This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2020/jul/28/coronavirus-australia-victoria-aged-care-outbreak-melbourne-sydney-nsw-qld-andrews-berejiklian-morrison-latest-updates
The article has changed 23 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Coronavirus Australia live update: fears over scale of Victoria's aged care outbreak – latest news | Coronavirus Australia live update: fears over scale of Victoria's aged care outbreak – latest news |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| State government announces paid pandemic leave scheme after casual staff linked to 683 active Covid-19 cases in nursing homes, while in Sydney three more venues are closed. Follow live | State government announces paid pandemic leave scheme after casual staff linked to 683 active Covid-19 cases in nursing homes, while in Sydney three more venues are closed. Follow live |
| Thirty-nine percent of Australians expect tighter restrictions will be imposed in their local area due to the second wave of Covid-19, a poll conducted for Guardian Australia by Essential has found. | |
| The survey of 1,058 people also found that a third of respondents thought the mandatory quarantine requirements for overseas travellers would remain in place for two years, up from 22% in the same survey question last month. | |
| Just over a quarter of respondents (26%) said they feared a population-wide resistance to the virus will never be achieved. | |
| But the outbreak in Victoria has not dented premier Daniel Andrews’ approval rating, which remains steady at 53%. | |
| More details here: | |
| South Australia will follow Queensland and NSW in introducing a restricted border bubble to allow cross-border residents from Victoria into the state. | |
| From midnight tonight, people living along the South Australian – Victorian border will be able to apply for a cross-border permit to cross back and forth, but only if they live within 40km of the border. | |
| Permits will also only be issued to people who need to cross the border for employment or education, providing or receiving care or support, or obtaining food, fuel, supplies or medical care. | |
| A Victorian with a cross border permit must not travel more than 40km into SA, and a South Australian with a cross border permit who travels more than 40km into Victoria will be required to quarantine for 14-days upon their return. | |
| It’s not quite clear what that means for South Australians living in border communities like Renmark, where Mildura, about 140km away in Victoria, is the closest big town for hospital services and speciality shops. | |
| In a statement, SA Police said: | |
| The full border directions and frequently asked questions are here | |
| The aged care regulator is investigating St Basil’s home for the aged in Fawkner, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. | The aged care regulator is investigating St Basil’s home for the aged in Fawkner, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. |
| More from AAP: | More from AAP: |
| The Australian Council of Trade Unions says the Fair Work Commission’s decision to offer paid pandemic leave to aged care workers should be extended to all workers. | |
| Its secretary, Sally McManus, said: | |
| The South Australian senator Rex Patrick says parliament should consider introducing mandatory quarantine for MPs to attend sitting days. He previously called for MPs to have their wages docked $1,000 for every cancelled sitting day that is not rescheduled. | |
| Patrick said: | Patrick said: |
| Patrick said if the choice was mandatory quarantine or cancelling another session of parliament, quarantine should be the choice. 2020 already has fewer parliamentary sitting days than any of the previous 10 years, even without any further scheduled sittings being cancelled. | |
| The delivery platform DoorDash has signed an agreement with the Transport Workers’ Union on Covid-19 protections for delivery riders and drivers. | |
| From the TWU’s statement: | From the TWU’s statement: |
| The union’s national secretary, Michael Kaine, said: | |
| Igor Perino, who delivers for DoorDash in Sydney and is a member of the union’s delivery riders alliance, said delivery drivers and riders were mostly having to source their own masks, gloves and hand sanitiser and the new agreement would mean these were supplied. | |
| South Australian residents will be barred from returning to their home state from midnight tonight unless exceptional circumstances apply. The premier, Steven Marshall, told the ABC this morning that the tighter border restrictions were in place to protect SA residents. | |
| Victoria has now recorded more new cases in one day – 532 – than SA recorded in total since 1 January, which is 447. Marshall said: | |
| He said there “could be some minor exceptions for compassionate reasons” but that he had given “plenty of notice” that the border was closing. He would not say when the border restrictions might lift. | |
| The SA border is open to Tasmania, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland and “soft” with the ACT and NSW, which means people are allowed in with a 14-day quarantine. | |
| Scott Morrison will speak to the media about 10am today. | |
