Politics live news Australia: New local case in WA as Premier calls on Commonwealth to step in
The coronavirus outbreak in Perth spreads to a restaurant case and the WA Premier asks the federal government to ‘step up and help’ with quarantine.
- Perth outbreak has widened to seven
- McGowan calls for quarantine help
- Queensland tightens border restrictions
- Jab-related blood clotting cases rise to six
- WA Health reveals list of 15 exposure sites
- Hotel at centre of WA lockdown a high risk for two weeks
Welcome to The Weekend Australian’s live rolling coverage of the day’s political events and the response to the coronavirus crisis. This is how Saturday unfolded.
Western Australia is midway through a snap three-day lockdown in response to an outbreak of COVID-19 at a hotel that was identified as “high risk” more than two weeks ago. Meanwhile, the AMA has urged action on hotel quarantine leaks.
Agencies9.45pm:India’s deaths hit new record in Covid ‘tsunami’
India’s daily coronavirus death toll set a new record on Saturday as the government battled to get oxygen to hospitals overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of new daily cases.
Twenty patients died in one night at one New Delhi hospital suffering from oxygen shortages, medical officials said. A Delhi court said that the new pandemic wave had become “a tsunami”.
Queues of COVID-19 patients and their fearful relatives were growing outside hospitals in major cities across India, the world’s new pandemic hotspot, which has now reported nearly one million new cases in three days.
Another 2624 deaths were reported in 24 hours, taking the official toll to nearly 190,000 since the pandemic started.
More than 340,000 new cases were also reported, taking India’s total to 16.5 million, second only to the United States.
But many experts are predicting the current wave will not peak for at least three weeks and that the real death toll and case count are much higher.
Germany and Kuwait on Saturday followed the United Arab Emirates, Britain and New Zealand in restricting travel from the country.
Stung by criticism of its lack of preparation ahead of the wave of infections, the central government has organised special trains to get oxygen supplies to the worst-hit cities.
The Indian air force was also being used to transport oxygen tankers and other supplies around the country and to bring oxygen equipment from Singapore.
Also on Saturday, a daily record of more than 893,000 COVID-19 cases was recorded worldwide, mainly due to the surge of the virus in India, according to an AFP count.
The previous daily high was some 819,000 cases on January 8.
Over the course of a week, more than 5.5 million cases were recorded worldwide, including almost two million in India.
READ EARLIER: Hospitals overwhelmed by Covid cases
Agencies7.30pm:Covid jab pioneer is still beaming
In December last year British grandmother Margaret Keenan became the first person in the Western world to get an approved coronavirus vaccine, kicking off a global campaign to end the pandemic.
Now, close to one billion people around the world have received COVID jabs — both first and second doses — and Ms Keenan said she is proud to have been the first.
“It really is the best thing I’ve ever done,” the former jewellery shop owner said.
She got her first shot on December 8 — just a week before her 91st birthday — and says she is now looking forward to going on holiday, after only retiring four years ago.
She also hopes her inaugural vaccine will inspire others to follow in her steps.
“I just feel really honoured to have had it done, to have been the first and to have got the ball rolling,” Ms Keenan said this week during a call with the British state-run National Health Service.
“I’m telling everyone to go and get it … I hope everyone comes forward.”
AFP
FULL REPORT is here
Paige Taylor5.45pm:Restaurant infection as Perth outbreak widens
The coronavirus outbreak in Perth has spread to a person who went to the same restaurant as a man released from hotel quarantine while unknowingly infectious, becoming a new local case.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan confirmed the seventh case in a Facebook post a short time ago headlined “Important update’’: “WA Health Department has just recorded one new local case of COVID-19 in the community.
“The person presented for a COVID-19 test yesterday as they had attended one of the restaurant locations visited by the confirmed COVID-19 local cases,” Mr McGowan wrote.
“The person is now working closely with our contact tracing team, so our public exposure sites will be updated.”
The Perth outbreak is the result of coronavirus escaping from the hotel room of a couple who had recently returned from India.
It infected a pregnant nurse and her four-year-old child in the room directly across the corridor, and a 51-year-old man who passed his standard Day 12 test and was released from hotel quarantine after 14 days while infectious.
