisive.
READ full story here.
Yoni Bashan 12.50pm: No way in as NSW ‘can’t afford spread risk’
The border between NSW and Victoria will remain closed for as long as health officials deem it necessary, said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who refused to outline a minimum time limit for the shuttering of travel between the two states.
From midnight on Tuesday the NSW Police Force will begin an intensive operation to monitor 55 border crossings with Victoria, an operation that will include roads, bridges, waterways and smaller avenues to facilitate movement across 11 local government regions.
The Department of Defence will also assist with the operation.
“We’re hoping this is a temporary arrangement. I want to see this happen for the shortest time as possible,” Ms Berejiklian told reporters on Monday. “I hope it won’t be for a long time — I’m not going to put a time on it.”
NSW Police Commissioner Michael Fuller said the decision to close the border had been strategised for some time by police and that lessons had been learned from Queensland’s experience attempting to do the same with NSW.
He said new fines and penalties would be sought for people attempting to cross the border with NSW, or for those who provide false information about their need to travel.
“They would be new powers under the Health Act,” he said. “Someone could choose to swim across the river, walk through the bush, there are dirt tracks. We’ll be using drones and other aerial surveillance at the same time.”
Ms Berejiklian said that essential workers and others who require exemptions would be able to apply to do so through the government’s Service NSW website.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the decision to move ahead with the border closure was based on advice from the state’s chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, who made the recommendation at 8.05am on Monday.
“It seems to be spreading through the city of Melbourne and we do have concerns that it will spread beyond Melbourne … and we can’t afford that risk in NSW,” Mr Hazzard said.
He also repeated his advice to NSW residents that those considering travelling to Victoria in the next 24 hours should rethink their arrangements.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Monday that the border with NSW would be closed on Tuesday night, a decision made following a morning telephone hook-up between Mr Andrews, Ms Berejiklian and Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
There were 127 new COVID-19 infections diagnosed overnight in Victoria. In NSW there were 10 new cases identified, but no cases that originated in the community, Ms Chant said. Queensland also recorded no new cases of the virus overnight.
Ms Berejiklian has for months urged all states and territories to open their borders to interstate travel. She denied that shutting the border with Victoria jarred against these earlier calls.
“What is occurring in Victoria is not happening anywhere else in Australia. It requires a new type of response,” she said.
READ MORE: Sorry tale of Covid catastrophe
David Ross 12.30pm: ALDI OK but cross-border truckies want answers
Supermarket operators are betting the NSW-Victoria border closure means business as usual with measures in place to help those who work on either side of the lockdown and food exempt from restrictions.
Speaking this morning Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said there would be a permit system introduced for border crossings, which would be further detailed by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian later today.
“There will be a facility for people who live on those border communities to be able to travel to and from for the purposes or work, the purposes of the essential health services they might need,” Premier Andrews said.
Major supermarkets say their experience with recent border closures in Queensland and South Australia that allowed freight and made dispensation for workers points the way.
ALDI Australia spokesman Adrian Christie said at this point the supermarket chain “doesn’t perceive” the border closure as being an issue.
“We’re yet to see but our experience based on the Queensland stores is the prioritisation of freight, particularly for grocery, has not presented any problems for us,” he said.
But the Transport Workers is demanding clarity on what the border restrictions will mean for the trucking industry.
TWU VIC/ TAS branch secretary John Berger called on the government to provide assurances that cross-border truckers would be exempt from self-isolation requirements.
READ the full story here.
Kieran Gair 12.20pm: Wodonga ‘penalised for Melbourne’s actions’
Wodonga Mayor Anna Speedie has blamed the “actions” of people in Melbourne for the joint decision to close the Victorian border with NSW.
Cr Speedie also said she was not told the Victorian border with NSW would be closed from Wednesday and had spent all morning “fielding calls” from distressed community members who had heard the news an hour before it was officially announced.
“We have had our communities behaving appropriately and taking the correct steps and we are being penalised by the actions of Melbourne,” Cr Speedie told ABC TV on Monday. “My region, for example, hasn’t had a new case in three months.”
Cr Speedie said the economic viability of regional communities is being sacrificed because authorities had resisted calls to ring-fence Melbourne to slow a resurgence of coronavirus.
