Coronavirus Australia live news: Queenslanders given deadline to get home from Sydney
Queensland has joined Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia in closing borders to greater Sydney as NSW records another 30 cases.
- ‘We can’t be complacent’: PM’s virus warning
- AFL star jailed after ‘second quarantine breach’
- Gatherings in Sydney homes capped at 10
- Covid crisis escalates with 70 venue warnings
Welcome to The Australian’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
Scott Morrison has warned Australians to not be “complacent” amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney’s northern beaches and pledged to provide federal government assistance to get on top of the latest health crisis.
Victoria and South Australia will shut their borders to Sydney and the central coast from midnight in what is a dramatic clampdown as NSW records 30 new virus cases.
Gatherings at Sydney homes will be capped at 10 under a new public health order announced today, which will be in place until midnight Wednesday.
Carla Mascarenhas 11pm: Bangkok News Years hangs by a thread
New years parties could face the cane in Bangkok after a worrying spike in coronavirus cases has left the Thai capital in shambles.
Precautionary measures were introduced following a superspreading event in nearby province Samut Songkram, which is linked to two new cases in Bangkok.
The new measures include a ban on all New Year’s Eve and countdown events and parties organized without authorized permission as well as a ban on dancing at bars, clubs, and mass-gathering venues.
Bangkokians are being urged to consider working from home in the next 14 days.
Read more: Thailand shuts seafood market after outbreak
Kylar Loussikian, Kieran Gair 10.35pm: Northern Beaches, Double Bay venues join Covid list
NSW health authorities have released another late-night update for more venues in Sydney’s northern beaches and eastern suburbs where COVID-19 transmission has occurred. They are asking anyone who was in the following venues to get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days regardless of result:
Anytime Fitness, Mona Vale: December 17, 9.50am to 12.45pm
G Fitness, Freshwater: December 15, 11am to 12.45pm
4 Pines, Newport: December 16, 4.30pm to 9pm
Twenty-One Espresso, Double Bay: December 15, 7.10pm to 8.15pm and 8.25pm to 9.10pm and any staff working on that day
NSW Health has been notified of more venues on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and Sydney’s eastern suburbs that have been visited by confirmed cases of COVID-19.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) December 20, 2020
For information on locations, times and advice on testing and self-isolation, see https://t.co/cxtYM6JLUz pic.twitter.com/HN2CX8FDnx
Anyone who attended the below venues is also being asked to be tested immediately and quarantine until they receive a negative result:
Northern Beaches Indoor Sports, Warriewood; December 15, 6.30pm to 9.30pm
Twenty-One Espresso, Double Bay: Any patrons who were in the restaurant for less than 1 hour, or those who sat in the outdoor area on December 15 from 7.10pm and 8.15pm and 8.25pm and 9.10pm
Flower Power, Warriewood: December 18, 8.45am and 9.30am
Bowen Island Bakery, Newport: December 18, 9am to 9.30am
NSW Health has also updated its advice for Garfish in Manly. Anyone in the restaurant on December 17 between 6.45pm and 10pm must get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.
NSW Health’s full list of case locations
A confirmed cases also travelled on the following transport service and other passengers are considered to be casual contacts, and should get tested and isolate until a negative result is received:
Bus Route 199 on Saturday 12 December, departing Palm Beach 10.10am and arriving at Manly Beach at 11.30am.
Read more: Christmas to make or break Sydney Covid crisis
Stephen Rice 9.30pm: Christmas will create ‘mother of all super-spreading events’
NSW is on the brink of disaster as it faces major COVID-19 superspreader events on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, a leading epidemiologist has warned, urging an immediate lockdown across greater Sydney if the infection rate is not down on Monday.
“New Year’s Eve is going to be the mother of all super-spreading events because the people who get infected on Christmas Day are going to be at their absolute maximum infectiousness on New Year’s Eve,” said UNSW Professor Raina MacIntyre.
“That’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
Andrew Jeong 8.45pm: North Korea’s economy hit harder
North Korea’s all-out push to halt the coronavirus has exacted a brutal blow to its already-tattered economy, contributing to a slide that will likely be the worst in a generation.
Pyongyang had little choice but to mount a heavy-handed defence. Its dilapidated healthcare system left it vulnerable to the highly infectious disease.
But nearly a year into the pandemic, the pain caused by the COVID-19 measures has become visible.
Nir Kafri 8pm: Netanyahu gets vaccine
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a COVID-19 vaccine jab on Saturday, kicking off a national rollout over the coming days.
Mr Netanyahu, 71, and Israel’s health minister were injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine live on TV at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv.
“I asked to be vaccinated first, together with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, to serve as personal examples and encourage you to be vaccinated,” Mr Netanyahu told the television audience.
AFP 7.15pm: US congress set to vote on stimulus deal
US legislators have agreed on pandemic spending powers for the Federal Reserve, the Wall Street Journal reported, clearing the way for a vote on a roughly $US900bn COVID-19 relief package for millions of Americans.
