Coronavirus Australia live news: Pressure mounts on Daniel Andrews over quarantine bungle as Josh Frydenberg says Victorians deserve answers
Daniel Andrews knocks back questions over hotel quarantine arrangements, as Josh Frydenberg says Victorians deserve ‘answers’.
- Pressure mounts over quarantine bungle
- Conflicting advice ‘may have fed virus spike’
- Lockdowns bury RBA’s recovery hopes
- Josh Frydenberg says Victorians deserve answers
- NSW records nine new cases
- Victoria records 12 more deaths, 466 new cases
A man in his 30s is among 12 more deaths in Victoria, which has also recorded 466 new cases in the 24 hours to Saturday, as pressure mounts on Daniel Andrews over the hotel quarantine bungle.
Angelica Snowden 11.31pm: Pressure mounts on Andrews over quarantine bungle
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is facing mounting pressure to answer questions about the state’s bungled COVID hotel quarantine debacle, after another 466 cases were recorded overnight.
At a press conference on Saturday Mr Andrews continued to refuse to respond to questions about the hotel quarantine system which has been linked with a majority if not all new cases of COVID-19 in Victoria.
Although legally Mr Andrews is able to respond to questions about the quarantine arrangements, he insisted he “did not have the answers” but they will be provided through the COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry.
“There are many, many questions that need answers and that is what the process is for and I will freely concede, I’ve not read 100,000 pages worth of information on this,” Mr Andrews said.
“I simply do not have time to do that, the program has been cancelled for the purposes of returning overseas travellers,” he said.
He refused to say whether or not anyone in his government would be stood down for their role in hotel quarantine, saying “these matters are appropriately dealt with in the process I have set up and I referred to”.
In response to a question about the media unveiling more information about the disaster than Mr Andrews, he responded that “those matters are of no concern to me whatsoever”.
“I am focused on dealing with this virus 24/7, or pretty close to it.”
Josh Frydenberg mounted pressure on the premier to explain what went wrong with the quarantine arrangements and said it was a “serious failure” with “deadly consequences”.
“Victorians are entitled to know more and get answers,” he said.
“They know the what, but they don’t know the how and the why when it comes to quarantine failures.”
He described Victoria as a “state of disaster” and said the escape of COVID as a result of the quarantine system was “frustrating”.
“Right now you’ve got families who are struggling with homeschooling, you’ve got kids who are missing their friends … and you’ve got grandparents who are separated from their grandchildren.”
He said the outbreak in Victoria had garnered international attention and has “brought great pain and heartbreak” to residents.
Mr Andrews admitted that “every part of this year” would look different, including Christmas.
“What I would want to do is make sure there are as many people at Christmas dinner as possible,” he said.
“Until we get the vaccine it is going to be part of our lives but it is not about going back to normal, it is about finding COVID normal.”
Another man in his 30s died overnight, the second in a week. He was one of 12 fatalities reported, with six linked to aged care facilities.
Of the 466 new cases, 24 were linked to outbreaks or complex cases and 442 were under investigation.
There are 7808 active cases in Victoria.
READ MORE: Victoria’s state of disaster now a state of exhaustion
Adrian McMurray 9.34pm: Alert issued for Bunnings customers
NSW Health has issued a COVID-19 alert for a Sydney Bunnings, after a staff member tested positive for the virus.
The Campbelltown Bunnings employee worked three shifts while potentially infectious, but wore a mask during their shift and practised social distancing, NSW Health said.
NSW Health is advising customers who attended Bunnings Campbelltown on Tuesday 4 August, Wednesday 5 August and Thursday 6 August to be alert for symptoms of COVID-19 and if even mild symptoms occur, to get tested and isolate themselves.https://t.co/pCLBfrIwOV pic.twitter.com/Bk3IWo7YKu
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) August 8, 2020
Customers who visited the store at the following times have been advised to get tested and isolate if they experience even the mildest symptoms: Tuesday 4 August from 11am to 7pm, Wednesday 5 August from 8am to 4pm, Thursday 6 August from 1pm to 3pm.
Close contacts of the staff member have been identified and are self-isolating.
READ MORE: Nine new cases in NSW
Fiona Harari 9pm: Conflicting advice ‘may have fed virus spike’
Some Victorians awaiting COVID-19 test results have continued to mingle in the community because of health directives that only people with symptoms should remain in isolation — a move a leading epidemiologist worries might have contributed to the massive spread of the virus.