He spent five days in Perth, visiting a gym, a public pool, restaurants, cafes and unwittingly infected a friend when he stayed at her home in Perth’s north for one night. She went to work at a dental surgery in Perth’s south before he learned he had coronavirus.
More than 4000 West Australians volunteered for coronavirus tests on Friday after the first details of exposure sites were released.
The risks associated with ventilation systems in Perth’s quarantine hotels have been known for months. In January, a guard stationed in a hallway contracted the virus when the door of a room opened.
Those seven cases again: a couple from India who were in hotel quarantine, a mother and child in hotel quarantine, a 51-year-old man in hotel quarantine, a friend of the 51-year-old, and the person who dined at the same restaurant as the 51-year-old.
READ EARLIER:McGowan aghast at permission to travel
Rhiannon Down5.10pm:WA Health adds new hotspot venues
WA authorities have added two new hotspot venues to the list of exposure sites where a man in his 50s and a friend visited before testing positive for COVID-19.
The woman, a friend of the Victorian man who later flew to Melbourne, worked a shift as a receptionist at an Applecross dentist clinic, which had previously been listed as an exposure site, while infectious.
Health authorities also added a Perth bakery and petrol station to the list on Saturday afternoon.
The following venues have since been added to list with anyone who attended the venues in the time periods being asked to get tested:
– TS Bakery, 27/45 Burrendah Blvd, Willetton: Wednesday April 21 between 3.03pm and 3.06pm.
– BP Service Station, 88 Gilbertson Road, Kardinya: Monday April 19 between 11am and midday.
READ MORE:Australia thanked as missing submarine runs out of air
Dow Jones4.30pm:J&J, AstraZeneca vaccine use may resume this weekend
Use of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines could resume as soon as this weekend after US health regulators lifted the pause on the shots Friday evening. J&J and regulators plan to add language to the vaccine’s label warning of a risk of blood clots.
The decision, announced by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came after a federal vaccine advisory panel voted earlier that day to resume the shots. The vaccine’s benefits outweigh its risks for people 18 years of age and older, the FDA said.
The CDC has now identified 15 cases of blood clots, all in women who received the J&J vaccine. Three of the women have died, according to the CDC. The symptoms, including severe headache and nausea, began around one to two weeks after they got the vaccine.
European regulators are looking into similar clotting in people who received a COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca PLC and the University of Oxford, not yet approved for use in the U.S. European regulators have said the benefits of using the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh its potential risks, though they recommended that European Union governments add a warning to the vaccine’s product information.
The Wall Street Journal
READ MORE:Covid carries higher clotting risk than vaccines
Paige Taylor3.50pm:McGowan aghast at permission to travel
WA Premier Mark McGowan is aghast that people are being allowed to travel to countries crippled by Covid for non-essential reasons including athletics carnivals in Africa.
More than two million West Australians were locked down for three days at midnight on Friday and required to wear masks from 6pm Friday after coronavirus escaped the sixth-floor room of a couple who returned from India on April 10 and quarantined at the Mercure Hotel.
Mr McGowan said the couple had been to India recently to attend a wedding. The husband in the couple tested positive to coronavirus during a standard Day 2 quarantine test. His wife tested positive three days later.
Mr McGowan has come under pressure over warnings that the Mercure Hotel’s ventilation system made it high risk and the WA government had decided to transition away from using the hotel when the outbreak occurred. Mr McGowan said it was not the man’s fault that coronavirus spread across the corridor of the hotel he was placed in, but he questioned why the Commonwealth continued to allow Australians to travel to countries crippled by coronavirus for reasons that were not essential.
“The fact of the matter is the Commonwealth let him go to India recently I don’t understand why they would do that it doesn’t make sense to me … it was a wedding apparently,” Mr McGowan said.
READ MORE: Labor calls the cops over Liberal spending
Rhiannon Down3.20pm:Victoria claims ‘unblemished Covid record’
Victorian COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar says the state’s unblemished COVID-19 record remains unchanged, as the Victorian man in his 50s who contracted the virus acquired it interstate.
“We are treating this case as an interstate-acquired Covid case the transmission clearly happened in Perth, so at this point in time we still regard this as the 57th day run without Covid transmission,” he said.
