Coronavirus Australia live news: Josh Frydenberg says July update will include JobKeeper response
Josh Frydenberg says Australia is in its first recession in 29 years, and that a July finance update will take in the JobKeeper review.
- Treasurer: We’re in recession
- How the numbers look
- Economy’s growth streak ends
- Canberra ‘backdoor’ to travel bubble?
- Workplace reforms ‘by early October’
- New homes priority of $1bn stimulus
Welcome to live coverage of the continuing coronavirus crisis. Australia is in recession, Josh Frydenberg says, as the latest GDP figures show the economy contracted by 0.3pc. Tasmania is further advancing potential travel “bubbles” with states that have coronavirus under control, while workplace relations reforms could kick in as soon as October.
AFP 8.35pm Austria to scrap controls at all land borders except Italy
Austria announced that the entry checks at its land borders introduced because of the coronavirus pandemic will all be scrapped from Thursday, except those at the frontier with Italy.
“As of tomorrow there will be no more checks in order to enter Austria,” Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said on Wednesday, but he added that restrictions on the border with Italy would remain in force for now.
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Associated Press 7.40pm Wuhan tests 10m people in 19 days
The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected late last year, has tested nearly 10 million people in an unprecedented 19-day campaign to check an entire city.
It identified just 300 positive cases, all of whom had no symptoms. The city found no infections among 1174 close contacts of the people who tested positive, suggesting they were not spreading it easily to others.
That is a potentially encouraging development because of widespread concern that infected people without symptoms could be silent spreaders of the disease.
“It not only makes the people of Wuhan feel at ease, it also increases people’s confidence in all of China,” Feng Zijian, vice-director of China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, told state broadcaster CCTV.
Wuhan was by far the hardest hit city in China, accounting for more than 80 per cent of the country’s deaths, according to government figures.
A city official announced on Wednesday that the city completed 9.9 million tests from May 14 to June 1. If those tested previously are included, virtually everyone above the age of five in the city of 11 million people has been tested, said Li Lanjuan, a member of a National Health Commission expert team.
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Reuters 7.05pm Swedish pandemic expert admits errors
Sweden should have done more to combat the coronavirus and prevent a much higher national COVID-19 death rate than in neighbouring countries, the man behind the Public Health Agency’s pandemic strategy says.
Nearly 4500 Swedes have died in the outbreak, a higher mortality rate than in Denmark, Norway and Finland, and criticism has been growing over the government’s decision not to impose lockdown measures as strictly as elsewhere in Europe.
Anders Tegnell, the chief epidemiologist at the Public Health Agency, said that in hindsight Sweden should have done more.
“If we were to run into the same disease, knowing exactly what we know about it today, I think we would end up doing something in between what Sweden did and what the rest of the world has done,” Mr Tegnell told Swedish radio.
“Yes, I think we could have done better in what we did in Sweden, clearly.”
While most of Europe closed schools, shops and businesses, bringing much of society to a halt, Sweden has relied more on voluntary measures, social distancing and common-sense hygiene advice to stem the outbreak.
It shut care homes to visitors in late March, but around half of the deaths in the country have been among elderly people living in care facilities.Mr Tegnell said it was hard to know which measures taken elsewhere might have been the most effective in Sweden.
Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said the government would launch an inquiry into the handling of the pandemic.
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Rachel Baxendale, Remy Varga 5.40pm Vic Police refuse to enforce distancing at Floyd protest
Victoria Police will not issue fines for breaches of social distancing at a solidarity protest in Melbourne over the death of George Floyd in the US, despite fearing the event spread of coronavirus.
On Wednesday night, more than 30,000 people had registered interest in attending the event outside state parliament on Saturday, which has been organised by the Aboriginal community in response to the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
The death of 46-year-old unarmed black man George Floyd in Minnesota last week, after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, has sparked violent protests around the world.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said police respected people’s rights to protest, but would have preferred the action be postponed until after the COVID-19 pandemic has passed.
He urged those planning to attend to follow public health directions on social distancing to prevent any more coronavirus infections.
“As I understand, what’s planned on Saturday would amount to the largest mass gathering since the Chief Health Officer’s directions came into force,” Mr Cornelius said.
“Saturday presents as a real potential tipping point. It would be terrible to think that as a result of a large gathering, the most vulnerable people in our community … might, as a result of that gathering, be exposed to the virus.”
