Coronavirus Australia live updates: Massage parlour, staff fined for virus breaches
The first fines for violating new measures to halt the spread of coronavirus have been issued in NSW.
- Wealthy Melbourne area a hot spot
- Queensland schools go pupil free
- WA Premier bars ship over infected passengers
- Tasmania orders non-residents: go home
- NSW records slight drop in new cases
Welcome to live coverage of the continuing coronavirus crisis. Queensland schools go pupil free and the WA Premier has barred a cruise ship with infected passengers, as Australia’s coronavirus toll rose to 12 after three deaths in Victoria.
Amos Aikman 10.19pm: New cases in the NT
Four Northern Territorians and a Queenslander have returned positive tests for coronavirus in the Northern Territory today.
The four Territorians - a couple from Katherine and a couple from Central Australia - along with the Queensland woman transiting through Darwin had all returned from overseas travel.
All five people are under NT Health supervision.
Twelve Territorians have now been diagnosed with COVID-19. The Queensland woman’s case will be recorded in that State’s statistics.
Additional details about these cases will be provided tomorrow.
Angelica Snowden 9.51pm: First social distancing fines issued
The first fines for violating new measures to halt the spread of coronavirus have been issued in NSW.
Three people and a business were fined by NSW Police on Thursday for violating the public health orders.
A massage parlour in Sydney’s CBD was inspected by police and found to be operating in defiance of Scott Morrison’s new order that any “personal services” business should close.
The owner of the parlour on Sussex Street was hit with a $5000 fine and three staff members each received a $1000 fine.
“Officers spoke with the female owner of the business and issued her with a $5000 Penalty Infringement Notice (PIN) for failing to comply with a direction under Section 7 of the Public Health Act 2010 (NSW),” a NSW police statement said.
In a separate incident a 65-year-old woman arrived at Sydney International Airport on a flight from Bali last Saturday.
The woman from Red Head in the mid-north coast is understood to have ignored a public health order to self-quarantine for 14 days twice,
She was advised she was subject to a Public Health Order and was required to quarantine for a 14-day period.
“After receiving information that the woman had contravened the order, officers from Lake Macquarie Police District attended her Redhead home about midday on Monday (23 March 2020) and issued her with a warning for breaching the order,” a statement said.
The woman left her home again today and about 1.45pm NSW police slapped her with a $1000 fine, also under Section 7 of the Public Health Act 2010 (NSW).
The minister for Police and Emergency Services, David Elliott, said the rules could not be clearer and they apply to everyone.
“No one is above the law. If you decide to ignore a direction, you will be caught, and you may very well find yourself slapped with a hefty fine,” Mr Elliott said.
“The fact that people are still not complying is the reason why we have police out in full force enforcing these directions,” he said.
“This behaviour is not only reckless and stupid, but potentially deadly.”
NSW Police officers now have the additional power to issue Penalty Infringement Notices (PINs) to anyone who breaches new rules announced by Scott Morrison, including on-the-spot fines of $1000 for individuals and $5000 for businesses.
Sarah Elks 8.30pm: Qld parliament ‘cancelled due to virus’
The Queensland government has blamed the coronavirus outbreak for its decision to cancel parliament for a month, despite the Chief Health Officer confirming it was safe for MPs to gather.
Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath recommended parliament - which was due to sit from Tuesday - be suspended until April 28, a recommendation carried out by Labor Speaker Curtis Pitt in a letter tabled in parliament on Thursday night.
“I and the Palaszczuk Government steadfastly support and understand the importance of our democratic Westminster system and decisions to reschedule any sitting of the Queensland Parliament to an alternative date are not made lightly. However, in light of the current health situation and in line with other Parliaments in Australia, I write to request that the next sitting of the Queensland Parliament be postponed until Tuesday, 28 April 2020,” Ms D’Ath wrote to Mr Pitt.
Ms D’Ath said the postponement of parliament would allow the government to focus on the government’s frontline response to the crisis.
But Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young earlier on Thursday confirmed it would be safe for parliament to sit.
“Any gathering is safe to go ahead if it meets the requirements for social distancing, and the numbers, and all of those requirements, of course it’s safe. And anyone who is sick doesn’t attend,” Dr Young said.
Federal parliament has been suspended until August.
Matthew Denholm 7.18pm: Kids among new Tasmania cases
Two children are among five new cases of coronavirus confirmed in Tasmania on Thursday night.
Public Health Director Mark Veitch said confirmed all of the five cases stemmed from the same cruise ship and brought the state’s total number of cases to 47.
“Three of the cases are from Northern Tasmania, two are from the North West,” he said. ”One of the cases is aged in their 70s. Two are aged in their 30s, and two are children.
“All of the cases were passengers aboard the Ovation of the Seas, which docked in Sydney on 18 March.
“There remains no evidence of community transmission in Tasmania, as all the cases are directly or indirectly linked to overseas travel.
“All of the cases were already in self-quarantine and receiving daily contact from Public Health Services staff as they were passengers on a cruise ship where coronavirus cases had been detected.
“Accordingly, the two children had not been attending school.”
Victoria Laurie 6.51pm: WA man dies after going on cruise
Western Australia has had its second COVID-19 death, a man in his 70s who had been aboard a cruise ship.
The man is believed to have died at Joondalup Health Campus in Perth’s northern suburbs.
It is the state’s second death, with both cases involving cruise ship passengers.
78-year-old West Australian man James Kwan died from coronavirus in Perth on March 1, becoming the first Australian casualty of the virus.
Mr Kwan contracted the virus on board the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, and died after being repatriated to Australia. He died at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth.
Mr Kwan’s 79-year-old wife was also been tested positive for the virus, but has recovered.
Victoria Laurie 6.17pm: 26 new cases in WA
Western Australia has recorded 26 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the state’s total to 231.
Health Minister Roger Cook says cruise ships continue to pose a major problem, with four of the new cases from cruise ship passengers – one from the Ruby Princess, one from the Sun Princess, and two from the Voyager of the Seas.
It brings to 51 cases of infected cruise ship passengers, with another four who contracted the virus from contact with those passengers.
“This emphasises the major problem that cruise ships have represented,” he said.
He said one passenger in his 70s been transferred to a Perth hospital off the cruise ship Artania, which has arrived in Fremantle with seven positive Covid-19 cases. However, the elderly man’s condition is unrelated to the virus.
“We are still in a very enviable position in WA…We pretty well know exactly where people got the disease,” he said.
He said 205 cases have been linked to overseas travel, with a small number of cases yet to be traced. Half of the 205 cases were people who returned from overseas, while the rest were people directly linked to contact with individuals who had returned from cruises or took flights.
“We have the smallest number of cases in Australia that are still subject to contact tracing.”
Eleven people out of the 231 total are in hospital, with three in a critical condition. The new cases range in age from a seven year-old child who is in isolation to an 81 year old.
Mr Cook announced that pharmacists will be permitted to provide ongoing medication for patients already under treatment and where their prescription has run out.
A pharmacist can dispense a one month quantity of medicine without the prescription.
Rachel Baxendale 6.11pm: Victoria likely to push for ‘stage three’
Victoria’s Health Minister and Chief Health Officer have strongly hinted that an announcement over Stage Three COVID-19 quarantine measures is imminent, saying they do not want to “preempt” any announcement Premier Daniel Andrews may make following Friday’s national cabinet meeting.
Mr Andrews said on Wednesday that there would be a Stage Three after the announcement of a series of Stage Two measures on Tuesday night.
“I’m not going to preempt the Premier’s decision around any of these matters, but just to stress that our government is taking these issues very, very seriously,” Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said.
“We have been very upfront with the community from the outset about the risks of this pandemic, the risks it presents to human health in our state.
“We have acted on the frank and fearless advice of our medical experts, prioritising the public health and wellbeing of our community, of our state, and that’s meant very difficult decisions have had to be made already with the first two stages.
“It’s had a big impact on all of us, on our way of life, but everybody must understand that it is time to make some sacrifices if we are to save lives.”
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said he could not say what Stage Three would involve, “all options” of more extreme measures taken by international jurisdictions “are available”.
“We’ve not written anything off in terms of what might be applied, but I’m not going to speculate on what those decisions might be,” Professor Sutton said.
Greg Brown 5.34pm: ‘Strong case for 20pc pay cut for MPs’
Liberal MP Craig Kelly has called for federal MPs and senior public servants to take a 20 per cent pay cut during the coronavirus pandemic.
The outspoken backbencher said senior public figures should be “leading by example” and sacrificing some of their salaries to help pay for rescue packages for small business.
“I think there is a strong case, and this will make me unpopular, for a 20 per cent cut in the salaries of senior public servants including members of parliament to help finance additional assistance to the self employed,” Mr Kelly told The Australian.
“When I am out speaking to people, I am hearing people break down in front of me because business they built up are destroyed.
“Everyone in society has to be prepared to accept a bit of a haircut. It would be a good way of showing we are leading by example.”
The member for the Sydney electorate of Hughes also called on Scott Morrison to consider a Britain-style wage subsidy for workers.
He said the income test for partners should be doubled from its current level of $48,000.
The Australian revealed on Tuesday that the government will freeze all pay rises for hundreds of top public servants, politicians, judges and ministerial staff as it moves to share the pain of the economic shutdown.
A 2 per cent increase in July would have made the base pay of federal MPs $211,000.