The deal would maintain the central bank’s ability to set up emergency lending programs without congressional approval, the Journal said, but the Fed would require approval to restart existing CARES Act programs once they expire at the end of this year.
Republicans had sought to limit the Fed’s ability to provide credit for businesses and other institutions, claiming Democrats were trying to use the legislation to create a “slush fund” for state and local governments they control.
Democrats argue restricting the bank’s powers could compound the fiscal crisis and hamper the ability of the incoming Joe Biden administration to boost the ailing US economy.
The impasse had threatened to temporarily shut down the government — a scenario not unheard of in politically divided Washington, but disastrous given the worsening economy and record daily death tolls from COVID-19.
According to the Journal, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said the House and Senate could vote on the deal on Sunday.
Legislators could now “begin closing out the rest of the package to deliver much-needed relief to families, workers, and businesses,” a spokesman for Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell told the newspaper.
READ MORE: Bibi gets vaccine to kick-start rollout
Kylar Loussikian 6.15pm: New alerts for northern beaches venues
The COVID-19 cluster originating on the northern beaches has spread across Sydney’s north, with NSW Health issuing new warnings of venues where infections were possible.
Authorities have asked anyone at the following locations to get tested and isolate for 14 days irrespective of result:
● Manly Skiff Club, Manly: December 12, 12pm to 2.30pm
● Donny’s Bar, Manly: December 12, 3.15pm to 9pm
● Old Manly Boat Shed, Manly: December 12, 9pm to 12:30am
● Rusti Fig, Newport: December 12, 9am to 10:30am
● Café Junior, Woolworths, Neutral Bay: December 13, 12.45pm to 2.30pm
● BoThai, Crows Nest: December 13, 4.30pm to 5.30pm
● Pearly Nails, Mona Vale: December 14, 4.30pm to 5.30pm
● Salon X, Paddington: December 16, 9am to 6pm
● Salon X, Paddington: December 17, 9am to 8pm
● Mona Vale Golf Club (bar and function room): December 16, 5pm to 10pm
● Garfish Seafood Restaurant, Manly: December 17, 6.45pm to 8.30pm
NSW health authorities are also asking anyone who attended the following locations to get tested and remain isolated until they return a negative result:
● Woolworths, Riverwood: December 9, 3pm to 3.35pm
● Nourished Wholefood Café, Avalon Beach: December 12, 7.15am to 7.30am
● Manly Wharf Bar, Manly: December 12, 2.45pm to 3.15pm
● The Steyne Hotel, Manly: December 12, 3pm to 3:30pm
● Cronulla Mall: December 15, 8pm to 9pm
● Cronulla Mall: December 16, 3pm to 6pm
● Navy Bear Café, Darling Point: December 13, 10.30am to 4.45pm
● Restaurant Lovat, Newport: December 12, 2.15pm to 2.25pm
● Restaurant Lovat, Newport: December 12, 4pm to 4.15pm
● Mona Vale Golf Club: December 16, 11am to 5pm
NSW Health had previously announced two hair salons as possible inflection points. It has since updated the times of possible transmission:
● Salon for Hair, Turramurra: December 15 to December 18 inclusive
● Hair by Erika, Lane Cove: December 11, 2.30pm to 4.30pm
READ MORE: AFL star jailed over second breach
Kylar Loussikian 5.55pm: ACT quarantine restrictions for visitors
The ACT has slammed shut its doors to Sydneysiders, and will force residents from the city, the NSW central coast, the Illawarra-Shoalhaven region and the Blue Mountains to quarantine for 14 days if they do travel to the territory.
ACT residents will be allowed to quarantine at home.
ACT Chief Health Officer Kerryn Coleman said she understood it was difficult for many people.
“While we will not have the restrictions in place any longer than we need, to we need the community to be prepared this is likely to continue over Christmas and potentially into the New Year,” Dr Coleman said on Sunday night.
READ MORE: Row brews over airline crews
Agencies 5.10pm: Russian cyber attack targets US health institute
US President Donald Trump has downplayed a massive cyberattack on US government agencies, declaring it “under control” and undercutting the assessment by his own administration that Russia was to blame.
“I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control,” Trump tweeted in his first public comments on the hack, adding that “Russia Russia Russia is the priority chant when anything happens” and suggesting without offering evidence that China “may” also be involved.
Trump’s response was in sharp contradiction to comments a day earlier from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about both the source and the severity of the attack. Pompeo had said the breach — which cyber experts say could have far-reaching impact and take months to unravel — was “pretty clearly” Russia’s work.
Also targeted were the National Institutes of Health — at a time of keen interest in coronavirus vaccines — as well as the Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which manage the nuclear weapons stockpile.
Read the full story here.
Matthew Dalton 4.25pm: Vaccine makers ramp up supply chain
High-profile drug companies have turned to a quickly assembled network of smaller, lesser-known manufacturers to mount an unprecedented effort to produce COVID-19 vaccines.