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said outgoing Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton and his successor Shane Patton had told him they would not enforce social distancing fines at the protest because it was “not feasible”.
“That’s a decision that Victoria Police has made,” Mr Andrews said, adding the decision had not been made by Police Minister Lisa Neville.
Mr Andrews urged those attending to keep the peace.
“If it’s not peaceful, then it is not a protest. It is something very different, and Victoria Police will not hesitate to maintain order,” Mr Andrews said.
“What we’ve seen happen in the United States is a tragedy, and it speaks to many of the differences between our society and the society in the United States.”
Read the full story here
Agencies 5pm: South Korea spike as schools reopen
South Korea has reported 49 new cases of COVID-19, continuing a weeks-long resurgence of the virus as the government defended its decision to reopen schools despite health risks, AP reports.
The figures announced by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on brought national totals to 11,590 cases and 273 deaths.
All but one of the new cases were reported from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where hundreds of infections have been linked to entertainment venues, church gatherings and a massive e-commerce warehouse.
Mayors and governors in the greater capital area have shut thousands of nightclubs, hostess bars, karaoke rooms, churches and wedding halls to slow the spread of the virus.
Some entertainment venues in Seoul, Incheon and Daejeon began collecting the personal details of their customers through smartphone QR codes this week so they could be located easily when needed, a requirement that will be expanded nationwide on June 10.
Despite the spike in transmissions, the government has been pushing ahead with a phased reopening of schools, which began with high-school seniors on May 20. Class openings were planned Wednesday for nearly 1.8 million children -- high- school freshmen, middle-school juniors and third- and fourth-grade elementary kids.
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Imogen Reid 4.15pm: Deputy CMO backs Qld on Blackwater case
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has backed Queensland Health’s handling of the death of a 30-year-old minor whose post-mortem tests found no trace of COVID-19 in his body.
“There has been a lot of commentary about this issue of unfortunately this young man who died in central QLD and the corona deciding it was not a COVID related death although the initial test was positive for that man,” Mr Kelly said.
“Firstly, condolences again to the family for that unfortunate incident, but what happened after that was entirely appropriate and I would like to stress that what was done in Blackwater in relation to that testing very quickly that was arranged and the checking of close contacts and the voluntary testing throughout the town itself.
“QLD Health believed there was a case and very appropriately did the contact tracing within that community to check whether it had spread.”
Mr Kelly said over 600 people within that community turned up for testing, all of which tested negative to the virus.
Addressing the likelihood of a travel bubble with New Zealand, Mr Kelly said an arrangement will be made as soon as the virus is under control in both countries.
“There’ll be an arrangement, I’m very certain, to allow such travel bubble to occur,” he said.
“It is about timing of that and what, if any, extra tests or screening or so forth would need to happen either prior to boarding or after arrival is a matter for discussion between two countries and those discussions are happening right now.”
Responding to whether sports stadiums will be reopened to spectators and if so, how many, Mr Kelly said the size of the crowds admitted will be a “smaller than usual capacity situation.”
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Agencies 4pm: Glimmer of hope amid economic gloom
The Reserve Bank says Australia’s economic slump, which has resulted in the first recession since 1991, might not be as bad as previously thought given the success on the health front, AAP reports.
The June quarter numbers, which will be revealed in September and feed into the October 6 federal budget, are expected to be in the realm of a nine per cent contraction.
CommSec chief economist Craig James said the current economic stimulus would probably lead to a healthy lift in the second half of the year - as long as the virus stayed under control.
“It will be important for the federal government and Reserve Bank to ensure that the downturn is brief and that Aussies quickly return to work,” he said. “That way the economy, and life generally, will quickly return to some sense of normalcy.”
Mr Frydenberg said there were already hopeful signs, including nine weeks of consumer confidence increasing from a record low.
He will give a detailed mini-budget update on July 23 that will include the response to a review of the JobKeeper wage subsidy.
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Agencies 3.30pm: Tasmania brings forward billions in new projects
Tasmania is bringing forward billions of dollars of infrastructure spending to stimulate its economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, AAP reports.
The plan, which has been flagged for several weeks, will be detailed by the state government on Thursday.
Premier Peter Gutwein on Wednesday revealed $3.1 billion would be spent on housing, roads, irrigation and other infrastructure over the next two years. The projects are part of a $3.7 billion infrastructure spend announced last year which was originally planned across four years.