READ MORE: Cruise passengers demand to fly home
David Penberthy 5.31pm: Second stimulus rolled out in SA
A second stimulus package has been rolled out in South Australia with the Marshall Government now spending $1 billion on job-saving measures including payroll and land tax relief and the waiving of liquor licensing fees for the state’s embattled hospitality sector.
And with schools fast resembling ghost towns as parents pull their children out of class, the Government has announced four pupil free days before the start of holidays on Good Friday, April 10, for teachers to fine-tune online learning while still keeping schools open in line with the Commonwealth position.
This mirrors the trend across Adelaide’s private schools, most of which have now moved to remote learning and are requesting that parents keep their children home where possible.
With SA having brought out the first state-based stimulus package worth $350 million two weeks ago, Premier Steven Marshall on Thursday allocated another $650 million to bolster the economy, with the promise of more to come.
“We know South Australians are hurting,” Mr Marshall said.
“In the space of a few weeks, in some cases overnight, once thriving local businesses and their staff are now facing uncertain futures through no fault of their own and my Government is stepping up to make sure we see them through this period.”
The key planks of yesterday’s $650m Jobs Rescue Package are the establishment of two new funds, the $300m Business and Jobs Support Fund and the $250m Community and Jobs Support Fund.
Richard Ferguson 4.40pm: Warning for three Sunshine Coast venues
Queensland Health is urging visitors of three Sunshine Coast venues attended by a person with COVID-19 last weekend to monitor their health.
The state’s health authorities say the person visited the three venues while unknowingly infected.
The state’s health authorities say the infected person visited Noosa’s Land and Sea Brewery on Friday March 13 between 1-3pm and Sunshine Beach’s Sum Yung Guys Restaurant on the same day between 6.45-8.45pm.
Advice remains to stay home when possible - if you must go out for essentials or healthcare please stay away from other people and wash your hands regularly. If you are sick you MUST NOT leave home for any reason. Call your doctor. https://t.co/O8401hxOqx pic.twitter.com/KTydn685hw
— Australian Government Department of Health (@healthgovau) March 25, 2020
The individual also visited the Sunshine Beach Surf Life Saving Club on Saturday March 14, 3.45-11.30pm and Sunday March 15, 12.30-2pm.
“While the risk is very low, some people also present could potentially have been exposed.There is no risk to anyone who has been to these locations before or after this period,” Queensland Health said in a statement.
Those who attended the venues at the same time as the individual are advised to monitor their health for fourteen days from the listed dates.
READ MORE: The Mocker: ABC can’t lose bias in crisis
Richard Ferguson 4.25pm: Labor undermining medical experts: Cormann
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has blasted Federal Labor’s demands for stronger and faster lockdowns, saying the Opposition is undermining medical experts.
Anthony Albanese has broken the bipartisan consensus on COVID-19 by demanding more lockdowns and a fast-tracked and broader third economic rescue package.
The Finance Minister said the Opposition Leader was being unhelpful and not listening to medical advice.
“Federal Labor’s approach, sadly, has been becoming more unhelpful. That is regrettable,” Senator Cormann said.
“Things are tough enough out there without political commentary undermining the medical advice and suggesting that we should close down even more businesses where the medical advice doesn’t says we should.
“We are never going to close down businesses based on political decisions.
“If there is a decision to close down certain sectors in the economy, it is going to be because the medical advice clearly and unequivocally indicates that is required to protect people’s health and to save lives.”
READ MORE: Airport chaos is distancing ignored
Stephen Lunn 4.20pm: Concern for disabled
Government strategies to address the coronavirus pandemic must take into account the specific needs of Australians with disability, the Disability Royal Commission has warned.
In an unusual step, the commission has issued a public Statement of Concern outlining the higher vulnerability of people with disability to the virus, and the need to factor this into public policy making.
“People with disability, particularly First Nations people with disability, may be disproportionately affected by the pandemic due to increased risk of infection, higher number of comorbidities and because of underlying health conditions such as chronic diseases and respiratory illnesses,” the commission said.
“Emergency planning and responses of Australian governments should include a specific strategy to provide appropriate guidance, support and funding to meet the particular needs and requirements of people with disability.”
It said it had heard numerous stories from members of the community that people with disability continued to face additional barriers in the prevention, screening and treatment for COVID-19.
READ MORE: Tougher lockdown key to system coping
Richard Ferguson 4.15pm: Taskforce to boost Centrelink
A coronavirus taskforce has been set up to redirect the work of federal public servants towards combating the pandemic and boosting Centrelink services.
Australia’s most senior public servants have been asked to redeploy their staff to support Centrelink, which is facing unprecedented demand as hundreds of thousands of Australians affected by the coronavirus crisis register to receive welfare payments.
Australian Public Service Commissioner Peter Woolcott wrote to all federal bureaucrats today to inform them of the moves and asked them to actively ask bosses how they can best help the response to COVID-19.
“To see Australia through this pandemic, our significant capabilities need to be dedicated to the most critical government services – we need to ensure that the Australians who need help the most are receiving it,” he writes.
“I have established an APS Workforce Management Taskforce to manage the mobility of our workforce across all APS departments and agencies.”
“I urge you to actively engage with requests from your department or agency to provide support and additional capacity for our critical government functions. Your willingness to support whole of government action to deliver services to Australians who need it the most, are crucial at this time.”
READ MORE: Flight Centre stands down 3300
Angelica Snowden 4pm: Nurse spat on, staffer coughed on
A man deliberately coughed on a supermarket staff member in NSW’s Hunter region, NSW police say.
The man coughed on a 35-year-old employee helping customers follow distancing rules at a supermarket in Raymond Terrace, after a verbal altercation broke-out between her and the man.
Minister for Police and Emergency Services, David Elliott, condemned the behaviour and asked anyone with information to come forward in a statement.
“This kind of dangerous behaviour needs to stop immediately. It’s potentially putting the lives of workers and their families at risk,” Mr Elliott said.
“For a disgusting act like this, you could find yourself charged with common assault and jailed for up to two years.”
The incident follows another example of poor community behaviour towards industry workers, after a NSW nurse was spat on.
A male patient who was being tested for coronavirus spat on a NSW nurse because he said she would “get sick anyway”.
The young female health worker, Abbey Kehoe, said she “works in a coronavirus team” and that a male patient “spat on her face” in a TikTok video.
“Australians generally have this attitude towards coronavirus where they do not care whether they live or die, or kill their grandparents or whatever,” Ms Kehoe said.
“That’s already fun to deal with, but yesterday I had a patient spit on my face. We don’t know if he’s confirmed or not but he has been tested and we haven’t got the swabs back yet.”
The young woman said the patient told her he spat because she was “going to get sick anyway”.
The woman confirmed to The Australian that the incident happened on Saturday night and she was tested for coronavirus on Sunday.
She said she found out on Wednesday morning that she did not have COVID-19, posting a picture to social media giving a thumbs up with the caption: “To everyone who saw my tik tok dw I ain’t got corona”.
READ MORE: Health workers get special shopping hours
Elias Visontay 3.55pm: Lockdown critics ‘not helpful’: Kelly
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has criticised vocal public health professionals who say the government lock down measures aren’t strong enough, acknowledging it has led to “confusion and unclear messages” among the public.
His comments come after he spoke of the emergence of “two schools of thought” on Wednesday, between a scalable approach he believed in and a “go fast and go hard” approach that other officials, including Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, was in favour of.
“It’s not helpful,” Dr Kelly said at a press conference on Thursday.
“The main feedback we’re getting from the public and indeed the healthcare professions at the moment is confusion and unclear messages.”
Dr Kelly said he would like to talk “one-on-one” with medical professionals with views that conflict with the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee — the body that advises the newly-formed National Cabinet — before they air their views publicly.
He mentioned Brendan Crabb, a professor of infectious diseases, as one professional airing such views.
“I really would like (to talk one-on-one with) him (Professor Crabb) and others that are coming out without all of the information that should and could be available to them, and making their opinions. It’s not helpful.”
Dr Kelly said Australians need to take anti-COVID-19 measures seriously otherwise harsher lockdowns that have been floated by other medical professionals may have to be introduced.
Asked about passengers from the Norwegian Jewel cruise ship, who have been evacuated to a Sydney hotel for quarantine after their ship docked in Hawaii, Dr Kelly said the group had a “very low risk of having COVID-19”.
“There have been some tests that have been done. Those results will be available later today (Thursday). But so far, there’s no reason for concern.”
Speaking on COVID-19 precautions generally, Dr Kelly said: “I don’t know how many times I’ve said this. If you’re sick, stay at home. If you’re in quarantine, you stay at home. If you’re in self isolation, you stay at home. If you are a contact with someone with COVID-19, you stay at home. If you have just come back from overseas in the last 14 days, you stay at home. I don’t know how much clearer I can make it, seriously.”
READ MORE: DCMO fans flames of medical dispute
Ben Packham 3.50pm: ‘Follow NZ to short, sharp lockdown’
Biosecurity expert Professor Raina MacIntyre has urged Australia to follow New Zealand’s lead and introduce a “short, sharp lockdown” to get the coronavirus under control.
She said by taking strong measures early, when the country had only a few hundred cases, New Zealand had a good chance of bringing the virus under control.
“Hopefully they’ll be able to jump on the epidemic and get back to a baseline position where they can be more controlled, to manage the situation for the rest of the year,” University of NSW head of global biosecurity said.