The companies have been forced to rely on outside manufacturers worldwide because their new vaccine technology has never been used at industrial scale. Even drugmakers using more conventional technology are getting outside help because of the speed at which they need to ramp up production to meet orders for more than a billion vaccine doses next year.
“We’re working harder and faster than we ever have,” said Ger Brophy, executive vice president of biopharma production at Avantor, one of dozens of third-party manufacturers that have been mobilised to make vaccine ingredients, combine them into finished products and fill them into vials. Dr. Brophy says the company’s plants have added workers and night shifts to keep up with demand.
Sarah Elks 3.53pm: 15 close contacts of northern beaches cluster in Qld
There are now 15 Queenslanders who are “close contacts” of people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the NSW northern beaches cluster.
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the number had increased from 11 on Saturday to 15 on Sunday.
Coronavirus (#COVID19) case update 20/12.
— Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) December 20, 2020
New cases acquired overseas and detected in hotel quarantine.
Detailed information about COVID-19 cases in Queensland can be found here: https://t.co/kapyXpSIAP pic.twitter.com/gLQWOemYSl
She said today needed to be the “reset trigger” for behaviour in Queensland, to reinforce social distancing, and checking in at restaurants and businesses.
Ms D’Ath said there would be a “blitz of businesses” to ensure customers were checking in properly, and businesses would have 72 hours to move from paper-based registrations to an electronic system.
“COVID is just as contagious today as it was at the start of 2020,” she said.
Deputy commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police would be increasing the number of border checkpoints to stop people from Sydney from sneaking in.
He said in the past few days, two people had broken home quarantine orders and were caught by police.
Sarah Elks 3.37pm: Queenslanders given deadline to return from Sydney
Queensland will close its borders to NSW residents in greater Sydney from 1am tomorrow, while Queenslanders in Sydney will have an extra day to rush home.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warned Queenslanders “we need to be on alert” because the nation was still experiencing a public health emergency.
COVID-19 update #covid19au https://t.co/gAdgktjFaA
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) December 20, 2020
From 1am on Monday, NSW residents in greater Sydney are being told not to come to Queensland, in a ruling that is similar to Victoria’s restrictions announced on Sunday.
If you are a Queenslander and you are in greater Sydney, “please return home quickly,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“We’ll allow you to come back (until) 1am Tuesday, but you’ll have to have a test and quarantine at home.”
She said the NSW situation was “of concern”.
“These border measures are necessary,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“I’m not going to allow anything to destroy our tremendous effort.”
Christine Kellett 3.13pm: Acting CMO hopeful Christmas will be relatively normal
The nation’s acting chief health officer says he is still hopeful Christmas can be Covid-safe and relatively normal, expressing confidence in NSW Health’s handling of the northern beaches outbreak.
Professor Paul Kelly said he did not believe the NSW government had acted too late in responding to the cluster, which has increased by 30 new cases overnight.
“It’s always a trade off,” Professor Kelly said of the decision to lock down the northern beaches and restrict home and indoor gatherings in greater Sydney. “Go early and you’ll be criticised, go late and you’ll be criticised.
“I think they’ve got it about right. I think the people in the northern beaches have been amazingly collaborative, even before those orders were written. I don’t think it would have made a big difference (to have acted earlier) The most important thing is if people take note of what has been said today and take note of those restrictions.”
Geoff Chambers 2.54pm: Morrison warns Australians not to be ‘complacent’
Scott Morrison has warned Australians to not be “complacent” amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney’s northern beaches and pledged to provide federal government assistance to get on top of the latest health crisis.
The Prime Minister said the contact tracing and testing teams were doing their jobs and that the initial feedback was “encouraging in terms of so far not seeing any seeding of the virus in other parts of the city”.
“But that doesn’t mean we can be complacent about it. That’s why the Premier has put in place the controls in terms of wearing of masks and restricting movement, particularly over the next few days, and especially there in the Northern Beaches, in the northern parts of Sydney, where particular restrictions are being put in place,” Mr Morrison said.
“I’ve been in regular contact with the Premiers, particularly in New South Wales, and getting updated on the actions that they’re taking, the precautionary actions they’re taking. We’ll provide assistance where we considered it is necessary.”
Mr Morrison said in addition to Australian Defence Force personnel supporting states and territories in overseeing hotel quarantine, troops were also on standby to respond to natural disasters over the summer.
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee is also holding daily meetings in response to the Sydney outbreak.
Mr Morrison said “everyone’s working together”.
“We’re working the problem to get on top of it, to ensure that we can return to us as normal a COVID situation as we can as soon as possible,” he said.
“In the meantime, we’ll take our precautions. As people are coming together at Christmas, it’s a reminder that we can’t be complacent. The virus hasn’t gone anywhere. We still need to be on alert.”
“We built a system to deal with this and we’re going to let people do their jobs so we can get back to a much better situation as soon as possible.”
Rosie Lewis 2.40pm: Morrison ministry swearing-in postponed
Scott Morrison has been forced to postpone the Tuesday swearing-in of his revamped ministry as the growing COVID-19 cluster on the northern beaches triggers border closures and travel restrictions.