The state recorded 57 days without a case of local transmission, as 49 Victorians linked to the Qantas flight QF778 from Perth to Melbourne tested negative.
Mr Weimar also confirmed that an individual who had put the Caulfield South Primary School community on high alert late on Friday night was among those who had returned a negative result.
“We have identified a number of potential extended secondary exposure sites,” he said.
“The alert for South Caulfield Primary School has been discontinued as we have returned negative test results for that individual already.
“We’ll continue to go through that as we continue to go through the contact tracing of the individuals on the plane as we identify potential secondary sites as negative test results come in, we’ll discard those sites from our inquiry.”
Just moments before Saturday’s match between West Coast and Geelong kicked off, fans from Perth were informed that they would not allowed to enter the MCG unless they had returned a negative result.
“We’ve had fantastic support from the AFL as always and the AFL have contacted all the registered fans for the West Coast Eagle in Melbourne intending to go to the game,” he said.
“We’ve said unless they’ve returned a negative test result in the last 24 hours they can’t go to the game.”
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Rhiannon Down2.45pm: McGowan’s big quarantine call
WA Premier Mark McGowan has called on the federal government to “step up and help”, slamming the current hotel quarantine system “unfit for purpose”.
The Premier — who announced a snap three-day lockdown for Perth and Peel yesterday after one case leaked from hotel quarantine — said no new cases of local transmission had been detected overnight, despite thousands of tests being conducted.
Mr McGowan, who is giving a press conference in Perth, thanked WA residents for co-operating with the lockdown order, but he said it was now clear city-based hotel quarantine was not an adequate strategy for dealing with infected incoming travellers.
He said it was time the Commonwealth stepped in with a better solution and take responsibility for overseas arrivals.
“I have been calling for the Commonwealth’s assistance with quarantine for many months now,” the WA Premier said.
“CBD hotels are not fit for purpose quarantine facilities, and quarantine is the responsibility of the Commonwealth government under the Constitution.
“There are a number of Commonwealth facilities that would be more suitable for quarantine purposes.”
The warnings come as WA contact tracers work through a backlog of hundreds of potential connections, with 337 contacts, including 71 close contacts identified so far.
Some 27 close contacts have already tested negative with 60 out of 109 casual contacts also returning a negative result.
There are also 157 other contacts, which are pending classification.
Mr McGowan thanked the state’s contact tracers for their efforts over the past few days, since a Victorian returned traveller contracted the virus in WA hotel quarantine, calling the quarantine program an “imperfect system”.
“The pandemic will be here for at least the rest of this year,” he said.
“It is time for the Commonwealth to step up and help. My government stands ready to work with them and help establish Commonwealth quarantine facilities. They have a range of facilities available.
“It is the only way to help reduce the risk further. We cannot continue down this path for another year or beyond.”
More to come...
Rhiannon Down1.55pm:Victorian authorities retract school health warning
Victorian authorities have retracted health warnings for South Caulfield Primary School in Melbourne, after a man returned a negative result for coronavirus.
It comes as four household contacts of a man in his 50s who tested positive for COVID-19 after flying from Perth to Melbourne also tested negative for the virus.
Victorian COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar confirmed health authorities had contacted about 265 contacts linked to the Qantas flight the man took on Wednesday.
Mr Weimar said so far 49 of those contacts had returned a negative result, with results coming in over the coming days.
More to come...
Rhiannon Down1pm:AMA urges action on hotel quarantine
Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid says the Perth COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the urgent need to review hotel quarantine practices to prevent further leaks.
Perth and surrounds was thrown into lockdown on Friday after a man contracted the virus in hotel quarantine, testing positive after he left isolation.
Returned travellers staying in different rooms on the same floor at the Mercure hotel were also believed to have become infected in quarantine.
“It is a frustration to me and to all Australians because we have learnt about the virus and we know for many months that it is spread through aerosol transmission under certain circumstances and we’ve seen hotel quarantine fail in each of our states and territories,” Dr Khorshid told the ABC.
“Except for facilities at Howard Springs where people are kept further apart and it is a facility fit for purpose.”
It comes as a number of leaks were recorded in hotel quarantine programs across the country, including in NSW where authorities are still investigating infections that occurred in the Mercure Hotel in Sydney and the Adina Apartment Hotel at Town Hall.
