Coronavirus Australia live news: Victoria CHO reveals automated messages used for contacts; state’s cases rise by 288
Brett Sutton all but confirms contact tracers didn’t adhere to contact tracing guidelines specifying daily follows up for close contacts.
- NSW virus tests misplaced
- Victorians urged to wear masks
- Victoria confirms record 288 cases
- International arrivals cut by half
- $534m package to help businesses
- Anti-vax wrongs ‘must be righted’
Hello and welcome to The Australian’s rolling coverage of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Victorians have been urged to wear face masks in public as Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed new cases in his state have reached a record 288. Scott Morrison has announced after the National Cabinet meeting that international arrivals will be cut in half. Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas has announced an additional $534 million business support package for the virus-hit state.
Rachel Baxendale 8.35pm: Coate to lead Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry
Retired judge Jennifer Coate has confirmed she will hold the first public hearing of her inquiry into Victoria’s bungled hotel quarantine system on July 20.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the hotel quarantine inquiry confirmed Justice Coate and Senior Counsel Assisting the Inquiry, Tony Neal QC, would both make short opening statements when the first public hearing is held on Monday, July 20.
No witnesses will be called that day, the proceedings will be live-streamed, and a transcript will be made available shortly after the proceedings, with further public hearings are expected to be held in August.
Breaches at two Melbourne quarantine hotels have been blamed for clusters totalling more than 60 COVID-19 cases, which were genomically linked to a high proportion of the state’s current cases late last month.
The terms of reference, as set out by the Andrews government, include:
- Decisions and actions of government agencies, hotel operators and private contractors
- Communication between government agencies, hotel operators and private contractors
- Contractual arrangements
- Information, guidance, training and equipment provided to staff in hotels
- Policies, protocols and procedures.
A dedicated website, email, and 1800 number are currently being established to enable public information to be received.
The inquiry said letters had also been sent to agencies “asking them to identify any shortcomings with respect to the hotel quarantine program and provide information about changes that have been made to their communications, conduct or decision-making processes ... since their initial involvement.”
The inquiry is due to deliver its findings to Victorian Governor Linda Dessau by September 25.
The details come after Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday announced a separate nationwide review of hotel quarantine, led by former health department secretary Jane Halton.
Rachel Baxendale 7.10pm: Sutton admits Victoria contact tracers failures
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has all but confirmed The Australian’s report today that Victorian contact tracers did not adhere to national guidelines for COVID-19 contact tracing that specify close contacts should be followed up daily for flu-like symptoms.
Professor Sutton revealed the contact tracers had instead been using automated messages to get in touch with close contacts.
The deficiency had been identified by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee as one of several “areas of improvement” in their assessment of the causes of Victoria’s second wave of COVID-19 infections.
Professor Sutton said the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services was dealing with 1172 active cases of COVID-19 and more than 5000 close contacts.
“The national guidelines say that where feasible, everyone should get a phone call every day. That means where feasible, but what does happen in Victoria is that everyone gets an automated message,” he said.
“The app provides them a link, they get a prompt about needing to quarantine, they get a prompt every day about whether they’ve developed symptoms, and if they develop symptoms and they are flagging that they have, they’re prompted to test.”
Professor Sutton conceded the “big number” of close contacts were “stretching contact tracing activities”.
The Andrews government has for months touted a team of “more than 1000 disease detectives”, which it says has swelled to more than 1300 in recent weeks, with assistance from interstate.
However, Professor Sutton revealed only a small minority of those people were qualified contact tracers.
“The real work is done in the long form interview with cases. We’ve got very professional individuals in the team doing that, to identify all of the close contacts, all of the potential sensitive settings that those individuals go to,” he said.
“That’s a much more specialised workforce.”
Asked whether he could quantify that workforce, Professor Sutton said he did not have the numbers on hand, but it would “amount to dozens”.
He said the “vast majority” of the 1300 would not have the more specialised skills.
“The specialised workforce you cannot manifest overnight. These are people who’ve gained the experience of doing communicable disease follow-up over years and years in our public health team,” Professor Sutton said.
“They are training others to do similar work, but it’s not something where you can grab someone and give them a five minute rundown to do one of those detailed interviews. It’s a very skilled activity.”
A spokeswoman for DHHS later on Friday confirmed there had been just 57 people in Victoria’s public health team when the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“In the early stages of the pandemic we invested $37 million to increase coronavirus surveillance capacity, allowing for more targeted case identification, contact tracing, isolation advice and confirmation of individuals who are no longer infectious,” the spokeswoman said.
“This included boosting our public health team from 57 people to more than a thousand in a few short weeks.
Here’s some advice from the @VictorianCHO about wearing a face mask when you’re visiting a public place where it’s difficult to keep 1.5 metres distance. https://t.co/IhIdi5ryG0
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) July 10, 2020
“The disease detectives team includes many specialised roles such as epidemiologists, public health clinicians, logistics, phone operators and data entry staff – all who support the central task of case and contact tracing.
“We have deployed doctors and nurses as well as medical students as part of our growing contact tracing efforts. All staff undergo the relevant training before joining the team.
“Close contacts are monitored regularly during their quarantine period. Where feasible this is done via Whisper, a mobile phone app, that sends cases and close contacts a message every day asking them to report their symptoms.”
READ MORE: How to follow intuition, not fear
Rachel Baxendale 6.35pm: City of Melbourne net increase of 100 cases
The City of Melbourne, home to Melbourne’s CBD, has recorded a net increase of almost 100 coronavirus cases on Friday.
There are now 226 active cases of COVID-19 in the local government area, which also covers some of the hotspot public housing towers locked down by the Andrews government earlier this week.
Moonee Valley, which also included some of the towers, recorded a net increase in cases of 36 on Friday, and now has a total of 120 active cases.
Hume in Melbourne’s outer north, has the second-highest number of active cases in the state, with 167, following a net increase of 24 on Friday.