“There is the notion of closing the borders at Broadmeadows rather than up here in the northeast,” she said. “It will affect my other regional counterparts as well, so it’s going to be incredibly challenging … for the hundreds of thousands of people who live up here.”
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the closure would be policed on the NSW side of the border, which has more than 50 crossings.
Cr Speedie said she hoped residents in Albury-Wodonga would be granted permits to move between the twin cities for work.
READ MORE: Clampdown state chaos to stall national recovery
Rachel Baxendale 11.50am: 53 cases so far in troubled towers
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed there had now been 53 cases linked to locked down housing commission towers in the inner northwestern suburbs of North Melbourne and Flemington.
The increase, from 27 on Sunday, includes 16 new cases detected on Sunday, and 10 previously notified cases linked to the clusters.
“We expect that number to continue to grow,” Mr Andrews said.
READ MORE: Victorian spike hits economy
Sarah Elks 11.05am: Another day of zero new cases in Queensland
Queensland has recorded zero new cases of coronavirus in the state overnight, with now just one active patient.
The state has had 1067 total confirmed cases, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk tweeted on Monday morning.
Nearly 400,000 – 392,238 – tests have been conducted.
https://www.covid19.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/127150/DPC7309-COVID-19-Restrictions-roadmap.pdf
From midday on Friday, the Queensland border will reopen to all Australians except Victorians. People must complete and sign a border declaration.
If someone – even a Queenslander – enters the state after spending time in Victoria in the past 14 days, they will be subject to mandatory hotel quarantine.
READ MORE: Out of the bat cave: China’s deadly maze
Richard Ferguson 11.00am: Border communities ‘hit hard by closures’
Nationals senators are warning regional border communities – many of them COVID-free – will be hammered economically if the NSW-Victoria border shuts down.
Nationals senate leader Bridget McKenzie – who is based in the Victorian border town of Wodonga – said on Monday that NSW and Victorian border towns share health systems and economies which will now be hit by an outbreak “hundreds and hundreds of kilometres away.”
“Here in Albury-Wodonga we have not had an active case for 92 days … This is going to cause severe disruption,” she told Sky News.
“It’s quite a fluid system. We go across the bridge – two cities, one community is our catchphrase. The reality is that this will cause severe impacts economically but also socially with health impacts.
“For really dealing with an issue which is hundreds and hundreds of kilometres away in Melbourne … it’s very disappointing.”
NSW Nationals senator Perrin Davey said the issues with the Queensland-NSW border closures must be closely examined when clamping down on down on the border further south.
“As we saw with the Queensland-NSW border closure, people line up for three hours to cross the border. Some of them just want to go to work … We need to be very cautious about how we do it,” she told Sky News.
“If they do close the border, it will hit harder on my community.”
READ MORE: Millions warned as doors locked
Rachel Baxendale 10.55am: Victoria records highest daily rise
Victoria has recorded its highest daily increase in COVID-19 cases, with 127 new cases on Monday.
The state now has 645 active cases.
A man in his 90s died overnight, bringing Victoria’s coronavirus death toll to 21.
Confirming the NSW border would close from midnight on Tuesday night, Mr Andrews said the closure would be enforced on the northern side of the Murray, so as not to drain Victorian resources.
The Victorian Premier thanked NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian for the assistance.
“I apologise for any inconvenience that will cause people who have got unavoidable travel,” Mr Andrews said.
He said there would be a permit system for border communities, and others such as medical professionals with essential travel needs.
Mr Andrews said it was the “smart call, the right call” to close the borders, given the challenge Victoria is facing with rising coronavirus case numbers.
Victoria has now had a total of 2660 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.
Of Monday’s 127 new cases, 34 have been linked to known outbreaks, 40 were detected through routine testing, and the remaining 53 are under investigation.
There are now 31 Victorians in hospital with COVID-19, including five in intensive care.
There were 24,528 tests conducted on Sunday, with a total of 952,699 tests conducted in Victoria since January.
READ MORE: Victoria chaos a threat to national economy
Rachel Baxendale 10.45am: Ten per cent of towers residents tested
Just over 10 per cent of the residents of the nine housing commission towers locked down by the Andrews government have so far been tested for COVID-19.