A new frontbench was announced in a reshuffle on Friday as the Prime Minister prepares for the next federal election, which could be held in the second half of 2021.
Government sources said the cancellation of the swearing-in had been taken as a precaution and while new plans were being finalised, it was likely to take place next year.
There were also discussions about conducting the ceremony virtually if needed.
READ MORE: Morrison could retire as a Liberal legend
Paige Taylor 2.32pm: AFL star jailed after ‘second quarantine breach’
Richmond star Sydney Stack is in police cells in Perth charged with skipping home isolation, three months after the AFL kicked him out of the Queensland hub and sent him home for quarantine breaches.
The 20-year-old Tiger from the West Australian wheatbelt town of Northam is due in court in Perth on Sunday charged with failing to comply with a direction under the state’s strict state of emergency laws. He may apply for bail after spending Saturday night in the Perth watch house. The charge carries a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment.
This month he was in Adelaide where an outbreak prompted WA premier Mark McGowan to severely restrict who could come to WA from SA. Stack was given an exemption on compassionate grounds to come home to family. He arrived at Perth Airport on December 10 and was issued with a direction to quarantine for 14 days at an address that he nominated in his home town of Northam, about an hour’s drive east of Perth. He was nine days into what should have been his confinement when police claim they found him in the centre of Perth around 1.10am on Saturday in the busy restaurant, bar and nightclub district of Northbridge. They say he was not staying in Northam, his agreed place of quarantine, but in the nearby Perth suburb of Belmont.
Stack missed the AFL grand final this year, and a premiership, after he was given a 10-week ban for leaving the secure AFL bubble in the Gold Coast to go to a strip club in Surfers Paradise.
He and teammate Callum Coleman-Jones were later involved in a scuffle outside a kebab shop. Stack was briefly detained by police before being sent home from Queensland.
Paige Taylor 1.41pm: Two men in police cells after breaching WA quarantine
A Russian shipworker and a 20-year-old man from South Australia are in the cells of a police watch house after failing to self-quarantine on arrival in Perth.
West Australian police say a 42-year-old maritime worker from Russia had authority to come to WA for work but he was supposed to go directly to an approved location for 14 days of self quarantine in Perth and stay there. Police say he arrived at Perth Airport on Friday and did go to his room at the quarantine accommodation but then left the premises twice on Saturday.
“Police attended the scene and commenced an investigation into the claims. Evidence was identified which showed the man had breached his self-quarantine direction,” WA Police said in a media release.
“The man was arrested and relocated to the Perth Watch House.”
The maritime worker and the 20-year-old man from SA are both due in court in Perth on Sunday where they may apply for bail.
While WA has restricted the arrival of people from SA since an outbreak of coronavirus in Adelaide this month, the 20-year-old man was given an exemption to come to WA on compassionate grounds.
According to police, he arrived at Perth Airport on December 10 on a flight from Adelaide and was issued a direction to self-quarantine for 14 days at an address he nominated in the wheatbelt town of Northam about an hour’s drive east of Perth.
Police claim they discovered he left Northam and went to the busy restaurant, bar and nightclub district of Northbridge in the centre of Perth, where they found him about 1.10am on Saturday.
Police claim he had been staying nearby at a residence in the northeastern Perth suburb of Belmont.
Both men have been charged with failing to comply with a direction, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of six months.
READ MORE: Row brews over risky flight crews
Christine Kellett 1.15pm: Mystery surrounds source of Avalon cluster
Mystery still surrounds the source of the Avalon cluster on Sydney’s northern beaches.
Health authorities have today repeated the theory that Patient Zero is an overseas traveller who entered the country from the US on December 1, but contact tracers have not yet been able to link that person to the Avalon area.
Genomic testing has revealed ties between the traveller and the growing northern beaches cluster.
“There is no-one else we have identified that could be the source.” NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said.
“At the moment we are forensically looking at all of the journeys of that individual to see if there were any points associated with it.”
In the meantime, Health Minister Brad Hazzard has urged people on the northern beaches to stop trying to pin the blame on individuals.
“There have been lots of reports on the northern beaches effectively playing the blame game, blaming individuals who are considered to be people who may have brought the virus in,” Mr Hazzard said.
“Can I just remind the community on the northern beaches and, indeed, across New South Wales, that at any time, any of us could be vulnerable to this virus. It is an extremely dangerous virus. There is absolutely no evidence to indicate that any person deliberately, knowing they had the virus, came into the northern beaches. And, of course, that is really disappointing, because people need to understand that it could be any one of us who has the virus.”
READ MORE: NSW implored to wear masks, ‘don’t panic buy’
Brighette Ryan 12.46pm: South Australia enacts similar travel rules to Victoria
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall has announced new travel bans as NSW records 30 new coronavirus cases.
From midnight tonight travellers from Greater Sydney must compete 14 days of quarantine and mandatory testing on arrival.
Anyone who has travelled to the northern beaches is banned from entry.
