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Coronavirus Australia live update: Queensland imposes quarantine rule on two Sydney 'hotspots'
Coronavirus Australia live update: Queensland imposes quarantine rule on two Sydney 'hotspots'
(32 minutes later)
NSW to change rules for pubs with stricter requirements to take patrons’ details as Melbourne lockdown continues in Victoria. Follow live
NSW to change rules for pubs with stricter requirements to take patrons’ details as Melbourne lockdown continues in Victoria. Follow live
New Zealand’s new opposition leader, Todd Muller, who was only appointed to the role in May, has resigned.
Muller, 51, said:
AAP reports that his resignation comes after he was widely criticised for his handling of a scandal involving a junior National Party politician leaking private health details of coronavirus patients to the media.
New Zealand is due to go to a general election on 19 September.
Again, all your Palace Letters news can be found on a separate live blog here.
But the director-general of the national archives, David Fricker, is still speaking.
This could cause some difficulty for the league.
Albert, the two-year-old boy missing in Margaret River, has been found safe and well.
How good is good news?
With Queensland questioning the deterrent value of its public health fines, it’s worth pointing to this comparison by Nick Evershed.
Star Entertainment Group made a profit of $198m in 2018-19. Their fine for contravening NSW’s public health rules was $5,000.
The National Archives is holding a press conference ahead of the release of the Palace Letters at 11am. We have a liveblog just for Palace Letters nerdery, helmed by Naaman Zhou. You can follow that here.
TikTok appears to be lobbying Australian MPs, to assure them they are “not aligned with any government, political party or ideology”.
Labor’s Stephen Jones shared the letter he received.
The letter, from Lee Hunter, the general manager of TikTok Australia, says:
And I’m sorry, but this remains the case.
The Queensland health minister, Steven Miles, has announced that the state will increase its penalties for breaching public health orders to include a possible six months imprisonment.
The Queensland health minister, Steven Miles, has announced that the state will increase its penalties for breaching public health orders to include a possible six months imprisonment.
The maximum on-the-spot fine for breaching Queensland’s public health orders is the oddly specific amount of $4,003, but Miles said that for some, that did not appear to be a sufficient deterrent.
The maximum on-the-spot fine for breaching Queensland’s public health orders is the oddly specific amount of $4,003, but Miles said that for some, that did not appear to be a sufficient deterrent.
He told reporters:
He told reporters:
Miles said health authorities were still waiting for the results of the tests of 18 Queenslanders who had been at the Crossroads hotel in Sydney during the at-risk period.
Miles said health authorities were still waiting for the results of the tests of 18 Queenslanders who had been at the Crossroads hotel in Sydney during the at-risk period.
Queensland’s chief health officer, Jeanette Young, also provided some more information about that decision to classify the local government areas of Liverpool and Campbelltown, in Sydney, as coronavirus hotspots.
Queensland’s chief health officer, Jeanette Young, also provided some more information about that decision to classify the local government areas of Liverpool and Campbelltown, in Sydney, as coronavirus hotspots.
The order will apply from midday today, and will mean that anyone who has been in either of those areas in the 14 days before attempting to enter Queensland, will have to self-quarantine for 14 days upon entering Queensland. That includes any Queensland residents who visit those areas.
The order will apply from midday today, and will mean that anyone who has been in either of those areas in the 14 days before attempting to enter Queensland, will have to self-quarantine for 14 days upon entering Queensland. That includes any Queensland residents who visit those areas.
Says Young:
Says Young:
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and chief health officer Brett Sutton will give a press conference at 11am.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and chief health officer Brett Sutton will give a press conference at 11am.
Pat Sparrow, the CEO of Aged and Community Services Australia, which represents non-profit aged care homes, says people who test positive to coronavirus in aged care should be moved to a hospital.
Pat Sparrow, the CEO of Aged and Community Services Australia, which represents non-profit aged care homes, says people who test positive to coronavirus in aged care should be moved to a hospital.
Sparrow, speaking to ABC News, said that was a lesson learned from the tragic Newmarch House outbreak.
Sparrow, speaking to ABC News, said that was a lesson learned from the tragic Newmarch House outbreak.
The Queensland government has declared two areas of southwest Sydney, in the area surrounding the Crossroads Hotel, to be coronavirus hotspots.
The Queensland government has declared two areas of southwest Sydney, in the area surrounding the Crossroads Hotel, to be coronavirus hotspots.
