Coronavirus Australia live news: We will need masks ‘for some time’: PM; Six Victorian prisons locked down as guard tests positive
Scott Morrison has conceded Victorians and potentially Australians living elsewhere will need to wear masks ‘for some period of time’ when COVID-19 outbreaks occur.
- NSW residents ‘wise’ to wear masks: DCMO
- Victoria bulks up contact tracing teams
- Victoria toll rises to 42
- Second worst daily tally for Vic
- T20 World Cup postponed
- Fresh warnings with 30-year-old in ICU
- UK hopes for vaccine by year end
Hello and welcome to The Australian’s rolling coverage of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As mandatory masks loom for Victoria, The DCMO’s advice is NSW residents may be smart to cover up voluntarily. Victoria’s COVID-19 contact tracing team has been boosted to more than 2000 people, as the state’s health department struggles to keep up with a massive caseload. Victoria has recorded three more deaths and 374 new cases, its second worst daily tally. British scientists have been buoyed by two significant developments in their battle against COVID-19.
Paige Taylor 11.10pm: One way ‘useless’ for Indian Ocean islands tourism
Australia’s coronavirus-free islands in the Indian Ocean are ready to welcome tourists from Western Australia. But in a puzzling turn of events, a travel arrangement being worked out between the McGowan Labor government and the Morrison government appears likely to work one way only.
Read the full story here
Matthew Westwood 10.30pm: Donors help keep Carriageworks on track
Sydney’s Carriageworks will stay on the rails for another day after creditors on Tuesday agreed to a deed of company arrangement that will allow the contemporary arts venue to reopen within weeks.
Read the full story here
Remy Varga 10pm: ‘It’s one degree of separation: lock us down’
Colac is a town on the edge, as the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the region soared to 27, representing about a quarter of all cases in regional Victoria.
Read the full story here
Robyn Ironside 9.25pm: Masks putting off passengers, says Qantas
Flight attendants in Australia were discouraged from wearing masks and gloves in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak because airlines thought they would put off passengers.
Read the full story here
Rachel Baxendale 9pm: Puzzle in the postcodes hit with lockdown
Melbourne areas with postcodes which were locked down almost three weeks ago continue to have some of the highest net increases in active coronavirus cases in Victoria.
Read the full story here
John Lethlean 8.40pm: Melbourne’s restaurant scene in crisis
Lockdowns are forcing a hospitality business reset never before seen
in the nation’s foodie capital.
Read the full story here
Rosie Lewis 8pm: We will need masks ‘for some time’: PM
Scott Morrison has conceded Victorians and potentially Australians living elsewhere will need to wear masks “for some period of time” when COVID-19 outbreaks occur.
The Prime Minister said he had recently worn a mask for an optometrist consultation and would do so again at an NRL game watching his local team the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks if social distancing could not occur.
“The recommendation in NSW is if you are unable to have social distancing in place then you should and if that were the case, then I would,” Mr Morrison told the ABC’s 7.30 program.
“(Living with COVID-19) means keeping the discipline, keeping the distancing, keeping your registration on the COVIDSafe app. It means working through all the disciplines that are necessary.
“It means keeping your health systems supports in place. It means maintaining your contact tracing capabilities, maintaining the testing regime.
“It will mean for some period of time certainly in Victoria, and potentially in other states, where there are outbreaks, the wearing of masks. It means that it hasn’t gone anywhere. We can’t live like it has.”
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AFP 7.20pm: Teachers sue to stop school openings
Florida’s main teachers union has sued Governor Ron DeSantis and other authorities to stop schools from reopening in August, as the state has become a US epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Florida Education Association, which represents 140,000 teachers, says the state constitution asserts that schools must provide a “safe and secure” environment, but that the COVID-19 resurgence “is remarkable and out of control”.
Florida has reported 10,347 new COVID-19 cases and 90 deaths, bringing the total death toll to 5072.
More than 9500 novel coronavirus patients have been admitted to hospitaliz and just 18 per cent of intensive care beds are available, officials say.
Mr DeSantis “needs a reality check”, said FEA President Fedrick Ingram. “Everyone wants schools to reopen, but we don’t want to begin in-person teaching, face an explosion of cases and sickness, then be forced to return to distance learning,” he said.
READ MORE: Public servant payrise ‘unconscionable’
Rachel Baxendale 6.50pm: Six prisons locked down after guard tests positive
Six Victorian prisons are in lockdown on Tuesday night, after a prison officer at Ravenhall Correctional Centre in Melbourne’s outer west tested positive for coronavirus.
Ravenhall has been locked down, as have five other prisons as a precaution.
Those prisons are the maximum security Barwon Prison near Geelong, Hopkins Correctional Centre and Langi Kal Kal Prison in western Victoria, Fullham Correctional Centre in Gippsland and Loddon Prison in central Victoria.
Corrections Victoria said the lockdowns would be in place “while the officer’s contact with other staff and prisoners is being determined”.
“The Department of Health and Human Services have been notified and contact tracing is currently underway, with impacted staff and prisoners being notified,” Corrections Victoria said in a statement.
“In line with Corrections Victoria’s coronavirus (COVID-19) management plans, a number of measures have already taken place, including placement of potential prisoner contacts in quarantine units, contact tracing and thorough cleaning.”
READ MORE: How Europe slowed its coronavirus cases from a torrent to a trickle
Angelica Snowden 6.20pm: Case on NSW central coast as Port Stephens on alert
A new coronavirus case has been identified on the central coast of NSW and authorities have issued a public health alert for the Port Stephens area.
NSW Health have urged anyone who visited the Salamander Bay shopping centre on July 15 to get tested for COVID-19 after a man in his 60s contracted the virus.
NSW Health said the source of the latest case was linked with a visitor from Sydney who also attended the Windsor Castle Hotel in East Maitland about 6pm on July 13.
Additional resources have been poured into Tomaree Community Hospital to increase testing capacity at the COVID-19 clinic.
READ MORE: Are teens more vulnerable than younger kids?
Rachel Baxendale 6.10pm: No plan to close Colac, Andrews says
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he had no plans to lock down the Colac abattoir, but had not ruled the measure out should there be further evidence of community transmission.
“The key point here is to isolate any and all people here who are close contacts, and for the purposes of the record, there has been advice provided to (the abattoir), it is closed, there’s been widespread testing, and everybody in that facility has been told they have to consider themselves a close contact, and to isolate,” Mr Andrews said on Tuesday.
“We have no reason to believe that people aren’t doing that, and so we’re very grateful to both the owner of the business and all of their staff.