Wyndham, in the outer west and home to the Al-Taqwa College cluster of at least 113 cases, is in third place with 151 active cases and a net increase of 18 on Friday.
Of Victoria’s 1172 known active cases, only 11 are in local government areas outside the locked down Melbourne metropolitan and Mitchell Shire areas - down from 14 on Thursday.
There are five active cases in Geelong, three in Bendigo, and one each in the Surf Coast, South Gippsland and East Gippsland LGAs.
The Mitchell Shire, immediately north of Melbourne, has nine active cases - a net increase of three since Thursday.
Active confirmed cases of COVID-19 by LGA as of Friday, with change since Thursday in brackets:
City of Melbourne: 226 (+98)
Hume (outer north): 167 (+24)
Wyndham (outer southwest): 151 (+18)
Moonee Valley (northwest): 120 (+36)
Brimbank (outer west): 82 (+7)
Moreland (north): 63 (+7)
Whittlesea (outer north): 42
Maribyrnong (inner west): 30 (+2)
Darebin (north): 25 (+6)
Yarra (inner northeast): 25 (+2)
Melton (outer northwest): 24 (+5)
Hobsons Bay (inner southwest): 21 (+6)
Casey (outer southeast): 19 (-1)
Banyule (northeast): 18 (+5)
Monash (southeast): 16 (+4)
Boroondara (east): 12 (+3)
Stonnington (inner southeast): 12 (+1)
Port Phillip (inner south): 10 (+2)
Whitehorse (east): 15 (+9)
Manningham (east): 15 (+5)
Mitchell (central regional Vic, north of Melb): 9 (+3)
*Greater Geelong (southwest regional Vic): 5 (-1)
Bayside (southeast): 4 (+1)
Maroondah (outer east): 4
Yarra Ranges (outer east) 4
Glen Eira (east): 3 (+1)
Kingston (southeast): 3
Knox (outer east): 3
Greater Dandenong: (outer southeast): 3
*Greater Bendigo (central regional Vic): 3 (-1)
Frankston (outer southeast): 2 (-1)
Cardinia (outer southeast): 1 (+1)
*South Gippsland (eastern regional Vic): 1 (+1)
*Surf Coast (southwest regional Vic): 1
*East Gippsland (east regional Vic): 1
Nillumbik (outer northeast): 1
Mornington Peninsula (inner regional, southeast): 0
Interstate: 1 (-1)
Unknown: 29 (+1)
TOTAL: 932 (+240)
*Denotes LGAs outside the Melbourne metropolitan/Mitchell Shire lockdown
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Rachel Baxendale 6.20pm: Victoria’s ‘no identified source’ cases more than double
Victoria’s number of COVID-19 cases with no identified source has more than doubled in the past fortnight, from 245 cases on June 26 to 509 on Friday.
The number of active cases has increased by almost 1000 in that time, from 183 a fortnight ago, to 1172 on Friday.
Unusually, Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services has not released any details of the 26 of Friday’s 288 new cases it says are linked to known clusters.
Nor has the department released any details of new cases in healthcare workers or workplaces of particular concern.
READ MORE: ASX slides to 7-day low on virus fear
Stephen Lunn 5.20pm: Victoria orders 3m masks as advice shifts
The Andrews government now recommends Victorian adults living in lockdown zones wear face masks if they can’t physically distance and will order three million masks to distribute across the state.
The shift in policy on mask-wearing, effective immediately, has been driven by the severe spike in COVID-19 community transmission cases across the state and a change in the international medical evidence, the government said.
It will order more than two million reusable marks by the end of July and a further million single-use masks for use in the interim as it looks to contain the second wave outbreak that saw 288 new coronavirus cases on Friday alone.
“The Chief Health Officer has now given us the clear advice that wearing face masks makes a tangible difference when it comes to reducing the transmission of coronavirus within the community – and that is why we are issuing this new recommendation,” Victorian Premier Dan Andrews said.
READ THE FULL STORY here.
Damon Johnston 5.00pm: Secret KFC partygoers busted
Sixteen hungry party goers have been fined $26,000 for breaching Victoria’s tough COVID-19 rules in what may be the most expensive fast food fix in history.
Police dished out the $1,652 penalties after busting a party devouring KFC in a Dandenong house in Melbourne’s lockdown suburbs at 1.30am Friday.
Victoria’s top cop Shane Patton said ambulance officers spotted a group ordering 20 meals at a KFC and tipped police off who then used the car’s number plate to track the address down and raid the house.
“It was a town house. When we went in there was two people asleep but there were 16 others hiding out the back and they just got the KFC meals at a birthday,” he said.
READ the full story here
Imogen Reid 4.40pm: New NSW case travelled from Melbourne in caravan
Out of the 14 new cases confirmed in NSW today, Health Minister Brad Hazzard said one case of concern is a man in his 20s who travelled up to the Sutherland area from Melbourne in a caravan.
Mr Hazzard thanked the man for coming forward, but said people who have come from Victoria need to be on “high alert” and get tested.
“I encourage others in a similar situation that may have come from Victoria or Melbourne particularly to make sure you are on high alert, because we in NSW are on high alert, and we want you to get tested, and it is crucial you do, because otherwise you will be the instrument of seeding or one of the possible instruments of seeing here in NSW,” he said.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said while the man in the caravan did not have much contact with people, they are still exploring potential contacts.
“We are currently interviewing him to ascertain that information. At this time, because he was travelling in a car and in a caravan and did the trip quite swiftly, we understand that he has not had any, had minimal or any
exposure on his route up here,” she said.
“It is just the person he is with in the caravan and one or two other contacts that we are now exploring.”
READ MORE: Triguboff’s quarantine hotel warning
Rachel Baxendalr 4.05pm: Victorians urged to wear masks in public
Victorians have been urged to wear face masks in public as the state suffers its worst day of new cases on record.