Anyone who has been in the local government areas of Campbelltown and Liverpool will be subject to quarantine requirements if they go into Queensland.
Anyone who has been in the local government areas of Campbelltown and Liverpool will be subject to quarantine requirements if they go into Queensland.
Queensland has reported no new cases of coronavirus overnight. There are still four active cases in the state.
Queensland has reported no new cases of coronavirus overnight. There are still four active cases in the state.
If you have completely given up on Q+A, you may have missed last night’s show with Julia Gillard, where she said she wished she had called out the sexism she experienced earlier in her term.
If you have completely given up on Q+A, you may have missed last night’s show with Julia Gillard, where she said she wished she had called out the sexism she experienced earlier in her term.
You can read a recap here but I wanted to share this quote:
You can read a recap here but I wanted to share this quote:
I was a baby journalist in regional Australia during Gillard’s prime ministership, and the strongest lesson I learned was not that women were capable or could lead, because that is self-evident to anyone who has met women and is not blinded by misogyny. It was that, for women in public life, appearance and presentation would always be given primacy over actual skills. That’s a terrible lesson. Let’s do better next time.
I was a baby journalist in regional Australia during Gillard’s prime ministership, and the strongest lesson I learned was not that women were capable or could lead, because that is self-evident to anyone who has met women and is not blinded by misogyny. It was that, for women in public life, appearance and presentation would always be given primacy over actual skills. That’s a terrible lesson. Let’s do better next time.
In other tragic news, eleven people have been taken to Royal Hobart Hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning.
In other tragic news, eleven people have been taken to Royal Hobart Hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning.
More from AAP:
More from AAP:
A reminder that you can follow our global coronavirus coverage here.
A reminder that you can follow our global coronavirus coverage here.
There has been another Aboriginal death in custody in Western Australia.
The 19-year-old man was found unresponsive in his unit at Perth’s privately-run Acacia Prison on Saturday and taken to hospital, where he died yesterday.
In a statement, Serco Australia, which runs the prison, said:
The death is being reported as a suicide. He is the second Aboriginal man to die in custody at Acacia in a month.
If you need help, the following crisis support services can be reached 24-hours a day: Lifeline 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78; Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
It is a national day of action for the campaign to raise the rate of jobseeker and youth allowance, past the return to pre-coronavirus payment levels of just $40 per day at the end of September.
Guardian Australia’s Greg Jericho wrote about the issue today.
The CEO of the Australian Council of Social Services, Cassandra Goldie, said:
People living on jobseeker and youth allowance have been asked to share their stories on social media at #RaiseTheRateForGood.
Poor little guy. Please do share if you’re in southwest WA.
In some good news, it turns out that your hatred of leaf-blowers (and by extension anyone wielding a leaf blower at the god-awful time of Before You Were Ready To Get Up) is shared by the Australian Medical Association.
In a submission to the Queensland government’s inquiry into its health response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the state branch of the AMA recommends the following:
Ceasing the non-essential leaf and dust blowing in parks and streets. Blowers re-suspend small particles which remain airborne exposing those nearby to the polluted air. In addition the excessive noise impacts on mental health, with increased concerns due to COVID 19;
Minimise other vehicle and equipment emissions;
Adopt the air quality standards advocated by the health experts. This would have targets that incorporate all air pollution and particulates including dust and bushfire smoke, “attributable to a natural event”.
There. You’re not being intolerant, you’re just concerned about the resuspension of small particles such as may increase air pollution and therefore exacerbate the risk of Covid-19. How eminently reasonable of you.
A $2m failure?
The Covidsafe app has been branded a “$2m failure” by Labor after it seemingly failed to identify any unknown close contacts in recent outbreaks in Victoria and New South Wales.
The Victorian Health Department has told Guardian Australia it has now downloaded data from the app from people who tested positive for coronavirus 285 times, but the state’s chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton said yesterday it hadn’t identified any additional contacts not already found through existing tracing methods.
Sutton said the app would be more useful in situations like the outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula, where you would be in contact with people you don’t know for more than 15 minutes, but state Labor MPs Jodi McKay and Anoulack Chanthivong who were at the venue in the period where infections have occurred said they haven’t been contacted.
The NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, said the app had not been the major feature of contact-tracing in the state.