“That is a significant challenge, but I don’t think we’re at a point yet where we’d move to a whole local government area or whole of township public health measure to try and deal with that.
“I think that provided people follow the advice that they’ve been given, then we can limit the spread of the virus there.
“Having said that, though, these things can change, and we’ll be monitoring that daily based on the numbers and based on the advice that (Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton) provides to me.”
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Rachel Baxendale 5.40pm COVID-positive woman fined for travel to East Gippsland
A 25-year-old Melbourne woman who tested positive for COVID-19 after travelling to East Gippsland while awaiting the results of a coronavirus test has been fined $1652 for breaching the Victorian Chief Health Officer’s directions.
It is currently illegal for Melburnians to travel to regional Victoria unless they are required to do so for work or study
People awaiting test results are not allowed to leave their homes other than to receive medical care.
Victoria Police have confirmed the woman travelled from Glen Waverley, in Melbourne’s southeastern surburbs, and travelled to Orbost and Marlo in far East Gippsland over the weekend.
An Orbost police officer is in quarantine after coming into contact with the woman.
Several businesses in Orbost and Marlo, including the Marlo Hotel, have closed and undergone cleaning, with staff being tested, as a result of exposure to the woman.
The Australian understands the woman had recently suffered a bereavement, but had neither sought nor been granted permission to travel for this reason.
Department of Health and Human Services records show there is currently one known active case of COVID-19 in East Gippsland.
That case preceded the woman’s trip to the area and is not believed to be related.
READ MORE: Sydney partygoers fined $60k
Rachel Baxendale 5.20pm Victoria by the numbers: COVID case breakdown
Local government areas with postcodes which were locked down almost three weeks ago continue to have some of the highest net increases in active coronavirus cases, despite optimism from Victorian health authorities about a stabilisation in some of these areas.
Analysis of Tuesday’s local government area data shows that while the active caseload is falling in the City of Melbourne and Moonee Valley, which are home to significant public housing tower clusters, it continues to rise in the other four local government areas with postcodes which went into early lockdown.
In the City of Melbourne, which is home to some of the North Melbourne and Flemington housing towers linked to a cluster of 289 cases and an outbreak of 55 cases in public housing in Carlton, there was a net decrease of two cases since Monday.
In Moonee Valley, which contains some of the Flemington towers, there was a net decrease of eight.
However, Moreland in Melbourne’s inner north had a net increase of 31 cases, Hume, in the outer north 22, Brimbank in the outer west 18, and Maribyrnong in the inner west five.
Big increases were also seen in outer suburban areas such as Wyndham, in the outer west, which has the highest number of active cases in the state at 270, including a net increase of 20 on Tuesday.
Casey, in the outer southeast, had a net increase of 25 on Tuesday, while Whittlesea in the outer north and Melton in the outer northwest also had double digit net increases.
Also concerning is the sharp rise in cases in regional Victoria, outside the metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire lockdown zone.
There are now 103 cases outside the lockdown, up from 14 when the lockdown was imposed less than a fortnight ago.
In Colac-Otway, southwest of Melbourne, the number of active cases rose from 12 on Monday to 27 on Tuesday.
Only 13 of these cases have been directly attributed to a cluster at the Australian Lamb Company abattoir in Colac.
Nearby Geelong now has 18 cases, up from 13 on Monday, while the Surf Coast has four, up from one on Monday.
Mansfield, in Victoria’s northeast, where there has not been a case in the vicinity for months, recorded a new case on Tuesday.
Angelica Snowden 5.10pm NSW residents ‘wise’ to wear masks in hot spots: DCMO
It would be “wise” for New South Wales residents in areas where community transmission is on the rise to wear a mask, National Deputy Chief Medical Officer Proffessor Michael Kidd says.
“Particularly in situations where physical distancing is not going to be possible and this may include, of course, being on public transport, going into the supermarket if it is crowded, going into elevators in high buildings,” he said.
“Also very important for people who are at increased risk of COVID-19, people who have chronic health conditions or elderly people who if they were infected are at risk of becoming more unwell.”
It came as Professor Kidd backed mandatory masks in Victoria, urging Melburnians to wear them even though it could be “uncomfortable” at first.
“A reminder for a mask to be effective, it needs to be properly fitted and it needs to be covering your mouth and your nose at all times,” he said.
“You should avoid the temptation to touch your mask while you are wearing it and please wash and sanitise your hands before you put on a mask and when you take a mask off.”
Single-use masks can be worn for up to four hours before they have to be replaced and thrown in the bin.
Cloth masks made of three layers of cotton can be reused but must be washed and dried at least daily.
There were 13 new cases of coronavirus in NSW overnight, with only one of those from hotel quarantine.
Of these, 10 are associated with the Thai Rock restaurant in Stockland Mall, Wetherill Park — four who dined at the restaurant and six being contacts of people who dined there.
Two were contacts of cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula, and one is an overseas traveller in hotel quarantine.
There are now 50 cases linked to the Crossroads and 26 linked to the Thai Rock restaurant. Another eight have been linked to the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club.
NSW Deputy chief health officer Dr Jeremy McAnulty implored residents to consider staying home as community transmission continues to shut down pubs, gyms and restaurants across the state.
“While it is not a legal requirement, it would be preferable and safer for the time being to avoid all non-essential travel and not host or attend gatherings of more than 10 people at home (not withstanding that the legal limit is 20 people),” he said.
“Everyone should observe social distancing and hygiene measures and consider wearing a face mask in situations where social distancing is not possible. – with NewsWire
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Rachel Baxendale 4.35pm Mid-pandemic pay rise for Vic public servants
Victorian public servants will get a two per cent per annum pay rise, after the Andrews government and public sector union struck an in-principle agreement on Tuesday.
The government had been attempting to persuade unions to agree to the two per cent figure long before the coronavirus pandemic, to no avail.
The deal comes as wages for public servants in other jurisdictions have had their wages frozen.
An Andrews government spokesman said public servants were working “around the clock to protect Victorians from the coronavirus crisis.
“They have never worked so hard, and never have they been so critical,” the spokesman said.
This agreement complies with the government’s wages policy, and ensures a fair deal for workers.”
READ THE FULL STORY here.
Angelica Snowden 4.15pm More restrictions up to Victoria: DCMO
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd says the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee discusses the impact of restrictions everyday with the Victorian government, but any further restrictions in addition to forcing people to wear face masks is ultimately a matter for the state government.
“We are still seeing very high levels of cases but they are not dramatically increasing (in Victoria),” he said.
“We would like to see those numbers start to come down over the next few days or weeks but at the moment they’re not continuing to escalate.”