Announcing Victoria’s official recommendation that people wear masks in public, Premier Daniel Andrews acknowledged there had been debate within the medical community about the practice.
“We think we’re at a stage now, and the advice to me from the Chief Health Officer, and supported by AHPPC and supported by others, is that through an abundance of caution, through the fact that it’s relatively easy, we should request of all Victorians when they are out of their home … we’re simply asking that if you can wear a mask where you can’t distance,” Mr Andrews said.
He said the advice related principally to people in the metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire lockdown zone, particularly if they were in situations where they could not maintain a distance of 1.5m from others, such as in a taxi or on public transport.
“It is our request of you, it’s not compulsory,” Mr Andrews said.
“This is not something that’s going to be for a week or even six weeks, I think masks in those circumstances where you can’t maintain distance will be a feature of the response to the pandemic for the foreseeable future, maybe many, many months.”
Mr Andrews said the government was getting 2 million reusable masks made, with “up to a million” being made available in the interim. There are currently more than 5 million Victorians in lockdown.
“That takes a little bit of time, but again, this is not something that’s a week or a month, it’s going to be with us for quite some time, and we think it’ll be perhaps even more important on the other side of this lockdown,” he said.
“I’ll have more to say about how we’re going to distribute those, how they’ll be available.”
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said medical evidence on masks had been “ambivalent” until recent weeks, with no strong recommendations either way in Australia.
“A big Lancet metaanalysis, so a study of a number of other studies’ data has really shown that masks do make a significant difference potentially, even understanding that people don’t always wear them perfectly, because they don’t provide any protection,” Professor Sutton said.
“When they’re worn very broadly across a population where people can’t distance that 1.5 metres, they can make a difference, they can reduce transmission by up to two thirds.
“That’s a really important additional measure and when we’re trying to do absolutely everything in Victoria to drive transmission down, it’s a really important additional tool, and so in those settings where you might be in close proximity to others: public transport, taxis, Ubers, shopping for food, shopping for other goods, essential goods, visiting your GP, these are really important times to wear a mask, especially when you know that somebody has to be in close proximity to you because you need to be there, and you can’t distance effectively.
“Of course, all other circumstances that are not essential, you should be home.
“That’s what the stay at home directions are, and wearing a mask is no substitute for keeping that distance from people, isolating when you’re unwell and getting tested.”
READ MORE: Proof tracking app doesn’t work
Imogen Reid 4pm: NSW virus tests ‘misplaced: 77 asked to test again as ’
NSW health minister Brad Hazzard has confirmed 77 tests from people linked to the Balmain/Rozelle Woolworths case have been misplaced “in the rush to get so many tests done so quickly.”
He has asked those 77 people to come forward for testing again and has apologised on behalf of NSW Pathology.
“On behalf of NSW Pathology, they regret very much that those 77 have been misplaced in the rush to get so many tests done so quickly, but they also ask for you to come back and get retested, and I would obviously ask for that as well,” Mr Hazzard said.
“Out of many thousands, out of more than 1 million cases of pathology taken in NSW, obviously, from time to time, human error will occur. That’s normal, it’s a human system.”
Out of the 14 new cases confirmed in NSW today, health minister Brad Hazzard said one case of concern is a man in his 20s who travelled up to the Sutherland area from Melbourne in a caravan.
Mr Hazzard thanked the man for coming forward, but said people who have come from Victoria need to be on “high alert” and get tested.
“I encourage others in a similar situation that may have come from Victoria or Melbourne particularly to make sure you are on high alert, because we in NSW are on high alert, and we want you to get tested, and it is crucial you do, because otherwise you will be the instrument of seeding or one of the possible instruments of seeing here in NSW,” he said.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said while the man in the caravan did not have much contact with people, they are still exploring potential contacts.
“We are currently interviewing him to ascertain that information. At this time, because he was travelling in a car and in a caravan and did the trip quite swiftly, we understand that he has not had any, had minimal or any
exposure on his route up here,” she said.
“It is just the person he is with in the caravan and one or two other contacts that we are now exploring.”
Steve Jackson 3.45pm: Sydney pub shut down after two positive tests; 14 new NSW cases
A Sydney pub has been shut down after it was linked to two separate, confirmed cases of COVID-19.
The Crossroads Hotel in Casula, in the city’s west, has been identified as a potential hot spot for a coronavirus outbreak after a woman and an unrelated man both tested positive for the pathogen after visiting the premises last Saturday night.
NSW health authorities have began contact tracing and will be getting in touch with everyone who registered as attending the venue.
A pop up testing clinic will be opened in the car park of the hotel from 5pm on Friday, with NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard urging anyone with symptoms to get tested.
Mr Hazzard confirmed there are 14 new cases of coronavirus in NSW — including the one of the two cases who reportedly visited the Crossroads Hotel on Saturday night.
“That obviously has major ramifications because that appears to be a likely point of connections where those two people could have come in contact with the virus,” he said.
“The health authority has advised the hotel to close its doors while contact tracing is conducted.
“As we speak, NSW Health has been in contact this afternoon with the management of that particular hotel … and has asked them, in fact directed them, to close and provide all necessary details,” Mr Hazzard said.
“You would recall that the government has made very clear rules for pubs and clubs and cafes to keep the lists of names for people who visit.”
Mr Hazzard is encouraging all local residents who may have visited the pub to be tested.
READ MORE: Not OK: Punters defy social distancing
Paige Taylor 3.35pm: WA delays further easing of restrictions amid Vic fears
Western Australia has delayed any further easing of pandemic restrictions because of fears over outbreaks in Victoria.
WA premier Mark McGowan had intended to allow Optus Stadium to fill to capacity — 60,000 people — for a derby between West Coast Eagles and the Dockers on Sunday July 19 but he has changed his mind on medical advice.
On July 18, WA had planned to abandon its 2qm social distancing rule and allow all sporting venues — which now operate at half capacity — to sell out.