| (There’s a media call then a walk through a business before the doorstop, so don’t hold me to that time.) | (There’s a media call then a walk through a business before the doorstop, so don’t hold me to that time.) |
| In other health news, Labor is warning that people living in regional and remote areas could face barriers to having heart disease diagnosed, under a change to the Medicare benefits scheme which means that GPs will not be access the Medicare rebate to carry out a basic heart test. | |
| From 1 August, GPs will not be able to access the $19 rebate for interpreting an electrocardiography test. Instead, the rebate will only be available to specialists and cardiologists. | |
| Labor’s health spokesman, Chris Bowen, wrote to the health minister, Greg Hunt, last week asking him to “reconsider the changes as a matter of urgency”. In a letter published by the ABC, he says the change could increase out-of-pocket costs for people or require GPs to refer patients to a specialist to have their results interpreted – both of which, he said, could particularly impact patients in rural and regional areas, where rates of heart disease are particularly high. | |
| Asked on ABC News Breakfast this morning if he would reconsider the change, Hunt said: | |
| So, no. | So, no. |
| NSW Health late yesterday issued a number of warnings about restaurants in Sydney’s inner suburbs and south-west. | |
| Everyone who attended the Apollo restaurant at Potts Point from Thursday 23 July to Saturday 25 July, has been asked to immediately self-quarantine for 14 days and get a Covid-19 test if they have symptoms. A staff member has tested positive. | |
| Anyone who lives around the Potts Point area, or has visited it in the past 14 days, has also been told to get a Covid-19 test if they experience any possible symptoms, which includes respiratory symptoms, however mild, or a headache, however mild. | Anyone who lives around the Potts Point area, or has visited it in the past 14 days, has also been told to get a Covid-19 test if they experience any possible symptoms, which includes respiratory symptoms, however mild, or a headache, however mild. |
| Everyone who attended or worked at the Mounties hotel in Mount Pritchard between midnight and 3am on Thursday 23 July, between 11am to 3pm then 8pm to midnight on Friday 24 July, and between midnight and 3am on Saturday 25 July has been asked to immediately self-quarantine for 14 days and get a test if they have any symptoms. | |
| Everyone who attended the bistro of Pritchard’s hotel in Mount Pritchard between 7pm and 7.45pm on Thursday 23 July has also been advised to monitor themselves for symptoms and get tested should any develop. | |
| A full list of testing clinics in NSW, including local pop-up clinics, can be found here. | A full list of testing clinics in NSW, including local pop-up clinics, can be found here. |
| I wanted to give you a little bit more detail about that $150m announcement on accommodation for people sleeping rough in Melbourne. | I wanted to give you a little bit more detail about that $150m announcement on accommodation for people sleeping rough in Melbourne. |
| As mentioned, the funding will extend the current hotel accommodation scheme for 2,000 rough sleepers, which started when the pandemic began in March, until April 2021. Again, in Victoria homeless people were asked to contribute to the cost of that accommodation, while in other states they were not. | As mentioned, the funding will extend the current hotel accommodation scheme for 2,000 rough sleepers, which started when the pandemic began in March, until April 2021. Again, in Victoria homeless people were asked to contribute to the cost of that accommodation, while in other states they were not. |
| In the meantime, the Victorian government said it will arrange to lease 1,100 properties from the private rental market to provide a “permanent home for people once they leave emergency accommodation”. | In the meantime, the Victorian government said it will arrange to lease 1,100 properties from the private rental market to provide a “permanent home for people once they leave emergency accommodation”. |
| At the same time, the first 1,000 new social housing units promised by the Andrews government several years ago are coming online now, and homeless people will also be moved into those units. | At the same time, the first 1,000 new social housing units promised by the Andrews government several years ago are coming online now, and homeless people will also be moved into those units. |
| Each person moved into a home will be given a tailored support package, including mental health support, drug and alcohol support, and family violence support, and the government said it would provide support to help people “sustain a tenancy” including helping with a bond and initial rent payments. | Each person moved into a home will be given a tailored support package, including mental health support, drug and alcohol support, and family violence support, and the government said it would provide support to help people “sustain a tenancy” including helping with a bond and initial rent payments. |