Professor Kidd said it would be vital that when a vaccine is developed it should be widely available all around the world, watering down fears that a country would try to monopolise production and distribution.
“It is really important that once vaccine developments start to move to the point where we will be able to have mass vaccination occurring it is something that happens globally not just in individual countries,” he said.
He said the number of daily COVID-19 cases in Melbourne was high, but health authorities will have to wait to see if the strict lockdown was successful at suppressing further spread of the virus.
“What everyone was hoping with the lockdown is that we would see similar change that we saw the first time around when we went into lockdown so the decline over the first few weeks and certainly over the first month with declines in numbers,” he said.
“As I say, I think we have to wait and watch for another few days to see what happens and see if we do actually turn down the curve with those numbers.
The effectiveness of the lockdown could not be observed until August 16 which is equivalent to three incubation periods of the virus, Professor Kidd said.
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Rachel Baxendale 3.55pm Huge case rises in Colac, St Basil’s Fawkner
A southwest Victorian regional community where cases have risen from 12 on Monday to 27 on Tuesday, and an aged care facility in Melbourne’s north where cases have risen from 13 on Monday to 51 on Tuesday are among some of the state’s more concerning clusters.
Of Victoria’s 374 new cases on Tuesday, 62 have so far been linked to known clusters, with the remaining 312 under investigation.
Here’s what we know about the size of clusters with new cases on Tuesday:
– 289 cases are residents of previously locked down public housing towers in North Melbourne and Flemington, in Melbourne’s inner northwest, up from 287 on Monday.
– 55 cases are residents of public housing towers in Carlton, in Melbourne’s inner north, up from 54 on Monday;
– 175 cases have been linked to Al-Taqwa Islamic College in Truganina in Melbourne’s outer west, up from 173 on Monday;
– 60 cases have been linked to Somerville Retail Services abattoir in Tottenham, in Melbourne’s west, up from 57 on Monday;
– 13 cases have been linked to Australian Lamb Company in Colac, in southwest regional Victoria, up from 12 on Monday. However, the number of cases in the Colac-Otway local government area has risen from 12 on Monday to 27 on Tuesday, indicating the cluster has spread to the local community;
– 38 cases have been linked to JBS abattoir in Brooklyn, in Melbourne’s west, up from 36 on Monday;
– 42 cases have been linked to Estia Health in Ardeer, in Melbourne’s west, up from 40 on Monday;
– 51 cases have been linked to St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner, in Melbourne’s north, up from 13 on Monday;
– 15 cases have been linked to the Woolworths Distribution Centre in Mulgrave, in Melbourne’s southeast, up from 4 on Saturday;
– 31 cases have been linked to Glendale Aged Care facility in Werribee, in Melbourne’s outer southwest, up from 28 on Monday. These cases include that of former Glendale resident, 90-year-old great-grandfather Alf Jordan, who died with COVID-19 in hospital 10 days ago;
– 9 cases have been linked to Melbourne City Mission in Albion, in Melbourne’s west. This is a previously undisclosed cluster;
– 15 cases have been linked to St Vincent’s Hospital in East Melbourne, up from 14 on Friday;
– 24 cases have been linked to the Royal Melbourne Hospital Royal Park campus, up from 18 on Monday;
– 17 cases have been linked to Embracia Aged Care Moonee Valley in Avondale Heights, in Melbourne’s northwest, up from 14 on Monday.
There have also been new outbreaks identified in aged care with both Iris Manor in Ashburton, in Melbourne’s southeast, and Mercy Place in Parkville in Melbourne’s inner north, notifying single cases, while two cases have been linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Melbourne’s north.
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Angelica Snowden 3.45pm 388 new virus cases Australia-wide, death toll now 126
In the past 24 hours 388 people across Australia have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
This included 374 people in Victoria.
There were 13 new cases reported in New South Wales which included one returned traveller in hotel quarantine while the others were locally acquired.
One person in Tasmania was diagnosed with the virus — a locally-acquired case in an interstate traveller in quarantine.
Deputy chief medical officer Michael Kidd said in the seven days less than 2 per cent of new cases of COVID-19 in Australia have been overseas acquired.
There have now been 126 deaths reported from COVID-19 in Australia.
An additional three people died in Victoria over the past 24 hours.
There are 183 people with COVID-19 in hospital, 174 of those people are in Victoria.
Among those in hospital, 38 people are in intensive care units and 22 people are reported to be on ventilators.
More than 3.5 million COVID-19 tests have been carried out in Australia and more than 56,000 tests were carried out in the past 24 hours.
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Rachel Baxendale 3.35pm More active virus cases than recovered Victorians
Victoria now has 3147 active cases of COVID-19 — an increase of 2777 since July 1.
Premier Daniel Andrews mistakenly said at his press conference on Tuesday morning that the number of active cases was 3078 — but this is the number of people in Victoria who have recovered from the virus since the pandemic began.
This means there are now more people with active cases in Victoria than there are people who have recovered since the pandemic began.
Of Victoria’s total 6289 cases, 5763 have been in people from metropolitan Melbourne, while 382 have been in those from regional Victoria.
There have been 3226 men infected and 3002 women.
More than 1,361,200 tests have been processed.
There have now been 446 healthcare workers infected, including 169 whose cases remain active. This is an increase of 17 cases since Monday.
Victoria has now had 1074 cases with no established source of infection, including 618 in the past fortnight.
This number has stabilised in recent days, with 54 cases added to the “unknown source” tally since Friday, including 14 since Monday.
READ MORE: How Europe slowed cases from torrent to trickle
Rachel Baxendale 3.20pm ‘Some stabilisation’ in long lockdown postcodes: Sutton
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said there had been “some stabilisation” of coronavirus caseloads in parts of Melbourne which will have been locked down for three weeks on Thursday.
Ten “hotspot” postcodes in Melbourne’s north and west went into Stage Three stay-at-home lockdown at 11:59pm on July 1, a week before the rest of Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire.
“There have been challenging settings that continue to drive the numbers each day,” Professor Sutton said.
“I think the new community cases are actually less and less as we’ve got those restrictions that apply to household visiting and gatherings outside, but we know that the core reasons to leave home for those essential requirements are still opportunities for transmission, and that’s the other reason why masks are really important in the workplace, as you go out to get essential services and goods, as you go out to buy food.
“We’re really looking at how to manage transmission in all of those settings, and to try and drive the numbers down, drive transmission down across the board.
“We have seen some stabilisations in postcodes, especially those postcodes where there have been restrictions for a longer period of time. I think that’s encouraging.