In one case, a Melbourne employee was still at work when his positive test result came through in mid-July because he had provided his employer with a letter from Monash Health, the state’s largest public health service. That letter advised that pending receipt of his test result, “if you do not have symptoms you can continue normal activities, unless you are a close contact of a known case”.
The man had no symptoms of coronavirus and was taking the precautionary step of being tested on Monday July 13 because he was acquainted with a parent suspected of having contracted the virus. He was not a close contact.
Read the full story here.
Patrick Commins 8pm: Lockdowns bury RBA’s recovery hopes
The Australian economy will now take several years to return to its pre-pandemic path, the Reserve Bank of Australia says, as the Victorian lockdowns bury hopes of a smoother recovery from recession.
RBA assistant governor Luci Ellis described the hit from the health crisis as a “shock without modern precedent”.
The central bank’s economists calculate the cost of Victoria’s second wave of infections and associated intensified social-distancing measures will reduce growth in real national GDP by two percentage points over the September quarter, compared to Treasury’s preliminary estimate of a 2.5-percentage-point hit, as revealed by Scott Morrison.
Read the full story here.
Remy Varga 6pm: Healthcare workers ‘catching virus outside’
The number of healthcare workers battling coronavirus in Victoria has jumped by more than 100 cases in a single day, with the nation’s top public health official saying more cases are linked to community transmission than via work.
Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly flagged on Friday updated advice on personal protective equipment for healthcare workers would soon be released, with “live discussions” within the national decision-making body Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC).
He said Victorian health workers were contracting the disease through community transmission instead of via work settings.
“What we do know about many of the healthcare worker cases in Victoria, that’s come from the community rather than at work, it appears, and we’re seeking more information from our Victorian colleagues on that aspect,” he said.
Read the full story here.
Richard Glyuas 5.25pm: A week that took Victoria to the brink
Melbourne apartment developer and rich lister Tim Gurner has a lot riding on the Victorian economy.
He has about $1.6bn in projects under construction, each of them supporting 500-600 jobs at their peak.
Gurner is passionate about his home city, saying he’s never been more confident about its long-term allure as a safe haven for an army of returning expats.
But when conversation turns to the state government’s attempt this week to curb a raging COVID-19 outbreak with tough stage 4 restrictions, the line almost crackles with tension, reflecting an increasingly widespread view in Melbourne business circles that the world’s most liveable city is poised at the edge of a dangerous precipice.
“Yes, this is a health crisis, but it’s also going to be one hell of an economic crisis,” Gurner tells The Weekend Australian.
There is an increasingly widespread view in Melbourne business circles that the world’s most liveable city is poised at the edge of a dangerous precipice.
Read the full story here.
Christine Kellett 4.45pm: Health workers facing ‘constant anxiety’
Australians are being urged to pick up the phone and check on friends and family working in the healthcare sector amid growing concern about the toll the coronavirus is taking on their mental health.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth said his time with medical charity Doctors Without Borders had given him some insight into the situation frontline health and aged-care workers were experiencing on a daily basis.
“One of those postings was to the Republic of Sudan, which was very challenging, and it exposed me to that risk, the anxiety of not knowing what the day would hold or indeed, what personal risk I was going to find myself in. And that takes its toll, of course.
“We know that it is taking its toll on our colleagues down in Victoria at the moment. I know that feeling of not being able to feel not refreshed in the morning, I know that feeling of concern, moving to anxiety and something that can be constantly there, and stay there for a long time
“If you are a member of a healthcare worker’s family, or you are the friend of a healthcare
worker, do what I’ve done this week and just pick up the phone to those who have been and are still on the front line down there, just check on how they are going because I can tell you that from the feedback I’ve received this week, that is a really, really important intervention.”
READ MORE: Victorian healthcare workers infected outside
Angelica Snowden 4.10pm: ‘You can pub crawl when this is all over’
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth says Australians need to let go of the “old normal” for now and stop socialising so much, after confirming 475 new cases across the country.
“In this day and age, the actual idea of attending multiple venues on one night, people need to reflect on whether that is the right thing to do,” Dr Coatsworth told a press conference on Saturday.
