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Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria reports six deaths and 532 Covid-19 cases and NSW 17 new cases Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria reports six deaths and 532 Covid-19 cases and NSW 17 new cases
(32 minutes later)
Australia records highest daily one-day total of cases since start of pandemic, as Andrews announces 683 active cases linked to aged care in Victoria, and in Sydney the Thai Rock Wetherill Park cluster rises to 70. Follow latest updatesAustralia records highest daily one-day total of cases since start of pandemic, as Andrews announces 683 active cases linked to aged care in Victoria, and in Sydney the Thai Rock Wetherill Park cluster rises to 70. Follow latest updates
Sutton said it was a “huge challenge” for public health staff to monitor more than 4,000 active coronavirus cases.
Sutton said there was a lag in people presenting in intensive care, and he expected to see an increase in people in the ICU and needing ventilators the next few weeks.
Sutton said it can take longer in a second wave to contain the outbreak, but that modelling produced for the health department suggests that today could be the peak of cases in Victoria.
He said if the public is alarmed by the numbers, and “if that motivates you to do the right thing, please consider what the consequences are of our increase in daily numbers”.
He said a consequence of the increase in daily numbers would be more people in hospital, more in ICU, and more dead.
Sutton said there is “some stability” in the daily infection numbers in Victoria, and there are “some postcodes where there has either been plateauing or a decrease in daily numbers”.
Suburbs where that is happening include North Melbourne and Flemington, which Sutton said reflected the “intensive management of those cases in the towers and speaks to the fact that if you can support people to get tested, support them in their isolation and quarantine, then you can drive down numbers across entire postcodes”.
Conversely numbers in suburbs like Brimbank and greater Dandenong have increased.
Andrews said he will look at closing certain industries if the workplace transmission of coronavirus is not slowed.
But he said his health advisors have not recommend taking that step at this stage.
He was asked the question specifically with regards to meatworks.
He added:
As of last week 1,200 people in Victoria have applied for the $1,500 hardship payment available to people who test positive to Covid-19 and don’t have access to sick leave, but only 192 people had actually received that money.
Andrews agreed that was not acceptable, and said he had “asked for any and all resources that need to be deployed to get those payments made as quickly as possible”.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said that aged care residents are being moved out of aged care facilities and into hospital “when it is deemed clinically appropriate for their safety, for their care”.
Andrews said managing aged care was a “shared responsibility” between the state and federal government, and the private and not-for-profit and religious sectors.
On the issue of understaffing in aged care, he said “staffing matters are principally a matter for the federal government and the people who run those aged care facilities”.
But he said he would not comment on what was a federal government responsibility or a private responsibility and what was the responsibility of the state government, because he said that was unhelpful.
Sutton said he is not aware of any aged care facility that is short of PPE.Sutton said he is not aware of any aged care facility that is short of PPE.
He said a “significant number” of aged care workers have tested positive, “coming to hundreds now”.He said a “significant number” of aged care workers have tested positive, “coming to hundreds now”.
Back in Victoria, the chief health officer Brett Sutton said the majority of the 683 active cases linked to aged care outbreaks in Victoria are residents.Back in Victoria, the chief health officer Brett Sutton said the majority of the 683 active cases linked to aged care outbreaks in Victoria are residents.
He said the biggest outbreaks also included a number of staff who had tested positive.He said the biggest outbreaks also included a number of staff who had tested positive.
He said some cases had spread because of staff working casually at more than one aged care facility, which is why that had been curbed earlier this month.He said some cases had spread because of staff working casually at more than one aged care facility, which is why that had been curbed earlier this month.
New South Wales recorded 17 new cases of Covid-19 to 8pm last night.Of those, eight are international travellers in hotel quarantine. Another four are linked to the funeral gatherings cluster, three are household contacts of cases associated with Thai Rock Wetherill Park, and two are under investigation.There are now 70 cases linked to the cluster at Thai Rock Wetherill Park. The Crossroads Hotel cluster, which did not record any new cases yesterday, is at 56.New South Wales recorded 17 new cases of Covid-19 to 8pm last night.Of those, eight are international travellers in hotel quarantine. Another four are linked to the funeral gatherings cluster, three are household contacts of cases associated with Thai Rock Wetherill Park, and two are under investigation.There are now 70 cases linked to the cluster at Thai Rock Wetherill Park. The Crossroads Hotel cluster, which did not record any new cases yesterday, is at 56.