“There are other postcodes where the restrictions for Stage Three have been in place for almost two weeks, but that’s not as long as some of the other postcodes that are stabilising, so I’m still hopeful that we can see some levelling off and a decrease in numbers in some of those areas.”
Professor Sutton said there had also been a decrease in cases in Melbourne’s public housing towers which were locked down a fortnight ago.
“Again, that’s a measure of the community stepping up for testing, doing the right thing in terms of isolation, quarantine, and all of the service responses to try and support that as much as possible,” he said.’
“There’s is a mixed bag of good and bad news with postcodes and with different settings in Victoria, but I do have some hope that masks, as a kind of universal element that we can apply here, will be a really significant difference in the transmission risk.”
READ MORE: Stay home: NSW advice as COVID cases spike
Rachel Baxendale 3.15pm ‘Masks are to virus what speed limits are to road toll’
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said that while there was a “small impost” involved in wearing masks, they were a “significant additional measure” in limiting transmission of coronavirus.
“Masks are to coronavirus a bit like speed limits are to our road toll. They protect you. They protect those around you,” Professor Sutton said.
“I don’t know that there are many who would argue that we shouldn’t have speed limits on the roads, because of the importance of protecting everyone in that setting.
“I think it really is the same for masks. It’s a small sacrifice that we make. It’s a small constraint on our liberties, if you like, but it’s a really important one because there is no greater loss of liberty than the loss of your life.”
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Rachel Baxendale 3.05pm More than 50 Vic aged care homes with recent virus cases
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos acknowledged the “significant” outbreaks of coronavirus in aged care homes in the state.
More than 50 aged care facilities have had cases in recent weeks — the majority of which have been in staff, with residents infected in at least a dozen homes.
There have also been a number of COVID-19 deaths linked to Victorian aged care facilities, including two of the three deaths recorded in the 24 hours to Tuesday.
Ms Mikakos said the state government was working with the aged care sector and the commonwealth to control the infections and mitigate further risks.
“I’m grateful for those aged care providers who have already taken significant action to limit the movement of their staff across different facilities,” Ms Mikakos said.
“We know that this has been a risk factor, and we continue to see a significant numbers of new cases in a number of nursing homes in Melbourne.
“This is of course the most vulnerable people in our community, so we asked for the community’s understanding as these facilities have gone into lockdown.
“That means that they cannot receive any visitors, and we ask for families’ understanding that that is necessary in order to keep those family members safe, and we will continue to work with the commonwealth and the aged care sector to address these issues, but that has been driving some of the fatalities that we have seen.”
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Rachel Baxendale 2.50pm Victoria boosts contact tracing team numbers
Victoria’s COVID-19 contact tracing team has been boosted to more than 2000 people, as the state’s health department struggles to keep up with a massive caseload.
The Australian revealed on Tuesday that children and their parents at a Melbourne primary school waited 22 days for the Department of Health and Human Services to tell them that they had been close contacts of two students who tested positive for the virus.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the contact tracing team had been boosted from 57 members at the beginning of the pandemic and 1000 more recently, to a team of at least 2000 in coming days.
“We have been expanding our capacity to do more contact tracing,” Ms Mikakos said.
“That team is now looking to be more than 2000-strong, and we’re very grateful for the support that we’ve heard from the ADF and interstate colleagues, but we have been standing up additional resources of our own here in Victoria.
“I’m very grateful for those new members of the contact racing team who have joined us, both at senior levels and also those foot soldiers on the ground doping that important disease contact work.”
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Rachel Baxendale 2.30pm Andrews welcomes JobKeeper, JobSeeker moves
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews welcomed the Morrison government’s announcement on the changes to JobKeeper an JobSeeker, saying the payments were “critically important for putting a floor underneath some of the significant economic challenges that we face”.
“It is very pleasing to see those arrangements, albeit with some changes, they’re going to be a feature of public policy, are going to be a feature of our national response to this global pandemic for many months to come,” Mr Andrew said.
“The commitment was always that hardship would drive the commonwealth government’s response and it seems from that reporting, I’ll let the Prime Minister obviously make his own detailed announcements, but it would seem that he has been true to his word and hardship will obviously continue to drive that.
“Wherever there is greatest hardship, there’ll be the greatest degree of support, and I think that is a really important principle, and in practical terms, it’ll make a big difference to people knowing that that support is going to be there not till September, but indeed quite some time after that.
“We’ve had two very significant packages of business support.
“I won’t rule out a third and I certainly would forecast that our budget, to be delivered later on in the year, will include stimulus, large and small, as well as strong support for those industries, those sectors, that have been hit hardest by this virus.”
READ MORE: Changes to JobSeeker, JobKeeper explained
Rachel Baxendale 2.20pm Second worst day, but ‘we’re not seeing doubling’: Andrews
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said it was “always challenging” to analyse a single day’s figures, as Victoria recorded its second-worst daily COVID-19 case tally on Tuesday with 374 new cases.
“At the end of the day though, we’re not seeing the doubling and doubling again, so what that says to me, and I’m sure the Chief Health Officer can speak to this in more detail, is that the sorts of measures we have put in place are having a direct impact, but even with stay-at-home orders and a very high degree of compliance, even with mask-wearing that is already occurring across the community but will be a mandatory feature of our daily lives from midnight Wednesday, we still have to follow all of those rules,” Mr Andrews said.
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Rachel Baxendale 2.15pm Melburnians ‘take up the call’ to don masks
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews congratulated Melburnians for having “taken up the call” to wear masks, ahead of them becoming mandatory in greater Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire from 11:59pm on Wednesday.
“Coming in this morning, I think eight or nine out of the 10 people I saw were wearing a mask,” Mr Andrews said.
“That’s a fantastic effort.
“I remind everyone it’s not just a mask of surgical grade, it can be a face covering as well — any protection is better than none and it does make a real difference.
“It is heartening to see so many people listening to those messages, changing their normal habits and embedding mask and face covering-wearing as part of just the normal daily routine.
“It’s a small thing, but again a bit like coming forward and getting tested, it makes a significant contribution given the amount of virus we have out in the Victorian community, and our absolute determination as part of this six-week strategy to bring stability to those numbers and to drive them down.”
Mr Andrews said he did not want to see “one fine” issued for people refusing to wear masks.
“No one enjoys having to impose mandatory mask-wearing or face-covering wearing, but when the health advice is so clear, that we’re in a different stage now than we’ve even been in, and to bring this second wave both to stability and then driving those numbers down … this is deemed to be an appropriate, proportionate and meaningful thing to do, an impactful thing to do.
“It’s a bit disappointing to see a bit of commentary around the place about as an act of civil disobedience people may not wear these masks. That doesn’t make any sense.