“SA Health is treating the Northern Beaches Local Government Area, and Penrith and Lavender Bay suburbs as High Community-Transmission Zones,” SA Health said in a statement.
“Any person who is not in South Australia presently who has been in one or more of the prohibited locations during the listed dates/times is not permitted to travel to South Australia at this time, unless they meet one of the Essential Traveller criteria.”
John Ferguson 12.35pm: Sydney arrivals to face quarantine in Victoria after midnight
Anyone from Sydney who arrives after midnight tonight will have to go into mandatory hotel quarantine.
Victorians who have been in Sydney but return before 11.59pm on Monday will be able to quarantine at home.
Mr Andrews said: “If you are not from Victoria, you arrive after midnight tonight, then you will go into mandatory hotel quarantine.’’
Mr Andrews has warned Sydney people will face massive fines if they try to breach the border or ignore health orders.
“None of these fines need to be issued,” he said.
“There is no sense of offence meant by it, this is just about keeping all of us safe as a nation. If you are from Greater Sydney do not come to Melbourne. Do not go anywhere in Victoria and as far as Victorians are concerned, do not travel to Sydney. Do not travel to Greater Sydney. They cannot be clearer than that,” Mr Andrews said.
John Ferguson 12.22pm: Victoria imposes dramatic new rules on NSW residents
Victoria will close its border to Sydney and the Central Coast from 11.59pm on Sunday in what is a dramatic clampdown in the wake of the northern beaches cluster.
Premier Daniel Andrews announced all greater Sydney and the central coast would be a COVID-19 red zone.
Sydney’s northern beaches would become hot zones.
Mr Andrews has set a short-term opportunity for Victorians travelling from the northern beaches to quarantine at home.
But the clampdown will mean Sydney residents will face hotel quarantine in Melbourne.
“This is always about what you don’t know,” Mr Andrews said.
He delivered a message to all people from Sydney: “You must stay in your state.”
Mr Andrews said: “With so many exposure sites — a growing number — with every chance that there are people who have this virus who have not yet been tested, have not yet been contacted and are not necessarily staying away from others, there could be many more cases, not just in the northern beaches but in other parts of Sydney,” he said.
“If you are from greater Sydney do not come to Melbourne.”
He said Victorians that did not meet the short deadline to get back to Melbourne would face hotel quarantine.
Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said there was every chance that the virus would spread outside the northern beaches.
“These are proportionate measures,’’ he said.
Dr Sutton predicted that the situation in Sydney would deteriorate over the next week.
“We need to take a precautionary approach,” he said.
Dr Sutton called for all Victorians to be on high alert for the illness.
“You really must get tested,” he said.
Victorians have been given until tomorrow midnight to get back to Melbourne and will be forced to quarantine at home for 14 days.
There will be a hard road border imposed with NSW.
Rhiannon Down 11.40am: Holidaymakers who visited beaches urged to get tested
The Premier has urged anyone who was in the northern beaches in the past week to self isolate and get tested, as health authorities scramble to contain the virus.
She said holiday-makers from the hotspot, who may already be in regional NSW, had the potential to seed the virus in the rest of the state.
“If you were a resident who may have left on the 12th or 13th of December and gone for a holiday in regional NSW or gone to other parts of Sydney and you may be outside the northern beaches, we want you to stay home and follow the same instructions as if you were living on the northern beaches,” she said.
“If you are someone who resides in the northern beaches and had left the northern beaches after December 10 we ask that you stay at home.
“Isolate until you get the result of a test. We want to make sure we do not have seeding events outside the northern beaches community.”
READ MORE: Pubs, restaurants in Sydney’s inner city added to COVID-19 watchlist
Christine Kellett 11.33am: Premier’s plea for Sydneysiders to wear masks
Residents in greater Sydney are being urged to wear masks, particularly on public transport and while indoors, as the state scrambles to bring under control a growing virus outbreak on the northern beaches.
Northern beaches residents have been praised for their co-operation on day one of a return to lockdown. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the government would reassess the need for stay-at-home orders in the region beyond midnight on Wednesday, when they are due to expire.
“The response to the government’s request has been extraordinary,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard has told a press conference on Sunday.
“The increase in the use of masks across the northern beaches has been very, very good.”
“I am asking and the government is asking all residents of the greater Sydney area to wear masks at least for the next few days until we revisit this issue on Wednesday. But it may well be wise to wear those masks going through Christmas, New Year in the greater Sydney area.”
The Premier pleaded: “If you are going grocery shopping anywhere in New South Wales please wear a mask. If you are going to a place of worship anywhere in New South Wales please wear a mask. If you’re going into an indoor setting or anywhere where social distancing can’t be maintained, please wear a mask. And, for heaven’s sake, do not get on public transport unless you are wearing a mask. We can’t stress that enough.”
READ MORE: Covid throws a dampener on Christmas travel plans
Christine Kellett 11.16am: Gatherings at Sydney homes capped at 10
Gatherings at Sydney homes will be capped at 10 under a new public health order announced today, which will be in place until midnight Wednesday.
The order will also see a return of the four-square metre rule indoors.
Dancing has also been banned except for in wedding parties of under 20 people.
Singing and chanting was also placed off limits except for in groups of under five in places of worship.
NSW recorded 30 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) December 20, 2020
Six cases were reported in overseas travellers. This brings the total number of cases in NSW since the start of the pandemic to 4,559. pic.twitter.com/wHkwBXgAz7
“Until further notice we revert back to the four square metres rule in all indoor settings apart from the family home,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has told a press conference.
“And we also have a cap on those settings at 300. This is so that if there is a seeding event, if there is someone who has the virus at any of these events, NSW Health does not have to scramble for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people.
“We know there will be a maximum of 300 and any venue to make sure that health is able to get on top of the contact tracing.”
Thirty new cases have been detected in NSW overnight, taking the total number of cases in the NSW outbreak to 68.
Dancing has also been banned except for in wedding parties of under 20 people.
Singing and chanting was also placed off limits except for in groups of under five in places of worship.
READ MORE: Sydney outbreak a wake-up call on complacency
Christine Kellett 11.07pm: 30 cases of coronavirus in NSW overnight
NSW has recorded 30 new cases of coronavirus in 24 hours, with 28 of those linked to the growing Avalon cluster.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said 28,000 tests had been conducted yesterday.
She said she was confident the outbreak was largely contained within the northern beaches.
“So while the numbers are higher today than yesterday, the one positive is we still have not seen evidence of massive seeding outside the northern beaches community and our aim, of course, is to keep that in place,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Staff writers 11.00am: Brooklyn hotel closes after patron’s positive test
Despite no formal NSW Health warning, the Anglers Rest Hotel in Brooklyn on the central coast has closed citing a positive test returned for a patron on December 17 at around 5.30pm.
“All staff have been requested to get a Covid test and as a safety precaution we suggest to our patrons and guests that if you have visited the hotel any time after this date you also get a COVID test,” the hotel said in a statement.
Peter Lalor 10.37am: Sydney Test may be cancelled after COVID-19 outbreak
Cricket is bracing itself for the distinct possibility that the Sydney Test will be moved.
CA’s preferred options would be to still play in Sydney or to change the order of the third and fourth Test to allow for border crossings.
But if numbers grow in NSW today, the options ahead of Cricket Australia would appear to be two Tests in Melbourne, two in Brisbane, or returning to Adelaide.
The powerful BCCI will have a say in things and it’s unlikely India would go for two Tests at the bouncy Gabba, leaving back-to-back Tests in Melbourne as the most likely option.
Cricket Australia officials will host a big “Steer Co” meeting on Sunday after the NSW Government announces the latest case numbers across the city.
Agencies 10.30am: British PM Boris Johnson orders Tier 4 restrictions
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a “stay at home” order for London and southeast England to slow a new coronavirus strain that is significantly more infectious.
Early data suggests the new strain could be “up to 70 per cent more transmissible,” Mr Johnson said at a televised briefing.
He ordered new restrictions for London and southeastern England from Sunday, saying that “residents in those areas must stay at home” at least until December 30.
From Sunday 20 December, some areas in England will enter Tier 4: Stay At Home.
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) December 19, 2020
[Tap to expand the poster] pic.twitter.com/zPKKGrutN2
Brighette Ryan 10.00am: NSW Premier to provide Covid update at 11am
Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Minister for Health Brad Hazzard, NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant and NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys are due to provide a COVID-19 update at 11am.
You can watch the update live on the Sky News COVID-19 channel at the top of this blog.
Staff writers 9.30am: Covid crisis escalates with 70 venue warnings
There are fears the northern beaches coronavirus cluster has now spread across the city, with NSW Health warning of a number of new locations around Sydney where there may have been exposures.
They include anyone at Oceana Traders in Avalon Beach. Anyone there on December 14 through December 17 should get tested and isolate for 14 days.
“Additionally, all customers who purchased take away from Oceana Traders on the above dates are casual contacts and should get tested and isolate until they have a negative result,” officials said.
Anyone who attended the following venues for more than an hour should get tested and isolate until December 30, NSW Health said:
Nomad Restaurant, Surry Hills: December 16, 12.45pm to 2pm
Café Toscano (outdoor veranda area), Forster: December 16, 6pm to 7.45pm Strawberry Hills Hotel, Surry Hills: December 16, 3.30pm to 6pm
Anyone at the following venues should get tested and isolate for 14 days from when they were at those locations regardless of result:
The Sands, Narrabeen: December 16, 6pm to 8pm
Salon for Hair, Turramurra: December 17, 9.30am to 3.30pm
Salon for Hair, Turramurra: December 18, 9.30am to 3.30pm
Rose of Australia, Erskineville: December 15, 7pm to 8.45pm
Sydney Trapeze School, St Peters: December 15, 10am to 12pm (only staff and patrons who attended the class for beginners)
NSW health authorities are also warning of more than a dozen locations from Foster, on the mid-central coast, to Homebush, in Sydney’s west, where the coronavirus may have been passed on. Anyone at the following locations should be tested immediately and isolate until they receive a negative result:
Mitre 10 Mona Vale, Mona Vale: December 15, 8:30am – 5:30pm
Mitre 10 Mona Vale, Mona Vale: December 16, 8:30am – 5:30pm
2108 Espresso, Palm Beach: December 14, 8am to 9am
McDonald’s, Raymond Terrace: December 15, 11.45am to 12.15pm
Warringah Mall: December 16, 10.40am to 1.40pm
High Tek Aquarium, Brookvale: December 16, 1.55pm to 2.55pm
Beach Bums Café, Forster: December 16, 8am to 9am
Beach Bums Café, Forster: December 17, 8am to 9am
Rose of Australia, Erskineville: December 15 after 8.45pm
Sydney Trapeze School, St Peters: December 15, any class after 10am
Cuckoo Callay, Surry Hills: December 15, 11am to 12pm
Harris Farm Warehouse, Flemington Markets: December 15, 2am to 11am
Harris Farm Warehouse, Flemington Markets: December 16, 2am to 11am
Harris Farm Warehouse, Flemington Markets: December 17, 2am to 1pm
READ MORE: Organisers cancel 2020 Sydney to Hobart
Tom Kington 8.55am: Festive lockdown as bodies pile up in Italy
Italy will crack down on festive gatherings as bodies of coronavirus victims are stashed in churches and hospital car parks in the hard-hit northern region of Veneto.
Giuseppe Conte, the prime minister, announced new rules last night (Friday) ordering Italians to stay at home and closing all restaurants and non-essential shops on December 24-27, from New Year’s Eve to January 3 and on January 5-6.
Leaving home for work or health reasons will be allowed, while visits to friends and family members are also permitted but only by two adults and children. “If anyone is planning parties, big dinners or gatherings they are making a big mistake,” said Francesco Boccia, the regional affairs minister.
Italy’s contagion curve is flattening but has stayed stubbornly high, with a death toll of more than 67,000 propelling the country past Britain this week to make it the worst hit in Europe.
As Italy prepares to vaccinate the country from January, nowhere is suffering more than the region of Veneto, home to Venice, where the mass testing and contact tracing that kept the virus at bay in March is a distant memory.
On Thursday almost 100 people died in the region while 4,400 new daily cases, by far the highest of any region, meant 96,000 locals were currently positive, about 2 per cent of Veneto’s population.
Plans have been made to keep coffins in churches as the mortuary at the hospital in Montebelluna overflows, while in Legnano a refrigerated container was set up in the hospital car park to handle the dead, recalling scenes in March when army trucks were needed to transport coffins in Bergamo.
READ MORE: No one noticed Italy’s silent time bomb until it exploded
Christine Kellett 8.15am: Sydneysiders bracing for return to tougher restrictions
Sydney residents are bracing for a possible return to peak-Covid restrictions when NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian provides an update on the northern beaches cluster later this morning.
The Premier yesterday said she expected to see an increase in cases amid mass testing on the northern beaches and a revised public health alert for locations as far afield as Forster, Erskineville, Turramurra and Surry Hills.
NSW Health last night also revised its Covid warnings for several hundred people and backdated some of its isolation and testing advice for visitors to an Anytime Fitness gym at Avalon.
Northern Beaches Mayor Michael Regan said residents — who went into an emergency five-day lockdown from 5pm yesterday to curb the spread — were disappointed at the move but understood it was critical.
He said many supported the ring-fencing of the northern beaches until the outbreak could be brought under control.
“It is disappointing but we can’t change it,” Cr Regan said. “We want to do our role, play our part to get this fixed an that’s the primary goal right now and if we have to be in lockdown to Wednesday, so be it.
“We all want Christmas. We all want to support our local businesses who are doing it so tough. They added all these bookings, they were ready to come back, they were full, everyone was excited and we got through the hump of the year but now they’re disappointed and its not looking good for them. We’re keen to play our role as I said. If ring-fencing works, then so be it, the government has been pretty good and spot on so far.”
He said the community had responded quickly and mask-wearing was at an all-time high.
“The good thing is everyone wearing masks. I say that more so than they were in the previous lockdown. The weather is doing its bit today, it’s raining so will keep most people indoors I’m sure.”
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Matthew Parris 7.15am: ‘Being bossed around has infantilised Britons’
So this is what a free people have been reduced to. Whimpering for someone to boss us around. Yearning for a smack or to see others threatened with a smack. After nine months when the smallest twitch of an epidemiologist’s eyebrow seems to have been translated into statute, we’ve come to feel naked if there aren’t laws commanding everyone to be sensible rather than just advice recommending it.
Thus we British slide, order-in-council by order-in-council, back to childhood. We’ve been infantilised. Even if we trust our own common sense, we don’t trust others’.