According to updated figures from treasury, Tasmania’s gross state product will decline by 1.75 per cent in 2019-20 after last year’s budget predicted three per cent growth.
The budget was on track for a $11 million surplus, but is now expected to be $716m in the red.
The state has announced a further lifting of restrictions, having not recorded any coronavirus cases in 18 days. Just three cases remain active as of Wednesday afternoon, two of which are in hospital.
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Agencies 3pm: India’s infections spike, peak ‘yet to come’
India’s coronavirus infections have surpassed 200,000, the health ministry says, and a peak could still be weeks away in the world’s second most populous country, AAP reports.
Cases jumped by 8909 over the previous day in one of the highest single-day spikes, taking the tally to 207,615. Six other nations, from the US, to Britain and Brazil, have a higher caseload.
“We are very far away for the peak,” said Dr Nivedita Gupta, of the government- run Indian Council of Medical Research. Government officials have previously said it could be later this month, or even July, before cases start to fall off. The death toll from the disease stood at 5815.
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Agencies 2.40pm: NZ set for dramatic easing of restrictions
Zealanders could be packing grandstands at sporting events as soon as next weekend should COVID-19 restrictions lift, building hopes for a golden run of trans-Tasman sport, AAP reports.
A 12th straight day without a new case of coronavirus has prompted Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to unveil plans to step down to baseline, or “level one”, restrictions.
A decision will come at Monday’s cabinet meeting, with all expectations that social distancing and gathering caps will be removed.
“Our churches will be able to return to full service. Our sports and concert stadiums can be sold out. And we can celebrate and we can mourn with one another in groups of any size,” she said.
The decision will come in time for round one for New Zealand’s Super Rugby Aotearoa competition, beginning June 13 in Dunedin, and the resumption of Netball’s ANZ Premiership the following weekend.
Both Ms Ardern and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison have pledged to resume travel only when it is safe to do so.
New Zealand has just one active case of COVID-19. Australia, as of Tuesday, has 494.
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Richard Ferguson 2.10pm: Labor: economic ‘cliff’ on the horizon
Opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers says the government is headed for an “economic cliff” of its own making, despite Josh Frydenberg saying economic armageddon has been avoided.
Today’s National Accounts confirm our economy shrank in the first three months of this year before the worst impacts of the virus were felt. The economy has deteriorated further since then which means Australia is in recession for the first time in nearly three decades. #auspol
— Jim Chalmers MP (@JEChalmers) June 3, 2020
Mr Chalmers has called on the government to expand and extend JobKeeper wage subsidies past the September end-date to prevent further shocks to an economy headed for recession.
“All they have done is created another cliff on the last Monday in September, when all of a sudden they want to withdraw this otherwise welcome support for the economy,” Mr Chalmers said in Brisbane.
“And I think a lot of Australians are very anxious about what the future may bring, they’re worried about how they put food on the table when the JobKeeper payments end, or when the increases to JobSeeker payments end as well.”
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Staff Reporters 1.45pm: Latest economic figures: The breakdown
Mobile users can download the pdf here
Max Maddison 1.30pm: WA records new case — returned traveller
In West Australia, a single new case of coronavirus has been recorded in the past 24-hours, after another overseas traveller tested positive.
The traveller, who is in their 30s, is in quarantine and contact tracing was underway, WA Health Minister Roger Cook said. The confirmed case brings the state’s total number to 592.
WA just has one person in hospital, while no one is in intensive care.
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Richard Ferguson 1.15pm: JobKeeper update to be issued in July
Josh Frydenberg will announce updated economic figures in July, in step with the review into the JobKeeper wage subsidy.
The Treasurer said his economic report - which he declined to call a mini-budget - will take in both the status of wage subsidy uptake and the success of state-led economic reopenings.
No surprises, but we are now officially in recession. Because nothing can save this quarter from a negative result to follow the first quarter negative.
— Peter van Onselen (@vanOnselenP) June 3, 2020
“We also have that 3-step process ... that has been agreed by National Cabinet, and the intention was for those three steps to be completed by July, and that should allow us to get a better sense of where the economy is at that point in time,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“What we want to do ... is understand where businesses are in the recovery stage. We want to understand where whether the (JobKeeper) quantum - that $1500 payment - continues to be the right amount.
“Also bearing in mind that some people are getting paid more than they would otherwise get by virtue of having a flat payment.