“We were all 20 once, and there will be people who remain in their 20s after the pandemic when this is all over who can go back to the old pub crawl but for the moment, I think we need to kind of pull back a little bit on our socialising,” he said.
Dr Coatsworth pleaded with Australians — particularly Victorians — to “do everything” they possibly could to bring case numbers down, including following strict social distancing rules.
He said the fight against COVID-19 was taking a toll on health care workers on the “front line” and urged people to follow restrictions to drive down the coronavirus tally.
The total number of people who died in Australia to date of COVID-19 has risen to 278 after another 12 Victorians died overnight.
There are 8100 active cases across the country and 659 people have been hospitalised with COVID-19.
Of those in hospital, 53 are in intensive care.
READ MORE: A week that took Victoria to the very brink
Angelica Snowden 3.45pm: Josh Frydenberg tells the states to step up
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has echoed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s call for the states and territories to do more in the economic fight against COVID-19.
“The Morrison government’s commitment of $314 billion in response to this pandemic is unprecedented,” he said.
“In comparison, the states and territories have made a commitment of nearly $45 billion or just over two per cent of the gross state product, Mr Frydenberg has told a press conference on Saturday.
“The states can do more, the states need to do more.”
He called for the states and territories to bring forward major “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects, as well as providing tax relief where possible.
Frustration about the failure to contribute more is understood to have been discussed at the National Cabinet on Friday.
READ MORE: States must lift their game, says Morrison
Rachel Baxendale 2.45pm: Child under 10 in intensive care in Victoria
An infected child aged under 10 remains in intensive care in a Victorian hospital, data released by the state’s health department reveals.
The latest hospitalisation figures released by the Victorian government show the majority of Covid patients in ICU in the state are the 80-89 year-old cohort, though 17 people aged under 60 are also in intensive care.
It comes after a second man in a week aged in is 30s passed away from coronavirus in the state. He was not a health worker, authorities have confirmed.
Six of the 12 new deaths announced overnight were in aged care.
READ MORE: Janet Albrechtsen — Premier’s betrayal rewrites the social contract
Angelica Snowden 2.15pm: Treasurer slams ‘serious failure’ in Victoria
Josh Frydenberg says Victoria’s bungled hotel quarantine scheme was a “serious failure” with deadly consequences, placing renewed pressure on the Victorian Premier to explain what went wrong.
“Victorians are entitled to know more and get answers,” he said.
“They know the what, but they don’t know the how and the why when it comes to quarantine failures.”
The Treasurer refused to comment on whether Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’s position was still tenable as a result of the failed scheme.
“No one benefits from a slanging match between the federal government and the Victorian Treasurer and myself,” he said.
He described Victoria as a “state of disaster” and said the escape of COVID-19 as a result of the quarantine system was “frustrating”.
“Right now you’ve got families who are struggling with homeschooling, you've got kids who are missing their friends … and you’ve got grandparents who are separated from their grandchildren.”
He said the outbreak in Victoria had garnered international attention and has “brought great pain and heartbreak” to residents.
READ MORE: Peter van Onselen — We’ve made mistakes but it might have been worse
Rachel Baxendale 2pm: Meatworks lead Victoria’s infection clusters
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer has provided an update on cases linked to the following key outbreaks:
– 198 cases have been linked to Bertocchi Smallgoods in Thomastown
– 165 cases have been linked to Somerville Retail Services in Tottenham
– 121 cases have been linked to JBS Brooklyn
– 92 cases have been linked to Melbourne Health Royal Park Campus
– 83 cases have been linked to Australian Lamb Company in Colac
– 60 cases have been linked to Woolworths Distribution Centre Mulgrave
– 45 cases have been linked to the Linfox warehouse in Truganina
– 45 cases have been linked to Nino Early Learning Centre in Bundoora
– 38 cases have been linked to Golden Farms Poultry in Breakwater
– 33 cases have been linked to Respite Services Australia in Moonee Ponds
– 30 cases have been linked to Ingham’s in Thomastown
– 20 cases have been linked to Jayco in Dandenong
READ MORE: Why meatworks are the perfect breeding ground for COVID-19
Stephen Lunn 1.36pm: States to establish aged-care rapid response units
All states will move to create aged-care emergency response units to manage coronavirus outbreaks similar to one in Victoria, where more than 1500 active cases are linked to 110 nursing homes.