“Nurses and doctors who might well end up treating you, they wear masks … The best way to thank them is to not end up being one of their patients, putting them at risk, putting enormous pressure on our public hospital system, and our private hospital system as well.”
READ MORE: Face masks: your questions covered
Ewin Hannan 1.55pm: What wage subsidy changes mean for you
Both payments have been reduced, but JobKeeper will run through to 2021. What does that mean for those looking for work, stood-down employees and employers? Read more here
Adeshola Ore 1.20pm: Tourism sector: Wage subsidy offers certainty
The Australian Tourism Industry Council says the extension of JobKeeper will provide a lifeline for the sector that has been paralysed by domestic and international border closures.
The council’s executive director Simon Westaway said the wage subsidy “provides certainty to keep tourism doors open.”
“Australia’s border constraints remain critical in both tourism’s and our economy’s ability to effectively recover,” he said in a statement.
“Today’s announcement cannot mask this obvious ongoing economic impediment which drove our call-out for JobKeeper’s targeted extension.
“However, ATIC’s positive 5-point plan for JobKeeper’s future has been largely captured and we and our business members will work constructively with government around its next phase.”
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Adeshola Ore 1.05pm: 80 ACT residents forced to self-isolate
More than 80 ACT residents are self-isolating after returning home from a Batemans Bay club at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak.
The Batemans Bay Soldiers Club has been linked to eight cases of COVID-19.
From noon yesterday, ACT Health is legally requiring residents who attended the club on July 13, 15, 16 and 17 to self-quarantine for fourteen days and get tested.
“Anyone who was not at the club but holidaying in Batemans Bay is asked to be vigilant with their health and to get tested if they have any symptoms of COVID-19, no matter how mild,” the territory’s Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said.
ACT has recorded no new cases of coronavirus overnight. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases remains at 113.
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Adeshola Ore 12.45pm: Wage subsidies ‘a lifeline for business’
The chief executive of accounting software MYOB has welcomed the federal government’s JobKeeper extension announcement.
Greg Ellis said the wage subsidy was a “lifeline for small business.”
“MYOB’s recent Business Monitor research showing 84 per cent of small business owners that were eligible for the program reported the subsidy allowed them to continue trading.”
“As we struggle to contain the spread of the virus, the negative economic impact continues to hurt our small businesses.”
Mr Ellis said his company’s customers were still seeing the impact of COVID-19, with a decline in invoices issued compared to their pre-pandemic baseline.
“Last week, the number of invoices created was down 25% on average across all industries, the hardest hit being arts and recreation.”
“The extension of JobKeeper, and the sensible renewed eligibility test, will ensure small business owners have the best possible chance of success, and even more importantly will provide continued employment for many thousands of Australians.”
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John Ferguson 12.35pm: ‘Community switching off to Andrews message’
The Andrews government must examine how it is selling its coronavirus messaging. Otherwise it will face a potentially diabolical outcome. Read more here
Richard Ferguson 12.15pm: JobKeeper, JobSeeker changes revealed
A $1200 JobKeeper payment will replace $1500 in October, and the JobSeeker supplement cut to $250 as PM extends wage support past September. Read more here
Richard Ferguson 11.55am: Qantas chief says JobKeeper move ‘fantastic’
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has welcomed the six-month extension to JobKeeper wage subsidies, saying thousands of his workers will be dependent on them for months.
The national airline has been largely grounded by the closure of international and some internal state borders, and have been one of the biggest recipients of JobKeeper.
“The extension to JobKeeper until at least March is fantastic for our people and provides
them with certainty. Importantly, it will help ensure most of them stay employed with us and
come back to work when flights resume,” Mr Joyce said in a statement.
“For many of our people who are stood down, JobKeeper has been the difference between
continuing their careers with Qantas and Jetstar or leaving the industry altogether. That’s
how important it has been.
“We have been speaking to the Government about this for months and when I spoke to the
Prime Minister and Treasurer in June they understood the devastating impact COVID-19 has
had on airlines and said they would provide further support for affected companies like ours
post-September.
“With the international borders closed, there won’t be work for thousands of our people for a
long time. But we will need these people again in the future. We want to get them back flying
again.”
READ MORE: Market rallies on JobKeeper move
Rachel Baxendale 11.45am: Victoria’s virus ‘rollercoaster is levelling’
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said there had been a “rollercoaster” of numbers in recent days, but that the figures were “levelling”.
“I know the day to day changes can be substantial, but the modelling of a couple of weeks ago, if we had been on an exponential curve which is what happens with coronavirus, we would have been in the thousands of cases at this point in time and we’re not, we’re at 374,” Professor Sutton said.
“I’m not satisfied with that, but it’s certainly much better than 3000.”
Matthew Denholm 11.30am: Hobart positive sparks new testing
Staff and guests at a Hobart hotel will be offered testing for coronavirus after a young woman in quarantine there tested positive on Monday.
Tasmanian health authorities would not name the quarantine hotel but insisted there had been no breach of COVID-19 protocols.
“While the risk of transmission to other guests or staff is considered low due … all guests at the hotel are being contacted directly, checked for symptoms and offered testing,” said Scott McKeown, acting director of Public Health.
“This includes those guests who may have already checked out but were in residence at the same time as the positive case.
“This is being done as a precaution only. Quarantine protocols in the hotel have been maintained. The person was not considered to be infectious during their travel and transit to the hotel.”
The case was Tasmania’s first since May 16.
READ MORE: How Europe slowed the virus surge
Rachel Baxendale 11.10am: Victoria toll rises to 42 with 3 deaths
Victoria has recorded 374 new cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours to Tuesday, and three women have died with COVID-19.
The tally is the second-highest daily caseload on record, following 428 new cases on Friday.
A woman in her 100s, a woman in her 90s and a woman in her 80s have all died with coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing Victoria’s COVID-19 death toll to 42.
Tuesday’s number brings Victoria’s number of cases since the pandemic began to 6289 cases, or 53 per cent of the national total.
Of the 374, 62 have been linked to known outbreaks, while the remaining 312 are under investigation.
There are now 3078 active cases – an increase of 2708 since July 1.
There are 174 people in Victorian hospitals with COVID-19, of whom 36 are in intensive care.
The 374 new cases came as 29,464 tests were processed on Monday, working out to a 1.27 per cent positive rate – the third-worst on record.
There have now been 20 COVID-19 deaths in Victoria since July 5.