“Any government decisions about the review will be incorporated into that statement that the Finance Minister (Mathias Cormann) and I will make in July.”
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Richard Ferguson 12.55pm: Treasurer: We’re in a recession today
Josh Frydenberg says Australia is now in recession, and warns the contraction in June will be far more severe than the March quarter’s.
The Treasurer said the contraction in June will be worse than Wednesday’s figures, but not the possible 20 per cent GDP fall that the Treasury was forecasting earlier in the year due to the early reopening of the economy.
“The answer to that is yes (Australia is in recession). And that is on the basis of the advice that I have from the Treasury Department about where the June quarter is expected to be,” he said. “We have avoided the economic fate, and the health fate, of other nations because of the measures.
“And as you know, National Cabinet set out a 3-step plan for removing those restrictions, which Treasury forecasts - once done - will deliver about $1.4 billion delivered to the economy and see 50,000 people get back to work.
“The June quarter, the economic impact will be severe. Far more severe than what we have seen today. That’s what Treasury’s advice to me is.”
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Max Maddison 12.45pm: Business, union talks off to a good start
The roundtable discussions between business, unions and the government have gotten off to a “very optimistic start”, says Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter.
Speaking in Sydney, Mr Porter said the “foundationally contentious” matters in today’s meeting were approached with a level of “good faith and optimism”
“We’re looking at a range of nine problems,” Mr Porter said.
“Problems associated with the definition of “casual employment” and about people’s rights to convert or rights to request conversion to perm part-time or permanent full-time, and the universality which does not exist with respect to those rights at the moment.”
However, Mr Porter also said other issues involving mines and gas, known as Greenfields projects, hadn’t been able to secure industrial relations to this point.
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Richard Ferguson 12.35pm: Treasurer: economy strong amid ‘armageddon’
Josh Frydenberg says Australia’s negative March quarter shows the “resilience” of the economy through the coronavirus pandemic, as economists at the time were forecasting “armageddon.”
Australian GDP has contracted by 0.3 per cent, and one more negative quarter will lead Australia to its first technical recession since 1991.
The Treasurer said on Wednesday that the relatively small contraction came after a March quarter with almost no good economic news, and dire predictions for the year beyond.
“Treasury was contemplating a fall in GDP of more than 20% in the June quarter. This was the economists’ version of Armageddon,” he said in Canberra.
“It was in this quarter - the March quarter - that consumer and business confidence fell to its lowest level on record. That the ASX 200 lost a third of its value.
“Seen in this context, the fact that the Australian economy only contracted by 0.3% shows the
Australian economy’s remarkable resilience.
“Indeed, Australia’s performance in the March quarter compares very well to that seen in other nations, with negative growth of 9.8 per cent in China, 5.3 per cent in France, 2.2 per cent in Germany, 2 per cent in the United Kingdom, and 1.3 per cent in the United States.”
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Remy Varga 12.30pm: Rally could unleash virus, police warn
A solidarity rally planned for Saturday could be the “tipping point” that unleashes the coronavirus, warned North West Metro Region Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius.
Mr Cornelius said protesters could face fines if found to be in breach of social distancing laws.
“As I understand what’s planned on Saturday would amount to the largest mass gathering since the Chief Health Officer’s directions came into force,” he said.
“Saturday presents as a real potential tipping point.”
About 18,000 people have registered their interest on Facebook in attending a rally at Victorian Parliament on Saturday.
Victoria Laurie 12.20pm: Exporter anger as sheep shipment kyboshed
A major live sheep exporter says it is disappointed that it will not be given an exemption to send 56,000 sheep into the Middle East summer.
The Commonwealth’s independent regulator has denied permission to Perth-based Rural Export and Trading (RETWA) to export its consignment beyond the June 1 ban on live export, saying he was not satisfied animal welfare could be protected.
RETWA applied for an exemption to load an alternative vessel before 15th June after its livestock carrier MV Al Kuwait arrived in Fremantle on May 22 with sick crew members.
Twenty men have tested positive for COVID-19, one of whom has been hospitalised, while another crew member tested positive but had recovered. The exporter was seeking to use another ship to load the sheep, which would have arrived into hot and humid conditions in the Gulf states.
RETWA’s manager Mike Gordon said the Federal Agriculture department’s decision pointed to a hardening stance that would exclude any exemption to the Northern Summer Order being approved.
“We believe the department’s risk appetite is unrealistic and over cautious,” he said.