The states made the commitment at the national cabinet on Friday, where aged care was one of the key agenda items. There have been 109 COVID-related deaths in Victorian nursing homes during the virus’ second wave, including seven on Friday.
“There will be an ongoing auditing of aged-care preparedness around the country,” Scott Morrison said. “A key part of that is … being in a position to put in place quite quickly an aged-care response unit similar to that which we’ve been able to stand up in Victoria, which has aided greatly in our ability to stabilise that situation. (The other states are) very keen to get in place and to do the stress testing of their own systems.”
Read the full story here.
Kathryn Bermingham 1.10pm: No new cases in Queensland as border shuts
More than 140 people were turned away from the Queensland border in the first five hours after it closed to anyone from New South Wales and the ACT.
Those travelling from Victoria are also among the 14 million Australians now barred from entering the state as it attempts to contain the spread of coronavirus.
It comes as the state government confirmed there were no new virus cases on Saturday, and there remains a total of 11 active cases in the state.
Police said delays of more than 90 minutes to cross checkpoints were reported in the lead-up to the 1am Saturday morning closure as Queenslanders rushed to return home.
There were 142 people turned away at the border between 1am and 6am because they did not meet the requirements to enter.
Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler, speaking to reporters near the Coolangatta checkpoint, said that number included 18 Queenslanders, who will now incur a “considerable cost” getting home.
Queensland residents returning from the declared hotspot locations must now arrive by air and pay $2800 for two weeks of hotel quarantine.
Residents of communities along the border will be eligible for a pass to cross in and out of Queensland, but must not travel beyond the local area.
READ MORE: Vow on aged care response units
Hannah Moore 12.45pm: ‘Abandoned’ Sydney couple stranded in Sweden
A Sydney couple stranded in Sweden say they feel “abandoned” by the Australian government after being bumped off three flights in their desperate quest to get home.
Chris Circosta, 30, and his partner Maia, 29, booked a flight to Sydney in May, intending to head home on July 3.
But as cases in returned travellers in hotel quarantine began to stack up, a cap was put on the amount of people who could fly into NSW each day – only 350 – and Mr Circosta says it’s left them “stuck in limbo”.
The couple had been living and working in Germany since early 2019, and had always intended to be home before August, so Mr Circosta could act as best man in his childhood best friend’s wedding.
Their rental contract in Germany expired in March, about the same time the COVID-19 pandemic began to badly affect Europe, and borders began to slam shut.
With nowhere to live, they left their possessions with a friend and fled to Sweden, where Maia, a Swedish national, had family. They arrived the day before Germany closed its borders, and eventually managed to have their belongings – about 60 kilos – couriered to them.
Mr Circosta told NCA NewsWire he woke up on July 3, just hours before their flight was due to depart, to an email from Qatar Airways saying NSW were no longer allowing international passengers to arrive, effective immediately.
“ I frantically called Qatar and had my dad call them simultaneously from Australia. We both got different answers,” he said.
“One said the flight was still confirmed and everything "looks fine on their end". The other said, well if you received the email, then the flight won't be departing.
“We went to Stockholm airport to be told we would not be flying that day. But the flight was not actually cancelled, we were just not allowed on. We were specifically told only business class would be flying that day.”
This process has repeated twice more for the young couple. They were re-booked for July 18, and then again for August 10, but Mr Circosta said there is still “no guarantee we will fly to Sydney”.
“What we found out is that despite knowing there was a 50 person per flight cap (now 30 per flight), Qatar still booked each flight to capacity, only to then boot the majority of passengers off the flight, sometimes with only hours notice,” he said.
READ MORE: Dennis Shanahan — Scot Morrison keeps Danbusters at bay
Angelica Snowden 12.10pm: NSW records nine new cases, school closed
NSW has recorded nine new cases of COVID-19 overnight, with one of the latest cases closing down a high school in the state’s north west.
Of the nine new cases reported to 8pm last night two were returned international travellers.
Four were locally acquired, all close contacts of known cases
Three of the new cases are under investigation with no known source with two of those close contacts of each other.
One of today’s cases was a student of Tangara School for Girls in Cherrybrook.
The school was closed for cleaning and the source of infection is under investigation.