Dr Khorshid urged authorities to address any weaknesses in hotel quarantine, to contain the spread of the virus.
“A couple of things that need to happen: One, everything that can be done in hotel quarantine needs to be done right now and unfortunately in Western Australia as in some other states, that is not the case, unfortunately,” he said.
“There are still holes that can be plugged and the report from the last outbreak have underlined some of the things that need to be done in WA.”
READ MORE: NT ‘needs workers to rev up’
Rhiannon Down 12.50pm:Victorian Health authorities to address school case
Victorian health authorities will hold a press conference this afternoon following reports that a Melbourne primary school had been linked to a positive case of COVID-19.
Victorian COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar will address the media outside the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre at 1.30pm.
More to come...
Rhiannon Down12.43am: Covid traces found in Sydney sewage
Thousands of Sydney residents have been placed on alert after traces of the deadly virus were found in sewage.
NSW Health said fragments of the virus had been detected in the wastewater systems at Allambie Heights in Sydney’s north and Merimbula on the south coast.
The Allambie Heights sewage network serves about 83,400 people in suburbs that include Allambie Heights, Balgowlah, Curl Curl, North Manly and Freshwater among many others.
“These positive sewage results may indicate the presence of people who have recently recovered from COVID-19, as they can continue to shed fragments of the virus for several weeks after recovery,” health authorities said in a statement.
“However, NSW Health is concerned that they could signal undetected cases in the community, and asks people in these areas to be alert for any cold-like symptoms that could signal COVID‑19, including sore throat, runny nose, cough, fever or headache.
If symptoms appear, please isolate and get tested immediately, and remain isolated until a negative result is received.”
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Rhiannon Down12.26pm:Melbourne school on high alert over infection risk
A Melbourne primary school has been placed on high alert, after reports that a close contact had visited the campus.
Text messages from the Victorian Department of Health urging anyone linked to the Caulfield South Primary School community to isolate have been shared by 7 News.
The messages sent to parents linked to the school in Melbourne’s southeast, indicate a close contact may have visited the school on April 22 and 23, though it is not clear how the school was exposed.
“You or your child have been identified as attending school with someone who is a close contact of a confirmed coronavirus case,” the message said.
“In line with public health requirements, you or your child must try to quarantine in your home away from other household members until notified by the Department of Health.
“You are not required to present for testing unless you develop symptoms.”
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Agencies12pm:India’s hospitals overwhelmed, Japan declares emergency
Hospitals in India launched desperate appeals for oxygen on Friday as the nation’s Covid crisis spiralled, while Japan issued a state of emergency in some areas just three months before the Olympics are due to open.
COVID-19 surges are placing a major strain on healthcare systems across the world, with no end in sight to a pandemic that has killed more than three million people.
With governments rushing to accelerate vaccine campaigns, good news emerged Friday when US regulators approved the restart of Johnson & Johnson vaccinations halted over blood clotting concerns and the EU said it would have enough jabs by the end of July to inoculate 70 per cent of adults.
Brussels’ announcement came as Europe’s medicines regulator said the benefits of the controversy-plagued AstraZeneca vaccine increase with age — and reiterated that the jab should be taken despite links to rare blood clots.
But in India, healthcare facilities sounded the alarm on oxygen supplies for patients on ventilator support.
“SOS — less than an hour’s oxygen supplies at Max Smart Hospital & Max Hospital Saket,” one of the biggest private hospital chains in Delhi said on Twitter.
“Over 700 patients admitted, need immediate assistance.” The country on Friday reported more than 330,000 new infections — a world record — and 2,000 deaths in a single day.
Compounding the misery, 13 Covid patients died in Mumbai when a fire broke out in their hospital — the latest in a string of blazes at Indian healthcare facilities.
AFP
READ MORE: India’s Covid crisis spurs black market for oxygen, drugs
Rhiannon Down11.35am:Port staff test negative, NSW updates WA travel guidelines
NSW authorities have confirmed that all 15 Port Botany workers from the Inge Kosan have tested negative for COVID-19, as the state announces updates guidelines for travellers from WA.
The ship’s crew were feared to have become infected after they boarded a ship from Vanuatu linked to 12 cases, including one man who died.