He said the sheep in quarantine feedlots would be sold to the domestic market “at a significant cost and financial loss.”
The RSPCA wrote to Agriculture Minister David Littleproud seeking urgent assurance that the northern summer export ban enacted two months ago would be enforced.
Senior policy officer Jed Goodfellow said the ban was aimed to prevent a repeat of animal heat stress, suffering and death that had occurred on previous RETWA livestock voyages to Middle East markets.
David Rogers 11.40am: Recession on the way, latest figures show
Australia’s March GDP result is easily the worst since 2009 and locks in a technical recession, as the June quarter will also contract due to coronavirus lockdowns.
Thus Australia is set to end its world-beating three-decade streak without a recession.
Patrick Commins 11.33am: GDP figures reveal slight contraction
The Australian economy shrunk by 0.3 per cent over the first three months of the year, the first quarterly contraction since 2011 as the Black Summer bushfires and the early impact of the COVID-19 crisis weighed on activity.
National accounts figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed annual GDP growth slowed from 2.2 per cent to 1.4 per cent, the slowest year-on-year growth since the GFC. The economy grew by 0.5 per cent over the December quarter, the seasonally adjusted figures showed.
Australia had held the record for the longest period of recession-free growth for a developed economy.
The narrow contraction comes ahead of what economists expect will be the sharpest quarterly contraction on record in the three months to June, as strict social distancing measures sparked mass lay-offs and shuttered businesses.
Experts predict GDP will fall by 8.5 per cent, before rebounding in the September quarter.
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Max Maddison 11.15am: No new virus cases recorded in NSW
NSW has recorded no new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, with the state’s total remaining at 3104.
NSW Health said more than 7018 tests were carried out in the reporting period. Over 500,000 tests have been completed since the outbreak began,
There remains 69 COVID-19 cases being treated by NSW Health, including two people being treated in an intensive care unit - neither require a ventilator.
The positive news quickly follows an announcement from Queensland of no new cases overnight, providing hope that state borders across the country will be opened.
READ MORE: Death rate higher for minorities
Max Maddison 10.57am: No new cases in Qld, FNQ deal announced
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced that the state has recorded no new cases of coronavirus, with only five of the state’s 1059 cases remaining active.
Ms Palaszczuk used the press conference to announce that the state government has reached a partnership with Alliance Airline in a bid to attract residents to Far North Queensland.
From June 22, four new weekly flights will operate from Brisbane to the Whitsunday hub, Ms Palaszczuk said.
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Rachel Baxendale 10.41am: Seven Victorian cases not linked to clusters
Victoria has confirmed seven new cases of COVID-19 since Tuesday, including six in return travellers in hotel quarantine, and one which remains under investigation.
The new cases bring the state’s total number to 1670, including 79 active cases and 1569 recoveries.
There have been no recent deaths to add to the state’s toll of 19.
Nine people are in Victorian hospitals with COVID-19, including two in intensive care.
There have been 526,507 tests processed.
None of Wednesday’s new cases have been linked to known outbreaks, however, Health Minister Jenny Mikakos revealed that a worker at Amcor’s packaging factory in Port Melbourne had tested positive earlier this week.
Ms Mikakos said eight people at the site had been identified as close contacts and were self-isolating, and all workers were being tested.
“The factory’s also being cleaned, and it’s expected that it will be in a position to reopen later today,” Ms Mikakos said.
READ MORE: JobSeeker numbers steady as crisis eases
Lachlan Moffet Gray 10.28am: Air NZ takes 99pc hit to passenger numbers
The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to heavily impact air passenger numbers, with Air New Zealand posting a 98.9 per cent decline in passenger numbers for April 2020 as compared to the same period in 2019.
In April 2020 the airline carried 15,000 passengers, compared to 1,431,000 passengers a year prior.
Revenue passenger kilometres – the number of kilometres travelled by paying passengers – declined from more than three million to just 60,000, a 98 per cent decline.
The flight category with the single biggest decline was the Tasman and Pacific services, which saw 99.5 per cent year-to-year reduction from 315,000 passengers to just 2000.
The flight operator last month announced that despite a severe drop in passenger numbers, the business remains flexible, with $640 million in short-term liquidity not including a $900 million loan facility provided by the New Zealand government.