Of the known clusters:
– 111 cases are linked to Thai Rock Wetherill Park
– 55 cases linked to the funeral events in Bankstown and surrounding suburbs, including 15 associated with Mounties in Mount Pritchard
– 34 cases linked to Potts Point, including 28 cases linked to the Apollo Restaurant and six cases linked with the Thai Rock Restaurant Potts Point (two cases attended both).
The latest statement from NSW Health said while most cases in the past week have been linked with local clusters and close contacts with known cases, nine have not been linked to known cases “indicating that COVID-19 is circulating in the community”.
There are currently 107 COVID-19 cases being treated by NSW Health, nine patients are in intensive care and six are ventilated.
READ MORE: Mansion sales keep virus at bay
Angelica Snowden 12pm: Second wave virus ‘no tougher this time’
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer says is no indication the state is battling “a tougher virus” in the second wave.
“We have a challenge that the world has of second waves, behavioural fatigue, the ability to penetrate the message, to sustain those behaved over such a difficult and long period of time,” Professor Brett Sutton said on Saturday.
“That’s why Israel’s second wave is four times bigger than its first, why Spain is looking at a second wave, almost as substantial as its first.”
Amid concerns tracers are taking up to one week to reach close contacts of confirmed cases, Premier Daniel Andrew said the surge in work has been “really challenging”.
“I’ve heard that there are moves for individuals to be aware of their status, as soon as they hear their own results stop following up with their close contacts,” he said.
“I would encourage those individuals, if they are confident and comfortable in doing so, to let their close contacts know that they need to quarantine.”
READ MORE: Chris Kenny — Enough! This is no way to live
Angelica Snowden 11.45am: Virus kills second person in their 30s in a week
Two people aged in their 30s have now died from coronavirus in Victoria in the space of a week.
Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the man who died overnight — one of 12 more Victorian fatalities in 24 hours — was not a health care worker, but said he could not share any other details about him.
Meanwhile, the effectiveness of the mandatory wearing of face masks on case numbers is not known yet, Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton has said.
“It’s tricky to see how the effect of mandatory masks will be seen,” he said.
“Other changes in mobility has occurred but there will be academics who tease out that effect,
“It can reduce the reproduction number anecdotally by 15 per cent – if that happens in Victoria … there are many more thousands of cases that have been averted then.”
READ MORE: Face masks — Everything you need to know
Angelica Snowden 11.30am: ‘Stabilisation’ in Victoria’s daily infection numbers
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said “there was some stabilisation” in the daily numbers.
“We are 400- 500 cases each day, more or less the average over the last week,” Mr Sutton has told a daily press briefing, where it was announced Victoria had recorded 466 new cases and 12 more deaths overnight.
“That is not good enough but it’s a positive that we have averted an exponential increase through the last couple of weeks,” he said.
Professor Sutton said the stage three restrictions may have slashed the total number of COVID cases in the state by 20,000.
“We can’t have 500 cases every single day and the associated morbidity, hospitalisation, intensive care requirements and debts that are associated with that number every day,” he said.
“Stage four restrictions will make a difference but we won’t see them for another week or more.”
READ MORE: Bosses scramble to scrap pay rises
Angelica Snowden 11.05am: Victoria records 466 new cases, 12 deaths
Twelve more people have died in Victoria overnight, with another 466 new cases recorded.
One of those deaths was a man in his 30s, Premier Daniel Andrews has told a press conference.
The other deaths are two men in their 70s, two men and three women in their 80s and four women in their 90s
Six of those deaths can be linked with aged care settings, authorities say.
The state’s coronavirus death toll is now at 193.
There are 636 Victorians in hospital with 44 receiving intensive care. Of those in intensive care, 29 are on ventilators.
There are 2584 cases with an unknown source – an increase of 130 since yesterday.
Mr Andrews confirmed another 140 health care workers had contracted COVID-19 overnight, and there are a total of 998 healthcare workers who are “active cases”.
Mr Andrews acknowledged some Victorians were frustrated by strict, stage four lockdowns, which took effect this week, he said authorities had to “assume there is more virus” in communities that so far appeared free of infection.
“With the number of mystery cases we have across the state and some in regional Victoria, we have to assume there is more virus, more transmission, more cases out there than the data tells us,” Mr Andrews said.
“That abundance of caution is critically important to get to the other side of this,” he said.
Mr Andrews continued to refuse to respond to questions about the state’s bungled hotel quarantine system which has been linked with a majority if not all new cases of COVID in Victoria.