Citing University of Sydney modelling that 80 per cent Australians need to stay at home to “bend the curve”, Professor MacIntyre warned the epidemic would continue to worsen without drastic action.
“It’s really one of the only hopes that we have to get us to a position where we are not going to see a health system badly affected,” Professor Kapur said.
“Because once that happens and we’ve seen it in Spain and Italy it’s very difficult to regain control because all of your resources are going towards just trying to manage the chaos in the hospital system.”
Professor MacIntyre is part of an academic advisory committee that recommended Australia rapidly implement “national stronger social distancing measures, more extensive banning of mass gatherings, school closure or class dismissal”.
However, the Group of Eight Australia committee of experts also acknowledged a more “proportionate response” could be required given the “adverse consequences” of widespread shutdowns.
READ MORE: Kiwis ordered to stay home
Rachel Baxendale 3.40pm: ‘Get real’on haircuts: Mikakos
People who are worried about their access to a haircut during the COVID-19 epidemic should ‘get real’, according to Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos.
Ms Mikakos’s comments come after the federal government this morning relaxed a 30 minute time limit on haircuts, but as the CEO of one of Australia’s largest hairdressing chains, Just Cuts, urged the government to shut the businesses down for the safety of workers.
Just Cuts chief executive Denis McFadden described the decision to allow hairdressers to remain open as “bonkers” given the requirement for the workers to have close personal contact with their clients.
Ms Mikakos said she had been contacted by anxious people working in close-contact professions in recent days.
“We had a directive that started from midnight last night,” she said of the current rules, which allow hairdressers to remain open as long as they allow space for no more than one person for every four square metres.
“The law as it applies to Victoria is what came out of that previous discussion through national cabinet.
“Of course we will seek to be as consistent as we can with that approach, and if we need to make some refinements, we will.
“The message is very clear from us, and if you’re contemplating going to get a haircut, or go and get a latte from the cafe, you know, unless you need to be doing these things, you should be at home.
“If people are worried about their access to a haircut, get real.
“People need to focus on the fact that this is a life and death matter here. People’s lives are at stake. On a day where we have sadly lost three Victorians to COVID-19, I can’t stress enough how important it is that everybody follows the rules and stays at home.”
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Elias Visontay 3.30pm: Soon we can test ourselves for virus: Kelly
Australians could soon be able to test themselves for COVID-19, as the first batch of the new testing kits arrive in Australia to be tested and approved by the regulatory body.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly announced while the new testing technology was not yet ready to be distributed, the Therapeutic Goods Administration was currently assessing the efficacy of the so called “rapid tests”.
“It’s very important that we have tests that work and are reliable,” Dr Kelly said.
He announced there were 2793 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australian, with 12 deaths.
He said Australia had carried out over 178,000 tests, and that the current testing capacity was “about 10,000 a day”.
Dr Kelly also said Australia’s testing rate was over 25 times as many per capita than had been carried out in the US — where 53 per cent of tests returned a positive result compared with 1.5 per cent in Australia.
“It convinces me that we’re finding the ones that we need to look for,” he said.
READ MORE: Medical dispute flares over lockdowns
3.25pm: US Senate passes $US2.2trn stimulus bill
The US Senate unanimously passes historic $US2.2 trillion bill stimulus bill, the biggest in the country’s history. READ MORE HERE
Rachel Baxendale 3.15pm: Prescription rules relaxed for some Victorians
The Victorian government has moved to relax rules around some prescription medication to allow people in quarantine or undergoing self-isolation to obtain the drugs through pharmacists without having to visit a GP.
State Health Minister Jenny Mikakos announced the measure, which will apply for the next six months, saying it was similar to a measure previously introduced for those in bushfire-affected communities.
“For some individuals, it will be challenging for them to be able to get to a GP, to be able to fill scripts for much-needed medications for things like their cholesterol or blood pressure, and so we are now have signed an order, which means for the next six months it will make it easier for individuals if they are required to be at home, to be able to fill those scripts without needing to get a prescription from their GP,” Ms Mikakos said.
“We’re going to make it easier for individuals who are self-isolating and can’t get to a GP to be able to get the smallest available commercial quantity, effectively one small pack of the regular medications.
“They’ll have a relationship with their pharmacist or have a history there of the prescription medications that they usually get and they’ll be able to get those Schedule Four medications from their pharmacist without needing to go to a GP in the first instance.”
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Adeshola Ore 3pm: Workers will be allowed to cross locked borders
The Federal Agriculture Minister has flagged that seasonal workers and backpackers in the horticulture and agriculture sectors will be able to cross state borders for work.
On Wednesday, Queensland became the latest state to close its borders as a result of coronavirus, requiring new arrivals to self-isolate for fourteen days.
David Littleproud said he would meet Scott Morrison, and the Immigration and Workforce minister on Thursday afternoon to ensure security for foreign workers working in the horticulture sector.
“Around 97 per cent of our foreign workers work in the horticulture sector. There’s around 140,000 holiday workers, about 30 percent of these work in the agriculture sector. Then we’ve got about 8,000 Pacific Islander and seasonal work program holders.
Mr Littleproud said those with a letter from their employer would be able to travel across state borders at checkpoints.
He also called for further flexibility in the border restrictions, which came into place in Queensland on Wednesday afternoon. He said it was vital to keep people in jobs and ensure food security.
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John Ferguson 2.50pm: Wealthy Melbourne area hardest hit
The wealthy Stonnington local government area has recorded the most coronavirus cases in Melbourne.
The LGA area includes Toorak and recorded 57 of the 520 confirmed cases. The latest statistics also show that the high socioeconomic areas of Mornington Peninsula and Melbourne have recorded large numbers of cases.
Mornington LGA has 36 and Melbourne 32. The health department figures show three deaths out of 520 cases. A total of 26905 tests.
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Rosie Lewis 2.35pm: US embassy staffer in Canberra has virus
A US embassy employee in Canberra has tested positive for coronavirus but the mission remains “fully operational”.
“Due to privacy concerns, we are not able to share additional information about our employee who tested positive for COVID-19,” a US embassy spokeswoman said.
“In coordination with Australian authorities and following all Australian and US health directives, US Embassy Canberra and US Consulates General Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney have implemented all appropriate measures to help control the spread of COVID-19.
“We have also initiated mission-wide teleworking and other recommended arrangements for our employees to the fullest extent possible. The US Department of State has no greater responsibility than the safety and security of US citizens overseas and that of our personnel at our embassies and consulates.”
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Adeshola Ore 2.20pm: Two more kids under 10 test positive
NSW Health has confirmed another two children aged under 10 have tested positive to coronavirus.
One is a one-year-old girl whose parent is a confirmed case. The other is a two-year-old who acquired the infection overseas and has been self-isolating with her family.
There are now 1,219 cases of COVID-19 in the state.
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Rachel Baxendale 2.15pm: Third Victorian coronavirus death revealed
A third Victorian has died of coronavirus, state Health Minister Jenny Mikakos has confirmed.
The death of a man in his 70s on Thursday followed those of two other men in their 70s overnight.
It takes the national death toll to 12.
The deaths came as Victoria’s total number of cases increased to 520.
Those cases include 300 men and 216 women and people from pre-school age to their late 80s. Four cases are under investigation.
Nine of Victoria’s cases have been confirmed as having been acquired in the state through community transmission.
Currently 14 people are in hospital, including three patients in intensive care. Almost 27,000 Victorians have been tested and 149 diagnosed with COVID-19 have recovered.
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Yoni Bashan 2.10pm: Police, NSW Health in virus patient standoff
NSW Police have been refused access to a list of quarantined COVID-19 patients held by the NSW Health department, prompting a standoff between the two agencies and ministerial intervention to force them to co-operate.
The Australian can reveal the NSW Police Minister is attempting to solve an impasse between police and health officials over their refusal to share a full list of quarantined patients; police say they need the names in order to effectively monitor self-isolating individuals.
Currently, NSW Health controls the list of patients ordered to self-isolate at home. If officers want to know the status of a person they encounter on the street, they need to call a hotline and provide the person’s name over the phone and wait for further details.
Police have argued this is an ineffective and cumbersome method of enforcement; people under quarantine include those who have freshly returned from overseas, or recently been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Read the full story here
Lachlan Moffet Gray 2pm: Ardern announces new funding measures
As New Zealand begins its first day in stage four lockdown - where everything except essential services are closed and people ordered to stay home - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced measures including rent and eviction freezes, extra funding for women’s shelters and food distribution services.
The first measure announced by Ms Ardern provided an additional NZ$27 million for social and community services, including women’s shelters.
Acknowledging that the stay-at-home order may prompt an increase in domestic violence, Ms Ardern said: “Women’s refuge will be a service that will receive additional funding and we are working with them to secure additional accommodation for women and children who may need to leave their home.”
Ms Ardern said some of the money would go to NGOs providing food relief and delivery, saying that Auckland City Mission - which typically sends out 500 food parcels to the needy every week - had seen a 50 per cent increase in requests for assistance over the weekend alone.
Finance minister Grant Robertson said the government’s wage subsidy scheme, which allows for a payment of NZ$585.50 a week for each full-time employee had drawn significant interest.
As of 9am this morning a total of NZ$1.5 billion has been paid out under the wage subsidy scheme for 244,887 workers,” he said, adding that a further 100,000 requests for payment had been approved and neary 50,000 were still to be processed.
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John Ferguson 1.50pm: Hundreds of Victoria police out of action
About 400 Victoria Police have self isolated or are on carer’s leave due to the coronavirus outbreak, police chief Graham Ashton said Thursday.
Mr Ashton said there had been 88 spot checks on people with the virus, with seven not at home and two who had given the wrong address.
Mr Ashton said the force was looking to deploy Protective Service Officers from the public transport system because of the lack of patronage.
He said police were looking at a number of options to help ramp up scrutiny of people as the state government considers a wider lockdown.
“There is an opportunity to use PSOs more extensively,’’ he said. He also said there had been a shortage of masks and gloves due to global demand for protection.
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Paige Taylor 1.40pm: WA joins Queensland in move to remote schooling
West Australian schools will close to all students except those whose parents cannot look after them for work reasons, or who are from vulnerable families including with grandparents at home.
WA Education Minister Sue Ellery made the announcement after a third primary school aged student from WA tested positive to COVID-19.
Ms Ellery said the WA government encouraged parents who could keep their children at home to do so.
Classes would begin winding down and switch to supervision only until the beginning of the school holidays on April 9. From next term, learning will be online.
However, classes would continue for students whose parents had to go to work. Ms Ellery said children with vulnerable family members at home would also be able to attend class.
“It is about ensuring that those people who need to stay working in the current circumstances can,” Ms Ellery said.
READ MORE: Peter van Onselen writes: Private schools ahead of the game
Adeshola Ore 1.35pm: HBF slash expected price hike over virus
Health fund HBF will slash its expected April 1 price hike in response to the coronavirus.
The Perth-based fund has become the first to suspend the anticipated price rises due next week. HBF was due to enact a 1.98 per cent price increase to its members’ policies.
The fund’s CEO John Van Der Wielsen said the move was a response to many of its members facing financial disadvantage due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“These are extraordinary times and now more than ever access to best healthcare is more important than ever,” he said.
“We want to do everything we can to keep health insurance affordable for our members.”
Adeshola Ore 1.25pm: South Korea cases rise to 9,241
South Korean health authorities say the country has reported 104 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total confirmed cases to 9241.
It comes as the country’s president flagged he would consider exporting excess stockpiles of coronavirus testing kits to the United States, after Donald Trump requested support fighting coronavirus.
“We have currently secured enough volume and stocks of the test kits for domestic use, but I have to check further on the availability for the use of exports,” President Moon Jae-in said on Wednesday.
The chief director of the Korea Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said the country had resources to conduct 20,000 tests per day.
The country has won international praise for slowing the spread of the virus, bringing the number of new infections to less than 100 per day for the past two weeks.
READ MORE: Niki Savva writes: We’re seeking signposts to safety
Kieran Gair 1.20pm: Social distancing rules absent in airport chaos
Large crowds of travellers returning from overseas are being herded into long queues at Sydney Airport in direct defiance of strict new social distancing rules designed to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
The chaos unfolding inside the international terminal suggests Border Force - which has jurisdiction over customs and is in charge of screening arrivals - is struggling to administer the new protocols.
I am livid 😡
— Sally Prosser (@sally_prosser) March 25, 2020
This was international arrivals at @SydneyAirport this morn.
When @AusBorderForce was asked wtf re #SocialDistancing the reply was “not our problem, that’s biosecurity.â€#coronavirusaustralia #covid19australia pic.twitter.com/5tSxzEUZsg
Public health experts have repeatedly argued that dense crowds are a serious health hazard, and one that increases the possibility of the spread of the coronavirus.
“I am livid,” Sally Prosser tweeted from Sydney Airport. “When Border Force was asked (about) social distancing the reply was ‘not our problem, that’s biosecurity.’”
“People are losing jobs and missing loved ones funerals for the ‘greater good’...then this.”
The dramatic scenes inside the international terminal stand in stark contrast to the airport’s arrivals hall where a series of public health announcements urge travellers to adhere to social distancing rules.
Coming to the Airport? Follow the signs, keep a safe distance, and help stop the spread. pic.twitter.com/CSOmFLmz6K
— Sydney Airport âœˆï¸ (@SydneyAirport) March 26, 2020
READ MORE: How passengers are faring in the crisis
Amos Aikman 1.10pm: Cops pelted with bottles breaking up town camp crowd
Police have been pelted with bottles and abuse for trying to break up a crowd of around 150 people involved in what locals described as a “brawl” at an Alice Springs town camp overnight.
Officers attended the scene at about 3am to find a large group “displaying anti-social behaviour”.
When they explained the coronavirus restrictions related to mass gatherings, around 60 of the people “became aggressive towards police and started to throw bottles,” a police statement said.
Commissioner Jamie Chalker condemned the conduct, which he said involved reports of rocks being thrown at St John Ambulance workers and at a taxi.
“Mass gatherings go completely against the national messaging and the high importance that everyone is placing around self-quarantine at the moment, ensuring appropriate social distancing,” he said.
“The sad reality is, the many moves we are making are based on the fact we know there is a vulnerable cohort living in the Northern Territory. We are taking many steps to ensure that those people have a significant likelihood of surviving COVID-19.
“Many are Aboriginal people, and I need leadership in those communities to make sure that there is a higher level of education and awareness because the behaviour that we saw last night is completely unacceptable.
“I’ll certainly be making phone calls to key leaders that I know and have a great working relationship with.
“I am tapping into the Aboriginal leadership because there have been many messages being put out particularly through social media, many in language. It is beyond comprehension that nobody amongst that 150 in particular, or those who are parents or guardians of those juveniles, would have no awareness of COVID-19, nor the strict measures we have moved to.”
READ MORE: Rogue religious gatherings condemned
Matthew Denholm 1.00pm: Tasmania Premier in tears over shutdown
Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein has broken down in state parliament while unveiling a new, $580m coronavirus support package, including caps on power and water bills.
Mr Gutwein had to pause and briefly appeared to sob while conceding his decisions to shutdown much of the hospitality and tourism industries had cost many Tasmanians their jobs.
“The forced sacking of tens of thousands of our fellow Tasmanians this week at a stroke of my pen broke my heart,” he said, before taking a short break to recover his composure.
“Tasmanians: do not let their sacrifice be in vain. Follow the rules and save lives.”
Premier Peter Gutwein is in tears talking about the forced sacking of tens of thousands of Tasmanians "at the stroke of my pen". He says it broke his heart #politas #COVID19Tas
— Emily Baker (@emlybkr) March 26, 2020
The latest support package, which adds to the first $420m package previously announced, includes:
· $150m boost to health spending and a statement to health services to “spend what you need to save … lives”.
· A freeze on all power, water and electricity prices for homes and small businesses and the waiving for small businesses of the first quarterly utility bills received from April 1.
· More interest free loans and tax and charges waivers for businesses shut-down or severely impacted by coronavirus restrictions.
· A $40m small business grants program for impacted firms, and an extension of payroll tax relief for hospitality, tourism, seafood and other impacted companies.
· Plan to negotiate with councils to freeze rates, and with exporters and the federal government to secure a direct international air freight service to assist exporters.
“This crisis will end; we will get through this,” Mr Gutwein told parliament. “But to get there, I ask all Tasmanians to hear this simple message: Follow the rules and save lives.”
READ MORE: Go home, Tasmania visitors told
Paige Taylor 12.50pm: WA Premier bars ships, seeks military help
West Australian premier Mark McGowan wants military help to deal with an evolving cruise ship crisis off Perth.
Seven people have tested positive for COVID-19 aboard the German-owned Artania anchored at Gage Roads off Fremantle south of Perth.
Mr McGowan has pledged not to turn his back on passengers whose lives are at risk but he has refused to let the ship dock.
He sent a medical team to the ship on Wednesday to test passengers with symptoms of coronavirus. Seven tests returned a positive result.
Mr McGowan told the Sunrise program he wanted the sick sent to a defence facility rather than a public hospital.
“We would like the Commonwealth to assist with that. We would like those passengers, if they have to, to go into a Commonwealth facility, potentially a defence base,” Mr McGowan told Sunrise.
Read the story in full here.
Greg Brown 12.40pm: Bowen: Go harder, go earlier on shutdowns
Opposition health spokesman Chris Bowen has called for “harder and earlier” shutdowns as Labor hardens its criticism to the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
“Labor believes more needs to be done; done harder and done earlier. We support stricter restrictions,” Mr Bowen said.
“The best economic policy is the best health policy. The harder we are earlier, the sooner we will come out of this on the other side.”
Mr Bowen said Scott Morrison could not expect Australians to follow social distancing rules given they were “complex and confusing”.
“Just this morning the government had to change the rules in relation to hairdressers, (less than) 48 hours after they were announced,” Mr Bowen said.
“This just adds to the complexity.”
READ MORE: Filming of The Block suspended
Adeshola Ore 12.35pm: Question mark over McDonalds drive through
McDonalds is hoping its drive-through services can stay open, as government leaders flag further restrictions amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Earlier this week McDonald’s stores in the UK and Ireland were shut as part of a response to the virus. Until then, the company had been restricted to drive-through after closing its seated restaurant areas
McDonald’s Australia CEO Andrew Gregory said all of its employees were wearing gloves, among other measures.
“We’re calling it contactless delivery and contactless drive-through,” he told 2GB on Thursday.