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Max Maddison 9.44am: UK passes 50,000 deaths, US closing in on 2m cases
The United Kingdom’s official death toll has passed 50,000 deaths, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The country’s death toll is worse than Italy, France and Spain – the other most impacted countries in Europe – and is the second only to the United States.
Meanwhile cases in the United States continue to surge amid the countrywide protests, with an additional 20,682 new confirmed cases, and another 1111 deaths.
At 1,880,005, the total number of confirmed cases is almost three times the number of second place Brazil and is rapidly approaching 2 million.
Iran has seen a second wave of coronavirus cases, with the country confirming the second highest number of cases in a 24-hour period.
The country’s health ministry said 3117 people had tested positive. While 64 deaths were confirmed overnight – significantly below the initial outbreak – daily infections have returned to March levels.
So far, 157,562 people in Iran have tested positive for coronavirus
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Angelica Snowden 9.36am: Breakthrough allows patients to be treated at home
Doctors around the nation will be able to measure the blood oxygen levels of coronavirus patients remotely after clinicians at the Royal Melbourne Hospital developed a platform that monitors symptoms at home.
The platform uses a device, known as a pulse oximeter, that clips onto the finger and shines a light through the fingertip to determine the saturation of oxygen flowing in the blood. Oxygen levels are one of the key markers of illness in COVID-19 patients, and if doctors can monitor oxygen levels remotely, patients are more likely to be able to recover from the illness at home, taking pressure off hospitals.
The RMH oximeter program, which was originally set up to assist with anticipated pandemic numbers of COVID-19 patients, is the brainchild of emergency physician Martin Dutch. It’s now set to be used by hospitals around the country to remotely monitor COVID-19 patients.
READ MORE: Breakthrough blood monitor allows patients to be treated at home
Max Maddison 9.22am: Brazil’s death toll passes 30,000
The death toll in Brazil has passed 30,000 after a record 1262 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours.
With the country’s death toll now standing at 31,199, Brazil’s health ministry confirmed that the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases stands at 555,383.
Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, again dismissed the growing health disaster on Tuesday.
“I regret each of the deaths – but that’s everyone’s destiny,” Bolsonaro told supporters.
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Stephen Lunn 8.55am: Visa restrictions a bar to career prospects
German-born Heather Eiswirth has run the gamut of visa types in her nine years in Australia. But even though she is now married to an Australian, the 28-year-old still doesn’t have the right to permanent residency.
Instead, she is one of the tens of thousands of nonresident spouses waiting an average of three years for their permanent residency applications to be processed.
With 270,000 fewer migrants expected due to the border shutdown, a polarising immigration debate is emerging between those arguing to remove restrictions on visa holders already in the country to help fill the skills gap, and those who want the COVID-19 pandemic to be the circuit-breaker on the nation’s high immigration intake.
READ MORE: Visa restrictions are a bar to career prospects for migrants
Kieran Gair 8.36am: Mum had it, but Singo’s grandson born virus-free
They say all babies are miracles but as Sally Hawach cradled her newborn son for the first time last month, she knew there was something extra special about her boy — and his plasma.
Johnny Hawach, born on May 13 at Sydney Adventist Hospital in the city’s northwest, is one of the first babies delivered to a woman infected with COVID-19 in Australia — and the fact he has been spared the ravages of the disease has sparked intrigue among the country’s scientific community.
Ms Hawach, the daughter of advertising legend John Singleton and his third wife, former beauty queen Belinda Green, told The Australian it was “the best possible” scenario. “He never had coronavirus, but he has developed antibodies,” the 35-year-old said.
READ MORE: Mum had it, but Singo’s grandson born virus-free
Agencies 8.26am: Parisians return to cafes as restrictions ease
Parisians returned to the City of Light’s beloved sidewalk cafes as lockdown restrictions eased on Tuesday.
The post-lockdown freedom along Paris’ cobbled streets will be tempered by social distancing rules for the city’s once-densely packed cafe tables.
Paris City Hall has authorised outside seating areas only, with indoor seating off-limits until June 22. But the tiny tables will have to be spaced at least 1 metre apart, sharply cutting their numbers.
“It’s amazing that we’re finally opening up, but the outside area is just a fraction of the inside space,” said Xavier Denamur, the owner of five popular cafes and bistros. “It’s a start.”
AP
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Max Maddison 8.05am: RBTs to return in NSW from today
New South Wales can expect to see random breath testing from today, after a period of limited usage due to health concerns, Police Minister David Elliott says.