More to come …
Agencies 10.45am: Battered Italy unveils $29b economic recovery plan
The Italian government on Friday approved a stimulus package totalling 25 billion euros ($29 billion) to revive an economy battered by the coronavirus crisis.
Italy was the first European country to be hit by the pandemic and a more than two-month lockdown dealt a severe blow to the economy.
The package approved by the cabinet contains over 100 articles ranging from tax payments staggered over two years to guidelines on lay-offs.
“We are protecting jobs, we are supporting workers, we are reducing the tax burden, we are helping the regions,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told a press conference after a cabinet meeting.
Under the plan, there will be greater tax benefits for Italy’s southern regions, which are far less developed than the industrial north.
“We are aware of the lack of infrastructure in the south which is less competitive and we want this gap to be breached,” Conte added.
The plan, which also calls for cruise liners to resume sailing from August 15 and for trade fairs to take place from September, has to be approved by parliament, where the government enjoys a majority.
There is a provision for emergency monthly payments to vulnerable families ranging from 400 to 800 euros to be extended, and a sum of 500 million euros allotted for overtime payments to stretched health workers.
– AFP
READ MORE: Sewage study finds coronavirus was in Italy last year
Angelica Snowden 10.30am: Latin America now hardest hit by coronavirus
Latin America and the Caribbean surpassed Europe on Friday to become the region hardest-hit by coronavirus deaths, as India recorded more than two million infections.
The world’s worst-hit region had reported 213,120 fatalities, 460 more than Europe according to an AFP tally.
Deaths caused by COVID-19 continued to soar in Latin America after recording the largest number of cases at 5.3 million.
Last week 44 per cent of global deaths from COVID-19 – 18,300 out of 41,500 – occurred in the region.
Brazil has recorded 98,500 deaths among its 212 million people.
The second worst-affected country in Latin America, Mexico, passed 50,000 deaths on Thursday.
Cases in India have doubled in three weeks after the tally reached two million on Friday following a record daily jump of more than 60,000 new infections. The country has also recorded 41,500 deaths.
It was only the third country after the United States and Brazil to surpass two million cases.
Worldwide there have been more than 19 million cases and over 715,000 deaths from the virus first reported in China at the end of last year.
READ MORE: Big demand but panic buying in check, says Coles
Angelica Snowden 10am: Grim tally as US leads the world in Covid deaths
Schools in several US states are beginning to reopen in hot spots, undeterred by fresh outbreaks leading to large quarantines of students and staff.
Opening schools is a key priority for Donald Trump in a bid to kickstart the economy ahead of the election. After pressure from the President, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month issued new guidelines on how to open up classrooms.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters on Friday schools will be reopening, after spruiking his state’s success at battling the virus.
New York was once the epicentre of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak with more than 32,000 deaths. It now averages three daily new cases per 100,000.
Several other large cities, including Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and Miami have announced they will stick to distance learning for now.
The US economy regained 1.8 million jobs in July, a solid but unremarkable result that comes as Mr Trump prepares for a difficult re-election bid.
With millions still on unemployment rolls, the President’s economic team on Friday failed to reach a deal with Democratic leaders in Congress on a new emergency spending bill to renew aid that has supported wages and consumer spending in the past three months.
The country has recorded 4,926,063 COVID-19 cases, according to the Johns Hopkins tally – the country with the most throughout the world.
It also led the world in COVID-19 related deaths after 160,980 people died due to the virus.
In the last seven days, Texas recorded the most coronavirus cases with 56, 580 infections recorded.
Florida followed, with 50,930 cases and California with 49,417.
– With AFP
READ MORE: Greg Sheridan — Cyber attack could be worse than Covid
Eli Greenblat 9.35am: 30,000 workers paid to stay home
Up to 30,000 Wesfarmers workers in Victoria who would have been left with only two weeks’ pay to last through the state’s six-week stage four lockdown have won a major boost from the Perth-based conglomerate, which is now pledging to fully pay staff sent home for the full six weeks.
Wesfarmers, which operates stories including Bunnings, Target, Kmart and Officeworks, is not eligible for JobKeeper, leaving affected staff without government assistance as they sit out the COVID-19 crisis.