“There things are incredibly safe for our customers and our employees.”
Mr Gregory said the fast-food chain employed more than 100,000 people across Australia.
READ MORE: $8.3m spent on ‘stop the spread’ campaign
Greg Brown 12.30pm: Albanese: virus will change society forever
Anthony Albanese has outlined his manifesto for a post-pandemic Australia, flagging the need for sweeping changes to the industrial relations system and a massive expansion of social housing.
The Opposition Leader declared the COVID-19 pandemic will “change our society forever” and “serious debates” would be needed about Australia’s direction in a new world.
“We will need to look at the nature of work and the casualisation of the workforce and what it is doing in terms of adding to people’s insecurity at work,” Mr Albanese said.
“We will need to look at the contracting out of the workforce, particularly for public sector jobs.
“The fact that Centrelink has been in a position of not being able to cope whatsoever with demand from its services is a product in part of the contracting out (of jobs), the use of robodebt rather than actually using people, all of those consequences I think have been seen.”
Mr Albanese also said there needed to be a “massive expansion of social housing”.
“Social housing is important as a stabiliser in terms of communities right around the country,” Mr Albanese said.
“We need to make sure we have a proper examination of why is it, that at a time when people for many decades have been able to make money out of investing in housing, at that very time governments have withdrawn on investment in housing.
“Whether it is public housing directly or community-based housing, this is something that we are going to have to look at as we come out of the crisis we are in and we start to shape what Australia will look like going ahead in coming years and decades.”
READ MORE: Anthony Albanese writes: Same same but different to the 1930s
Sarah Elks 12.25pm: Queensland records 50 more cases, totals 493
Queensland has recorded another 50 confirmed cases of coronavirus overnight, taking the total to 493.
Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles has intensified his warning to Queenslanders to practice social distancing to stop the deadly disease from spreading.
“It could kill someone you know, they could have caught it from you,” Mr Miles said.
More than 40,000 COVID-19 tests have been done in Queensland; currently no Queenslander is in ICU due to the virus.
READ MORE: Surgeries halted for virus barrage
Richard Ferguson 12.15pm: Albanese calls for home evictions freeze
Anthony Albanese is calling for a freeze on all home evictions for the next few months, as Labor begins to ramp up its alternative response to the coronavirus crisis.
The Opposition Leader also wants the Morrison government and the banks to work on package to support landlords - including deferring mortgages.
“We need - as New Zealand and the UK have done - to put in place an eviction moratorium, making sure that people aren’t thrown out of their homes,” Mr Albanese said in Sydney.
“There also needs to be support from the banks and others for and the government for landlords.
“It’s understandable that landlords rely upon some income coming in from the investments that they have made. It’s also the case that we need to have more payment
flexibility in place.”
Scott Morrison and the national cabinet will discuss toughening protections for renters on Friday.
Labor is now calling for tougher social distancing measures, a fast-tracked and broader third economic rescue package and has personally attacked the Prime Minister’s communications approach to the pandemic.
READ MORE: PM lifts 30 minute ban on hairdressers
Lachlan Moffet Gray 12.00pm: New York reduced to makeshift morgue
New York’s title as the new epicentre for the coronavirus crisis in the United States has been cemented as health officials were forced to erect a makeshift morgue outside the Bellevue Hospital as existing morgues reach capacity.
The city has seen 199 die of coronavirus, compared to over 900 across the rest of the United States, and more than 60,000 infections - half of these being in New York state.
BREAKING - New York City sets up temporary morgue amid #COVID19 pandemic. This makeshift morgue was set up outside Bellevue Hospital. pic.twitter.com/F5A4t3a7J6
— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) March 25, 2020
Public health officials in the city have hunted down beds and medical equipment and put out call for more doctors and nurses for fear the number of sick will explode in a matter of weeks, overwhelming hospitals as has happened in Italy and Spain.
New York University offered to let its medical students graduate early so that they could join the battle.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, again pleading for help in dealing with the onslaught, attributed the cluster to the city’s role as a gateway to international travellers and the sheer density of its population, with 8.6 million people sharing subways, elevators, apartment buildings and offices.
“Our closeness makes us vulnerable,” he said. “But it’s true that your greatest weakness is also your greatest strength. And our closeness is what makes us who we are. That is what New York is.”
Some public health experts also attributed the city’s burgeoning caseload in part to the state’s big push to test people.
Troy Tassier, a Fordham University professor who studies economic epidemiology, suggested the increase shows New York would have fared better had it acted sooner to order social distancing.
The order to stay at home in New York State did not go into effect until Sunday evening, March 22, and New York City’s 1.1 million-student school system was not closed until March 15, well after other districts had shut down.
READ MORE: Medical dispute flares over lockdowns
Sarah Elks 11.55am: Retirement villages ‘can’t protect elderly residents’
Leading law firm Minter Ellison is warning the Queensland government that retirement villages are unable to properly protect their elderly residents from coronavirus, unless urgent legislation is passed to beef-up their powers.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk would not say yesterday whether state parliament would sit as scheduled next week, with Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath previously flagging that the session could be delayed if the coronavirus outbreak worsened.
MinterEllison partner Robin Lyons warned retirement villages did not have the same powers as aged care centres to block visitors or restrict residents from gathering in common areas.
“Ideally, the Queensland government will step in to assist retirement village operators to implement and enforce similar types of restrictions in their communities that now apply to aged care facilities, including the introduction of mandatory temperature testing, restrictions on large gatherings in community facilities, the closing of restaurants, controls on visitor access to villages and enforced self-isolation for infected residents,” Mr Lyons wrote, in a letter tabled in state parliament last week.
Read the full story here.
Sarah Elks 11.45am: Queensland schools to go student free
Queensland schools will shift to student-free from next week, but children of essential workers will be able to remain in classrooms.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said schools would remain open, but would be moving to “student-free,” to allow for teachers to prepare for online learning.
However, this means workers who are working in essential services - any worker who is required in their workplace, such as workers stacking shelves of their supermarkets - can still send their children to school.
“Anyone who is in our workforce, including people who stack shelves at Coles and Woolies...their students will still be allowed to go to school,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Education Minister Grace Grace said the student-free days next week meant teachers would be able to prepare for “learning at home”.
Teachers aged over 60, in high risk groups, are also allowed to work from home or away from students to reduce their risk of contracting coronavirus, Ms Grace said
READ MORE: Private schools ahead of the game
Amos Aikman 11.30am: Indigenous communities set to be locked down
The Morrison government is preparing to announce that biosecurity laws will be used to lock down indigenous communities across three states and the Northern Territory from midnight tonight.
Health Minister Greg Hunt is understood to be due to sign off on the restrictions this morning.
A government source said the restrictions would come into force tonight in areas of Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
The New South Wales government was yet to supply details of any regions it wanted locked down and Victoria and Tasmania had chosen not to participate, the source said.
READ MORE: Border closures bring major delays
Yoni Bashan 11.15am: Police given powers over who can disembark
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller says he has been given full power over the release of passengers from cruise ships arriving into Sydney following a meeting with the Premier and several cabinet ministers on Thursday morning.
Mr Fuller told Radio 2GB that he had been given responsibility for making sure that no passengers come onshore unless they have his approval to do so.
The move, while yet to be formally announced, appears to strip some powers from the multiple agencies involved in maritime arrival screening, including NSW Health, Australian Border Force, Department of Agriculture, and the Port Authority of NSW.
“I just walked out of a meeting with the premier and the treasurer and a couple of other cabinet members and they have given me responsibility of making sure that no one comes onshore in NSW unless it has my approval,” Mr Fuller said.
“(There are) 11 vessels sitting off the coast at the moment—no one is coming onshore, no one is going to put the people of NSW at risk unless I am crystal clear that they are clear of the virus.”
A maritime source described the move as a “vote of no confidence” in the Port Authority of NSW.
READ MORE: ‘Ruby - they should never have let us off’
Lachlan Moffet Gray 11.05am: Gillard warns over virus ‘mental loop of catastrophe’
Former Australian Prime Minister and Beyond Blue Chair Julia Gillard has said the mental health assistance service is seeing a greater amount of people reaching out for support than it did during the height of the bushfire crisis.
Ms Gillard, speaking to 2GB on Thursday, said the spike in enquiries is “telling us something about the depth of community anxiety” at a time when many Australians are out of work or fearing for the health of loved ones.
“I don’t have the magic solution to the pandemic and all the economic consequences that flow from it, but we are trying to get the advice out for people to concentrate on their mental health”, Ms Gillard said.
The former prime minister revealed she was in self-isolation after returning from a recent overseas trip and said a “key thing to remember” is that what the government is doing is saving lives.
“We can all say to ourselves that if we are abiding by instructions from the government, we are saving lives,” she said.
“Some people are in a mental loop they can’t get out of particularly because they are thinking forward, thinking about catastrophe...It is very important to come back to the present and think about the things around you now. That comes under the groovy title of mindfulness.”
Ms Gillard also said that social distancing refers to physical distancing only - and implored Australians to use social media and technology to maintain social connections with people.
“Human speech is powerful...If you need help, reach out for it.”
Beyond Blue can be reached on 1300 22 4636, or via their website
READ MORE: Barnaby Joyce writes: Nimble it and you may find moving on expensive
Adeshola Ore 11.00am: Dutton refuses to lay blame over liner debacle
Peter Dutton has refused to hold someone accountable for the decision to release more than 2,000 passengers from the Ruby Princess Cruise last week.