It comes as the state reported zero new cases of community transmission, and one case in hotel quarantine in the past 24 hours.
NSW Health administered 2933 vaccines in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, brining the total number to 553,275.
NSW has also updated its health directions for interstate travellers from WA as the state grapples to contain a new leak from hotel quarantine.
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) April 24, 2021
One new case was acquired overseas to 8pm last night, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,230. pic.twitter.com/4Vyonl149K
Anyone arriving in Sydney from WA from Saturday must complete a declaration confirming they have not attended any of the exposure sites in Perth, with anyone who has asked not to enter NSW.
Anyone who has visited the listed venues of concern has been asked to isolate and contact NSW Health.
Any travellers from Victoria who have been in an exposure site, which so far includes Qantas flight QF778 from Perth to Melbourne on Wednesday and Melbourne Airport T1 between 6.30pm and 7.30pm on the same day, should follow health advice.
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Rhiannon Down11.23am:Jab-related blood clotting cases reach six: TGA
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young says the rapid response of medical staff saved the life of a Brisbane man who developed thrombosis after receiving the AstraZeneca jab.
It comes as the Therapeutic Goods Administration revealed on Friday that the rare blood clotting disorder had been recorded in three more Australians who had received the jab, as the nation surpassed 1.1 million doses this week.
The 49-year-old man from South Brisbane spent two days at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital after he received the jab at a GP clinic.
A 35-year-old NSW woman and an 80-year-old Victorian man are also believed to have suffered thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) after they received the vaccine.
Dr Young said the recovery of all three individuals was thanks to the fast reactions of both patients and staff in recognising the symptoms.
“It is important that both the vaccine recipient and their treating clinician are educated on the signs and symptoms of TSS,” she said.
“This information can and will save a life, we have seen just that with these cases.
“I will also stress that these reactions are still extremely rare. I thank the TGA for their fast review and their continued feedback.”
The TGA said the new cases took the total Australian reports of TTS following the jab to six, with five of the cases in people aged under 50 years.
A 48-year-old woman who was vaccinated in New South Wales died last week after she was admitted to hospital with an extensive thromboembolic event, just four days after she received the AstraZeneca jab.
The government announced earlier this month that the Pfizer vaccine was the preferred vaccine for patients under 50 years old.
READ MORE:Brisbane man suffers blood clots days after Pfizer vaccine
Rhiannon Down10.43am:WA government reveals list of Perth exposure sites
Lines have already begun to form outside COVID-19 testing sites across Perth as the city wakes up to its first day of a three-day snap lockdown.
Perth and the neighbouring Peel region were plunged into lockdown on Friday after WA Health confirmed that a man in his 50s, who quarantined at one of Perth’s State-managed quarantine hotels, had tested positive to COVID-19 on his return to Victoria.
The state has been put on high alert after a female friend of the man also tested positive, with more than a dozen venues identified as possible exposure sites.
WA health authorities urge anyone who attended the following venues during the exposure window to get tested and isolate:
– St Catherine’s on Park (Heim building), Crawley: Sunday April 18 to Wednesday April 21
– Star Family Medicine Practice, Canning Vale: Friday April 23 from 9am to 11am and the Dining Hall on Monday April 19 and Wednesday April 21 between 7am to 9am.
– Terry White Chemmart, Kardinya: Thursday April 22 from 7.10pm to 8.30pm.
– DB Dental, 884 Canning Highway (Sleat Road clinic), Applecross: Thursday April 22 from 8am to 6pm.
– Leisurefit Aquatic Centre, Booragoon: Wednesday April 21 from 5.30pm to 7.30pm and Saturday April 17 from 3.30pm to 6pm.
– Southlands Shopping Centre (specifically: Gilbert’s Fresh Markets, Coles, BankWest), Willetton: Wednesday April 21 from 3pm to 3.30pm.
– QANTAS domestic terminal (T3 – T4): Wednesday April 21 from 11am to 1pm.
– City China Garden, Northbridge: Tuesday April 20 from 5pm to 8pm.
– Good Fortune Roast Duck House, Northbridge: Monday April 19 from 5pm to 8pm
– Fortune Acupuncture Chinese Medical Clinic, Subiaco: Monday April 19 from 1.30pm to 3pm.