Speaking to Ben Fordham on 2GB, Mr Elliott said the appropriate health precautions were now in place to enable police to conduct breath tests safely.
While breath tests could be conducted by patrol officers, stationary RBTs were suspended in mid-March over concerns for the officers’ well being.
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Reuters 7.47am: Vaccine by ‘end of the year’: US researcher
A senior US Army vaccine researcher said it was reasonable to expect that some sort of coronavirus vaccine could be available to part of the US population by the end of the year.
Defence Secretary Mark Esper vowed on May 15 that the US military and other parts of the government would, in collaboration with the private sector, produce a vaccine at scale to treat the American people and partners abroad by year-end.
Colonel Wendy Sammons-Jackson, director of the US Military Infectious Disease Research Program, told a Pentagon news briefing it was “reasonable to expect that there will be some form of a vaccine that could be available at some level, to a certain population, by the end of the year”.
Another Army researcher, Dr Kayvon Modjarrad, said researchers were learning about the new virus “faster than we have about any other virus before”.
“So, going to a vaccine in a matter of months, from concept all the way to Phase 3 clinical trials and potentially licensure is unprecedented. But in this case I think very much is possible.”
Army researchers said work was underway with US and international companies, including AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Sanofi, to develop antibody drugs and vaccines and the military planned to test its own vaccine candidate on humans in the late summer.
Reuters
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Agencies 7.17am: ‘Tokyo alert’ issued amid fears of second wave
The governor of Tokyo has issued a coronavirus alert for the Japanese capital amid worries of a resurgence of infections only a week after a state of emergency ended.
Governor Yuriko Koike issued a “Tokyo alert” on Tuesday after 34 new cases were confirmed in the city, where confirmed infections had slowed to a few per day in late May.
Koike said: “The alert is to precisely inform the people of the status of infections and to advise caution.” Lighting on Tokyo’s Rainbow Bridge will be changed from rainbow-coloured to red as a sign of alert. However, the alert does not mean restrictions that just got eased will be reimposed immediately.
Under the second phase of a three-part plan for resuming business activity, Tokyo’s theatres, fitness gyms and other commercial facilities reopened. Night clubs, karaoke parlours and other highest-risk establishments are still closed, observing shutdown requests.
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Agencies 7.00am: European stimulus could hit €1 trillion
The European Central Bank could soon expand its anti-pandemic stimulus program to more than a trillion euros ($1.6 trillion), giving it more firepower to keep the virus crisis from sliding into a new financial crisis for the 19 countries that use the euro.
Analysts say that the ECB’s 25-member governing council could decide as soon as its meeting Thursday to boost the so-called pandemic emergency purchase program by 500 billion euros, bringing it to €1.25 trillion ($2 trillion). Under the program, the central bank buys government and corporate bonds with newly printed money, a step that helps keep a lid on borrowing costs for businesses and governments.
That’s particularly relevant in the case of Italy, whose already-large debt pile is expected to balloon from the current 135 per cent of annual economic output as a result of the huge costs involved in managing the virus outbreak. Loss of market confidence in Italy’s creditworthiness could see its sovereign borrowing costs rise – and turn the virus crisis into a financial crisis for the entire 19-country eurozone.
AP
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Max Maddison 6.36am: We are not looking for sympathy: Turner’s father
The death of Nathan Turner is “no longer a story of public concern”, says the father of the 30-year-old man who was incorrectly deemed to be Australia’s youngest COVID-19 victim.
In a Facebook post, Rodney Turner said the family were not after “public sympathy”, while calling out “social media experts” for making assumptions about how COVID-19 came to Blackwater.
“I understand that the potential risk of a communicable disease required immediate action from QLD Health and the public needed to be informed. But now, that risk has passed – or more to the point, never existed in the first place,” Mr Turner said.
“We are not looking for public sympathy; just to set the record straight. This is no longer a story of public concern. It is now time to leave Nathan’s fiancee, his family and friends, alone to grieve in private.”
READ MORE: Turner, ruled ‘negative’, could have had virus
Jacquelin Magnay 6.15am: Minorities at higher risk of dying
British people descended from Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan, the Caribbean or have other black ethnicity have a higher risk of dying from coronavirus, a Public Health England study has uncovered.
The study backs up earlier anecdotal evidence that people from BAME groups (black, Asian and minority ethnic) have been suffering disproportionately from the coronavirus across the United Kingdom.