READ MORE: Andrews caught in voter crossfire
Lilly Vitorovich 11.00am: Pandemic forces Bauer Media to axe 8 titles
Eight Australian magazines, including Harper’s BAZAAR, InStyle, Men’s Health and OK! have been axed following a sharp drop in advertising revenue during the coronavirus crisis.
The announcement by the magazine’s new owners, private equity group Mercury Capital, comes just days following its acquisition of Bauer Media’s Australia and New Zealand publishing business from the German family-owned media group.
The eight titles, which include ELLE, Women’s Health, Good Health and NW, were suspended in May, with Bauer blaming travel restrictions on transit-reliant titles such as NW and OK!, and declining advertising revenue on the other six titles. The decision then affected up to 140 staff, with 70 laid off and a similar number stood down.
Bauer said Tuesday that it will “lose valued editorial, sales and production staff” as a result of the magazine closures but didn’t provide a specific figure.
Bauer’s local boss Brendon Hill said it has been a “challenging time” for the group, which Mercury bought for less than $50m, a fraction of the $500m the Bauer family splashed out to secure the Packer family’s ACP mastheads in 2012.
READ MORE: Red carpet rollout for Babyteeth
Adeshola Ore 10.45am: Mogo stores close over club cluster
Several shops in Mogo, on New South Wales’ south coast, have closed after they were visited by coronavirus cases linked to the Batemans Bay outbreak.
The Batemans Bay Soldiers Club cluster is now linked to eight cases of COVID-19.
On Facebook, gift shop The Middle of Mogo said it would close along with three other businesses in the town.
“The Middle of Mogo, Courtyard Cafe, Mogo Fudge and Lots of Lollies Mogo will remain closed until further notice,” the post read.
“We have been informed by NSW Health that a member of the public who has since tested positive to COVID-19 attended our Cafe on Tuesday July 14 between 1.00pm-1.30pm.”
NSW Health is urging anyone who attended the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club on July 13, 15, 16 or 17 to get tested and self-isolate for two-weeks.
READ MORE: Sunshine State revels as southerners get the blues
Richard Ferguson 10.30am: Albanese lashes PM for JobKeeper ‘waste’
Anthony Albanese has accused Scott Morrison of racking up national debt by overpaying people on the first phase of JobKeeper wage subsidies.
The Opposition Leader has welcomed the Prime Minister’s decision to make JobKeeper a two-tier payment, after it was found some recipients were being paid more under the scheme than when they were doing the job the payment was tying them to.
Mr Albanese said on Tuesday that the old system had created waste and the government could “not have it both ways” on debt and deficit.
“It’s good that the Government’s finally woken up at some of the wastes in this scheme,” he said.
“We know now that some 875,000 people were paid more than they were earning before this crisis.
“And that has resulted in literally billions of dollars being added to what will be a record deficit and record debt that should not have been in the original design of the scheme.
“It shouldn’t have been beyond the wit of government, given that they do run the ATO, to not pay people more than they were being paid before.
“If a Labor Government had wasted the billions of dollars that has been wasted here in additional income to people more than they were earning before, then they would have been crying from the rafters about debt and deficit. This Government can’t have it both ways.”
READ MORE: What’s the new cash source for COVID-hit companies?
Adeshola Ore 10.20am: Two Sydney shopping malls deep cleaned
Two Sydney shopping centres have undergone deep cleaning after confirming coronavirus cases.
In a Facebook post, Cabramatta Plaza, in the city’s south-west, said a COVID-19 positive case visited the Ledang Family Medical Centre in the centre. The person attended the medical facility on Friday, July 17 between 4.50pm and 5.10pm.
The plaza’s management said the entire centre underwent a deep clean on Monday evening.
“We have received no advice which indicates there was any risk to other customers or retail team members who visited Cabramatta Plaza,” the post read.
Carlingford Court, in the city’s north-west, was visited by a COVID-19 positive person who attended a nail salon in the centre.
In a statement, the centre’s management said a customer with coronavirus visited Vanity Nails on Saturday, July 18 between 9am-10.30am. The nail store underwent a deep clean on Monday evening.
READ MORE: COVID to last ‘two or three years’
Rachel Baxendale 10.00am: Victoria records more than 370 cases
Victoria has recorded another steep rise in coronavirus cases, with Premier Daniel Andrews expected to announce more than 370 cases in the 24 hours to Tuesday.
Mr Andrews and Health Minister Jenny Mikakos are due to hold a press conference at 11am.
An increase of more than 370 new cases would represent the state’s second-worst daily tally, after 428 cases on Friday.
READ MORE: Let’s not kill our economy
Adeshola Ore 9.25am: Oxford vaccine trial encouraging: Coatsworth
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth has welcomed the early positive results from a COVID-19 vaccine trial at Oxford University.
Dr Coatsworth said it was “very encouraging” that the vaccine was able to produce an immune response in humans in the early stage.
“The response of the vaccine has been created to increase the number of antibody levels and T-cell activation – they’re the two parts of the immune system that will work in concert to protest against COVID-19,” he told the ABC on Tuesday morning.
“What we’re actually seeing is that those two elements of the immune system are boosted by the vaccine. What we need to see now is that boosting actually translates into protection from COVID when it’s rolled out.”
READ MORE: UK in vaccine breakthrough
Agencies 9.15am: Cases treble in Spain after restrictions eased
The number of people infected with coronavirus in Spain has risen three-fold over the last three weeks as authorities struggle to contain a rash of fresh clusters, mainly in the Catalonia and Aragon regions, Health Ministry data shows.
After registering thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths per day during an early April peak, Spain succeeded in slowing the number of new infections to a trickle.
But since restrictions on movement were lifted and Spaniards relaxed back into daily life, some 201 new clusters have appeared, with heavy concentrations in and around the Catalan cities of Barcelona and Lleida.
The occurrence of the novel coronavirus has jumped from eight cases per 100,000 inhabitants at the end of June, when the country’s state of emergency ended, to 27 per 100,000, deputy health emergency chief Maria Sierra told a news conference on Monday.
Over the weekend 4,581 new cases were recorded, bringing the total to 264,836, she added. More than 28,000 people have died.
“Where measures have been relaxed is where these clusters appear,” Health Minister Salvador Illa said. “We’re talking about gatherings of extended family and spaces associated with night-life.”
Reuters
READ MORE: Science backs cover-up decree
Adeshola Ore 9.00am: New JobSeeker rate to ‘wean business off support’
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says the new scaled back JobKeeper rate will begin “weaning” businesses off the support program.
The federal government will make an announcement on the future of JobKeeper on Wednesday, with the wage subsidy set to be extended for six months at a lower rate of $1200 a fortnight. Businesses will also have to reapply for the turnover test in October and January, to ensure the payments go to those who are eligible.
“The decision that will be announced is an extension by six months, but at a lower rate to start weaning businesses off that temporary level of transitional support” Senator Cormann told 2GB radio on Tuesday morning.
“There will also be reassessment of eligibility to make sure that support goes to businesses who genuinely still need it. There will be a reapplication of the turnover test at the beginning of October and also at the beginning of January.”
The JobSeeker payment, which was temporarily boosted, will be extended beyond September, but at a lower rate.
READ MORE: A keeper at a reduced rate
Peter Lalor 8.45am: T20 World Cup postponed until 2021
The decision overnight to postpone September’s T20 World Cup means the IPL can now go ahead in the UAE, players are free to earn millions they missed when that tournament was cancelled and Cricket Australia finally has more certainty around the summer.
Australia is preparing for a three T20 and three ODI match series against England in the first two weeks of September, players involved in the IPL will then fly straight to the UAE before returning home for the summer.
Details of the quarantine demands are still being sorted with various governments, but the players are preparing for a unique period which begins with a chartered flight from Perth to England, a country which has suffered 45,000 COVID-19 deaths.
While a historic Test against Zimbabwe was supposed to kick off the season in Perth on November 21 before a four Test series against India it is widely expected the first match may be too difficult to co-ordinate because of the rigours of quarantine demands for just one match.
The summer fixture, while announced, has been waiting on some certainty about the T20 World Cup.
The ICC confirmed overnight that the series which is one of its key revenue raisers would be postponed but nobody in the game has believed it had any serious chance of going ahead for some months.
The head of the local organising committee, Nick Hockley had even left his position to take over as interim chief executive of Cricket Australia in June when former CEO Kevin Roberts was forced to leave the game.
READ the full story here
Adeshola Ore 8.15am: Berejiklian knocks back mandatory mask wearing
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has dismissed the idea of enforcing mandatory mask wearing, saying the state government will follow the current health advice on the issue.
Masks will become mandatory in Victoria’s lockdown region from Wednesday night, as health authorities aim to drive down the rate of community transmission of coronavirus.
Ms Berejiklian said the decision to wear masks was a “personal choice”.
NSW is encouraging people to wear masks but has stopped short of making them compulsory.https://t.co/DU1UFStwBA
— 2GB 873 (@2GB873) July 20, 2020
“We have to follow the health advice and the health advice says if you can’t guarantee social distancing in what you’re doing, you should be wearing a mask,” she told 2GB radio on Tuesday morning.
She said the NSW state government was most concerned about people’s behaviour in pubs and restaurants.
“You can’t wear a mask when you have a meal, you can’t wear a mask when you’re sitting down having a drink and a meal with somebody. That is where the biggest risk is at the moment, indoor events.”
NSW reported 20 new cases of coronavirus on Monday – the single biggest daily jump in three months.
READ MORE: Behind the mask
Adeshola Ore 7.45am: Fresh warnings as 30-year-old treated in ICU
A Sydney coronavirus patient in their 30s who is being treated in ICU has prompted fresh warnings of the disease’s impact on young people.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the case highlighted the need for younger generations to understand the risk of COVID-19.
“This is not just something that affects older people. None of us know how it could affect us. We can’t think because we are a certain age that we’re untouchable. This virus is very unpredictable,” she told 2GB radio on Tuesday morning,
Ms Berejiklian urged people not to put themselves in a position where they could unintentionally spread the virus.
“This can get away from us very quickly and that’s why I’d rather everyone do the right thing now when we are still in a position to control the spread than in a few weeks time when the numbers might be higher. This is our chance to stabilise and clamp down on community transmission,” she said.
Across NSW, there are currently 96 people receiving hospital care, with two in ICU.
On Monday, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant urged younger generations to take COVID-19 seriously.
“We tend to say this disease affects the elderly, and it does on average, but there’s still the young people who are impacted,” she said.
READ MORE: Calls to add Vitamin D to arsenal
Adeshola Ore 7.30am: Calls for permanent JobSeeker payments
The CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service has called for the JobSeeker payment to become permanent, as the government prepares to unveil details of its income support program today.
The federal government has announced the $550 coronavirus supplement, which boosted JobSeeker to $1115 a fortnight, will be extended beyond September, but paid at a lower rate.
Chief Executive of the council Cassandra Goldie said she hoped the payment would not return to the “brutality of the terrible $40 a day rate of Newstart.”
“I really hope that they have people’s backs. We have to understand the situation that we’re in now with one job available for every thirteen people trying to find one,” she told the ABC on Tuesday morning.
“We’re in a situation where economy wise, this is one of the best things that they’ve done is to put precious dollars in the hands of people who really need it. Doubling the rate, effectively.”
Ms Goldie said the income support should be permanently increased to ensure stability for job seekers.
“It would be a huge mistake if it was temporary. We want to give people and businesses confidence that this particular arrangement of Jobseeker is going to be adequate, that people are going to be able to cover the basics.”
READ MORE: Recovery tsar ‘bearish on economic optimism’
Cameron Stewart 7.15am: Trump: Nobody more patriotic than me
Donald Trump has responded to his slide in the polls by shaking-up his approach to the coronavirus including by resuming daily White House briefings and focusing more on progress towards vaccines and treatments.
The change in tactics reflects a series of dire polls which show almost two in three Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of the pandemic with Mr Trump’s Democrat opponent Joe Biden now enjoying a lead of up to 15 points.
We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance. There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President! pic.twitter.com/iQOd1whktN
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2020
With new coronavirus cases now rising in 31 states and surging across Republican heartlands in the south and west of the country, Mr Trump’s advisers have warned he must act fast or risk losing the November election.
“I was doing them (briefings), and we had a lot of people watching, record numbers watching in the history of cable television, and there’s never been anything like it,” Mr Trump said about his decision to resume briefings. “It’s a great way to get information out to the public as to where we are with the vaccines and the therapeutics.”
“We’ve had this big flare up in Florida, Texas, a couple of other places. And so I think what we’re going to do is I’ll get involved and we’ll start doing briefings. And part of the briefing I think much more so than last time, because last time we were nowhere with vaccines or therapeutics.”
Mr Trump is also shifting his message on face masks, which he once opposed but now sometimes wears.
He tweeted a photo of him wearing a face mask saying “many people say it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance. There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favourite President.”
READ the full story here.
Staff writers 7.10am: Victoria brings in limits for mask sales
Retailers in Victoria have been forced to limit the sales of masks, with Bunnings, Woolworths and Aldi all imposing restrictions as panic buying set in.
