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Coronavirus Australia updates: Victoria reports 73 new Covid-19 cases as NSW refuses to accept diverted flights – live news Coronavirus Australia updates: Victoria reports 73 new Covid-19 cases as NSW refuses to accept diverted flights – live news
(32 minutes later)
Residents of 10 postcodes in Melbourne’s north and west have been ordered to stay home from midnight tonight. Follow liveResidents of 10 postcodes in Melbourne’s north and west have been ordered to stay home from midnight tonight. Follow live
Kelly says there has clearly been a failure of the hotel quarantine system in Victoria, and “we absolutely need to learn the lessons of that”, but says that will wait for the judicial review which Daniel Andrews announced yesterday.
Kelly repeats that he does not believe that state borders are the way to control the spread of the virus, but says he respects the decisions of premiers and state health departments.
Kelly also gave us an update on the national numbers.
There were 87 new Covid-19 cases recorded yesterday. That’s 73 in Victoria, mainly local transmission, and 14 in NSW, all from hotel quarantine.
The current Australian total is 7,920.
We’ve also passed a testing milestone: more than 2.5m Covid-19 tests have now been performed in Australia.
Deputy national chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, has praised the lockdown of 10 postcodes in northern Melbourne as an “innovative and proportionate solution” to control the outbreak.
He again compares it to the tactics used to control the Burnie hospital outbreak in Tasmania. That was slightly different, he says, because it was an isolated rural setting — it’s much easier to cut off northwest Tasmania than it is to cut off a handful of postcodes in metropolitan Melbourne.
But he says the same lessons apply.
Those three weapons are: test, trace, and isolate.
Melbourne is doing all three, he says.
The Victorian health department has released more details about some of the 73 new cases of Covid-19 recorded overnight.
Nine of those cases are linked to known outbreaks, but the remaining 64 are not.
Some of those new cases are:
Three new positive cases are linked to cases associated with Hugo Boss in Collins Street, Melbourne. The store has been cleaned and further contact tracing is under way.
A healthcare worker at the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital has tested positive. Appropriate cleaning and contact tracing are under way.
A healthcare worker at Epworth has tested positive. The department is working with Epworth to ensure all close contacts are identified.
A staff member at SBS Radio has tested positive. The staff member attended work while infectious. Contact tracing is under way and close contacts will be required to quarantine.
Students at three new schools have tested positive: Hoppers Crossing Secondary School, Creekside College in Caroline Springs and Aitken Creek Primary in Craigieburn. A staff member has tested positive at Westbreen Primary School in Pascoe Vale. Cleaning of relevant classrooms and common areas at all schools will be undertaken and contact tracing is under way.
Two positive cases have been identified at the Maple Early Learning Centre in Mernda. The centre will close for cleaning and contact tracing is under way.
If you live apart from your partner, and one (or both!) of you live within a restricted postcode, you can still see each other and visit each other at home.
But while you’re in a restricted postcode, you can’t leave your home (or their home) unless it’s for one of the four listed reasons.
So: yes, you can hang out at home, go grocery shopping together, or exercise together.
No: you can’t have a picnic or go to a restaurant, because that’s not one of the four listed reasons (and restaurants within restricted postcodes will be closed).
Sadly for people living in these areas, you carry the restrictions with you. So if you live in Brunswick West, you can’t walk to Brunswick and suddenly cast off the shackles of stage 3 restrictions to have brunch.
No, I don’t really understand how this will be policed either. There is a heavy reliance on people doing the right thing.
Daniel Andrews has warned that if people do not do the right thing, the next step will be to lock down the whole city. No brunch for anyone.
The Victorian government has released a bit more detail about the restrictions which are in place over the 10 postcodes of concern, and also what that means for everyone else in Victoria.
If you do not live in one of the 10 postcodes rattled off by the premier yesterday (and listed here) you are being asked to use “common sense” when it comes to visiting friends and family, remembering that the five-person limit for houseguests remains in place until at least 12 July.
You can find more detail on the current rules for all Australian jurisdictions here:
Shopping centres and outdoor markets in Victoria are expected to keep crowds to one person per four square metres.
You can visit a “restricted postcode” for four reasons only: shopping for food and supplies; care and caregiving; exercise; and study or work, if you can’t do it from home.
You can travel though those postcodes but are advised not to stop unless it’s for one of the four listed reasons.