In a press release circulated shortly before Premier Daniel Andrews is due to address the media at 10:45am to announce the closure of the border between NSW and Victoria, the government confirmed 500 packs of essential supplies and 3,000 meals had been delivered to residents on Sunday.
Testing is set to continue “as a priority” over the coming days, the government said.
Adeshola Ore 10.40am: Health of towers residents ‘an afterthought’
Greens leader Adam Bandt says the physical and mental health of more than 3,000 public housing residents in lockdown in Melbourne has been an afterthought in the government’s response.
Mr Bandt said the state government was now playing catch-up after its decision to implement a hard lockdown of nine public housing units on Saturday after several residents tested positive to the virus.
“The community has rallied around and is trying to provide support to people, but it’s like the government didn’t think of any of that,” he told Sky News on Monday.
“It’s as if the government just thought we’ll lock everyone down by putting the police there. The residents there are asking why is such a police presence necessary. Is the assumption there that people don’t know the rules to follow? People there feel like they have been treated like second class citizens.
“It took us pushing the state government to get a hotline phone number for these people and then there were no plans to even let the people know what that hotline number was and we had to go and make that happen ourselves.”
CEO of the Victorian Council of Social Services Emma King said some food in boxes delivered to residents in the towers was out of date.
“We know that people have different experiences. For some they’re receiving food, baby formula. Others are saying they’re not. There is still clearly some work to do in that area,” she told the ABC on Monday.
“Savings lives, of course, comes first, but we need to make sure at the same time people have got food to put on the table, that they’re able to take their medication they need and be able to get the support they need.”
READ MORE: Victorian spike hits economy
Remy Varga 10.35am: Melbourne school closed as pupil tests positive
A school in Melbourne’s northwest has been closed for cleaning after a student tested positive for the coronavirus.
In an email sent to parents, Lakeview Senior College in Caroline Springs asked staff and students to stay away while the school is cleaned for three-days.
The school is in postcode 3023, which is not captured in the hotspot lockdown impacting 12 postcodes.
Rachel Baxendale 10.25am: NSW-Victoria border set to close
The Victorian-NSW border is set to close from midnight on Tuesday after crisis talks between the states’ premiers and Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is set to announce the impending closure at a press conference scheduled for 10:45am AEST.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was on Sunday urged to close the border with Victoria over fears that COVID-19 in the southern state might cause a second wave to the north.
With 74 new cases diagnosed in Victoria overnight, NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay said the time had come for NSW to shut its borders or risk a catastrophe for the community.
In NSW 14 new cases were diagnosed in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday. All of the new victims are overseas travellers in hotel quarantine. A total of 18,144 tests were performed during that period.
READ MORE: Sorry tale of COVID catastrophe
. Robyn Ironside 10.15am: Flight crew ‘perfect fit’ for hotels
The Flight Attendants Association of Australia has described the employment of airline staff in the place of security guards at quarantine hotels as the “perfect fit” and questioned why they were not brought in sooner to help control the spread of COVID-19.
FAAA international division secretary Teri O’Toole said she planned to write to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews commending him for the initiative.
“Our cabin crew are very highly trained, they have an incredible work ethic, and other than nurses are in the best position to deal with this COVID crisis,” Ms O’Toole said.
“Most of the cases in Australia came in from overseas, yet throughout Qantas and Jetstar we’ve only had 48 cases.”
She said anyone suggesting security guards had been replaced by “less well trained” workers was completely ignorant of the high level of training required of flight attendants.
“We’re trained to control passengers in all circumstances. It’s the perfect fit. I don’t know why it wasn’t thought of sooner,” said Ms O’Toole.
The Australian and International Pilots Association confirmed positions as “resident support officers” were being advertised on the Qantas and Jetstar secondary employment site and a number of pilots had applied.
AIPA president Mark Sedgwick said with so many members of the Qantas and Jetstar workforce still not required to work, opportunities for other employment was welcome.
“If people want to do that, we’re comfortable with it. We’re satisfied sufficient controls and protections are in place,” Mr Sedgwick said.
Currently more than 20,000 Qantas and Jetstar workers remain stood down, as the airline group goes through the process of making 6000 redundant.
At least 15,000 are expected to remain stood down for some time.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce recently said he was being contacted every other day by employers who had hired airline workers, and were impressed with their commitment and skills.