But a rush on flights to Perth from overseas and interstate has given health authorities reason to believe the risk of substantial outbreaks was heightened.
Interstate air travel into WA is about 98 per cent down compared to the same time last year. However arrivals have picked up in the past month – in a 10 day period in June, 2705 people flew into Perth airport from another domestic airport. In the past 10 days. 4495 people arrived in Perth by plane from other states or territories. A majority of these arrivals are from Melbourne and Sydney, Mr McGowan said.
On Thursday, the McGowan government announced that anyone arriving from Victoria would be compelled to take a coronavirus test on the 11th day of their 14-day quarantine.
Mr McGowan said there would also now be an official maximum of 525 international arrivals per week into Perth from Sunday.
Those people – all Australians returning home – would also need to pay for their hotel quarantine from July 17.
Mr McGowan said he had not been able to control the flow of Australians coming home to Perth and he had learned on Friday that there were 100,000 Australians living in Hong Kong. He said the cap on overseas arrivals helped ensure that Perth’s quarantine hotels were not overwhelmed. He was concerned the system would be compromised.
Some people have been allowed to quarantine at home in special circumstances.
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Rachel Baxendale 3.15pm: Victoria’s unwanted Australian record: 3397 cases
Victoria has now overtaken NSW for the first time in terms of its total number of COVID-19 cases, with 3397, compared with 3278 in NSW.
There are now 47 Victorians in hospital with COVID-19, including 12 in intensive care.
Premier Daniel Andrews said he knew there would be “great concern” in the community about a daily increase of 288 cases.
“I just want to remind everybody that we’ve been very, very clear. We didn’t take the step to return to staying at home except for the four reasons in metropolitan Melbourne because the numbers were stable,” he said.
“We didn’t take that step because we didn’t have a problem.
“We took that step because we knew it would need to get worse before it got better, and that unless we took those steps, we simply wouldn’t be able to bring a sense of control to this, we would not be able to see a stabilisation and then a driving down of those case numbers.
“At the same time, no one should underestimate how significant, how big a challenge that we all face.
“It is very significant, and that’s why each of us (has) to play a part.
“It was always going to get worse, or it got better.
“We’re doing more testing than has ever been done, and not by a small margin, but by a massive margin.
“I’m very grateful to everybody who has participated in that testing program and I would urge all Victorians to follow the rules, and if you have symptoms, even mild symptoms, please come forward and get tested.
“That gives us the most powerful tool, the sense of where the virus is, how it is moving, and how it is we can best respond to it.”
READ MORE: Why our fatality rate is one of world’s lowest
Sarah Elks 3pm: Queue for kilometres in rush to cross into Queensland
Cars are backed up for kilometres on the NSW side of the border, forcing motorists to wait more than half an hour to cross the threshold into Queensland
Gold Coast chief superintendent Mark Wheeler said police were not stopping every car, and traffic was moving relatively smoothly but slowly.
“If you don’t need to come into Queensland today, please don’t,” he said.
He urged motorists with young children on board to pack food and water.
There have been about 314,000 online applications for the new border passes from midday on July 3.
Superintendent Wheeler said not every vehicle with a Victorian number plate would be stopped, but if they were not displaying a printed border pass, they would be intercepted.
There would also be random interceptions of vehicles showing the appropriate documentation.
“If we have traffic backed up by kilometres, to be pulling over every second, third car will simply be creating more congestion than we’d like to see,” he said.
It’s the first time since 1919 that the QLD-NSW border has been closed.
“Midday came, and it was almost like New Year’s Eve had been declared, and it’s great that yes we are open, but we’ve got to have a commonsense approach with this, and we’ve got to show patience and understanding,” Supt Wheeler said.
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Tessa Akerman 2.40pm: Union furore after Chemist Warehouse staffer tests positive
A worker at a Melbourne Chemist Warehouse Distribution Centre has reportedly tested positive to COVID-19 but only five co-workers have gone into isolation as the company chases profits from the pandemic over workers’ safety, claims United Workers Union.
The union claims up to 100 workers worked the same shift and came into contact with the infected employee at the Somerton centre.
The UWU claims staff refused to work on Friday and the company demanded workers use their own entitlements if they wanted to take time off.
UWU Logistics Director Matt Toner said the company had made “mega-profits off this pandemic” and was treating workers as if they were dispensable.
“Big businesses need to understand that this virus spreads just as fast in the workplace as it does in the community, and they need to do more to stop the second wave hitting Victorians,” he said.
“Chemist Warehouse must think of their workers as people, who could die from this deadly virus, rather than trying to return to business as normal and get as much production out as possible in the greedy pursuit of profits.”
The union claims Chemist Warehouse has provided limited details of the cleaning of the facility and is demanding all workers at the site be placed on pandemic leave until they have been able to obtain a COVID test and return it negative.
The union also wants the site closed for 72 hours to allow for a deep clean.
In a statement CW Management said the worker was last at the site on Tuesday and the company had employed a service to deep clean the facility after being notified of the positive test.
The company said direct contacts of the employee had been traced and notified.
“CW Management will continue to stress the importance and provide the means for social distancing within our facilities,” the statement said.
“We continue to encourage our staff to wear face masks and any other appropriate PPE which we shall continue to provide.
“At all CW Management sites a temperature check for both employees and any external contractors is performed prior to site entry.“
The company did not comment on the union’s claims about workers seeking time off for testing.
READ MORE: Triguboff’s hotel quarantine warning
Rachel Baxendale 2.20pm: Jobs minister denies role in union jobs for quarantine
Victorian Jobs Minister Martin Pakula has confirmed his Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions had a role in the decision to hire private security guards to work in the state’s bungled hotel quarantine system.
However, Mr Pakula has vehemently denied as “scurrilous” and without “a shred of evidence” suggestions from Labor sources that he may have been seeking to provide jobs for security staff covered by the United Workers’ Union when the Andrews government decided to hire private contractors for hotel quarantine security roles, rather than follow a national cabinet recommendation to give the job to police or ADF personnel.
When The Australian first put the suggestion to Mr Pakula last week, he said it was “explicitly rejected and is categorically untrue”.
Mr Pakula is affiliated with the National Union of Workers, which recently merged with United Voice to form the United Workers’ Union.
READ the full story here
Richard Ferguson 2.05pm: PM to take short break, won’t stand aside
Scott Morrison will try to take a short break next week to join his two daughters on their school holidays, but he will not be standing aside and has asked for the nation’s understanding.
The Prime Minister was lashed for taking a holiday to Hawaii during the summer bushfire crisis at the beginning of the year.
Mr Morrison said he would attempt to take some “down time” with his wife Jenny and his two daughters on their holiday outside Sydney.
“I will not be joining them for that full-time. I will also not be standing aside from the tasks I have all day,” he said.
“We have technology where I can be with them and continue to take briefings, calls and meetings in dealing with the situation whether it be Victoria or the other situations in the country.
“I will be returning to Canberra next week where I am sure you will be able to see me again … just because I am not standing in front of a camera it does not mean I am not behind my desk or doing what I need to do on a daily basis. I ask the people’s understanding on that.”
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Richard Ferguson 2.00pm: Schools ‘still relatively safe’
Acting chief medical officer Paul Kelly says schools are still relatively safe from coronavirus, despite the outbreak at Victoria’s largest Islamic school.
The cluster at Al-Taqwa College in the western Melbourne suburb of Truganina grew to 102 cases on Wednesday — nine days after the first case was made public and 11 days after the department says it was first notified.
Dr Kelly said in Canberra the Al-Taqwa cluster was more closely related to family interactions rather than school interactions, and the evidence is still that COVID-19 is less harmful to children.
“On the basis of evidence and we look at this continually, about the risk to children,” he said.
“The risk to children of this virus is much less than an adult and that is very clear around the world in terms of the severity of the illness.
“In terms of this particular cluster in this college in Melbourne, this seems particularly linked to family and not the school.”
READ MORE: NSW hits virus testing milestone
Rachel Baxendale 1.55pm: Andrews advises: wear masks in public
The Andrews government has moved to recommend that all Victorians living in greater Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire wear face masks in situations where they are leaving their home and physical distancing is not possible.
The new recommendation from Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton applies from Friday.
The government said the decision followed “new evidence from global medical experts and increased community transmission in Victoria”.
“Studies have recently shown that, even when factoring in imperfections and human error, wearing face masks can reduce transmission from coronavirus by around 60 per cent,” Mr Andrews said.
“Before this study, advice around the effectiveness of face masks in reducing transmission has been contradictory and lacking in evidence.”
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said 288 new cases was a “pretty ugly number”.
He said that given today’s numbers reflected transmissions which happened a week ago, things were likely to get worse.
“We may well see it worsen before it gets better,” he said.
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Rachel Baxendale 1.45pm: Victoria confirms record 288 cases
Victoria has confirmed a record 288 cases of Coronavirus on Friday, eclipsing the previous high of 191 on Tuesday by 97 cases.
Friday’s case count also swamps the previous highest daily case count of any Australian state, which was 212 in NSW on March 28.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said 26 of Friday’s 288 new cases were connected with known outbreaks, with the remaining 262 under investigation.
He said 37,588 tests had been conducted on Thursday in the biggest single day of testing “by some considerable margin”.
“I know that there’ll be great concern about these numbers,” Mr Andrews said.
“It was always going to get worse before it got better.
“We are doing more testing than has ever been done.”
READ MORE: Where today’s cases come from
Adeshola Ore 1.42pm: ACT records one new case
The ACT has recorded one new case of coronavirus overnight, bringing the territory’s total to 113.
ACT Health says the individual is a female in her 20s and a close contact of a previously confirmed case.
ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said the risk to the broader community was low, but reminded people to people vigilant.
There have been 105 recorded cases of COVID-19 in the ACT and three deaths
Richard Ferguson 1.40pm: PM accuses Labor of ‘fear mongering’
Scott Morrison has accused Labor of “fear mongering” as Anthony Albanese launches a website which claims to show how many jobs will be lost suburb-by-suburb if JobKeeper is not extended.
The Opposition Leader said the government’s review of JobKeeper must be released now and the COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria meant the support should continue.
The Prime Minister reiterated in Canberra that there will be a second phase of income support and said Labor’s Don’t Cancel Jobseeker digital tool was “disgraceful.”
“The details of our decisions will be set out at the time of releasing the economic statement, as I have been saying for some weeks and there is no change to that timetable,” Mr Morrison said.
“I do note today, regrettably, that the Labor Party has engaged in fear mongering during a pandemic. I think this is disgraceful. They are saying things that are blatantly untrue.
“I have made it very clear that there would be a further stage of income support and to make people feel more uncertain in this climate, I think it is disgraceful. I think it reflects badly on their leadership.”
READ MORE: Pandemic delivers extra blow
Richard Ferguson 1.20pm: International arrivals to be cut by half
International arrivals into Australia will be cut by half and returning Australians face paying for their own hotel quarantine under a national cabinet plan to stop a Victorian-style outbreak elsewhere.
Scott Morrison has signalled a reduction in the number of flights entering Australia for the past few days as Victoria’s outbreak has been directly linked to the significant number of Australians from overseas entering hotels.
The Prime Minister also said states were likely to move to charging people and he would seek to have a nationally uniform system of pricing for states going down that path.
“They will be cut by just over half across all the various ports that are taking those residents returning to Australia,” he said in Canberra.
“There is also a view across the National Cabinet that they are all effectively moving to a charging system for the hotel quarantine that is in place for those returning individuals.
: Some states already have it, other states are moving towards that, and I will leave that to them to make their announcements at the appropriate time.