But Wesfarmers has decided to pay its affected workers to sustain them through the period. “Wesfarmers is today advising all permanent team members affected by the current stage four restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne that they will remain employed and paid fully for the duration of the current six-week lockdown, in the event that the group’s businesses do not have meaningful work for them,’’ Wesfarmers said in an ASX statement on Friday.
Read the full story here.
David Ross 9.05am: Paying off credit cards is silver lining of crisis
Australians have spent lockdown paying down credit card balances, wiping $4.2bn off statements since the pandemic hit, according to figures from the Reserve Bank. At the same time almost 400,000 credit card accounts have been closed, the RBA figures show.
ME Bank general manager of personal banking Claudio Mazzarella said it was clear Australians were wary of getting into more debt during a pandemic.
“Most Australians are financially savvy. They know spending is spending, and debt is debt,” he said.
“We’re seeing Australians are wary of spending and borrowing because they don’t know what will happen next in the economy. That may explain the drop in various forms of unsecured lending, including buy now pay later.”
Read the full story here.
Max Maddison 8.45am: Melbourne restaurateur takes aim over lockdowns
A prominent Melbourne restaurateur has let fly at Australia’s governing bodies and the failure of “political agendas” for failing to support the hospitality industry at its time of need.
In an advertisement taken out in The Australian, the owner of esteemed St Kilda restaurant Citta Rinaldo Di Stasio issued a rallying cry to protect ailing restaurants, cafes and bars, along with the network of food and drink providers that rely on the sector.
In a withering rebuke of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Scott Morrison, Mr Di Stasio said despite being “disproportionately affected” by the COVID-19 crisis, and outside JobKeeper wage subsidy payments, financial support remained “nearly non-existent”.
Read the full story here.
Victoria Laurie 8.15am: Virus may leave us battling a disability epidemic
The COVID-19 pandemic could leave Australia with a long-term epidemic of people suffering from heart disease, lung scarring, diabetes and other chronic conditions as warnings grow that young people who contract a severe illness may face a life of disability.
Scientists looking for a “signature” of COVID-19 in infected cases say it could reveal that even patients who have recovered develop disease risks they didn’t have before contracting the virus.
The research suggests that abnormalities detected in blood samples of infected patients are linked to diabetes, liver dysfunction, abnormal levels of cholesterol and higher risk of coronary heart disease. The research, to be published shortly by the Australian National Phenome Centre, Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge in the UK and other agencies, may flag that COVID-19 infections could trigger a massive increase in the healthcare burden across the planet.
Read the full story here.
Remy Varga 7.45am: Victoria’s lockdown breach fines top $1 million
More than 1000 Victorians are paying off fines of up to $1652 in instalments for breaching COVID-19 regulations, while two men have been arrested for planning a “freedom march” in Melbourne’s CBD.
That comes as Premier Daniel Andrews revealed more than 500 coronavirus-positive people had been referred to Victoria Police over concerns they had not been self-isolating.
Victoria Police is actively patrolling the streets to ensure those living in metropolitan Melbourne are complying with the stage 4 curfew restrictions from 8pm to 5am every evening. More → https://t.co/VantobRwW9 or 📞 Coronavirus Hotline →1800 675 398. pic.twitter.com/HvCripzUuX
— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) August 6, 2020
A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokesman confirmed $1,072,106 had been paid in fines issued for COVID-19 public health breaches.
Since Victoria’s state of emergency was announced on March 16, 577 fines, totalling $951,325, have been paid in full and a further 1177 are subject to a payment arrangement.
Read the full story, by Remy Varga and Tessa Akerman, here.
Daniel Sankey 7.20am: Australia’s 2020 T20 Cricket World Cup postponed
The men’s T20 Cricket World Cup — originally scheduled to be played in Australia in October-November this year — will be pushed back to 2022 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The International Cricket Council Board this morning confirmed Australia would now host the tournament in October-November 2022, with the final to be played on Sunday, November 13, 2022.
Fans who had purchased tickets to the postponed 2020 tournament will be refunded in full.
“This decision gives Australia something to look forward to in 2022. It also gives us a good chance of safely welcoming fans into the outstanding venues across the country to enjoy watching the world’s best cricketers compete in this major global event,” Cricket Australia interim CEO Nick Hockley said.
The ICC also confirmed that men’s 2021 T20 World Cup will take place as scheduled in India in October-November next year.
READ MORE: Peter Lalor — Cricket’s search for certainty
Jamie Walker 7am: What if Stage 4 lockdown doesn’t work?