– Fortune Five Chinese Restaurant, Northbridge: Sunday April 18 from 5.30pm and 7pm.
– Kitchen Inn, Kardinya: Sunday April 18 from midday to 2pm.
– Brentwood Deli, Mount Pleasant: Sunday April 18 from 8.30am to 9.30am.
– Bananabro, East Victoria Park: Saturday April 17 from 5.30pm to 8.00pm.
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Rhiannon Down10.20am:Queensland tightens border restrictions
Queensland has tightened its border restrictions with WA, with arrivals from Perth and the Peel region required to undergo hotel quarantine after midnight on Saturday.
It comes as Perth residents wake up to their first day in a snap three day lockdown after a man in his 50s, who is believed to have caught the virus in hotel quarantine, visited a number of venues across the city and infected a female friend.
“From midnight tonight, residents will be allowed to re-enter Queensland. Non-residents will require an exemption to enter Queensland,” Queensland Health said in a statement.
“Everyone entering Queensland after midnight tonight who has been in the Perth or Peel parts of WA since 17 April will be required to enter hotel quarantine for up to 14 days.”
Queensland authorities also ask anyone who has been to the lockdown zone since April 17 and arrived in Queensland before midnight on Friday to get tested for the virus as soon as possible.
Affected travellers will also be required to comply with the directions of the Perth lockdown until Tuesday April 27, and will only be permitted to leave the house for essential reasons such as grocery shopping, healthcare and exercise.
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Jamie Walker9.52am:More women reporting for duty
They carry an assault rifle and the same weight on their back as any man in the Australian Army.
They fly just as high and as fast as the RAAF’s male top guns.
And in the navy, women clearance divers shoulder the risk of performing one of the most dangerous jobs in the military.
When it comes to frontline duty, the Australian Defence Force can at last claim to be gender blind as its swelling ranks of female soldiers, sailors and air force personnel prepare to mark Anzac Day knowing they share all that comes with life in uniform with their male comrades.
“We are just the same as the boys,” said Bianca Ricketts, a lance corporal with the army’s Townsville-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment. “In fact, you could call me one of the boys.”
Read the full story here.
Rhiannon Down9.20am:AMA backs WA lockdown
Health experts have backed the WA government’s decision to plunge the city into a snap three-day lockdown, after a returned traveller tested positive for the virus.
Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said the lockdown was a “necessity” to assist health authorities contact tracing efforts.
“Unfortunately the lockdown is necessary because we’ve already seen that this individual,
who unknowingly was carrying COVID out and about in the Perth community for five days has already infected one other individual,” he told the ABC.
“That means that he was spreading the virus, at least in some way, and that means that the authorities have a significant job to trace all the people he has had contact with over that five-day period, and a lockdown enables that to happen while the spread is contained.”
Dr Khorshid said the man’s level of infectiousness would ultimately determine the extent of the outbreak, as authorities list dozens of venues as possible exposure sites.
“It is really going to come down to whether this particular individual was a superspreader or not,” he said.
“Presumably the person in the hotel who spread it to other people was one of those superspreaders. But whether this chap who was out and about for five days is someone who produces large amounts of virus and spreads it through the community, we just don’t know as yet.”
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Christine Kellett8.45am:Victoria records two new cases
Victoria has recorded two new cases of coronavirus — one acquired interstate and the other from overseas.
The interstate case is believed to be linked to the WA lockdown announced yesterday. It is the case of a tourist from China who visited several Perth and Peel locations before travelling on to Melbourne on April 21 while infectious.
Yesterday there was 1 new case acquired interstate, 1 new case acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) April 23, 2021
- 3,109 vaccine doses were administered
- 13,079 test results were received
Got symptoms? Get tested.
More later: https://t.co/2vKbgKHFvv#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/EvzjvGsZdB
READ MORE: WA case links fresh questions over McGowan government’s quarantine handling
Dow Jones8.20am:Climate summit’s final day focuses on technology, innovation
Officials from the US and other nations spent the final day of a global climate summit focused on innovation, as they debate how to deploy technology and economic incentives to achieve the emission-reduction goals laid out by world leaders.