“And where possible, we will seek to have some sort of national uniformity across those pricings and we are sharing that information with the states and territories.”
The PM also warned Australians outside of Victoria that hugs and handshakes are still out of the question, as premiers’ fears grow social distancing is not being adhered at house gatherings.
The national cabinet has met to discuss the Victorian COVID-19 outbreak and the Prime Minister said there is concern about social distancing behind closed doors.
“It is still not okay for hugs and handshakes,” Mr Morrison said in Canberra.
“It is important to ensure social distancing is the norm, it is not the exception, it is the norm and it will be the norm for a very long time, until at least we have a vaccine that can be mass produced and made available across the population.
“If social distancing is no longer the habit then we would see outbreaks in those places spread more rapidly.”
READ MORE: Ex NZ PM to head WHO probe
Rachel Baxendale 1.10pm: Victoria cases to surpass 280
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is due to give a press conference within minutes, amid reports that the state’s number of new coronavirus cases is more than 280.
The previous highest number of cases in any state was 212 in NSW on March 28, and Victoria’s previous high was 191 cases on Tuesday.
Mr Andrews is expected to begin speaking after Prime Minister Scott Morrison concludes his press conference, currently underway.
READ MORE: ‘Tell me what you need or miss out’
Anne Barrowclough 12.45pm: Andrews to update on Vic numbers
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will be giving an update on the continuing coronavirus crisis in his state at 1.00pm AEST. You can watch Mr Andrews on the video above.
Richard Ferguson 12.00pm: ALP targets JobKeepers suburb by suburb
Anthony Albanese has launched an online tool which claims to show how many jobs and businesses will be lost if JobKeeper ends, ramping up his campaign to extend wage subsidies.
Labor’s Don’t Cancel JobKeeper website estimates how many jobs, businesses, and revenue will be lost in each suburb in Australia if JobKeeper ends.
The Opposition Leader said the government’s review of JobKeeper must be released now and the COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria meant the support should continue.
“You can’t pretend that it’s all okay, because it’s not. The health impact we are seeing in Victoria has spiked in recent times, that continues to have an economic impact as well,” he said.
“What we need to do is have a transition and a strategy for jobs, a strategy to maintain jobs that the government also has to be clearer about what its plan is for economic growth and jobs into the future.
“How long does it take? How long can this secret plan stay there? It is now July 10. They received it in June.”
Scott Morrison has said a new, targeted phase of support for individuals and businesses will be unveiled on July 23. Both JobKeeper and JobSeeker’s coronavirus supplement are due to end in September.
“There will be a further phase of how we continue to provide support … I can assure people in industries or in businesses or parts of the country that are more affected by COVID than others, that where there is the need, then there will continue to be support,” the Prime Minister said on Friday.
“And so this is about tailoring a national program to provide support where the support is needed and because of what has happened in Victoria, obviously the need there will be far greater than was previously and that need will be met.”
READ MORE: $534m package for struggling Vic businesses
Amos Aikman 11.32am: US marine tests positive for virus in the NT
A United States Marine who arrived on a training deployment to the Northern Territory has tested positive for COVID-19.
Sources confirmed that Health Minister Natasha Fyles would announce the new diagnosis on Friday morning. It is understood the Marine arrived in Australia on 8 July and that health authorities believe the risk to the community is low.
The Territory, which had successfully eradicated the virus, last week announced its first new case since early April. That infection was in an overseas traveller who spent time in one of Melbourne’s virus hot spots after completing quarantine.
READ MORE: Spending cuts, debt to plug a $7bn hole
Adeshola Ore 11.20am: 14 new coronavirus cases emerge in NSW
An Albury man in his thirties has tested positive to coronavirus, after two cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the border town on Thursday.
NSW Health said the new case was linked to two cases in the town announced earlier this week.
14 new cases of #COVID19 have been diagnosed in NSW between 8pm on 8 July and 8pm on 9 July.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 10, 2020
13 of the new cases are returned travellers in hotel quarantine. The remaining case was from Albury & is linked to the two positive cases announced this week in Albury. pic.twitter.com/1IMjuF9CWN
The state recorded fourteen cases of the virus overnight, with thirteen from returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
The national cabinet is meeting today to consider a proposal from Prime Minister Scott Morrison to cap international arrivals to Australia to ease the pressure on the country’s hotel quarantine system.
NSW has carried out more than one million coronavirus tests since the beginning of the pandemic. But Health Minister Brad Hazzard said maintaining a high testing rate was critical to identify new cases.
“While this is a fantastic response from the community, we must keep up the fight against COVID-19 and not allow complacency to set in,” he said in a statement.
The state has recorded 3,278 confirmed cases of the virus and 51 deaths.
READ MORE: Pandemic delivers extra blow
Rachel Baxendale 10.52pm: Second lockdown ‘will have devastating economic impact’
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas has announced an additional $534 million business support package, acknowledging that the state’s second coronavirus lockdown will have a “devastating impact” on its economy.
The new money adds to $6bn in economic relief already invested since the pandemic began.
The latest measures include cash grants of up to $5,000 for more than 80,000 eligible businesses, mental health support for business owners, relief for tourism operators who can no longer welcome Melbourne-based visitors for holidays and tailored and targeted advice for businesses to adapt and stay afloat when the lockdown ends.
The $5,000 grant will apply to all areas under Stage Three stay-at-home restriction.
“I want to be clear that the government apologises to Victorians,” Mr Pallas said.
“It isn’t where we want to be.
“This event will have a devastating impact on our economy and on thousands of Victorian businesses.”
Another $30m will be set aside for the hardest hit hospitality businesses, with $26m for mental health support.
The Andrews government will also establish a $10m business mentoring program, pairing small business owners with professionals to help them navigate the crisis.
There will also be a $40m capped fund for regional tourism businesses to cover the costs of refunds, as well as marketing campaigns to boost region-to-region visitation while Melbourne is locked down.