“Stockholm syndrome,” say the dictionaries, “is a condition in which hostages develop a psychological alliance with their captors during captivity” and this begins to sound like the mentality now gripping us. So used have we become to being ordered about in what we know is a good cause that we prefer compulsion to reasoning things out for ourselves. “Please, miss,” runs the old joke about a girl in a progressive, freethinking school, “must we do what we like today?”
What are we to make of this pandemic-driven slither into submissiveness? Read Matthew Parris’s full commentary here.
Agencies 6.30am: Thailand clamps down on outbreak at seafood market
Thailand’s biggest seafood market and the surrounding area were locked down Saturday to contain a coronavirus outbreak, after the country’s largest spike in cases since the pandemic began.
Despite being the first place to register an infection outside China, the kingdom had been mostly unscathed by the pandemic, with just over 4,000 cases and 60 deaths so far.
But on Saturday night, authorities announced 548 positive cases connected to a seafood market in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon province, about 40 minutes southwest of Bangkok.
“We have announced the shrimp market is a severe disease control area,” provincial governor Veerasak Vijitsaengsri said.
A strict lockdown and curfew were introduced around the market until early January, affecting schools, sports stadiums, playgrounds and shopping malls.
However, Sunday’s local elections were expected to go ahead as planned, as long as voters wore masks.
Foreign workers have been banned from leaving the province.
“The total number is 548 and 90 percent (of cases) have no sign of sickness and most of them are foreign workers,” said Opas Kankavinwong, director general of the Disease Control Department.
AFP
READ MORE: Coronavirus has exposed the weakness of the West
Agencies 5.35am: New UK restrictions to stop deadly virus strain
UK British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a “stay at home” order for London and southeast England to slow a new coronavirus strain that is significantly more infectious.
Early data suggests the new strain could be “up to 70 per cent more transmissible,” Mr Johnson said at a televised briefing.
He ordered new restrictions for London and southeastern England from Sunday, saying that “residents in those areas must stay at home” at least until December 30.
The measures will mean around a third of England’s population cannot travel or meet other households for Christmas.
From Sunday 20 December, some areas in England will enter Tier 4: Stay At Home.
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) December 19, 2020
[Tap to expand the poster] pic.twitter.com/zPKKGrutN2
Read the full story here.
Staff writers 5.10am: NSW ‘playing whack a mole’, WA Premier says
States and territories have introduced new restrictions on travellers from NSW as the northern beaches cluster yesterday great to 38 cases.
Of the 23 new cases of community transmission reported in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, 21 have been traced back to the known Avalon cluster and two are under investigation.
Health officials are later today expected to announce just as many new cases of COVID-19.
Last night, West Australian Premier Mark McGowan reintroduced a hard border with NSW, meaning only a select few who meet strict exemption criteria can enter the state, with most excluded even if they are prepared to quarantine for 14 days.
From midnight on Saturday, nobody had permission to enter WA from NSW unless they were senior government officials, active members of the military, members of the Commonwealth parliament, or transport and freight workers or they have a special cases with compassionate grounds.
“I just say to NSW they need to get it under control,” Mr McGowan said.
“They seem to be engaging in a form of ‘whack a mole’. They need to kill the virus.”
Queensland will now force travellers from the northern beaches of Sydney to apply for an ‘‘exceptional circumstances’’ exemption to enter Queensland. If approved, travellers would have to go into hotel quarantine at their own expense.
Victorian has also introduced a permit system, with more than 52,000 issued since restrictions were put in place at midnight on Saturday. The state has declared Sydney’s northern beaches area a “red zone”.
Amanda Lulham 5am: Sydney to Hobart yacht race cancelled for 2020
The world-famous Sydney to Hobart yacht race is off for 2020, dead in the water after the Tasmanian government announced travellers from Greater Sydney would need to quarantine for two weeks on arrival in the wake of the growing COVID-19 cluster in the Northern Beaches region.
The quarantine rule effectively ended any hope the Sydney to Hobart could go ahead as planned at 1pm on Boxing Day as it has for the past 75 years.
The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia confirmed just after 9pm on Saturday night the 2020 race was cancelled.
Read the full story here.
Staff writers 4.45am: List of Sydney venues with COVID-19 health alerts
The NSW Health department on Saturday night issued an updated advisory on COVID testing for Sydney and the Central Coast.
There are new case locations and public transport routes in Avalon Beach, Surry Hills, Narrabeen, Turramurra, Erskineville, St Peters, Mona Vale, Palm Beach, Brookvale and Homebush in Sydney, and Forster and Raymond Terrace.
NSW Health has also revised the advice for several hundred people who attended an Avalon gym in light of further COVID-19 cases.
“Known cases of COVID-19 attended Anytime Fitness on Avalon Parade in Avalon over several days while infectious. Anyone who attended the gym on any day on or after Tuesday December 8 is considered a close contact and should get tested immediately and self-isolate for 14 days after they were last at the gym,’’ it says.
“Additionally, anyone who attended the gym between Monday November 23 and Monday December 7 is advised to get tested and self-isolate until they receive a negative result,’’ NSW Health says.
The latest advice on recommendations for testing is on the NSW Health website.
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