“As we transition to a clean energy future, we must ensure that workers who have thrived in yesterday’s and today’s industries have as bright a tomorrow in the new industries,” President Biden said at the start of Friday’s session. “Nations that work together to invest in a cleaner economy will reap rewards for their citizens.”
On Thursday, Mr. Biden used the first day of the summit to unveil a target that calls for cutting U.S. emissions 50% to 52% from 2005 levels — a common baseline for such climate targets — by 2030. China said it would reduce coal consumption, and several other countries pledged to cut future emissions and expand their use of renewable energy.
The climate summit is aimed at jump-starting global efforts to reduce emissions as part of the Paris agreement, which calls on countries to ratchet up their climate commitments every five years. The deal relies largely on international pressure, rather than legally binding enforcement mechanisms, to persuade countries to make deep emissions cuts.
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Paul Garvey, Angelica Snowden8am:One escape shuts down Western Australia
Two million people have been plunged into lockdown and Anzac Day Dawn Services cancelled after a COVID-19 outbreak at a West Australian hotel that was identified as “high risk” more than two weeks ago.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan announced on Friday afternoon that the Perth and Peel regions would go into lockdown for three days from midnight in response to the state’s first case of community transmission in more than a year.
The sudden step represents a fresh economic blow to Perth’s hospitality industry, and has thrown the Anzac Day long weekend plans for hundreds of thousands of people into turmoil.
The case has also raised fresh questions about the WA government’s handling of the crisis, just months after a similar quarantine hotel ventilation issue prompted a snap five-day lockdown.
The virus has spread from a COVID-positive couple in quarantine at Perth’s Mercure hotel to another couple as well as a returned traveller from China.
The traveller from China, however, tested negative before he completed his quarantine, only to turn positive after he was back on the street. He then spent five days in Perth, staying in short-term accommodation at the University of Western Australia and visiting restaurants, sights and a Chinese traditional medicine doctor before travelling on to Melbourne on April 21.
One woman, a friend of the man, has also since tested positive.
The Mercure hotel was found to be a “high risk” of spreading the virus through ventilation in a report that was provided to WA Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson on April 8. Dr Robertson recommended to the government that the Mercure no longer be used for quarantine purposes on April 14, three days before the man from China was allowed out on to the streets of Perth.
Read the full story here.
Geoff Chambers, Joe Kelly7.30am:Push to axe more Chinese accords
Foreign Minister Marise Payne is being urged to tear up China’s Confucius Institute agreements with universities and the Northern Territory government’s 99-year Port of Darwin lease with Chinese firm Landbridge under Australia’s new foreign arrangements scheme.
Senator Payne’s decision to terminate Victoria’s Belt and Road Initiative agreements with Beijing under the scheme, which came into effect late last year, has sparked calls for the Morrison government to move against other Chinese deals.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings, a former Defence Department deputy secretary, said the government should take “decisive steps” to end the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin.
Read the full story here.
Remy Varga, Angelica Snowden7am:Anzac Day protocols ‘an insult to our Diggers’
A controversial decision to erect temporary fencing at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance to control crowd numbers on Anzac Day on Sunday has been slammed as an insult to veterans.
Shrine of Remembrance chief executive Dean Lee said the barriers had been extended to the Second World War Memorial Forecourt to ensure only 1400 people attended the dawn service.
“We are responsible for managing the delivery of the dawn service in partnership with RSL Victoria,” Mr Lee said. “This is the method to ensure that the event capacity is not exceeded.”
Those with tickets to the dawn service will have to show their booking form before scanning a QR code to be allowed entry to the dawn service, which Mr Lee said would assist contact tracers.
The decision to extend the fence was made by the Shrine of Remembrance.
Victorian opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said she was “horrified” fences had been erected around the Shrine of Remembrance.
“Is this to block out veterans?” she said. “I mean, it is an absolute insult to every veteran that they are being fenced out from the Shrine when we have got 85,000 people that can attend an Anzac Day football match at the MCG.”
Read the full story here.
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PM and mate face high-taxing nightmare
Australians are bleeding from higher taxes constructed to pay for the lack of courage displayed by big-spending territory, state and federal leaders whose budgets are drowning in debt and deficit.
Debt pile grows to $45k per person
Australians will be paying $1897 each to cover the total state and federal government deficits, while they will be paying $45,183 debt per capita to cover total government debt.
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