UK Health secretary Matt Hancock said told the House of Commons that ethnicity was a “major risk factor” in coronavirus outcomes.
“Black lives matter, as do those of the poorest areas of our country which have worse health outcomes and we need to make sure all of these considerations are taken into account, and action is taken to level-up the health outcomes of people across this country,” he said.
READ MORE: Ethnic minorities at higher risk of dying
Agencies 5.48am: ‘Greeks from Australia’ test positive on flight
Greece will suspend flights to and from Qatar until June 15 after multiple coronavirus cases, including two Greeks from Australia, were recorded on a flight from Doha to Athens.
The Greek civil protection authority said 12 out of 91 people on a Qatar Airways flight that arrived on Monday had tested positive for COVID-19.
“Following these epidemiological facts, flights from and to Qatar are suspended until June 15,” the agency said in a statement.
Among those that tested positive on Monday’s flight were nine Pakistani nationals legally resident in Greece, two Greeks from Australia and a member of a Greek-Japanese family, the statement added.
They will be quarantined at a hotel for two weeks, it said.
The official tourist season in Greece starts on June 15, when hotels operating during the season reopen and some regular flights from abroad resume.
But planes will only be flying into Athens and Thessaloniki in the north — and only from those parts of Europe and the world that escaped the worst of the pandemic.
Other Greek airports are due to open on July 1.
Tourism is a crucial part of the Greek economy, accounting for 20 per cent of the country’s economic output, and the lockdown imposed in March hit the country hard.
The country of 11 million has registered fewer than 180 deaths from COVID-19, and the government has pledged to protect this close-to-clean bill of health with additional resources sent to popular destinations such as islands.
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Matthew Denholm 5.15am: Canberra a ‘backdoor’ to access travel bubble?
Tasmania is further advancing potential travel “bubbles” with states that have coronavirus under control, including high-level talks this week with South Australia.
The Australian first revealed the move towards specific border deals with like-situated jurisdictions on May 16, with Premier Peter Gutwein nominating Adelaide and Perth for potential direct flights to Tasmania, bypassing Sydney and Melbourne.
On Tuesday, Mr Gutwein, in announcing a relaxation of coronavirus restrictions, revealed he had since held discussions with SA Premier Steven Marshall, including as recently as Monday night.
The ACT has also suggested a travel bubble with Tasmania. Mr Gutwein conceded there “wasn’t a clear answer” to the question of how to stop NSW residents using Canberra as a “backdoor” to his state.
Read the full story here.
Ewin Hannan 5am: Workplace relations reforms ‘as early as October’
Changes to industrial relations policy could be implemented as early as October as the Attorney-General, Christian Porter, kicks off talks with unions and employers to try to reach consensus over proposals designed to improve the workplace relations system.
Mr Porter will meet with the ACTU leadership and industry group representatives in Sydney on Wednesday to map out the process for his proposed consultations with five so-called “reform committees” in the next four months.
Each of the committees will focus on one area of workplace relations policy: award simplification; enterprise agreements; casual and fixed-term employees; compliance and enforcement; and greenfields agreements for new enterprises.
Proposals to be examined by the compliance and greenfields groups are well advanced, with the government having already drafted a bill criminalising serious forms of wage theft.
Read the full story here.
Geoff Chambers 4.45am: $1bn construction stimulus to prioritise new homes
Scott Morrison’s construction stimulus package — valued at just under $1bn — will be the first of a series of targeted measures for at-risk sectors, as the government monitors real-time economic activity to guide the nation’s COVID-19 recovery leading up to the October budget.
The building package is expected to prioritise new homes and major construction activity through financial assistance, including direct cash grants of between $20,000 and $50,000.
The Australian understands the government will unveil its arts and entertainment support package next week, and could announce the scaling back of free childcare by Friday.
Federal cabinet is due to meet on Wednesday to discuss the government’s COVID-19 response, coinciding with the release of national accounts expected to show economic growth flattening or dropping into negative territory in the March quarter.
Read the full story here.
Teal candidate for Dutton’s seat open to a minority Coalition government
With ambitions to win Peter Dutton’s Brisbane seat of Dickson, Climate 200-backed independent Ellie Smith said she would be open to forming a minority government with the Coalition.
Wong has politicised foreign policy: Coalition
A Dutton government would only recognise Palestine as a state if it was backed by Israel and there were security guarantees for both nations.