Federal Labor’s health spokesman, Chris Bowen, told Nine News the app had “played no role in effectively finding anybody who’s been exposed to COVID-19. This is a $2m failure.”
Many of the ongoing issues with the app could be resolved by switching to the Apple and Google version of the app as the UK, Ireland and several other countries are now in the process of doing. Australia is reluctant, however, because it would mean users wouldn’t be forced to register their phone number, and Apple and Google would retain the power to deactivate the app if it was being used for non-contact tracing purposes.
Aged care minister Richard Colbeck says he is “very concerned” about the number of coronavirus outbreaks linked to aged care service providers in Melbourne. He was speaking on Radio National just now about a new order requiring people working in aged care in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire to wear masks.
There are 35 coronavirus outbreaks in aged care service providers in Melbourne. Of those, 29 are linked to residential aged care homes – but all but five are at this stage limited to staff, not residents. Four of those outbreaks predated last week, but the rest are new. The rest are in-home service providers.
Colbeck said:
The facility with the highest number of residents testing positive to Covid-19 is Menarock Life aged care home in Melbourne, where 31 residents and staff have tested positive. Some residents have been moved out of the facility to allow them to isolate. That’s because the facility has shared rooms and shared bathrooms, Colbeck says, so it’s impossible to isolate in the home.
Colbeck said:
He added:
Colbeck said the AHPPC’s order around wearing face masks in aged care was limited to Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire because that is where there is significant community transmission. But he said there was nothing stopping aged care providers from taking up that advice more broadly.
The president of the National Farmers Federation, Fiona Simson, will address the national press club today about a plan for agricultural manufacturing, which the NFF says will provide a boost to the Australian economy post-coronavirus.
More from AAP:
Jane Halton, who is leading the national review into the management of hotel quarantine, and who is also the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), says she will alert government immediately if she discovers any issues or failures.
Speaking to Radio National, Halton said:
Halton said she is not concerned about the use of private security guards in managing hotel quarantine per se, but is concerned about the adequacy of their training.
She says hotel quarantine has “served us well to date”, the infection breach in Victoria exempted, and that it is likely the program will be in place for some time.
Halton’s inquiry is separate to an inquiry instituted by the Victorian government, which will examine what went wrong to allow the coronavirus to escape from quarantine hotels. Her inquiry, she says, is prospective, and will be concerned with three issues: compliance with infection control protocols; management of active cases; and support for vulnerable people in quarantine.
The last is an area of particular concern to her, she told host Fran Kelly.
Halton said she was “excited but not ecstatic” about the start of human trials of the prospective vaccine developed by the University of Queensland. She said Helen Clark’s warning that it could take two to three years for a vaccine to be developed and produced at the necessary scale was “very realistic”.
The Kmart store in Casula, southwestern Sydney, near the Crossroads pub, will reopen today after being closed for deep cleaning because a staff member tested positive to Covid-19.
A Kmart spokesperson said.
Good morning,
Well, that did not last long. Pubs in New South Wales will be subject to tighter restrictions, for a given value of tight, after a special meeting of state cabinet last night. There will be a cap of 300 patrons allowed in any venue – remember venues still had to comply with the one person per four square metres rule – and group bookings will be reduced from 20 to 10.
The changes will be announced today, in response to the outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel, which is linked to 21 confirmed cases with potentially hundreds of close contacts. According to Nine newspapers, they will only apply to pubs – not to clubs or the Star Casino, which was fined $5,000 and had a case reported yesterday.
The source of the outbreak is yet to be confirmed, and the NSW chief public health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, says that authorities are considering the possibility that it originated with a truck driver on the Melbourne to Sydney run.
Among those who patronised Crossroads during the at-risk period, of 3 to 10 July, were guards at Sydney’s Villawood detention centre. They are now self-isolating, but refugee advocates are concerned they could already have exposed refugees to the virus.
In Victoria, Nine newspapers reports that public servants sent emails within 24 hours of the mandatory hotel quarantine program being implemented on 28 March, calling for a police presence on site and warning that private security companies were ill-equipped to manage the infection control risks.
And 57 police officers from Frankston police station are now in self-isolation following exposure to Covid-19.
And finally, happy Palace letters release day. More than 200 pieces of correspondence about the dismissal between the Queen, her private secretary, and the then governor-general, Sir John Kerr, will be publicly released today.
You can follow me on twitter at @callapilla and email me at calla.wahlquist@theguardian.com