The chief health officer, Professor Brett Sutton, said Victoria was at a “very challenging stage” of the outbreak.The chief health officer, Professor Brett Sutton, said Victoria was at a “very challenging stage” of the outbreak.
That’s in part because those infected are, on average, younger and of working age, and infected at the workplace.That’s in part because those infected are, on average, younger and of working age, and infected at the workplace.
There are 84 cases connected to St Basil’s home for the aged in Fawkner, 82 at Estia aged care, 77 at Epping Gardens aged care in Epping, 62 in Menarock life aged care in Essendon, 53 at Glenndale aged care in Werribee, 57 in Kirk Bray presbyterian homes in Kilsyth and 50 in Estia aged care in Heidelberg.There are 84 cases connected to St Basil’s home for the aged in Fawkner, 82 at Estia aged care, 77 at Epping Gardens aged care in Epping, 62 in Menarock life aged care in Essendon, 53 at Glenndale aged care in Werribee, 57 in Kirk Bray presbyterian homes in Kilsyth and 50 in Estia aged care in Heidelberg.
Said Sutton:Said Sutton:
He urged aged care workers not to go to work when they have symptoms.He urged aged care workers not to go to work when they have symptoms.
Andrews said there were 150 additional on-site inspections by WorkSafe last week, particularly in high-risk worksites, and he would report on the findings of those inspections on compliance later.Andrews said there were 150 additional on-site inspections by WorkSafe last week, particularly in high-risk worksites, and he would report on the findings of those inspections on compliance later.
Andrews said he had been told that some people were concerned about getting tested because they thought that testing positive to the coronavirus would lead to discrimination against them.
He said that should not happen, and people should be “proud” to get tested because it showed they were helping the community.
Andrews said the lockdown in Melbourne will not end so long as people continue to go to work with Covid-19 symptoms.
He added:
Andrews said they continued to see people, including people in aged care, who were going to work when they were sick or had symptoms.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said there are now 245 people in hospital in Victoria with Covid-19, including 44 in intensive care.
The six people who have died in the past 24 hours are a woman in her 90s, a woman in her 80s, a man in his 80s, a woman in her 70s, a man in his 70s, and a man in his 50s.
Andrews said:
Victoria has recorded 532 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours and six more deaths.
That’s a new daily record for case numbers.
Morrison has announced a new set of members for a revamped National Covid-19 Coordination Commission, which will still be helmed by the former Fortescue Metals executive Nev Power.
The commission was established on 25 May to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on business and manage procurement and supply issues during the first round of shutdowns.
Today, Morrison said, he has re-established the commission as “an advisory board to myself as prime minister to work across the full spectrum of our jobmaker plan”.
Greg Combet and Catherine Tanna, the managing director of Energy Australia, have stood down as part of the new commission.
Former Bendigo Bank boss Mike Hearst, former Transurban CFO Samantha Hogg, agriculture and rural Australia expert Su McCluskey, Rolld restaurant chain founder Bao Hoang, former AWU national secretary Paul Howes, and Indigenous business expert Laura Berry are joining the commission.
Morrison said people in aged care who test positive to Covid-19 are being moved into hospital. It sounds, from what he just said, that everyone is being moved, but the federal aged care minister Richard Colbeck said earlier this morning that those moves were only happening on a case-by-case basis.
On PPE, Morrison said the federal government has put 1.5m masks into aged care facilities, but says that the responsibility for putting PPE in aged care is shared between the federal and state governments.
Morrison said the outbreak in aged care in Melbourne, which by Sunday had grown to 560 cases across 71 residential and non-residential aged care facilities, was a reminder that when community transmission increases, people living in aged care are at risk.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is speaking in Sydney about the joint coordination centre for the aged care response, which is being stood up today.
The federal opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, told 2SM radio this morning that Labor has some questions about the impact of the changes to the jobkeeper program, announced last week.
He said he was concerned that the brief window between outbreaks in Melbourne, and the window with lower restrictions in Sydney, would mean that some businesses would fail the income test because they had one month of stronger revenue.
The organisers of tomorrow’s Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney say they are still trying to “negotiate an alternative plan of gathering in the Domain” to allow the protest to go ahead.
The supreme court yesterday ruled in favour of a police application to prohibit the protest from going ahead.
In a Facebook post, organisers of the rally told supporters: