Coronavirus Australia live updates: Broken Hill cut off from medical specialists after SA border shift
The NSW outback town of Broken Hill has been left without proper access to medical specialists after the South Australian government overturned border closure exemptions.
- ‘Our 4000 ICU beds won’t be needed’
- NSW open to funding Virgin, Vic says no
- Robert: No one surveilled through app
- Increase in UK deaths ‘deeply worrying’
- Trump, Erdogan pledge close co-operation
- Government pressured to bail out Virgin
Welcome to live coverage of the continuing coronavirus crisis. Most states have recorded no new cases today, as Daniel Andrews says it’s unlikely Victoria’s 4000 intensive care beds will be needed. Australians have reported a near total commitment to social isolation, new data shows. Gladys Berejiklian has confirmed her government is considering bailing out Virgin Australia as the Morrison government comes under pressure from within its own ranks to bail out the troubled airline.
Imogen Reid 8.55pm Turnbull hits out at Abbott
Malcolm Turnbull has reignited his feud with former prime minister Tony Abbott, accusing his predecessor of deliberately ramping up the tension during the height of islamic terrorism.
Turnbull said Abbott’s “erratic” style of government at a time where terrorists were Australia’s biggest threat was “profoundly dangerous” from a national security point of view.
“Abbott was determined to ramp up the rhetoric in a way that was calculated to inflame animosity against Muslims,” he said during an interview with ABC’s 7:30 host Leigh Sales on Monday.“That made Australia less safe.”
Describing the former prime minister as Peta Credlin’s “creation,” Turnbull said it was obvious Credlin had run the country by “dominating” Abbott through their “bizarre” relationship.
“It was though she said, ‘I’ve created you, you’re my creation,’ and she felt she owned him,” he said.
“It was a bizarre — a truly bizarre — relationship.”
Turnbull addressed the accusations made by Abbott that he was plotting against the former PM “from day one”. Turnbull refuted the claim by arguing that Credlin and Abbott destroyed their own government with their own “follies” before setting out to destroy his own.
“Both of them demonstrated a forte for negativity and destruction, as opposed to trying to do something positive,” he said.
Turnbull revealed his extraordinary bond with his wife, Lucy. He described to Sales the striking resemblance between Lucy and the girl he would imagine he would marry as a young man.
“I think I was always meant to meet Lucy,” he said.
“I used to sometimes think of who I would marry, and this sort of image of a girl who I imagined was more or less my age would come into my mind, and when I met Lucy, and as I got to know her and I saw her childhood picture, that was the little girl.
“From the time I met her, I knew that this was the love of my life.”
Rachel Baxendale 7.09pm Broken Hill cut off from medical specialists
The NSW outback town of Broken Hill has been left without proper access to medical specialists, with urgent cancer surgery and consultations delayed following a South Australian government decision to overturn border closure exemptions for health professionals.
The SA government had earlier this month granted exemptions to specialists treating patients in Broken Hill, Mildura and Alice Springs, but Broken Hill’s exemption was last week overturned, following two positive cases of coronavirus in the town.
The community of 25,000 people 40km from the SA border has traditionally been serviced by Adelaide-based surgeons and specialists, with the drive to Sydney taking 13 hours, compared with 5.5 hours to the SA capital.
Plastic and reconstructive surgeon Amy Jeeves, who runs a practice with fellow Adelaide-based surgeon Jenny Roy treating about 150 Broken Hill patients a month, said she had been unable to travel to the town since the border closure, because doing so would have involved spending 14 days in isolation on her return, leaving her unable to treat Adelaide patients.
“You can’t cut off a melanoma via teleconference,” she said.
Dr Jeeves said she and Dr Roy had missed four operating lists “all with urgent cancer surgery listed”.
“These patients have been left with difficult options,” she said.
“Either wait for normal services to resume at some unknown time in the future, drive five and a half hours to Adelaide and quarantine (for 14 days), or drive 13 hours to Sydney.
Dr Jeeves called for the exemptions for specialists travelling to Broken Hill to be reinstated, particularly given there were no longer any active cases of COVID-10 in the town.
Ear, nose and throat surgeon Rowan Valentine said that while he was grateful for an exemption — which had allowed some of his Broken Hill patients to be treated at Adelaide’s Flinders Medical Centre with no need for quarantine pending a nasal swab for coronavirus — his inability to travel to the town left other patients in a difficult situation.
Dr Valentine said that if the border closures were still in place in a fortnight, he would operate out of a caravan at Cockburn, near the SA-NSW border, to enable head and neck cancer patients to receive urgent treatment.
“Every individual has a right to access medical treatment, regardless of geographical location,” Dr Valentine said.
Read the full story here
Amos Aikman 6.09pm Wyatt rules out grocery subsidy for indigenous
The federal government has ruled out subsidising Aboriginal remote community residents’ grocery bills as a means of persuading them to stop flouting coronavirus movement restrictions by heading into towns like Alice Springs.
A coalition of 13 Northern Territory Aboriginal organisations on Monday called for Canberra to pay 20 per cent of the cost of essential items to discourage remote residents from “taking backroads” into regional centres to shop.
Biosecurity rules introduced to stop deadly COVID-19 from infecting vulnerable indigenous populations are meant to force anyone who leaves the bush to self-isolate for two weeks before returning. But anecdotal evidence suggests the rules are being widely flouted and that people may also be travelling to towns to drink.
Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt said that while the government “appreciates there are additional financial pressures associated with COVID-19, it does not support a direct subsidy or rebate on groceries at this time”.
“The government is addressing cost pressures with the extensive economic support packages announced in March,” Mr Wyatt said in statement.
“The National Indigenous Australians Agency has been, and will continue to be, in regular contact with stores and suppliers to identify issues impacting Indigenous Australians and escalate them to the appropriate state, territory or national forums as required to limit the impacts of COVID-19.”
READ MORE: Virgin to be placed into administration
Kieran Gair 5.30pm Man ‘spat at and punched supermarket security guard’
A man who allegedly spat and punched a security guard in the face at a Woolworths supermarket in Sydney’s west has narrowly avoided a $5000 on-the-spot fine.
The 27-year-old man has been charged after he allegedly assaulted a security guard and two employees at the supermarket in Merrylands at about 3pm on Sunday.
Police said the man became verbally abusive towards customers and pushed a staff member after he was asked to stop his behaviour.
When store security asked the man to leave, it is alleged he spat at the security officer before punching him to the face and knocking him to the ground.
The man ran from the store and was chased by other staff members, who apprehended him following a short struggle.
The security officer was rushed to Westmead Hospital where he underwent surgery for a serious lip injury. The two employees were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
He allegedly committed the violent offence just seven hours before NSW Police were given the power to issue a $5000 fine to anyone who coughs or spits at workers on the job or coming to and from their workplaces.
The alleged attacker was charged with two counts of assault and one count of reckless, grievous harm and was granted conditional bail to appear at Fairfield Local Court on June 27.
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Elias Visontay 3.57pm: No geolocation tracking: virus app clarified
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth has called on Australians to “embrace” a planned government smartphone app to assist contact tracing, clarifying it will not record the geographic location of its users.
Dr Coatsworth likened the app to “icing on the cake” to complement existing contact tracing activities conducted by state health authorities, and said even if one per cent of the population - less than the 40 per cent the government has said will be effective - were to use the app, it would still be useful.
“We think that Australians will come with us on this,” Dr Coatsworth said. “They will see the inherent value in having a mechanism that helps those disease detectives do their work.
“We think that Australians will embrace this and the reason we think so is because we have been very clear on what the app is about, this is not a geolocation app, for example. This is about letting those disease detectives know who someone has been in contact with for greater than 15 minutes and basically to help with our memory, if you will, because we cannot remember everyone we have been in contact with for over 15 minutes.
“There are legitimate privacy concerns but the narrow scope of this app and the serious consultations that we are having is going to make sure that those are all addressed.”
Dr Coatsworth also said there were now 60 million personal protective masks in the national stockpile, with 11.5 million so far distributed into the community.
READ MORE: What you need to know about the government’s contact-tracing app
Rachel Baxendale 3.47pm: Our 4000 ICU beds won’t be needed: Andrews
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says he does not believe the state will “see a situation” where the 4000 intensive care beds his government announced less than three weeks ago will need to be used.
The state government pledged $1.3bn on April 1 to dramatically boost intensive care capacity beyond the 450 beds already available.
However, Mr Andrews said the successful suppression of coronavirus meant it was unlikely the beds would be needed.
“I don’t think you’ll see a situation where we would, for instance, stand up and have ready 4000 intensive care unit beds,” the Premier said.
“They’re very, very expensive, and it would leave you with very little money left in the health budget to do lots of other things.”
Mr Andrews said one outcome from the COVID-19 pandemic could be the establishment of Victorian medical stockpile.
“If we can all stay the course and avoid that terrible New York-style outcome, we may have the first deposit for a very big Victorian medical stockpile, and I think the merits of such a stockpile are becoming clearer to me every single day,” the Premier said.
“That’s not a criticism of previous governments. These are unprecedented times. This is a one in 100 year event.
“The notion that we might have our own stockpile, I think that makes some sense.
“Hopefully we don’t have to use some of the equipment that we’ve ordered. Hopefully, it can either be sent somewhere else where it’s needed more, or it might be the first deposit into a medical stockpile that I think might serve our state very well in the future.”
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said Victoria had begun to receive some of the 2000 ventilators it has ordered from overseas, which add to 1000 already here.
READ MORE: Increase in COVID-19 cases slows to just 1pc
Elias Visontay 3.40pm: ‘Hospitals are safe places to go’
Scott Morrison and state and territory leaders will discuss detailed steps to lift a ban on elective surgeries when it meets on Tuesday as health authorities aim to show Australians “that hospitals are safe places to go to” for surgery.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee discussed “in some details the sort of principles” that are associated with lifting the current limits on elective surgery.
Under COVID-19 related restrictions, only category one and urgent category two procedures are allowed to take place.
He said there were 26 new cases of COVID-19 in Australia in the 24 hours up to Monday afternoon, with 424,000 tests conducted since the pandemic was declared
“We recognise that there are Australians out there who are in pain and have disability, cannot be in the workforce, they need to take very potent pain medication and they need their elective surgery done,” Dr Coatsworth said on Monday afternoon.
“The focus at the moment is about us building confidence in the health system by looking at elective surgery resumption … That’s going to be really important for Australians to see that hospitals are safe places to go to for your surgery,” he said.
READ MORE: Infection may be far less deadly than thought
Victoria Laurie 3.36pm: No new WA cases for first time in 59 days
Premier Mark McGowan says that Western Australia has reported no cases of COVID-19 for the first time in 59 days, with the state’s total number of cases remaining static at 545.
Only 103 of those people testing positive for coronavirus remain active.
In Perth metropolitan hospitals, there are 27 COVID-19 patients with six in ICU.
The number of West Australians testing negative has now reached 28,924.
Since March 26, more than 2500 individuals have been placed in hotel quarantine. Of those, 672 remain in quarantine. To date, 105 have tested positive for COVID-19, or are still waiting for test results.
Health minister Roger Cook says the figures underpin the important role of hotel quarantine in halting the virus spread. “Without it, those 105 people could have infected many more.”
Premier Mark McGowan said schools will reopen for all children for term two on April 29, with parents still given the option to send their children or keep them at home. He said out of 68,000 individuals working in the school system across Western Australia, only one person had tested positive for COVID-19.
Police Commissioner Chris Dawson has authorised the lifting of restrictions on takeaway alcohol sales in WA, introduced last month after a spike in liquor sales.
READ MORE: Stranded Australians repatriated in dramatic scenes at Adelaide Airport
Bridget Carter 2.58pm: Partnership eyes Virgin Australia buyout
An airline is believed to have joined forces with a private equity firm for a potential acquisition of Virgin Australia – likely to be in the form of a recapitalisation through a creditors scheme of arrangement.
The development comes after it had been more or less established that the federal government would not support a recapitalisation of Virgin Australia in its existing form.
The carrier remains in a trading halt as future hangs in the balance and a Virgin Australia board meeting was said to be taking place on Monday.
READ MORE: Airline, private equity partnership eyes Virgin buyout
David Penberthy 2.46pm: Stranded Australians repatriated in dramatic scenes
Almost 400 stranded Australians have been repatriated from India to South Australia with the first of two flights scheduled this week touching down amid dramatic scenes in Adelaide on Monday.
A Lion flight carrying 374 Australians landed at 7.20am at Adelaide Airport this morning with half a dozen patients placed on gurneys and taken straight to hospital to receive treatment for non-coronavirus related conditions.
The passengers have been stranded for several weeks in India due to the international flight ban. At this stage none of the passengers has tested positive for COVID-19.
Many of the passengers are elderly and there were also 30 infants on the flight, which landed in an unprecedented high-security operation co-ordinated by SA Police and SA Health, with the passengers bussed into Adelaide’s Pullman Hotel where they will remain under armed police guard for two weeks’ quarantine.
READ MORE: Stranded Australians repatriated in dramatic scenes at Adelaide Airport
Angelica Snowden 2.23pm: NZ to loosen COVID-19 restrictions
New Zealand will loosen strict COVID-19 social isolation measures and move to a level three lockdown next Monday.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the country had succeeded in stopping a “wave of devastation” with a low proportion of serious cases and one of the lowest mortality rates in the world.
She said the country would hold at a level three alert for two weeks from next Monday.
The National Cabinet would reassess the measures again at a meeting on May 11.
The news means level four restrictions - that have been in place for one month - will be downscaled.
More businesses - including the construction and forestry industries - will be able to get back to work and restaurants will operate for delivery orders only.
On Monday, health authorities announced a fresh nine cases, bringing the nationwide tally to 1440.
Of that, 974 people have recovered from the virus.
With no deaths in the last 24 hours, the country’s death toll stands at 12.
With Agencies
READ MORE: Wuhan lab leak rumour goes global
Rachel Baxendale 2.00pm: Governor Cuomo ‘wishes he was having a debate on golf’
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has dismissed debates over his government’s physical distancing measures, declaring that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo “wishes he was having a debate about golf” but is instead deciding where to place temporary morgues.
State opposition MPs over the weekend questioned why Victoria was the only jurisdiction in Australia to have banned golf, despite other states having allowed it as a mentally and physically beneficial form of exercise.