The Home Affairs Minister said he was not blaming anyone, despite there being four confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the ship the day it docked.
“Clearly somebody has made an error in relation to this matter, it’s a serious mistake… but I honestly believe hanging somebody out to dry in the current circumstance is not the way to do it,” he told 2GB on Thursday.
The Ruby Princess cruise ship docked in Sydney last week, with more than 130 passengers testing positive to coronavirus and a death of a 77-year-old woman.
The New South Wales premier, Australian Border Force and New South Wales Health have all shifted responsibility for for letting the passengers disembark without screening.
READ MORE: Leaked email reveals warning on cruise ship
Rachel Baxendale 10.55am: Vic parliament kitchens make meals for vulnerable
Victoria’s parliamentary kitchens will be used to prepare meals for vulnerable community members as the coronavirus crisis takes hold, state parliament’s presiding officers have announced.
Yesterday’s delivery from the @VicParliament kitchens of hundreds of portions of soup, ham, cheese Tomato sangers (ready to be toasted) and cakes that Brendan Nottle from @salvos_614 took away for his squad to distribute to people in need
— Shaun Leane (@ShaunLeaneMP) March 25, 2020
🆠https://t.co/wJi7BVkY4p pic.twitter.com/GgvHDWfsUp
In a statement issued on Thursday morning, Legislative Council President Shaun Leane said he and Speaker Colin Brooks had decided they must put parliament’s commercial kitchens to good use.
“We will be working with organisations such as The Salvation Army, The Lazarus Centre, St Peter’s Eastern Hill Anglican Church, the Father Bob Maguire Foundation and Melbourne City Mission to help them get nutritious meals to people in need,” Mr Leane said.
“Our own catering staff and the agency staff we regularly use can continue to get work as a result of this initiative, and we will be using Victorian food producers and suppliers.”
More than 400 meals will be provided in the first days of the initiative, increasing to about 2,000 meals a day that will be distributed through the community programs run by the charitable organisations.
“We have sought the relevant approvals from the office of Victoria’s Chief Health Officer to ensure that we follow all appropriate procedures at this time,” Mr Leane said.
The move has been welcomed by the charities involved, with Salvation Army Melbourne commanding officer Brendan Nottle saying his organisation was “deeply indebted” to the Victorian Parliament for the initiative.
READ MORE: Robert Gottliebsen writes: Super fund consolidation beckons
Adeshola Ore 10.50am: City of Sydney closes all public facilities
The City of Sydney will close all its public facilities as response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Last week, the council shut down facilities such as pools, but some of its facilities like libraries were left open for those with limited internet access.
On Twitter, Mayor Clover Moore said the council’s meeting on Monday night would be held online for “the first time in our city’s history.
Last week we announced we would close our pools and fitness centres.
— Clover Moore (@CloverMoore) March 25, 2020
We left some of our libraries and community facilities open for limited windows of time – for those without internet access at home.
From today we're closing all our facilities, completely and indefinitely. pic.twitter.com/RwtfbWhWpT
“I hope these measures communicate just how serious this situation is, and how we should all, where possible, stay at home to stop the spread of COVID-19” she said
Essential council services such as rubbish collection will continue as normal.
READ MORE: Backflip on hairdresser 30 minute rule
Paige Taylor 10.40am: WA premier bars ship over infected passengers
Seven passengers aboard a cruise ship anchored off Perth have COVID-19, the West Australian government has confirmed.
WA premier Mark McGowan refused to allow the German-owned vessel to dock on Wednesday and instead sent a medical team in full personal protective equipment to test sick passengers.
He said he was advised there were no Australians onboard and 25 passengers were sick.
The ship owner Phoenix Reisen told The Australian in a written statement that one passenger who left the ship on March 16 had been found to have COVID-19
On Wednesday Mr McGowan said he would provide help to cruise ship passengers whose lives were at risk but he would not allow a repeat of the Ruby Princess disaster.
He would not allow another vessel, the Magnifica, to dock at Fremantle south of Perth on Wednesday after it was turned away from Dubai. The vessel refuelled and took on supplies at Fremantle on Tuesday and no crew or passengers were allowed to disembark. The Swiss-owned Magnifica, which on Tuesday reported no respiratory illness onboard, set sail for the United Arab Emirates but turned around because it was told the port there was closed.
“I will not allow what happened in Sydney, with the Ruby Princess, to happen here,” Mr McGowan said on Wednesday.
“An increasing number of confirmed cases in Western Australia can be traced back to cruise ships. As it stands, around a quarter of our COVID-19 cases are people who have returned from cruise ships - not even counting the people who have contracted it from them.
“I am not going take any chances on this issue.”
Magnifica was on Wednesday looping off the WA coast carrying about 1700 passengers. That vessel and the German-owned Artania - with 800 passengers and 500 crew - carry no Australians.
But the McGowan Labor government is making no exceptions for Australian cruise ship passengers either. A total of 798 Australians are among 950 passengers onboard the Vasco da Gama that was steaming towards Fremantle on Wednesday but they will not be allowed to go home until they have completed 14 days quarantine on Rottnest Islans.
READ MORE: Leaked email reveals cruise ship warning
Geoff Chambers 10.20am: $8.3m spent on ‘stop the spread’ campaign
The public awareness campaign responding to the social and health impacts of COVID-19 has been ramped up by the Morrison government, which has spent almost $8.3 million on communications advice, advertising and distribution of fact sheets.
Text messages were sent to mobile phones across Australia on Wednesday as part of a targeted public safety strategy, warning people to “stop the spread” and stay 1.5m from others.
Scott Morrison urged Australians to “listen and act so we can save lives” as the government expanded its communications plan to push out key messages.
The Australian Government is sending an official text message to mobile phones across Australia.
— Australian Government (@ausgov) March 24, 2020
Please read and act #COVID19 #coronavirusaustralia pic.twitter.com/dVmks19wL4
Leading communications firms, printing companies and advertising agencies have been engaged by the Department of Health to support its public awareness campaign, including the printing and distribution of COVID-19 factsheets for travellers and airlines.
READ MORE: Government ramps up coronavirus campaign
Amos Aikman 10.10am: Darwin couple in 70s tests positive
A Darwin couple who recently returned from overseas have tested positive for coronavirus.
The couple, aged in their 70s, followed self-quarantine protocols on their return to Darwin two days ago and went to Royal Darwin Hospital after feeling unwell.
They are now in isolation under the care of the NT Health system and contact tracing has begun.
Eight Territorians have now tested positive for COVID-19, including a man being treated in the New South Wales health system.
READ MORE: ‘Mr Corona’ rues brother’s birthday bash
Matthew Denholm 10.05am: Tasmania orders non-residents: go home
“Go home,” is the message to non-Tasmanian residents from the state’s Premier, Peter Gutwein.
The island state is effectively expelling non-residents who are not in self-isolation; they must leave all accommodation by 11.59pm Sunday and return interstate.
“Go home – I’m sorry to say that, but go home,” Mr Gutwein told visitors, via a press conference on Thursday morning.
“There will be some dislocation and difficult circumstances (from this edict) but I make no apology for working hard to keep Tasmanians safe.”
Foreshadowing further coronavirus support measures to take the total to $1 billion, Mr Gutwein said he was acting on the “best health advice” in ordering non-residents to quit all hotels, hostels, bed and breakfasts, Airbnb homes, campsites, boarding houses and caravan and camping parks by 11.59pm Sunday.
He rejected criticism from some hotel owners that this had been done without consultation or sufficient explanation.
“This isn’t a consultative process – it’s based on the best health information available,” he said. “I’m sorry for those businesses … but this is about taking the best health advice.”
The decision was particularly difficult for a state that was built on tourism, but was aimed at avoiding having any “non-essential presence”, with a hard lock-down still a possibility if people ignored current directions, he said.
Tasmania recorded a further six cases of the virus overnight to take its total to 42. However, all are linked directly or indirectly to international or cruise ship travel and there is so far “no evidence” of community transmission.
Mr Gutwein told mainlanders not to come to Tasmania. “If you do come you will be in self-isolation for 14 days,” he said.
READ MORE: Greg Sheridan writes: West’s civil disobedience a trend to die for
Agencies 10.00am: Over 1000 Virgin workers to be made redundant
Virgin Australia boss Paul Scurrah says more than 1,000 of the workers it has stood down this week will probably be made redundant as the airline is forced to ground aircraft during the coronavirus pandemic.
Virgin Australia on Wednesday announced it had suspended 8,000 of its 10,000 workers as it slashed domestic flight capacity.
“This is the worst airline crisis the world has ever seen,” Mr Scurrah on Thursday told ABC TV.
The remainder of Virgin’s workers are providing essential services such as transporting critical freight.
AAP
READ MORE: Virgin stands down 8000
Adeshola Ore 9.55am: Egypt closes, disinfects pyramids to curb spread
Egyptian tourist authorities have begun deep cleaning the Giza pyramids to disinfect tourist spots that have been closed because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Since Monday, famed tourists sites in the country such as the Valley of Kings have been shut as authorities tried to slow the spread of coronavirus.
While passenger flights have been suspended, officials have also disinfected hotels and tourist sites around the country.
Egypt has reported more than 400 confirmed cases of the virus, including 21 deaths.
READ MORE: Virus fallout hooks celebrity chef
Jacquelin Magnay 9.50am: Queen holds weekly audience by remote
Queen Elizabeth has held her weekly audience with the British Prime Minister by remote, for the first time in her reign.
The Queen spoke to Boris Johnson by phone from Windsor Castle, where she is in self isolation with Prince Philip and just a handful of staff.
Throughout her decades long reign, the Queen has met all her prime ministers in a drawing room in whoever royal residence she is staying at the time.
But with cases rising in the UK and Prince Charles among those who have tested positive, she is taking all precautions.
Prince Charles was told on Tuesday that he had the virus, less than two weeks after he last saw the Queen.
Read the full article here
Rachel Baxendale 9.40am: Vic cases rise to 520 as two die
More than 500 Victorians have now been confirmed to have COVID-19, with 520 cases as of Thursday morning.
The updated numbers come after two men in their 70s became the first Victorians to die of the illness overnight.
So far 149 Victorians have recovered from COVID-19, and almost 27,000 have been tested.
READ MORE: Albanese in bed with Boris as games begin
Rosie Lewis 9.25am: Public servants asked to redeploy staff to Centrelink
Australia’s most senior public servants have been asked to redeploy their staff to support Centrelink, which is facing unprecedented demand as hundreds of thousands of Australians affected by the coronavirus crisis register to receive welfare payments.
Scott Morrison revealed he had met with all departmental secretaries to instruct them to look at how their workforces could “focus on the areas of greatest need to provide support to Australians” as the government attempts to reduce long Centrelink queues.
There were more than two million logins to the myGov site on Wednesday and by 2.30pm more than 280,000 people had registered an “intent to claim” for a government payment.
Services Australia general manager Hank Jongen fronted the media on Wednesday to hail the launch of the online “intent to claim” functionality, with Government Services Minister Stuart Robert nowhere to be seen after conceding it was “my bad” for not realising how many people would try to access the myGov site.
Australians can register their intent to claim via myGov. Once their account is set up the money will be backdated to when they first tried to contact Centrelink or, if they had been unable to get through, March 23.
“(myGov’s) not crashing, certainly there’s been some intermittent drop outs in relation to it but generally it is the best and easiest way to register with us,” Mr Jongen told ABC radio on Wednesday.
“Of course we’re asking people to be patient and persistent, these are extraordinary times. This capability is going to take a lot of pressure off people because we will contact them and let them know where to go from there.”
READ MORE: Retailers call for wage subsidies
Elias Visontay 9.20am: ‘We’ve gone hard and fast on lockdown’
A newly appointed Deputy Chief Medical Officer has fanned the flames of a dispute emerging between public health experts and the state and territory chief health officers about the severity and speed of lockdown measures Australia should implement to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Nick Coatsworth, an infectious diseases specialist at Canberra Hospital and Australian National University academic, has been appointed the fourth deputy to Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy to help communicate health updates to the public.
During an interview on ABC TV on Thursday morning, Dr Coatsworth appeared to back up comments made by fellow Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly on Wednesday that there were “two schools of thought” about how to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.
On Wednesday, Dr Kelly said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee - the body that advises the National Cabinet and includes the CMOs - was in favour of a scalable approach, while other health experts, including those advising the Victorian Premier, were in favour of a “go hard and go fast” approach”.
Asked about the effectiveness of ramping up social isolation restrictions, Dr Coatsworth said it was “a contested point”.
“I have to say that the experts around the table of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee do not think that this will be over in weeks, if you put in harder and faster measures,” Dr Kelly said.
“This is about degrees. We’ve gone hard and fast. To say that we’ve gone light and slow would be completely inaccurate. The measures that we’ve got in at the moment are unprecedented. The impact they’re gonna have on individual families is unprecedented.
Dr Kelly mentioned ABC health journalist Norman Swan as putting forward a view at odds with the AHPPC.
“I disagree with Norman (Swan) when he thinks that this is going to be over in weeks if we go for harder and faster lockdowns.
“I would like Norman to go to Darwin and tell the people of Darwin why they have to stay in their houses when we’re a continent and there’s differential expression of this virus and its impact across the country.
“People are going to ask for hardest and fastest, but I don’t think they’ve thought through the impact on Australia and Australians of doing that.”
READ MORE: World ‘in race against time’
Agencies 9.05am: Government abolishes 30-minute haircut restriction
The 30-minute restriction on haircuts has been lifted as the federal government tinkers with measures to slow the spread of coronavirus.
But the prime minister says the four square metre rule per person must be strictly followed by hairdressers and barbers, and personal contact during appointments must be minimised.
States and territories can also provide exemptions to the 10-person limit for funerals in cases of hardship, Scott Morrison said on Thursday. — AAP
READ MORE: Greg Sheridan — West’s civil disobedience is a trend to die for
Yoni Bashan 9am: NSW may need to quadruple ventilator capacity
The NSW chief medical officer Dr Kerry Chant says the state may need to quadruple its ventilator capacity across intensive care units, after an audit of equipment found around 500 machines were available.
Dr Chant said Intensive Care Units had already doubled their capacity ahead of an expected increase in cases and further expansion would not be difficult under existing disaster planning and modelling; this included converting other sections of hospitals, normally used for elective surgery, into makeshift ICUs.
Staying at home doesn’t have to be a chore. Here are some things you can do to make the most of it… pic.twitter.com/gb9wZfbzAF
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) March 25, 2020
Workforce training had also increased — nurses and “medical professionals” with ICU training had already been asked to prepare for a return to work, and Local Health Districts were “well advanced” in that planning, she said.
But ventilators remained in high demand, not just in Australia but across the world.
Coronavirus - NSW: "There are currently 16 cases in ICU. There was 211 cases in 24 hours" - NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant. #7NEWS https://t.co/z2t7eLF3Mh
— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) March 25, 2020
Dr Chant said social distancing, done correctly by everyone in the community, would help drive down the need for these ventilators.
“The reason we are doing the actions that we are doing, in terms of our social distancing, in terms of our contact tracing, is actually to reduce that demand — and everyone in the community has a role to play in adhering to the social distancing measures.”
READ MORE: Paul Kelly — Albanse in bed with Boris as games begin
Tessa Akerman 8.45am: Man’s best friend may become a lifesaver
Dogs are man’s best friend but over the next few months they might also be a life saver.
Vets across the country are registering equipment that can be used if needed in human hospitals, including mechanical ventilators.
Melbourne’s Evervet clinic director Dr Theo Lynch has registered one mechanical ventilator that is suitable for use.
“Like a lot of specialist vet equipment it’s reconditioned human equipment in the first instance,” he said.
“It probably came from a human hospital.”
Dr Lynch said veterinary clinics like his were looking to see where the greatest need was.
“We’re still operating for our clients as normal, but we have got other means to ventilate our patients manually,” he said.
He said vets would still be able to offer the same level of care and it was also uncommon for animals undergoing surgery to require ventilation.
“We figure if there’s any contribution we can make, that’s worth us doing our bit,” Dr Lynch said.
In a statement the executive director of the Australian Veterinary Boards Council Dr Julie Strous said the vet ventilator inventory would allow human hospitals where to quickly find one if needed.
“It’s better to have too many machines than not enough,” she said.
Most ventilators are used for animals affected by tick paralysis however it is not peak tick season at the moment.
Yoni Bashan 8.20am: NSW records slight drop in new cases
The number of COVID-19 cases in NSW has reached 1219 cases, but new infections confirmed overnight were slightly lower than the run of daily highs recorded in previous days.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said the state registered 190 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday night. The previous day, 211 cases had been recorded.
But the number of those in intensive increased from 12 cases on Wednesday to 16 cases, Dr Chant said.
“We will be expecting with returning travellers coming in, an increase in returning travellers positivity,” said Dr Chant.
“We’ll be particularly looking at those cases where we don’t find any links to known clusters or overseas travel. That will give us an indication of the success of those strategies.”
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said if the spread of cases did not abate, further measures would be taken.
READ MORE: We’re seeking signposts to safety
Damon Johnston 8.10am: Australia’s coronavirus toll rises after two deaths
Two Victorians have died of coronavirus overnight, taking the national toll to 11. Both victims were men, aged in their 70s.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton revealed the news on Thursday. “They were confirmed cases of the coronavirus and this is what the coronavirus does,” he told 3AW.
He said there were now 520 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Victoria, an increase of 50.
Lachlan Moffet Gray 7.45am: Scramble on for Aussies stranded on cruise ships
The Australian government is working around the clock to get more than 3000 Australians stranded on 25 different cruise ships around the world home before most commercial airlines ground their fleets at the end of March, Foreign Minister Marise Payne has revealed.
Ms Payne said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has received more than 18,500 calls since March 13 from Australians in hard-to-reach countries such as Peru, South Africa and Nepal, where “there are talks underway” with local governments to discover ways to repatriate Australian nationals.
Despite this, Ms Payne said on Tuesday that the active chartering of flights by the Australian government would be done “only where it is feasible, where all other commercial options have been exhausted and where local authorities will permit such flights”.
Ms Payne on Thursday praised cruise lines for proactively organising charter flights, telling Channel 9’s Today that “the cruise lines are being very, very constructive in the approach that they are taking”.
“A lot of them are assisting their passengers by organising charters. That’s a very important step. We want to make sure that those Australians are able to return,” she said.
Ms Payne downplayed fears of repatriated Australians bringing with them additional cases of coronavirus, saying that travellers returning from high-risk area would be flagged ahead of arrival, in addition to being subject to 14 days mandatory self-isolation.
READ MORE: Returning Aussies lift infections
Elias Visontay 7.30am: Labor demands stronger lockdown measures
Opposition health spokesman Chris Bowen has called for stronger lockdown measures and broader testing of Australians with COVID-19 symptoms who haven’t travelled overseas.
Mr Bowen said Labor had supported all of the measures implemented by the National Cabinet so far, but called for clearer messaging on what restrictions were in place as they were progressively implemented.
“The fact of the matter is, we have to be honest with people, what’s been put in place so far is not working. We need to do more,” Mr Bowen told ABC Radio.
“Stronger measures are necessary and we certainly think that they’re urgent, and also clearer measures, frankly, the measures announced by the Prime Minister the night before last (Tuesday) were confusing. And I know the government’s got a message to people that they must follow the rules and of course we support that message but the rules must be clear and easily understood, and are currently not.
“The more people who stay at home, the fewer people will die. That’s got to be the message ...we’re very careful not to be alarmist but we also have to be honest.”
Mr Bowen also said “the best plan for our economy is to beat the spread of this disease”.
He pointed out the government had not followed the advice of Group of Eight university academics who recommended tighter restrictions.
His comments come a day after Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly acknowledged a split between “two schools of thought” from medical experts, explaining he and the government was following a scalable approach while others, including VIctoria’s health authorities, wanted a “go hard and go fast” approach.
READ MORE: ALP: We must go harder
Lachlan Moffet Gray 7am: Strict rules in place for NSW residents
From today residents in NSW will be able to shop for food and medical supplies 24/7 - but will be heavily fined if they violate social distancing or self-isolation orders
NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes on Wednesday lifted trading hour restrictions, allowing retail stores to trade around the clock.
Mr Stokes said the changes would give customers “flexibility” around shopping hours and ensure the community’s “health, wellbeing and safety” during the highly contagious virus outbreak.
He said the increased flexibility would also allow home businesses to have five people working together instead of two “providing they abide by social distancing rules”.
Anyone in NSW not abiding social distancing rules by breaching an isolation order or gathering in groups larger than 500 outdoors or 100 indoors can now be hit with an $1000 fine for individuals or $5000 for businesses.
The legislation passed in NSW parliament on Tuesday and will be actively enforced on Thursday by police officers across the state.
READ MORE: Border checkpoints to spark major delays
Lachlan Moffet Gray 6.30am: Worldwide coronavirus deaths surpass 20,000
Spain has become the second country, after Italy, to surpass China’s official death rate as the number of people across the world who have died from coronavirus surpassed 20,000.
The total number of confirmed cases worldwide is almost 455,000 with 113,000 recoveries.
In the past 24 hours, 738 people died in Spain, pushing their death toll to 3434 and past China’s 3163. Spain has been in lockdown for a week, but cases continue to spread with the nation’s Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo testing positive for the virus after being hospitalised on Sunday. Despite this, officials believe the peak is soon coming.
“If we are not already at the peak, we are very close,” said Fernando Simón, the head of Spain’s health emergency centre.
Italy had 683 deaths in the past day — a decline on yesterday’s spike in figures, bringing the total number of deaths to 7503. The overall declining trend of deaths and infections in the country is an extremely good sign, according to the World Health Organisation.
“This is an extremely positive factor,” Ranieri Guerra, assistant director-general for strategic initiatives at the WHO, said.
“In some regions we are close to the falling point of the curve and therefore probably the peak could be reached this week and then fall. I believe that this week and the first days of the next will be crucial.”
The country will have to work hard to ensure more doctors do not succumb to the disease: 29 doctors in the country have already died from coronavirus, while more than 5000 healthcare workers have tested positive. Healthcare workers comprise around 14 per cent of Spain’s 47,000 cases.
In the United Kingdom, shocking news about the positive diagnosis of Prince Charles emerged as the death toll increased by 87 to 435, with more 8300 confirmed cases.
Included in the recent death toll was a 21-year-old woman, Chloe Middleton. With no pre-existing health conditions, Ms Middleton became the UK’s first young and healthy person to die of coronavirus. Her mother, Diane, wrote: “To all the people out there that think it’s just a virus, please think again. Speaking from a personal experience, this so-called virus has taken the life of my 21-year-old daughter.”
The Foreign Office also announced that a junior British diplomat, Stephen Dick, had died at the British embassy in Budapest. It was unclear if he had existing health issues.
In the US, more than 61,000 people have been infected with the disease and more than 800 have died.
New York State alone accounted for more than 30,000 cases and close to 300 deaths, most of them in New York City.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, again pleaded for help in dealing with the coming onslaught, attributed the cluster to the city’s role as a gateway to international travellers and the sheer density of its population, with 8.6 million people sharing subways, elevators, apartment buildings and offices
We are going to fight every way we can to save every life that we can.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) March 25, 2020
That’s what it means to be an American and that’s what it means to be a New Yorker. pic.twitter.com/1cREWGx9t9
“Our closeness makes us vulnerable,” he said. “But it’s true that your greatest weakness is also your greatest strength. And our closeness is what makes us who we are. That is what New York is.”
Some public health experts also attributed the city’s burgeoning caseload in part to the state’s big push to test people.
Troy Tassier, a Fordham University professor who studies economic epidemiology, suggested the increase showed New York would have fared better had it acted sooner to order social distancing.
The four hospitals that we (FEMA) are building in NYC at the Javits Convention Center are moving along very well, ahead of schedule. Many additional ventilators also delivered. Good conversation with Governor Cuomo!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2020
In contrast, President Donald Trump is openly musing about lifting a government shutdown and easing social distancing measures by Easter in a bid to save the country’s faltering economy.
The head of the WHO has strongly warned against any country lifting social distancing requirements. — with AP
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus strongly warns against lifting social distancing measures too soon.
— ABC News (@ABC) March 25, 2020
"The last thing any country needs is to open schools and businesses, only to be forced to close them again because of a resurgence." https://t.co/l7BtEcViAu pic.twitter.com/lsyAFYMbRV
READ MORE: dd
Lachlan Moffet Gray 6am: Amazon delivers 15-minute virus home test kits
Thousands of coronavirus testing kits that provide results in minutes will be available to people in the UK via home delivery, Public Health England has announced.
The 3.5 million tests, which can produce results in 15 minutes through a single drop of blood, will be able to be purchased in stores and will be delivered by Amazon to those in self-isolation.
However, England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Witty said it might take some time before they were commercially available, with healthcare workers due to receive the first kits.
“Once we’re confident of which tests work, and how many we have therefore available to use, there is a hierarchy of things we need to do,” he said.
“We need to help make sure we can get NHS workers tested to make sure we can work out who is immune to this infection and who isn’t.
“And then it can go out through there. I do not think this is something we will be ordering on the internet from next week.”
READ MORE: Kids a no-go as access visits vetoed
Daniel Sankey 5.25am: Queen ‘following advice’ after Charles’ positive test
Queen Elizabeth II is “following all the appropriate advice with regard to her welfare” following news overnight that her son and heir to the throne, Prince Charles, had tested positive to coronavirus.
Charles, 71, is showing mild symptoms of COVID-19 and is self-isolating at a royal estate in Scotland. His wife, Camilla, 72, has tested negative.
However there are fears for the 93-year-old Queen, who last saw Charles at his most recent public engagement on March 12. Her husband, Philip, was not with her when she saw Charles at the event.
Clarence House said it was “not possible to ascertain from whom the prince caught the virus owing to the high number of engagements he carried out in his public role during recent weeks.” It’s also understood that Charles had had a number of private meetings, with participants made aware of his condition.
Charles was also at a March 10 function with Prince Albert of Monaco, who has since been confirmed to have coronavirus. Albert, 62, became aware on March 19 that he had contracted the virus, saying: “A little news. Condition unchanged. Little fever, little cough. Vital signs all good. The doctors are satisfied for now.”
READ MORE: Prince Charles tests positive but ‘remains in good health’
Charlie Peel 5.15am: Qld border checkpoints now operating on Gold Coast
Police expect RBT-style checkpoints along the Queensland New South Wales border near the Gold Coast will delay traffic by several hours during the morning peak.
The border checkpoints came into effect as planned at 12.01am Thursday.
Small crews of traffic controllers and police officers manned the entry points during the early morning hours, but more officers will be deployed to assist at peak traffic times.
On the M1 motorway and the Gold Coast Highway at Coolangatta, motorists with Queensland plates were quickly waved through in most instances, while those with NSW plates were diverted to an off ramp to be questioned about why they were entering the state.
An online permit system is expected to be available on Thursday and would take about five minutes to complete.
Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler said delays during busy morning periods were expected to last for “hours”, particularly in the period before most people are given permits.
“There will be significant delays, and we will see traffic backing up,” he said.
READ MORE: The great race home to beat the barricades
Agencies 5am: Coronavirus claims its first victims in Russia
Russia has reported its first deaths from the novel coronavirus infection, two elderly patients who also had underlying conditions.
The commission directing Russia’s response to the virus said overnight that patients died of pneumonia and were 88 and 73 years old.
Russia has reported 658 cases of infection nationwide. Last week an infected patient died, but doctors said that was due to a blood clot rather than the virus itself.
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