Thanks to the wonderful Amy. I’ve got some more details about the Victorian lockdown, which I’ll go through quickly before Prof Paul Kelly stands up in 20 minutes or so.Thanks to the wonderful Amy. I’ve got some more details about the Victorian lockdown, which I’ll go through quickly before Prof Paul Kelly stands up in 20 minutes or so.
Calla Wahlquist will take you through the next few hours.Calla Wahlquist will take you through the next few hours.
You have a national update coming from Prof Paul Kelly at 3.30pm and we are hoping to have more answers on the localised lockdowns.You have a national update coming from Prof Paul Kelly at 3.30pm and we are hoping to have more answers on the localised lockdowns.
You can catch me, as always, here and here – I do my best to get back to messages on the same day, but it can take some time to find out all the information to answer your questions, so I apologise if there is a delay.You can catch me, as always, here and here – I do my best to get back to messages on the same day, but it can take some time to find out all the information to answer your questions, so I apologise if there is a delay.
I’ll be back tomorrow morning. As always, please, take care of you.I’ll be back tomorrow morning. As always, please, take care of you.
For those who want to read the prime minister’s entire speech on the new defence plan, it will be posted here.For those who want to read the prime minister’s entire speech on the new defence plan, it will be posted here.
(Sidenote, they have recently changed the header photo on the PM’s media centre. That’s....a lot of men)(Sidenote, they have recently changed the header photo on the PM’s media centre. That’s....a lot of men)
The ABC just ran part of the bushfire royal commission, where commissioner Annabelle Bennett absolutely gave it to Anthony Clark, the communications director for the New South Wales rural fire service, over the news a uniform alert system for the nation was not due to be implemented until 2022.
The lack of uniformity caused issues over the summer, when the bushfires crossed state lines. Not everyone has the same ‘watch and act’ alerts, and while the fires crossed over into other jurisdictions, the maps sort of just ended.
Dr Bennett was not happy:
To be fair, it has been a little more difficult for the eastern states to close their borders, given the amount of travel between those states, and the fact that for the most part, there isn’t a giant desert in the way of travellers.
Western Australia is staying closed to the world, and the rest of Australia, for the foreseeable future.
And Mark McGowan says any interstate footballers who play in the WA sport hub, who breach the rules – will be kicked out too.
Brad Hazard says any New South Wales resident who chooses to travel to a Melbourne hotspot (or Victoria, really, from how he was speaking) they will have to go into isolation for two weeks:
You can trace the daily Covid cases in Australia, here.
Nick Evershed updates it as the official case numbers come in.
We are still waiting on the detail on how the localised lockdowns in Victoria will work.
We know you have questions – we are doing what we can to find out as much as we can for you.
AAP has gathered the coverage from local mayors in Victorian hotspots:
Maribyrnong city council is among the hotspots and the mayor, Sarah Carter, said reports of people refusing to be tested in the current blitz are frustrating.
“It makes me feel incredibly angry,” she told the Channel Nine on Wednesday.
“I just think it’s the height of entitlement to be honest, not to take the test, and I would urge everyone in our community, when asked, to take that test.”
The mayor said she was hopeful people would come together to support one another.
“This is our community, it is our local economy, they’re local mums and dads running these small businesses and they have done it so bloody tough,” Carter said.
Carly Moore is the mayor of Hume, which covers some of the outer north-west suburbs that will be locked down again.
She said she was devastated, particularly for local businesses, when she learned level three restrictions were being applied again.
“It’s been a tough time for our community, we were starting to see some signs of hope, we were starting to get really optimistic about what the future might look like, and realistically, we’re right back to square one,” she told reporters.
Moore was also angered by people refusing tests.
“Everybody needs to do their bit,” she said.
“There’s no reason why everybody in our community can’t pull their weight and get the test.”
It has been pointed out by a few readers that Jetstar has resumed daily flights between Melbourne and Ballina, near Byron Bay in northern NSW, just over the Queensland border.
This, of course, has raised some eyebrows, given the travel directions – the lockdown will be in place in northern Melbourne suburbs from midnight, and NSW has directed tourism operators to reject anyone from a hotspot area. On top of that, there are fines of up to $11,000 or six months in jail for anyone caught flouting the rules.
Australian Border Force is in charge of working out where the flights land.
(as is normal)
I’ve just had a look at the rest of Brad Hazzard’s press conference – NSW is refusing to take the extra international flights being diverted from Melbourne.
So the ACT and Brisbane will be getting a few more flights.