Mr Andrews dismissed the criticism, saying that if “good decisions” had not been made, Victoria would be in a situation “far closer to Europe and New York”, where more than 10,000 people have died of coronavirus.
“Governor Cuomo wishes he was having a debate about golf. Let me assure you of that,” Mr Andrews said.
“Many, many world leaders, many leaders, people in the jobs like I’ve got, wish they were having a debate about golf.
“They’re not. They’re having a debate about where the temporary morgues will go.
“I want to be too blunt, but that’s where it’s at.
“This is working. If we stay the course, I’m so grateful, so proud, so pleased that Victorians are doing the right thing, but we can’t give all this progress away by letting our frustration get the better of us.”
READ MORE: Virus may be far less deadly than thought
Angelica Snowden 1.03pm: 200 Ruby Princess crew infected with virus
Over 200 Ruby Princess crew members have contracted COVID-19, NSW Health has confirmed.
The cruise ship remains docked at Port Kembla, south of Sydney, after NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said on Sunday health officials did not consider the crew healthy enough to depart.
“We want to make sure the disease outbreak is under control on the ship and there are no ongoing cases,” Dr Chant said.
“We’ve been doing extensive testing on board the ship, both PCR testing (and) antibody testing, which gives us an idea of immunity.”
There are 190 crew on board the Ruby Princess and 12 being treated in NSW Health facilities who have contracted COVID-19. There is one other crew member being treated for appendicitis.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller initially declared the ship would leave yesterday, but at a press conference today Deputy Police Commissioner Gary Worboys said the repatriation of the crew is something “we can’t get wrong” and authorities would take their time.
“It’s important that we get this right,” he said.
“People need to be well, we need to get them to the airport and we need to get them on chartered flights.”
Commissioner Worboys said authorities would like to see the cruise ship leave on Thursday.
“There is a great opportunity over the new few days to get those people off and back to their home countries,” he said.
There are 1056 crew members in total.
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Rachel Baxendale 12.55pm: Premier condemns series of racist attacks
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has condemned a series of racist attacks in his state, saying there is “simply no place for that sort of behaviour”.
Singapore-born Geelong doctor Ern Chang received expletive-laden abuse from a passing woman as he waited for takeaway outside a cafe over the weekend, from a woman who told him to “go home”.
Dr Chang, who was last year voted the region’s best GP by Geelong Advertiser readers, said the incident was the first time he had experienced public racism in the town.
The attack came after two female students were bashed and robbed in Melbourne on Friday afternoon, and told to “go back to China”.
According to reports, the two victims were an 18-year-old Singaporean and her 20-year-old Malaysian friend, who were on their way to get groceries when they were attacked in the CBD.
The University of Melbourne confirmed that the two victims were receiving assistance from the university, with Vice-Chancellor Duncan Markell saying he was “utterly appalled” by the “deplorable and unprovoked attack”.
Mr Andrews said Victorians were in the fight against COVID-19 together.
He said he had called a bus driver who had been subjected to yet another racist attack earlier this month, to convey a message of unity.
“We are more effective, we are better and stronger if we all look out for each other,” he said.
“I can recall a few weeks ago, a bus driver who was the subject of terrible verbal abuse.
“I rang that bus driver that night, I thanked him for his work and his service.
“Everyone’s doing their best. Everyone’s in this, we’re all in this together, and the notion that people should be attacking each other is simply wrong.
“There’s just no place for that, whether it’s racially motivated or not, there’s just no place for that.
“I know people are frustrated, but there’s certainly no place for people to go and to be behaving like that.”
Additional reporting: Heidi Han
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Patrick Commins 12.42pm: Australians toeing the line on isolation
Australians have reported a near total commitment to social isolation, with 98 per cent of households saying they have been keeping their distance from people, while nine in 10 are avoiding public spaces and gatherings, according to a new ABS household survey.
The latest figures speak to the country’s success in suppressing the spread of the virus, with infection rates dropping below 1 per cent in recent days.
One in seven of the 1000 households surveyed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics over the first week of April said they were wearing a face mask as a precautionary measures, while approaching two-thirds reported they have self-isolated, or stayed at home.
Rachel Baxendale 12.32pm: ‘Detailed work, planning before AFL can restart’
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says “detailed work and planning” are required before the AFL season can get back up and running.
Professor Sutton said he had spoken with AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan on Sunday.
“Gil and I discussed it in terms of the planning that needs to be in place. He will come, formally, with some proposals,” Professor Sutton said.
“My suggestion was it needs to be a national conversation because it does relate to how teams can move around the country.
“We don’t want a situation where everyone’s in quarantine crossing the state border for 14 days. AFL can’t work in that regard.
“It needs a detailed proposal that works through exactly how risk is managed, how the physical distancing can be in place and how the surveillance for illness in any players is managed, so that’s that’s still to come through, but I think, you know, no no one wants these measures from a punitive point of view.
“We’re all trying to make it work, but it means the kind of detailed work and planning to give us the assurance about when it can come back online.”
Premier Daniel Andrews said he was confident Mr McLachlan and the AFL “only want to do what’s safe”.
“I think it’d do everybody’s wellbeing, everybody’s sense of normality, it’d be a real boost if we could get footy going again, but it’s got to be done safely,” Mr Andrews told the Nine Network.
“We don’t want a situation where a season starts, or sorry, restarts, only to be closed down one round in or two rounds in.
“There’s a lot going into that. The Chief Health Officer is as engaged as he possibly could be, and I’m grateful for that.
READ MORE: Trump attacked as US deaths pass 40,000
Angelica Snowden 12.26pm: Man charged at Bondi slams police
A well-known eastern suburbs man was pinned to the ground by NSW Police and charged with allegedly breaching public COVID-19 restrictions after he went for a swim at Bondi.
Police say Dimitri Moskovich, 54, was “quarrelsome” and “argumentative” when they approached him for trying to walk through fencing at Ben Buckler Point.
“About 3.30pm (on Sunday), police approached the 54-year-old man after noticing him walking through fencing near the rock platform at Ben Buckler Point, contravening the local government signs stating the area was closed,” police said in a statement.
Waverley Council closed the iconic beach in March after large crowds gathered in violation of social distancing laws.
Passersby watched the incident and filmed the argument between officers and Mr Moskovich..
The footage shows Mr Moskovich, who is known for working out at Bondi’s outdoor gym, being pinned to the ground by two police officers.
Mr Moskovich said he had “lost faith in Australian police” and called them “silly poodles” who “attacked him for no reason” in a post on Facebook.
“I didn’t climb any fences, I didn’t break any laws,” he told Channel Nine.
“I said look, I didn’t break any (rules) and I really have to go,
“And the guy pretty much hit me in the face and attacked me.”
Mr Moskovich said he went for a swim off the rocks at Bondi Beach which he believed to be legal.
He was charged by police with resist arrest and fail to comply with terms of notice erected by council.
Mr Moskovich will appear at Waverley local court in July.
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Rachel Baxendale 12.21pm: Victoria ‘won’t get to 1500 virus cases’
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says he does not expect the state’s current tally of 1,329 COVID-19 cases to go above 1,500 if the state manages to continue to suppress the virus at its current rate.