As daily numbers yo-yoed this week from bad to worse and back to unacceptably high — 439 new cases on Tuesday, 725 on Wednesday, 471 on Thursday, 450 on Friday — and with stage-four restrictions in force in Melbourne, the questions bedevilling the nation’s second most populous state continued to pile up.
Why was Victoria hit so hard when NSW can hold the spread of COVID to a manageable 10 to 20 cases most days and Queensland routinely posts none? Why didn’t the stage-three restrictions that worked a treat in April do the job second time around? And what’s next if the social killjoy and economically ruinous stage-four lockdown in Melbourne doesn’t work?
Embattled Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews set the hares running when he suggested the stage-four lockdown could be tightened further, though technically there is no stage five. What could this look like? The partial shutdown of construction sites would become complete, takeaway food and delivery services banned and supermarket visits limited to once a week per household. The current 5km “bubble” imposed on essential travel outside the home would shrink to 1km, radically changing how people lived.
Read the full story here.
Damon Kitney 6.30am: Three days in office may become ‘new normal’
Ten executives interviewed by The Weekend Australian believes the post-coronavirus workplace will be a hybrid model, with three days a week in the office the norm.
There will far fewer commutes between the so-called “golden flying triangle” of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane for meetings that can be done virtually, which will have implications for not only travel budgets, but the embattled airline and hotel sectors.
Some firms say they will inevitably reduce their CBD property footprint, others such as Telstra, NBN Co, Australia Post and ANZ will welcome staff moving to regional centres.
Telstra chief Andy Penn — who used to do a day of work a month from home before the pandemic — hasn’t set foot in Telstra’s head-office tower in the Melbourne CBD for 21 weeks, and he’s proud of it.
Read the full story here.
Max Maddison 5.15am: ‘Sourceless’ clusters stir fears of infection explosion
The emergence of two clusters of COVID-19 in Newcastle and Sydney’s inner west with no known source has health authorities scrambling to prevent an explosion of infections across the eastern seaboard.
With 10 active cases in the area and the Newcastle family cluster source unknown, health officials are on high alert after a teenage male from St Francis Xavier’s College was diagnosed after attending school from August 3-5.
The fresh case comes as NSW recorded another 11 cases, with one, a female in her 60s from southwestern Sydney, still under investigation.
The infections included one acquired in Victoria. The other nine were transmitted locally and linked to known cases, including one from the Apollo Restaurant cluster in Potts Point. The new case in Newcastle is a close relative and household contact of the other two confirmed cases from the area: a student at St Pius High School and a man in his 20s.
Hunter New England public health controller Dr Kat Taylor said local testing capabilities had been expanded.
READ MORE: Chris Kenny — Enough! This is no way to live
Simon Benson 5am: Morrison calls out states’ failure to offer aid
Scott Morrison has ramped up pressure on states and territories to lift their economic response to the COVID-19 crisis after laying responsibility for the second-wave outbreak in Victoria at the feet of the Andrews government.
After revealing the federal government’s emergency response had risen to $314bn, the Prime Minister on Friday made pointed reference to the combined contribution from the states of nearly $45bn. Frustration is emerging within the Morrison government that despite strong balance sheets, state and territory leaders have shown a reluctance to commit to direct fiscal intervention.
It is understood the issue was raised at the national cabinet meeting on Friday.
Spending by the states had reached just 2 per cent of gross state product, a measure of their economic output, compared to almost 16 per cent of GDP provided by the federal government.
Read the full story here.
Fiona Harari 4.45am: Conflicting advice may be cause of Victorian spike
Some Victorians awaiting COVID-19 test results have continued to mingle in the community because of health directives that only people with symptoms should remain in isolation — a move a leading epidemiologist worries might have contributed to the massive spread of the virus.
In one case, a Melbourne employee was still at work when his positive test result came through in mid-July because he had provided his employer with a letter from Monash Health, the state’s largest public health service. That letter advised that pending receipt of his test result, “if you do not have symptoms you can continue normal activities, unless you are a close contact of a known case”.
Official information on the state’s health website continues to offer conflicting advice for those being tested for the virus. A page about receiving test results says: “After you’ve been tested, you need to go straight home and wait for your results.” Another page only directs symptomatic people to return home immediately.
Read the full story here.
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