Eligible operators will be able to claim up to $225 per night for up to five nights for every room cancelled due to the return of Stage Three restrictions, provided they refund the booking in full.
A CBD business support fund will be established with $20m.
Businesses will also benefit from an extended and expanded payroll tax deferral, with eligible businesses with payrolls up to $10m able to defer their liabilities for the first half to the 2020-21 financial year.
READ MORE: Lockdown to trigger more loan distress
David Ross 10.37am: Melbourne Woolies shuts after worker tests positive
Woolworths has quickly shut its Werribee Plaza supermarket in Melbourne’s West after a worker there tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
The store was closed at 8pm for a deep clean and notices were put up around the store telling customers about the case.
The staff member was last at the Werribee Woolworths on Saturday, 4 July and reportedly did not show any symptoms at the time.
The staff member is now in self-isolation and the store will reopen today.
“We’re making contact with our Werribee Plaza team members and will provide our full support to those required to self-isolate in line with advice from the health authorities,” a spokeswoman said.
This case is the latest in several that have cropped up across the supermarket.
The Woolworths West Footscray Customer Fulfilment Centre, in Melbourne’s inner-west, which handles online deliveries has been closed for several days after a COVID-19 case was detected in a supervisor.
Up to 800 staff work at the Woolworths West Footscray site.
A staff member at Woolworths’ Balmain store in Sydney also tested positive to COVID-19 despite spending two weeks in self-isolation after returning to Australia from Bangladesh.
The man tested positive on July 1 after working two shifts at the Balmain store on June 27 and 28.
READ MORE: Why our fatality rate is the world’s lowest
Adeshola Ore 10.07am: Latham slams NSW-Vic border closure ‘torture’
NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham has slammed the closure of the NSW-Victorian border, saying it will cause huge economic damage for rural areas.
Residents of border towns are eligible to apply for permits to cross the state lines. But Mr Latham said the situation was “torture” for cross-border communities and the wider regional economy.
“What are the 650 police officers guarding against? Because Melbourne is now in lockdown and Melbourne has got 1200 Victorian police blockading the roads in and out of that city,’ he told 2GB radio on Friday morning.
“So if you can’t leave Melbourne what are our officers doing at the NSW border?”
“You can close everything down if you like forever, but I give you this guarantee. You’ll have many more deaths from the economic consequences of that closure than from the virus.”
On Thursday, NSW health authorities confirmed that three residents from the New South Wales border town of Albury have tested positive for COVID-19.
READ MORE: Is this the office of the future?
Greg Brown 9.57am: ACTU boss Sally McManus opposes tax cut for workers
ACTU secretary Sally McManus has signalled unions will oppose any move by Scott Morrison to fast-track tax cuts for workers and businesses in the October budget, declaring the revenue hit could hinder the government’s ability to support vulnerable people through the COVID-19 crisis.
Ms McManus has also declared the union movement would only consider throwing its support behind extending short-term changes to workplace laws — aimed at giving bosses flexibility to reduce workers’ hours and change their roles, rosters’ and location — if the JobKeeper scheme was extended in full beyond September.
Ms McManus wants the government to commit to a six-month extension of the full $1500 fortnightly payment for workers.
Lisa Allen 9.26am: Two major Victorian ski resorts shut for winter
The world’s largest ski operator Vail Resorts will close two of its three Australian ski operations due to the new Victorian restrictions caused by recent COVID-19 outbreaks.
The New York Stock Exchange-listed ski company late on Thursday advised it would suspend its ski lifting operations at the Victorian resorts of Falls Creek and Mount Hotham until at least August 19, consistent with the Victorian government’s stay-at-home directions.
Vail’s third Australian resort, NSW’s Perisher, was unaffected and would remain open, the company said.
Adeshola Ore 8.43am: 200 cars turned back from NSW-Victoria border
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller says 200 cars have been turned back from the NSW-Victorian border overnight.
“The police felt that they didn’t meet the criteria … We’re doing a great job with defence and other agencies,” he told 2GB radio on Friday morning.
Mr Fuller said traffic at the 55 border checkpoints between Victorian and NSW was flowing smoothly.
“We’re seeing a reduction in the number of cars crossing the border which is positive. There are no big lines now. Everyone has their permit and licence ready,” he said.
READ MORE: ACTU boss opposes tax cut for workers
Adeshola Ore 8.28am: NSW Liquor and Gaming to probe Sydney pub over photo
The NSW liquor and gaming regulator is investigating a Sydney pub photographed with hundreds of people queuing outside on Wednesday evening.
Photos of the Golden Sheaf in Double Bay show punters lining up in close proximity to one another.
Liquor and Gaming NSW said it would investigate claims up to 250 people breached social distancing rules.
NSW Police said they attended the venue and assisted security guards in restricting the number of people in the line. A walk-through deemed that the venue was compliant with the current health order.
The Solotel group’s chief executive said the venue would add additional security and staff to ensure the number of people in the line did not exceed 20.
READ MORE: Thinking outside the square
Adeshola Ore 7.51am: Victoria case surge ‘a national issue’: Qld Premier
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she is confident coronavirus cases will not seep into her state, as it prepares to open its borders at midday Friday.
“There is no community transmission in any other state of Territory and my Chief Health Officer has advised me it is safe for other people to come here, except from Victoria,” she told Channel 9 on Friday morning.
“We wish Victoria all the best. It’s a national issue. We’re all concerned about Victoria, but from a Queensland perspective, we’ve eased our stage three restrictions.”
Ms Palaszczuk said anyone with symptoms of the virus who visited Queensland would need to be tested.
Queensland Premier @AnnastaciaMP says visitors hoping to enter her state when the border opens at midday should 'expect long delays' as Police will be checking all travellers to ensure they have not been to Victoria in the last 14 days. pic.twitter.com/ihMO6IlZHm
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) July 9, 2020
“A lot of people want to come to the Sunshine State and we want to keep the Sunshine State exactly the way it has been and that is COVID-free.”
Ms Palaszczuk has urged Victorians to be patient, as the state prepares to open its border to all other jurisdictions.
“Please, Victoria be patient and your day will come and you will be allowed to come back here,” Ms Palaszczuk told the ABC.
“We know how much you love Queensland and I know there are a lot of families that are going to be separated during this time as well. It is going to be very difficult.”
Queensland’s border will reopen for all states and territories except Victoria, which began a six-week lockdown this week. Ms Palaszczuk said Queensland would stay shut to Victorians for “as long as it takes until the community transmission there is under control.”
Those wanting to travel into Queensland will be required to complete a border declaration form. NSW Police have warned people travelling into Queensland from NSW to expect lengthy delays and queues of up to 20 kilometres.
READ MORE: Refunds as Victorian ski fields close
Mackenzie Scott 7.37am: Queensland border to reopen to all states but Victoria
Queensland is bracing for an influx of travellers on Friday when the state border reopens, in a welcome move for the tourism industry, which is expecting a slow recovery as restrictions ease.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warned of long delays at the Tugun and Coolangatta border with Queensland’s noon opening to all but Victorian travellers.
The lifting of the border shutdown, first introduced on March 26, coincides with the final day of Queensland school holidays and final week of the school break in NSW and the ACT.
Tourism operators across the state have been preparing for weeks, with inquiries and bookings spiking after the date to reopen was announced by Ms Palaszczuk last week.
Some Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast hotels are booked out, while Great Barrier Reef tours have restarted in far north Queensland.
Yet it is not business as usual, with Cairns operators reporting they were operating at about 30 per cent of average demand after intrastate restrictions were lifted early last month.
READ MORE: Holiday home rush to beat lockdown
Adeshola Ore 6.58am: ‘Honest evaluation’ of COVID-19 handling: WHO
The World Health Organisation has vowed to conduct an “honest evaluation” of how the COVID-19 was handled on a global scale. On Thursday, the organisation announced it would set up an independent panel to investigate government’s response to the pandemic.
“The magnitude of this pandemic, which has touched virtually everyone in the world, clearly deserves a commensurate evaluation, an honest evaluation,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
It follows criticism by US President Donald Trump of the global agency’s role in the crisis.
Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will head the panel. They will provide an interim report to an annual meeting of health ministers in November and a final report in May 2021.
Record-breaking coronavirus cases and deaths in a number of US deaths have dulled hopes of economic recovery. More than 60,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Wednesday – the single greatest increase by any country since the pandemic began. Deaths also rose by more than 900 for the second day in a row.
On Thursday, Florida announced nearly 9,000 new COVID-19 cases and 120 deaths – a record daily increase in lives lost. California and Texas also announced record death numbers on Wednesday.
Russia reported 6,509 new cases of the virus on Thursday, pushing its nationwide tally to 707,301 – the fourth largest in the world. The national COVID-19 task force said 176 people have died in the past twenty-four hours.
Globally, more than 12 million people have been infected with the virus and more than 548,000 people have died.
READ MORE: Closed borders reignite fire agony
Rebecca Urban 6.26am: Parent backlash at school rules near hot spots
Schools just outside Melbourne’s coronavirus lockdown zone are facing a backlash from parents concerned about their children attending school with staff and students from hotspot suburbs.
Dozens of regional schools in proximity to the city — some with campuses on either side of the divide — are grappling with how to handle the latest restrictions, which include a likely return to remote learning for more than 1300 metropolitan schools for term three.
One principal described the situation as “diabolical”.
Max Maddison 6.10am: Anti-vax wrongs ‘must be urgently addressed’
A rise of “anti-vaxxer” sentiment in Australia risks derailing the rollout of any eventual COVID-19 vaccines, with public health experts calling for a mass education campaign to battle widespread misinformation.
Mater Hospital Infectious Diseases director Paul Griffin, who is leading global efforts to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, said the dissemination of misinformation across social media and other channels needed to be urgently addressed.
“It’s one thing to develop a vaccine, but if there’s not sufficient uptake then the vaccine — and all the work and all the billions of dollars that have gone into developing a vaccine — may be for next to nothing if there’s not sufficient concern,” Dr Griffin told The Australian.
“So I think it’s of enormous concern and something that we shouldn’t be having to think about, but we are already having to talk about a lot already.”
While a vaccine is still months away from being developed, Dr Griffin said the return to “normality” required “effective coverage”, meaning between 60 and 80 per cent of the population needed to be vaccinated for it to work.
Yoni Bashan 6.00 am: Victoria took virus tracing rules shortcut
Victorian health officials did not adhere to national guidelines for COVID-19 contact tracing that specify close contacts should be followed up daily for flu-like symptoms, a breakdown that led to surging transmission rates of the virus requiring a lockdown of metropolitan Melbourne.
The deficiency has been identified by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee as one of several “areas of improvement” in their assessment of what happened in Victoria.
The AHPPC, an independent agency, has provided advice and recommendations to Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services over its handling of the pandemic’s second wave.
“Every case, every day, must be followed,” said a senior health official familiar with the matter.
“It is the national standard. We have highlighted the areas of improvement through the AHPPC.”
Richard Gluyas 5.50am: Australia’s CEOs holed up in Melbourne
A group of the nation’s globetrotting chief executives are locked in a COVID-19 vice in Melbourne, unable to travel domestically or drop in on their substantial businesses offshore.
At the beginning of 2020, the likes of BHP chief executive Mike Henry, ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott, National Australia Bank boss Ross McEwan, and Telstra chief Andy Penn would never have contemplated carrying out their duties almost exclusively from Melbourne.
It’s affecting them in different ways, and there’s a substantial reliance on technology such as the ubiquitous Zoom meeting.
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