With mask wearing to be made mandatory across Melbourne and Mitchell Shire from 11.59pm on Wednesday, stores have reported long queues as residents try to stock up ahead of the deadline.
Aldi is now only allowing customers to purchase two packs at a time, with a spokeswoman telling the Herald Sun it was to allow a “fair distribution of product”.
Woolworths has also limited shoppers to just one packet while Bunnings will only allow a customer to buy a maximum 50 masks.
Woolworths said it was monitoring the situation closely.
“Tens of thousands of boxes of masks will continue to head in to Woolworths stores across Victoria this week and more will flow through the following week, with a priority focus on hotspot areas,” the supermarket chain said.
READ MORE: A crafty way to breathe easier
Adeshola Ore 6.55am: Contact tracing key tool: WHO
The World Health Organisation has stressed the importance of COVID-19 contact tracing, in a statement at odds with the US approach. Currently, US President Donald Trump is seeking to block funding for coronavirus and contact tracing, despite cases surging across the country.
At a press conference on Monday, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said contact tracing was “one of the key tools for suppressing transmission in all communities.”
“No country can get control of its epidemic, if it doesn’t know where the virus is. Lockdown measures can help to reduce transmission, but they cannot completely stop it. Contact tracing is essential for finding and isolating cases and identifying and quarantining their contacts.”
In the US, Chicago has reimposed coronavirus restrictions. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has announced new measures to come into effect on Friday, including a ban on indoor service at bars and a shutdown on personal services that require the removal of masks. Florida has reported more than 10,000 new cases for the sixth day as a row. A further 92 people have died in the state, bringing the state’s death toll to 5,183.
New York, the former epicentre of the virus, reported the fewest hospitalisations from coronavirus in four months, as the state entered a new phase of reopening on Monday. On Sunday, the number of people in hospital for COVID-19 fell to 716 – the lowest number since mid-March.
Globally, more than 14.6 million people have been infected with the virus. There have been more than 608,000 COVID-19 deaths.
READ MORE: Teens’ viral load ‘same as adults’
Jacquelin Magnay 6.00am: UK ‘could have vaccine this year’
British scientists have been buoyed by two significant developments in their battle against COVID-19: a promising vaccine that will go to stage three trials after patients showed a strong immune response, and a potential new treatment to help those suffering moderate to severe symptoms.
The Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine trial has released promising results and will quickly move into a big stage three trial, but will have to go overseas for patients because declining levels of the virus in the United Kingdom have hindered further research.
On Monday the university revealed that initial trials of its vaccine in 1077 mainly white British adults aged up to 55 found the vaccine produced both strong antibody and T-cell responses.
While 70 per cent of those injected suffered mild to moderate fever, chills, malaise and headaches, the vaccine was considered safe and tolerable and paracetamol helped reduce side effects.
Results from this trial also indicated that it might be necessary for the Oxford vaccine to be a two-jab process.
Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute in Oxford, where the vaccine is being developed, said the pace of progress now depended on larger trials in the United States, Brazil, Britain and South Africa. “It’s possible that there’ll be a vaccine being used by the end of the year,” he said
Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: “This is very positive news. A huge well done to our brilliant, world-leading scientists & researchers at @UniofOxford”.
This is very positive news. A huge well done to our brilliant, world-leading scientists & researchers at @UniofOxford.
— Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) July 20, 2020
There are no guarantees, we’re not there yet & further trials will be necessary - but this is an important step in the right direction.https://t.co/PRUTu8rlPF
However he then cautioned: “There are no guarantees, we’re not there yet and further trials will be necessary – but this is an important step in the right direction.”
There were also ground- breaking developments in a small non-peer reviewed study of 101 Southampton Hospital patients who were given an inhaled protein usually used for multiple- sclerosis patients.
Those given the interferon beta drug, SNG001 from the biotech company Synairgen, were twice as likely to recover as those given a placebo, the research has shown.
READ the full story here
Kieran Gair 5.45am: Stem outbreak ‘or cases could triple’
NSW could face a “doubling or tripling” of COVID-19 cases by next month if health officials are unable to “clamp down” on the current outbreak, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has conceded.
The warning comes after NSW recorded another spike in the number of locally acquired infections, with 20 new cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday.
Sutherland, Mount Druitt and Harris Park joined the rapidly expanding list of Sydney suburbs affected by COVID-19, while a cluster in Batemans Bay emerged as the first confirmed outbreak in regional NSW.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant also revealed on Monday that a person aged in their 30s was in intensive care on a ventilator.
In addition to the 20 new cases — all linked to existing clusters — two parishioners of the Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral in Harris Park tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday evening. The last time NSW recorded 20 cases of COVID-19 was on April 19.
“We know our state continues to be at a critical point,” Ms Berejiklian said. “I don’t want us to go down a track where we see suddenly a doubling or tripling of cases. I can’t say enough how stressed and worried I am about the next few weeks. We have the opportunity to isolate the cases that we have, to clamp down and make sure we reduce the incidents of the virus spreading.”
READ the full story here
Steve Jackson 5.30am: BLM ‘playing Russian roulette with our lives’
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller says Black Lives Matters activists are “playing Russian roulette” with millions of lives by planning a mass Sydney protest next week, given an earlier demonstration has been linked to the coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne’s public housing towers.
In a bid to prevent a similar disaster in NSW, the state’s top police officer said he would not only fight to have the protest banned in the courts, he would punish anyone who breached public health orders by attending the rally on July 28
“It’s not as though we have a dark history with protests in this state. We work with people organising thousands of them — many in the city — every year, and they are lawful and we respect that,” Mr Fuller told The Australian.
“But looking at the intelligence coming out of the Black Lives Matters protest in Melbourne, and that people who attended it came from the vertical towers, there are serious concerns.
“I don’t want to see the same thing happen in NSW, and getting a big group together for a Black Lives Matters protest in Sydney, when you know the dangers, is playing Russian roulette with the nearly eight million people who live in the state.
“We’ll be going to the Supreme Court to stop it from going ahead — win, lose or draw, if anyone turns up and breaches public health orders, we’ll start writing tickets for a thousand dollars.
“I might not be able to fine everyone who turns up but we’ll give it a bloody good shot.”
READ the full story here
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Oasis announce Australian shows
The band will headline a stadium show in Melbourne on October 31, then Sydney on November 7.
Burke mulls cancelling visa of academic who called Oct 7 ‘a celebration’
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is considering the visa status of a US-based academic who attended Monday’s Hizb ut-Tahrir-associated rally in Sydney, praising the Houthi rebels and saying Hamas's attacks were a day of 'growth' for Palestinians.