Health department modelling released on Monday shows the R0, or reproduction number of the virus in Victoria is now below 0.5, meaning each case is resulting in less than 0.5 new cases.
“We are flattening now at the 1300 mark, and with this trajectory, we won’t get to 2000 cases, we won’t get probably close to 1500 cases because we are only increasing by about one per cent each day,” Professor Sutton said.
The CHO said any relaxation of physical distancing measures would have to be done with the intention of keeping the reproduction number below one.
“We can’t lift measures to the point where the reproduction number goes above one, and cases increase and increase and increase over time,” he said.
“But with very low numbers, and with the suppression that’s in place over the next number of weeks, we can look at lifting measures and watching this, and seeing that the R0 stays below one, and seeing that the numbers remain suppressed in Victoria, watch for another period of time, and if it’s all going well, to then lift another layer, another level of restrictions, and again, watch over time, to see that it’s working and that it’s not increasing exponentially again.”
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Amos Aikman 12.09pm: Push in NT for essential item subsidy
A coalition of 13 Northern Territory Aboriginal organisations wants the federal government to foot 20 per cent of the purchase price of essential items in remote community stores to help persuade local residents to stay at home.
The group, which includes the Central Land Council and the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the NT, has blamed high grocery prices for people “taking backroads” into regional centres to do their shopping.
Biosecurity rules mean anyone leaving a remote settlement is meant to self-isolate for 14 days before returning. Anecdotal evidence suggests the restrictions are being widely flouted and that people may also be visiting towns to drink.
The coalition of 13 groups claims the major supermarkets responded to panic-buying down south by sweeping up supplies, making it harder for remote store operators to meet their inventory needs.
Government-owned remote retailer Outback Stores says it responded to the coronavirus crisis with a massive $2m stock build-up, but smaller firms like Aboriginal Investment Group have described that as “panic buying” by the commonwealth responsible for worsening stock shortages elsewhere.
A spokeswoman for the coalition of 13 Aboriginal organisations — most of which are government bodies or heavily reliant on government funding — has not answered questions about whether Outback Stores is performing better than other retailers.
Outback Stores says it is responding to an “unprecedented growth” in sales.
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Rachel Baxendale 11.47pm: Andrews thanks family of virus victim
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has praised the family of an 84-year-old Melbourne man who died of coronavirus last week, after they spoke out urging Victorians to follow social distancing rules.
The man’s daughter-in-law, Patricia, spoke to radio station 3AW, saying her family had been “living a nightmare”, after being unable to visit him as he lay dying at the Sunshine Hospital, in Melbourne’s west.
Patricia warned Victorians to take the illness, and physical distancing measures, seriously.
“You people out there who don’t think this is real, it hasn’t touched you, you may think you’re invincible, well, you’re not,” Patricia said.
Mr Andrews said he sent his best wishes to the family.
“And I thank them for the comments that they made, urging Victorians to continue to follow the rules,” he said.
“At a time of terrible tragedy for them, the circumstances of his death, not being able to be with him as they, as we would all want to be, for them to then use that to motivate all of us, I thank them very much, deeply.
“That is a very generous act to use their personal tragedy to remind all of us what is at stake here. This is life and death.”
READ MORE: Virus infection rates — check your suburb
Rachel Baxendale 11.35pm: Premier flags relaxation of social distancing rules
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says the stable numbers of new coronavirus cases give the state and nation “options”, flagging a relaxation of physical distancing measures in coming weeks - possibly after Victoria’s state of emergency lapses on May 11.
However, the Premier warned against relaxing too much too soon, saying reopening pubs and restaurants would be a step too far.
“The stability in those numbers gives us options, and the reason we have stability is numbers, and the reason we’ve been successful in suppressing this virus, is because the vast majority of Victorians are doing the right thing,” Mr Andrews said.
“People are following the rules, and it is working, and it’s making a big difference, and that gives us options down the track that would simply not be available to us without this, without the very low case numbers, options that are not available to so many cities, states, countries, right across the world where this virus has gotten away from them.
“These numbers are not an invitation for us to roll back all the rules. They are simply a validation that this strategy is working, and we’ll have options if we can continue to see this sort of performance.”
Mr Andrews said national cabinet would tomorrow discuss the future of physical distancing measures.
“National cabinet tomorrow is going to have a discussion about some of the prerequisites for relaxing many of the rules,” he said.
The Premier said key safeguards included expanded testing and contact tracing.
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Angelica Snowden 11.27am: Tasmania records seven new virus cases
Tasmanian Health Minister Sarah Courtney said the state recorded a further seven cases of COVID-19.
There are now 195 cases overall.
Ms Courtney said testing continued to increase with over 6500 tests completed across the state.
She confirmed that the north west will continue to be targeted for testing, and she encouraged residents who live in the area to present for testing if they experienced flu-like symptoms.
“For people in the north west, I would like to reiterate - please be aware of your symptoms. If you think you might have coronavirus, please contact the public health hotline, please contact your GP.
She said “progress” had been made in the north west after the emergency department at the North West Royal Hospital reopened on Friday.
“The emergency department has seen 40 presentations since it reopened,” she said.
The hospital is being run by Australian Defence Force personnel and members of the Australian Medical Assistance Team.
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Amos Aikman 10.53am: No new cases in NT for a fortnight
The Northern Territory today marks a fortnight without detecting any new cases of deadly coronavirus. The Top End jurisdiction has seen a total of 28 positive diagnoses of COVID-19, with 12 of those patients now recovered.
Health Minister Natasha Fyles said as schools returned on Monday that there was no need for parents to be concerned. “We don’t have community transmission,” she said.
Schools will operate with extra cleaning and social-distancing measures in place. Children are being urged to take precautions like not drinking from water fountains.
The Territory has not recorded any deaths linked to coronavirus, and none of the remaining patients is receiving intensive care. Despite there being grave fears about the potential impact of COVID-19 on the vulnerable Aboriginal population, no indigenous Australians are known to have been infected in the NT.
Business lobby groups have urged the Gunner Labor government to get Territorians back to work as soon as possible by allowing shuttered businesses to reopen. But the government has warned that moving too soon could be risky. There is currently no public timeline for social distancing and other restrictions to be eased.
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Rachel Baxendale 10.43am: ‘650 dead per day without distancing measures’
Coronavirus deaths in Victoria would have peaked at 650 a day had physical distancing measures not been introduced, according to new state-based modelling published on Monday.
The Monash Universty and Doherty Institute modelling, undertaken in collaboration with epidemiology experts in Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services, finds that if no physical distancing restrictions were in place, Victoria would have seen up to 58,000 new coronavirus cases every day at the peak of the pandemic, overwhelming the health system.
The data shows a “business-as-usual” scenario would have seen 10,000 intensive care beds required, with as many as 9200 Victorians presenting to hospital every day.
Up to 36,000 Victorians would have died, with an average death toll of 70 each day and 650 during the peak.
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the modelling also showed Victoria’s ‘Reff number’ – the projected number of infections passed on by a person with coronavirus – has dropped to 0.5.
A Reff number above one will see an outbreak grow, whereas a Reff number below one will see it slowly wane.
The modelling is based on what would have occurred if Victoria had a travel ban and 14-day quarantine for returning overseas travellers, but no other social distancing measures in place.
READ MORE: ‘I survived 10 days on a ventilator’
Rachel Baxendale 10.35am: Nearly 100 fined in Victoria on Sunday
A man who breached social distancing laws five times in five hours, 16 people attending a birthday party for an eight-year-old, and five people sitting in a vehicle drinking are among 91 Victorians who received $1652 on-the-spot fines on Sunday.
Victoria Police said they had conducted 819 spot checks at homes, businesses and non-essential services in the 24 hours to Monday morning, and have conducted 24,921 since March 21.
Those fined on Sunday include a 20-year-old man from Mildura, in Victoria’s far northwest, who was spoken to by police five times in five hours for breaches of the Chief Health Officer’s directions.
Police said the man was arrested and charged in relation to the breaches and bailed to appear at Mildura Magistrates Court on 15 July 2020.
Also fined were 16 people attending a birthday party at a residence in the Melbourne bayside suburb of Beaumaris.
READ MORE: How to avoid injury from exercise in isolation
Angelica Snowden 10.23am: US ‘close’ to $450bn package
The Trump administration and Congress are “close” to agreeing on an aid package of up to $450 billion that will boost funds for hospitals, COVID-19 testing and small business.
We continue to see a decline in new cases in hotspots around the country.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 19, 2020
Thank you to the American people for your strong efforts to slow the spread! pic.twitter.com/22fNsD7KSi
US President Donald Trump said a deal was “close” on Sunday.
Along with a small-business loan program that has run out of money, Mr Trump said the negotiators were looking at “helping our hospitals”, particularly hard-hit rural health care providers.
A deal could be announced Monday, the president said at a White House briefing.
“As of today, we’ve tested 4.18 million Americans.†pic.twitter.com/NO59h7OyAm
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 19, 2020
The deal would supply $75 billion to hospitals and $25 billion for testing.
It would also provide $300 billion for a small-business payroll program, and $50 billion would be available for the small business disaster fund.
At the briefing, the president said the US was making steady progress against the virus and confirmed that over four million Americans had been tested for COVID-19.
With AP
READ MORE: Trump lashes out at own lockdown to liberate ratings
Sarah Elks 10.18am: Queensland home schooling site crashes
The Queensland government’s home schooling website has crashed on the first day of home schooling for the state, as students return for the start of term two.
Schools are closed to all but the children of essential workers for at least the first five weeks, with parents expected to supervise their children’s distance learning.
But the Queensland Department of Education has confirmed problems already.
High demand on some DoE web servers has seen a temporary disruption to the learning@home website this morning. Every effort is being made to restore services. The Department is working with IT partners to resolve this issue urgently. We apologise for this short term interruption.
— Queensland Department of Education (@QLDEducation) April 19, 2020
“High demand on some DoE web servers has seen a temporary disruption to the learning@home website this morning,” the department tweeted on Monday morning.
“Every effort is being made to restore services. The Department is working with IT partners to resolve this issue urgently. We apologise for this short term interruption.”
READ MORE: Schools may reopen ‘within four to six weeks’
Elias Visontay 10.07am: Contract-tracing app an ‘excessive overstep’: Joyce
Former Deputy Prime Minister and current Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has labelled the government’s planned coronavirus contact tracing app an “excessive overstep” that has been “sprung” on Australians.
The comments come after Mr Joyce raised privacy concerns with his government’s own initiative, over which he has sparred with colleague and Government Services Minister Stuart Robert.
“My major concerns (sic) is, doesn’t matter what they say, there’s always capacity for people to hack into it,” Mr Joyce told Sunrise on Monday morning.
“At this point in time I’m not comfortable with what I’ve heard. I doubt very much whether I’ll get to that point.”
Barnaby Joyce says he will not be downloading the coronavirus contact tracing app, claiming "there’s always a capacity for people to hack into it".
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) April 19, 2020
More on this story: https://t.co/CbpH6M4gPi pic.twitter.com/7gn0cEckdS
He referred to an Imperial College London study in saying he believed there was a 99.98 per cent chance the data collected by the proposed app would be sufficient enough for a hacker to identify any resident of a small town.
“Now, a benevolent source maybe you don’t have to worry about, but the people who hacked into my data sets are not benevolent, they’re malevolent, and we know that the Chinese government at one instances (sic) have been hacking into our computers.”
Mr Joyce said he has been doing his “own research” on the safety of the proposed technology, and said while the government’s containment of COVID-19 had so far relied on the “goodwill of the people”, he doesn’t “want to affect that goodwill by excessive overstep”.
“The experts in the government also thought My Health Records were never going to be put out to the public, but they were, weren’t they.
“There has to be a balanced argument so if the Labor Party are not going to raise the issues, then someone has to and I’ll do it.
“It was sort of sprung on us and you hear about it, you do your research as to exactly what it’s premised on, its premised on similar software in Singapore, and you go through that and you say, well I’m not comfortable with that.”
READ MORE: Comyn: There’s nothing to fear from contact-tracing app
Angelica Snowden 9.26am: Councils must enforce restrictions: Police Minister
NSW Police Minister David Elliott said it is up to councils to enforce COVID-19 restrictions at local beaches after Randwick Council announced it would reopen beaches for exercise.
“The councils, they are the owners of these parks and recreational spaces,” he said on Sunrise.
“Under the health regulations, they are the ones that are obliged to ensure that the act is adhered to.”
Mr Elliott said under no conditions could people lie on the beach.
“These (rules) aren’t here because the government wants to punish anybody and police like enforcing these laws,” he said.
“They are there because if you are static, if you are just sitting in an area, you’re more likely to spend a period of time near people.
“If one person wants to sit on Coogee Beach, we’re going to find, like we did last month, 1000 people will come down.”
From today, NSW Police will have the power to hand out $5000 on-the-spot fines to people who cough or spit on retail checkout staff, transport personnel, health care workers and police during the coronavirus crisis.
Mr Elliott said the expansion of the fines was appropriate in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Spitting is disgusting, and I know that there are some cultures where it is practised for whatever reason, but we are in Australia.
“Don’t do it at the best of times, certainly don’t do it when you’ve got a coronavirus killing people.”
READ MORE: Lab rumour goes viral
Kieran Gair 9.18am: Beaches in Sydney’s east reopen
Several popular beaches in Sydney’s southeast are being reopened on Monday despite NSW Health singling out the region as a coronavirus hotspot.
Randwick Council will remove the one metre-high metal barriers at Coogee, Maroubra and Clovelly in Sydney’s southeast on Monday in a bid to give locals a place to exercise.
Our beaches will be accessible strictly for exercise only from tomorrow. This includes sand jogging, swimming & surfing. No sun-baking, sitting or gathering. Pls do the right thing, practice social distancing, exercise and let's keep safe. https://t.co/Sy7sdkNyoh
— Danny Said (@RandwickMayor) April 19, 2020
The beaches were closed last month, along with several others in the Randwick and Woollahra areas, including Bondi Beach, after throngs of beachgoers were filmed flouting social distancing rules.
People will now be able to swim, surf and exercise on the beach, but strict rules will prevent people from sunbaking or loitering on the sand.
Exercise such as walking, jogging and other fitness activities will all be allowed on the beach.
Gathering in groups of more than two, however, are still prohibited and people must maintain a distance of 1.5m between each other.
READ MORE: Pilgrim charts progress of stressed-out surfers
Sarah Elks 9.15am: Queensland tells NSW: Back off Virgin
The Queensland government has warned NSW to “back off” Virgin, as the NSW Treasurer revealed he wanted to entice the headquarters of the airline from Brisbane to Sydney.
State Development Minister Cameron Dick on Monday morning said Queensland would not let it go without a fight. The Queensland government put $200m on the table as a rescue package for Virgin, contingent on federal government backing and Virgin’s headquarters staying in Brisbane.
There are 5000 Virgin jobs in Queensland, including 1200 jobs at its headquarters in Bowen Hills.
“There’s nothing more dangerous than Queenslanders with their backs to the wall..we will stop at nothing to ensure the headquarters of Virgin remains in Queensland,” Mr Dick said.
READ MORE: Queensland’s offer ‘highly dubious’
Sarah Elks 9.10am: Queensland records zero new cases
Queensland has recorded zero new cases of coronavirus overnight, for the first time in more than 40 days.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said if the result was maintained, some restrictions could be lifted in weeks.
“We want to see this over a period of weeks, I’m overjoyed today at this result,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Health Minister Steven Miles said there were 20 patients being treated in hospital, and seven in intensive care on ventilation, all in the south-east corner of the state.
Queensland has recorded 1019 cases since the outbreak began in the state 81 days ago, most of whom have recovered.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young warned most restrictions would not be lifted, or Queensland would end up with a “bounce back” in the number of cases.
“Our Prime Minister has said that over the next four weeks, we can manage surveillance, contact tracing...and rapid response teams so when we do have a case somewhere, we can rapidly respond...then we can look at what restrictions can be further eased,” Dr Young said.
READ MORE: Liquidity crunch to deepen state’s black hole
Elias Visontay 9.00am: Wong accuses government over evacuations
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong has accused the government of being reluctant to organise evacuation flights for Australians stuck in foreign countries, saying they are “stubbornly insisting people take commercial options when in some locations they are not available”.
Senator Wong said other governments were organising flights for their citizens, and mentioned specifically the lack of options available to Australians in India as an issue which raised questions about whether the Australian government was seeking to save on the costs of organising its own flights.
“You’d have to ask the (Foreign) Minister that because I do not understand, it but more importantly Australians overseas don’t understand it,” Senator Wong told ABC Radio National when asked if she thought the government was trying to save money by not organising evacuation flights.
Senator Wong said concerns about difficulties in organising the flights that Foreign Minister Marise Payne has mentioned have been “navigated by similar countries”, and said the figure of 11,000 Australians who have registered with the government as being stranded “are probably all people who want to come home”.
“I am surprised that this is still such a big problem. I think the government has been reluctant to step in. I think the government has wasted too much time stubbornly insisting people take commercial options when in some locations they are not available.
“If you’re in India, you’re an Australian citizen in the lock down, and you see the United Kingdom organising through the government some 38 flights over the last week and the coming week, and you see that the Australian government is leaving this for private charters to be organised on the ground by expats, you have to wonder what is the Australian Government’s strategy.”
READ MORE: ‘Life here so good, no need to come home’
Elias Visontay 8.45am: Wong: Time to act on China’s role in pandemic
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong has called on the government to act on its commitment to push for an independent inquiry into China’s handling of its COVID-19 outbreak, urging Foreign Minister Marise Payne to leverage Australia’s power in the region.
Senator Wong’s comments come after Labor confirmed it would support the government’s push for an independent global inquiry into China’s role in the global outbreak of COVID-19, after Senator Payne said her concerns about the communist nation’s transparency were at a high point.
“We need to move from talking points and words, to actions,” Senator Wong told ABC Radio National on Monday morning.
She said the inquiry is an issue of interest for Australia and the global community, and said that “given the concerns that have been expressed about the WHO (World Health Organisation), that it is better if (the inquiry) is not run by the WHO”.
“We need to get the support of members of the international community if this investigation is going to be anything more than a line in an interview. Obviously we’re not a superpower, but we are a substantial power. We are a country that’s worked multilaterally in our region and we should be leveraging that.
“This is an important issue and we simply can’t allow this to simply be something we talk about and don’t do anything.
“The proposition would have to be supported by many nations, small and large, for it to gain the weight that meant that China would see it that’s it’s in its interests... to do the right thing around the calls from the rest of the international community to be very transparent.
“Power is only able to be exercised with authority if there is legitimacy, and legitimacy requires transparency.”
READ MORE: Bipartisan push for probe into China’s role
Angelica Snowden 8.35am: NSW open to funding Virgin, Vic says no
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has confirmed her government is considering bailing out Virgin Australia to “create jobs and save jobs” in the state.
“That is definitely something that is on the agenda for us and we are considering all options moving forward,” she said.
“If there are other opportunities the NSW government can support businesses re-tooling or looking at other opportunities to set-up their head office here in NSW, we are open to all of those things.”
The premier said she would not provide any further detail on the possible move, including if NSW support will be contingent on the federal government also backing the bailout with funding.
“I don’t want to provide any more details than that,” she said.
“But just to say that as a government our focus remains very strongly on protecting jobs.”
The carrier has been seeking federal help to keep it running but the Morrison government has rejected its request for $1.4 billion.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet told Sky News on Sunday night the state government was considering offering support and pointing to the new aerotropolis being built at Badgerys Creek in western Sydney. “Virgin should have their headquarters for both Virgin and Tiger in Sydney,” Mr Perrottet said.
READ the full story here
However Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews indicated his state was unlikely to be part of a bailout of the troubled airline, unless there are jobs for Victorians or the federal government gets involved.
Queensland earlier offered Virgin a partial $200 million lifeline, on the condition it restructured its debt, continued regional flights and kept its headquarters in Brisbane.
Mr Andrews said he had been in discussions with Virgin “well before this pandemic”.
“I think the notion of Victorian taxpayers chipping in with no jobs coming to Victoria, I think that’s a pretty challenging thing for us to do,” he told the Nine Network.
“I think a second carrier is something that every Australian benefits from, but if all governments were involved then we’d of course have a close look at that.
“But the notion that Victorian taxpayers would fork out hundreds of millions of dollars to have every single job remain up there in Brisbane, or in Sydney, I don’t know that that’s necessarily something that we would be interested in.
“If governments want to come together, and the national government would need to be part of this, then of course we’re happy to look at that.”
READ MORE: Pressure on Canberra to save Virgin
Angelica Snowden 8.15am: Two more cases in Sydney nursing home
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says only six new cases of COVID-19 were reported overnight.
While the premier said there were signs the spread of the virus was slowing, NSW was focussed on reducing community to community transmission.
“Remaining consistently low is our challenge,” she said. “Our focus is on containing the spread and reducing community to community transmission.”
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant confirmed that the number of cases at the Newmarch House aged care facility in Caddens has increased to 41, with two people contracting COVID-19 overnight.
The news comes after a 94-year-old resident died at the facility yesterday after he tested positive to COVID-19.
Fourteen staff have now contracted the new coronavirus as well as 27 residents.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro announced a $140 million bushfire recovery package to support agricultural industries hit by the summer bushfire season.
The premier said the funding would support regional areas that were badly affected by the fires but are shielded from the coronavirus pandemic.
“They aren’t as badly affected by the coronavirus,” she said.
READ MORE: Treasurer sees now way out of gloom
Rachel Baxendale 8.00am: Vic conducts 7,000 tests, with one positive
Victoria has confirmed just one new case of coronavirus in the 24 hours to Monday morning, despite conducting about 7,000 tests over the weekend.
The new case brings the state’s total number of COVID-19 cases to 1,329.
It follows the confirmation of 17 new cases on Saturday and nine on Sunday, a substantial proportion of which were detected in recently returned overseas travellers in quarantine.
Victoria’s case numbers had earlier fallen to just one on Friday, and two on Thursday.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said people should be “proud of the progress” the state has made against the virus, but conscious that the situation remains “fragile”.
“We’ve done about 7,000 tests over the course of the weekend, so we’ve ramped our testing right up, but we only have the one additional case,” Mr Andrews told the Nine Network.
“That’s not an invitation to relax all these measures, it’s simply an indication that our strategy, as difficult as it is, is working.
“The alternative of course is what we see out of New York and so many European cities, so my message today is stay home, protect the health system and save lives, now more than ever. Let’s not give back all the great progress that we’ve made.”
Victoria’s single new case of COVID-19 on Monday comes after 3,522 tests were conducted on Friday, and 3,508 on Saturday.
So far a total of 86,000 tests have been conducted in the state.
There are 28 Victorians in hospital, including 11 people in intensive care.
READ MORE: Grim warning of one in four jobless
Angelica Snowden 7.45am: Berejiklian to give virus update at 8.00am
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will hold a press conference on the coronavirus pandemic in her state at 8am AEST.
The Premier will update the public on the number of COVID-19 cases in the state, and will be joined by the NSW Chief Health Officer and NSW Police Deputy Commissioner.
The press conference can be watched live above.
Elias Visontay 7.30am: Robert: no one surveilled through tracing app
Minister for Government Services Stuart Robert has defended a planned coronavirus contact tracing app as digitising a manual process already being conducted by authorities, as privacy concerns about the technology are raised.
Mr Robert’s comments after Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said he was worried about the government having his location data.
Barnaby Joyce says he will not be downloading the coronavirus contact tracing app, claiming "there’s always a capacity for people to hack into it".
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) April 19, 2020
More on this story: https://t.co/CbpH6M4gPi pic.twitter.com/7gn0cEckdS
“Barnaby is concerned that someone is tracking or surveilling him. That couldn’t be further from the case,” Mr Robert told ABC TV on Monday morning.
“Right now, if you get coronavirus, a lot of hardworking officials try to work out who you’ve been in contact with. This app simply digitises that process and speeds it up.”
Mr Robert said the app only records which users have come into contact with each other and not location data, and that data will only be accessible by health authorities.
He also said the government would publish the code base so Australians can see which data it is recording.
“Think about if you got the virus and state health asked who you were with ten days ago, you wouldn’t know. You can’t remember the name of the lady in the queue behind you at Woolies...It’s a massive productivity saving, and frankly, it’s going to allow us to get back to life quicker.”
He was also asked twice what the government would do if not enough Australians downloaded the app, but refused to speculate on any government action, saying: “We don’t do hypothetical moments, what we do is a team Australia moment and I think that Australians will embrace this”.
The App we are working on to help our health workers trace people who have been in contact with coronavirus will not be mandatory.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) April 18, 2020
Scott Morrison was forced to clarify comments he made on a Hobart radio station last week that the government might look at options if uptake of the app was lower than expected.
READ MORE: Oceans in the island of disease
Angelica Snowden 7.25am: Joyce: app a no-go over hacking possibility
Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce says he will not download the COVID-19 tracing app because it’s possible it could be “hacked”.
“It doesn’t matter what they say, there’s the capacity to hack into it,” Mr Joyce said on Sunrise.
“The Chinese government has been hacking into our computers...they will work out where I am, who I am speaking to.”
I have to add some further information for Minister Robert to consider in regards the four pieces of information he refers to and anonymity. I am putting my faith in Imperial College London and the malevolence of those who hack and mine databases. pic.twitter.com/VRRb8gQ4zi
— Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) April 19, 2020
The former Nationals leader on Sunday said he would not download the app because of privacy concerns.
Mr Joyce said he was conducting his own research into the app, and said he was “uncomfortable” that the app is based on a similar technology in Singapore.
“You do your research on what it is premised on,” he said. “It’s based on an app in Singapore.
“I’m not comfortable with that.”
READ MORE: Doctors in the House urge takeup of app
Angelica Snowden 7.05am: Virology chief denies lab was source of virus
The director of a maximum-security laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan has denied claims it is the source of coronavirus.
Chinese scientists say the virus was probably first transmitted to humans at a Wuhan market that sold wildlife, but theories that it came from a virology lab have been brought into the mainstream by US government officials.
“There’s no way this virus came from us,” Yuan Zhiming, the head of the P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, says in an interview with Chinese state media.
China
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in China reached 82,735 as of April 18, while the total death toll from the virus stood at 4632.
China reported 16 new confirmed coronavirus cases on April 18, the lowest since March 17 and down from 27 a day earlier.
Despite the declines in new confirmed cases, authorities are still on guard against a major resurgence, which could be socially and economically destabilising.
South Korea
South Korea reported just eight more COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the first time a daily increase has dropped to single digits in about two months.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the additional figures raised the country’s total to 10,661, including 234 deaths.
It said 8,042 people had recovered and been released from quarantine and 12,243 others were undergoing tests to determine whether they had contracted the virus.
“We must not loosen our guard until the last confirmed patient is recovered,” President Moon Jae-in said.
South Korea’s caseload has been lessening in recent weeks since it recorded hundreds of new cases every day between late February and early March, mostly in the southeastern city of Daegu and nearby areas.
Japan
Japan’s Health Ministry confirmed 568 new cases of the coronavirus, raising the nation’s total to 11,073, with 174 deaths.
The actual number of infections is believed to be higher as Japan is only starting to expand its testing capabilities by setting up additional testing centers in Tokyo and elsewhere.
It allows primary care doctors to send suspected patients directly to testing stations.
It took two months for the number of patients to reach 1,000 since mid-January, but the spread of the coronavirus has accelerated in recent weeks, doubling from around 5,000 in just 10 days.
Singapore
McDonald’s will suspend all operations in Singapore for two weeks after seven of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus.
The fast food giant said in a Facebook post that it decided to follow the Health Ministry’s advice to shut down until May 4, when Singapore’s partial lockdown ends.
It said it would continue to pay the salaries of 10,000 employees working in more than 135 outlets across the city-state.
Singapore reported 596 new infections on Sunday to raise its total to 6,588, including 11 deaths.
The government has made it mandatory for people to wear masks outside their homes and imposed strict social distancing measures.
READ MORE: China ‘could have stopped virus’
Angelica Snowden 6.55am: Europe accounts for half global cases
More than one million people have contracted the new coronavirus in Europe and nearly 100,000 have died, the European Center for Disease Control says.
According to a tally posted on the ECDC website Sunday, Spain had the most cases in the region with 191,726, followed by Italy, Germany, Britain and France.
It listed Italy as having the most deaths in Europe, with 23,227, followed by Spain, France, Britain and Belgium.
The Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard recorded a higher total of cases and
deaths for those countries and said 195,944 people have contracted COVID-19 in Spain and 23,660 have died in Italy.
According to the ECDC tally, Europe accounts for almost half the global caseload and more than half the total deaths.
Italy
Italy on Sunday registered the lowest number of deaths of people with coronavirus in a month, with the death toll rising by 433 in the past 24 hours.
That brings the national total to 23,660, still the second-highest in the world after the United States.
The number of positives rose by just over 3,000 to 178,972 - the lowest increase in more than a month.
Because of the lack of comprehensive testing, health authorities estimate that the number of cases and deaths have been significantly under-estimated.
Italy was the first western country to be hit by the coronavirus, in late February.
France
Paris has shut down part of its water system after discovering trace amounts of the virus in water used for cleaning streets and watering public gardens.
City Hall said in a statement Sunday that Paris drinking water remains safe.
A municipal water management laboratory discovered “tiny traces” of the virus at 4 of 27 sampling points in the city’s network for non-drinking water, the statement said.
That network is distinct from the city’s potable water system.
After the discovery, the city suspended use of the non-drinking water network for public places and is using the potable water system instead.
The non-drinking water is pumped in from the Seine and an adjacent canal, and is used for street cleaning, watering parks and in some city fountains.
All Paris parks, gardens and fountains are closed to the public as part of France’s anti-virus lockdown.
There are 152,996 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in France and 19,718 confirmed deaths due to the virus.
Spain
Spain has reported its lowest daily death total for confirmed coronavirus victims in nearly a month, with Spanish health officials said Sunday confirming 410 people died in the last 24 hours.
That is the lowest daily death toll since March 22.
It takes the total to 20,453 virus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Spain also reported 4,218 confirmed new cases, pushing the total to 195,944 - second only to the United States.
Top health official Fernando Simon said the latest data gives Spain hope, adding that it shows “the rate of contagion has fallen and that we are on the correct path.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Saturday he will seek a two-week extension of the state of emergency that is set to run out next week, but that children will be able to leave their homes from April 27.
READ MORE: ‘Life here so good, risk is worth it’
Anne Barrowclough 6.40am: Singapore records surge of new cases
Singapore has recorded a surge of new cases, with 596 confirmed on Sunday, bringing the total to 6,588.
The Straits Times reports that five new clusters were reported on Sunday, with the majority related to foreign workers who are forced to live in crowded dormitories.
Of the 596 new cases, The Times reports 544 were work permit holders residing in dormitories while only 25 were Singaporeans or permanent residents. There were no imported cases.
Singapore now has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in South-east Asia overtaking Indonesia at 6,575 and the Philippines at 6,259.
READ MORE: Editorial: Until facts are known, China is under suspicion
Cameron Stewart 5.45am: US deaths surge past 40,000
The number of deaths from coronavirus in the United States has surged past 40,000 as the political divide over Donald Trump’s response to the pandemic grows.
Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi accused the president of ‘weak’ national leadership during the crisis, saying Mr Trump has sought to blame others for his own failings as the death toll mounts.
Her comments came as state governors also pushed back against the White House’s claims that they have the resources needed to carry out large scale testing needed before they can begin to reopen their economies.
But leading Republicans have hit back, saying the president is showing strong leadership by calling out China for its role and also in pushing for the economy to reopen as quickly as possible - a call which has been backed by protesters in some states.
The death toll from the virus in the US topped 40,000 after a further 1700 deaths in 24 hours. The US death toll is now approaching twice that of the next worst affected nation of Italy which has 23,600 deaths.
In the nation’s virus hotspot of New York, the daily death toll was 507, the lowest in a week while the hospitalisation rate was the lowest in a month, fuelling hopes that the virus has peaked there.
Democratic House Speaker Ms Pelosi accused the president of ignoring science in his bid to quickly reopen the nation’s shuttered economy.
“Leaders - leaders take responsibility. So I said he’s a weak leader. He doesn’t take responsibility. He places blame -- blame on others,” Ms Pelosi said. “And that might have been OK before, but we cannot continue down a path that is, again I’ll come back to science, science, science, evidence, data on how we should go forward.”
Ms Pelosi said Mr Trump had also failed the nation for not overseeing widespread testing for the virus.
“We’re way late on it, and that is a failure,” she said. “The president gets an ‘F,’ a failure, on the testing.”
READ the full story here
READ MORE: Trump lashes out to liberate his ratings
Andy Bruce 5.15am: UK not considering lifting of lockdown measures
Britain is not considering lifting the lockdown imposed almost four weeks ago to control the coronavirus outbreak given “deeply worrying” increases in the death toll, a senior minister says.
Britain is at or near the peak of a health crisis in which more than 16,000 people have died — the fifth-highest national death toll of a pandemic that is linked to at least 150,000 deaths worldwide.
“The facts and the advice are clear at the moment that we should not be thinking of lifting of these restrictions yet,” Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove told Sky News.
Slides from today’s #coronavirus press conference (19 April 2020):
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 19, 2020
🔵 Transport use change
🔵 New coronavirus cases in the UK
🔵 People in hospital beds with COVID-19 in Great Britain
🔵 Global comparison of deaths pic.twitter.com/FJZdVj6R2u
“One of the things that is deeply worrying and concerning is the high level of deaths,” Mr Gove said.
“The evidence suggests that the rate of infection and the death rate is flattening, but we’re not absolutely certain that we are yet on a downward trajectory.”
With hospitals under strain, health workers have criticised the government’s advice that personal protective equipment (PPE) worn while treating patients infected with coronavirus could be re-used, as supplies run low across the country.
The latest data shows 16,060 people have died in British hospitals after testing positive for the novel coronavirus, a rise of 596 from data published on Saturday.
While that marked the smallest increase in almost two weeks, figures published over weekends usually show smaller-than-average increases in the death toll, and these daily figures do not include deaths in the wider community. A further 2500 died in care homes during the week to April 13. — REUTERS
If you break the rules, you risk police action. Don’t do it.
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 19, 2020
âž¡ï¸ https://t.co/OQA6Xh7TDj#StayHomeSaveLives pic.twitter.com/llcCOsnUze
READ MORE: Call to investigate China’s role in spread of virus
Agencies 5am: Trump, Erdogan agree ‘close co-operation’ in virus battle
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump have spoken on the phone, discussing the coronavirus pandemic, bilateral relations and regional developments.
According to an account of the phone call shared by the Turkish presidency’s office on Sunday, the two leaders agreed to continue their “close co-operation” against the threats posed by the coronavirus on public health and the economy. This would be a “necessity of the spirit of solidarity required by being NATO allies,” the message said.
The two leaders also spoke on the phone at the end of March. The US has the highest number of COVID-19 infections in the world and Turkey now ranks seventh, according to Johns Hopkins University’s data on the coronavirus pandemic. They have both surpassed China, where COVID-19 emerged, the figures show. — AP
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Simon Benson 4.45am: ‘Government must rescue Virgin if no-one else can’
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It echoes calls from the competition watchdog that the government needed to step in to protect competition in the aviation sector, with the loss of Virgin reducing Australia to a single-major-carrier market.
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