“We know our people are incredibly sought after, and we know they do an incredible job,” Mr Joyce said.
Adeshola Ore 9.15am: Draft military for hotels: Hanson
One Nation leader Pauline Hansons has blamed union pressure on Victoria’s reluctance to recruit military personnel for its hotel quarantine process.
"A lot of them are drug addicts as well... they're alcoholics... A lot of these people are from non-English speaking backgrounds, probably English is their second language, who haven't adhered to the rules." @PaulineHansonOz on Melbourne's public housing quarantine. #9Today pic.twitter.com/DtuqUXm5kL
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) July 5, 2020
Cabin crew from Qantas and Jetstar have been brought in to work in Melbourne’s quarantine hotels, as the state scrambles to contain a spike in cases. It comes after the state’s surge in cases was attributed to breaches in its quarantine system after genomic testing linked recent infections to private contractors working at two hotels.
“What we’ve heard is it’s possible that the unions put pressure on Daniel Andrews to get other workers to come in and do the job,” Ms Hanson told Channel 9 on Monday morning.
“The military should have been brought in this situation. They were offered to him and he didn’t take it.”
READ MORE: Online gambling soars in lockdown
Erin Lyons 9.00am: AMA calls for freeze on lockdown easing
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is calling for a temporary halt to the easing of coronavirus restrictions across all states and territories.
The warning comes after Victoria recorded 108 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, marking its second largest daily spike since the virus emerged.
AMA president Dr Tony Bartone said Victoria’s second wave should serve as a stark reminder that the battle against coronavirus is far from over.
“These new outbreaks send a strong signal that the other states should rethink the pace of easing of their COVID-19 restrictions until community transmission in Melbourne is under control to avoid the risk of a similar situation playing out in their own communities,” Dr Bartone said.
“We all want to get our lives back to normal, but it has to be a gradual and cautious process – and it must be with strict adherence to the medical advice and public health guidelines.”
The rapid climb of cases in Melbourne triggered strict stay-at-home orders for two new postcodes, Flemington and North Melbourne, while a hard lockdown was imposed on nine public housing towers that are home to more than 3000 people.
Dr Bartone recognised governments want to generate economic activity but warned lifting restrictions now could trigger another outbreak “anywhere in the country” because people were simply not following the rules.
“It is a stark reality check of how rapidly things can change. The disappointing reality is that the problems in Melbourne’s hot spots are directly linked to failures to follow established and successful public health guidelines,” he said.
“Against the expert medical advice, we have seen a range of failures relating to family and social events not following physical distance requirements, numerous quarantine breaches, and the irresponsible actions from elite sportsmen.”
NWK News
READ MORE: Towers locked up ‘for own protection’
Adeshola Ore 8.40am: Queries over flight crew training at quarantine hotels
Australia’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer said all airline staff are trained in safety procedures and stressed that those involved in repatriation flights have received infection control training.
But Professor Michael Kidd said the Commonwealth would ask Victorian authorities for details about what training and supervision would be provided to cabin crew involved in monitoring hotel quarantine.
“Whatever support they require from the Commonwealth we will be ready and willing to provide,” he told Channel 9 on Monday morning.
READ MORE: In state of anxiety, time is running out
Adeshola Ore 8.00am: ‘Concerns over fire safety, social cohesion in lockdown’
Victorian Liberal MP Tim Smith says the state government’s rushed lockdown of nine public housing units is a direct result of its systematic failures in its hotel quarantine process.
The state’s recent spike of COVID-19 cases has been attributed to breaches in its quarantine system after genomic testing linked many of the state’s recent infections back to private contractors working at two hotels.
Mr Smith said the lockdown implemented on Saturday had left 3,000 people in “cramped conditions” under house arrest.
“A lot of people are concerned about fire safety, social cohesion and the ability for the police to manage this situation in a way that won’t create dire consequences,” he told 2GB on Monday morning.
Mr Smith has condemned the state government’s decision to use privately contracted security guards to monitor hotel quarantine instead of military or police personnel.
“The Prime Minister has given every state the opportunity to use the resources of the Australian Defence Force for free. Gladys was smart enough to realise this is a good deal, I don’t have to pay for this,” he said.
Despite NSW Labor calling for a border closure with NSW, Mr Smith said this was not necessary because the spike of coronavirus was concentrated in Melbourne.
“We don’t have a big problem in country Victoria. Don’t punish our rural communities for Daniel Andrews’ incompetence in Melbourne.”
READ MORE: Towers locked up ‘for own protection’
Agencies 7.50am: Airborne virus spreads further, faster: scientists
Hundreds of scientists say there is evidence that novel coronavirus in smaller particles in the air can infect people and are calling for the World Health Organization to revise recommendations, the New York Times reports.
The WHO has said the coronavirus disease spreads primarily from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth, which are expelled when a person with COVID-19 coughs, sneezes or speaks.
In an open letter to the agency, which the researchers plan to publish in a scientific journal next week, 239 scientists in 32 countries outlined the evidence showing smaller particles can infect people, the Times said.
Whether carried by large droplets that fly through the air after a sneeze, or by much smaller exhaled droplets that may glide the length of a room, the coronavirus is borne through air and can infect people when inhaled, the scientists said, according to the NYT.
However, the health agency said the evidence for the virus being airborne was not convincing, according to the NYT.
“Especially in the last couple of months, we have been stating several times that we consider airborne transmission as possible but certainly not supported by solid or even clear evidence,” Dr. Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO’s technical lead of infection prevention and control
Reuters
READ MORE: Virus sours July 4 celebrations
Adeshola Ore 7.30am: AMA backs ‘appropriate’ towers lockdown
The Australian Medical Association has backed Victoria’s decision to lock down more than 3,000 residents of public housing units over the weekend after several residents tested positive to the virus.
There are calls to hit the breaks on the lifting of restrictions as fears of a second wave of COVID-19 increase. #9Today pic.twitter.com/I8Y8QWCyRp
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) July 5, 2020
The association’s president Dr Tony Bartone said the close proximity of living conditions in the nine tower blocks meant that the virus could rapidly spread in the buildings.
“(It is) Clearly in their interests of their safety and protecting them and the rest of the community, and appropriate,” he told the Today program on Monday morning.
“The speed, the urgency, all reflects the real problem here underlying the issue.”
Mr Bartone said Victoria’s spike of cases showed that coronavirus was still a real threat in Australia.
“It wasn’t that long ago that in Victoria the numbers there were in comparison to the other states.”
READ MORE: Police Association slams Melbourne lockdown
Grant McArthur 7.25am: Flight crew drafted to Melbourne quarantine hotels
Qantas and Jetstar airline staff have been brought in to work in Melbourne quarantine hotels.
The Herald Sun reports employees of the grounded carriers are helping at several major hotels in the latest major development in the coronavirus containment drama.
Hundreds of airline workers will be used to replace private security operators who left in recent days.
There has been a major overhaul of the running of quarantine hotels recently with Corrections Victoria workers – including prison officers – seconded to the venues.
Much of the transmission has been linked to the quarantine hotels.
There are suspicions that security guards are linked to its spread from the hotels to major community outbreaks in recent weeks.
Those have had a devastating impact, causing postcode lockdowns and the shutting down of nine public housing towers.
Thousands of Qantas and Jetstar workers have been left jobless by the impact on the travel industry of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sources close to the bungled quarantine program have raised concerns over the use of airline staff, questioning why poorly-trained security guards were being replaced with an even less trained workforce, rather than defence force personnel.
Australian Medical Association president Tony Bartone, told the Today program on Monday: “We need to have every confidence in the people who are performing the supervision measures and the enforcement measures there. They need to be trained, both in what they’re doing and also wearing of PPE and taking this appropriate restrictions when it comes to infection control. We need to have every confidence and I would really want the reassurance that these people are appropriately so”.
READ MORE: Berejiklian urged to closed Victoria border
Adeshola Ore 6.55am: Trump claims virus harmless as cases surge
Coronavirus has killed over 530,000 people worldwide since the virus emerged in China last December, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. Globally, more than 11 million cases of the novel virus have been recorded.
In the US, the worst-hit country, more than 129,000 people have been killed by the virus. President Donald Trump has praised the country’s coronavirus response, despite a surge in cases over the weekend.
In a speech at the White House to mark Independence Day celebrations, Mr Trump said the country had tested almost 40 million people, which revealed “99 per cent of which are totally harmless.”
On a sombre Independence Day, normally busy beaches were closed as California and Florida suffered alarming surges in COVID-19 infections.
Florida and Texas have emerged as the latest hot spots of the virus. Florida on Saturday marked a new daily high in confirmed virus cases at 11,458 – far more than any other state. As coronavirus grips the state of Texas with 8,258 new cases, the mayor of Austin has warned his city’s hospitals are close to capacity due to the recent explosion.
By comparison, New York state – the US epicentre of the outbreak months ago, reported just 844 hospitalisations on Saturday, far below the nearly 19,000 hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients at the peak of its coronavirus crisis.
READ MORE: Beer flows, masks off as England reopens
Agencies 6.15am: India records largest daily spike so far
Plans for the Taj Mahal to reopen have been cancelled as India registered a record daily number of coronavirus cases and opened a sprawling treatment centre in the capital to fight the pandemic.
The health ministry reported just under 25,000 cases and 613 deaths in 24 hours — the biggest daily spike since the first case was detected in late January.
The surge took India’s total tally to more than 673,000 cases and 19,268 deaths, closing in on Russia, the world’s third-most infected nation.
Russia has confirmed a further 6,736 new coronavirus infections Sunday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 681,251.
The jump in infections came as local authorities in northern Agra city said the Taj Mahal, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, would remain closed to visitors even though the national government said it had permission to reopen on Monday.
READ MORE: Herd immunity may prove to be best path
John Ferguson 5.55am: Millions warned as doors shut on towers
Millions of Victorians will return to lockdown unless the rapid spread of COVID-19 across Melbourne can be stopped, Premier Daniel Andrews has warned.
More than 3000 public housing tenants spent their first full day detained inside their apartments with 500 police guarding the buildings on Sunday as health authorities struggled to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.
The extraordinary lockdown of nine public housing towers was backed by federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and Acting Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly.
Victoria recorded another 74 infections on Sunday after a spike of 108 new cases on Saturday, while there were 14 new cases in NSW and six in Western Australia. All bar those in Victoria were in hotel quarantine.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton, described the situation in the public housing apartments as one that had “genuinely explosive potential for the spread of the virus”.
“I don’t think we’ve turned the corner yet,” Professor Sutton said. “I think we can see other big days ahead of us, especially as we ramp up testing.’’
READ the full article here
Joe Kelly 5.45am: PM ‘has too much power over national cabinet’
Constitutional law expert Anne Twomey has sounded the alarm on the “structure and status of the national cabinet” as a body to steer the federation into the future, warning the prime minister wields too much power over the grouping.
Professor Twomey — a member of the NSW federal financial relations review panel looking at the state’s revenue system — has also warned that the national cabinet does not have the standard cabinet protection for documents and discussions.
Writing in The Australian on Monday, Professor Twomey says the problems could result in the national cabinet returning to the “dysfunctional COAG days” when meetings were irregular, determined “at the whim” of the prime minister and the agenda controlled by the commonwealth.
Professor Twomey notes that the national cabinet is constituted as a “Cabinet Office Policy Committee” of the federal cabinet, of which the prime minister is the only permanent member.
“This committee derives its power from the commonwealth cabinet, and any of its decisions may be altered by the commonwealth cabinet,” she says.
“The prime minister controls its membership, sets its agenda and determines when and where meetings take place.
“Where the committee cannot agree, the prime minister’s view is authoritative.”
READ the full article here
Robyn Ironside 5.30am: Queensland nurses fly to Victoria’s aid
A team of 27 Queensland nurses is heading to the frontline of Victoria’s COVID crisis, as the state struggles to cope with a growing outbreak.
Queensland’s chief nurse and midwifery officer Shelley Nowlan said Victoria contacted them on Thursday to ask for help, and by that afternoon 30 nurses had volunteered.
“Victoria wanted a team of 200 nationally, so we’re sending 27 today and we’ll most likely send more later in the week,” said Ms Nowlan.
“It’s a serious deployment. We’re wanting to get a hold on, and contain what’s happening in Victoria for our national health. COVID-19 is very contagious as we can see now by the 18-days of double digit infections.”
The nurses were expected to spend four weeks in Victoria, predominantly staffing mobile fever clinics, and would be required to quarantine for two weeks on their return to Queensland.
READ the full story here
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