| The foreign minister, Marise Payne, and the defence minister, Linda Reynolds, are in Washington DC today ahead of an Australian-US ministerial consultations (Ausmin) meeting, which will take place on Tuesday (or tomorrow US time). | The foreign minister, Marise Payne, and the defence minister, Linda Reynolds, are in Washington DC today ahead of an Australian-US ministerial consultations (Ausmin) meeting, which will take place on Tuesday (or tomorrow US time). |
| Payne told the ABC’s AM program that it was important these talks still took place in person. | Payne told the ABC’s AM program that it was important these talks still took place in person. |
| That was particularly the case for this meeting, given the global challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic and the “strategic challenges” posed by China, she said. | That was particularly the case for this meeting, given the global challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic and the “strategic challenges” posed by China, she said. |
| Payne said there were “a large range of issues for us to discuss”, with a focus on “further cooperation between our two countries on health security”. | Payne said there were “a large range of issues for us to discuss”, with a focus on “further cooperation between our two countries on health security”. |
| She said they were following Covid-19 safety procedures in all meetings and would quarantine for 14 days upon their return to Australia. | She said they were following Covid-19 safety procedures in all meetings and would quarantine for 14 days upon their return to Australia. |
| Good morning, | Good morning, |
| Aged care workers will be able to access paid pandemic leave from tomorrow, in an effort to ensure that people do not come to work with mild Covid-19 symptoms. It follows a landmark decision by the full bench of the Fair Work Commission on Monday, which added the two-week leave paid leave entitlement for people working in residential aged care under the aged care award, the nurses award and the health professionals award. | Aged care workers will be able to access paid pandemic leave from tomorrow, in an effort to ensure that people do not come to work with mild Covid-19 symptoms. It follows a landmark decision by the full bench of the Fair Work Commission on Monday, which added the two-week leave paid leave entitlement for people working in residential aged care under the aged care award, the nurses award and the health professionals award. |
| The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has repeatedly said that the spread of Covid-19 in Melbourne is largely due to people going to work while sick or symptomatic. Australia recorded a record high number of cases yesterday, thanks to a huge 532 cases reported in Victoria. As of yesterday there were 683 active cases linked to aged care, including staff and residents. | The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has repeatedly said that the spread of Covid-19 in Melbourne is largely due to people going to work while sick or symptomatic. Australia recorded a record high number of cases yesterday, thanks to a huge 532 cases reported in Victoria. As of yesterday there were 683 active cases linked to aged care, including staff and residents. |
| Meanwhile, homeless people in Victoria will be able to stay in a hotel and off the streets until April. More than 2,000 people sleeping rough in Melbourne were moved into hotels when the pandemic was declared in March, to reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading among those vulnerable communities. This morning, $150m in funding was announced to extend that package while moving people into long-term low-cost private rentals. | Meanwhile, homeless people in Victoria will be able to stay in a hotel and off the streets until April. More than 2,000 people sleeping rough in Melbourne were moved into hotels when the pandemic was declared in March, to reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading among those vulnerable communities. This morning, $150m in funding was announced to extend that package while moving people into long-term low-cost private rentals. |
| Andrews said: | Andrews said: |
| In March we reported that homeless people in Melbourne had been asked to make “significant co-payments” to their hotel accommodation – we’re not sure if that will continue. | In March we reported that homeless people in Melbourne had been asked to make “significant co-payments” to their hotel accommodation – we’re not sure if that will continue. |
| In other news today, authorities in NSW have urged people not to attend the Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney today, after organisers lost an appeal yesterday to allow the march to go ahead. Organisers have said they will ensure people comply with Covid-19 restrictions in NSW, and wear face masks and socially distance. | In other news today, authorities in NSW have urged people not to attend the Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney today, after organisers lost an appeal yesterday to allow the march to go ahead. Organisers have said they will ensure people comply with Covid-19 restrictions in NSW, and wear face masks and socially distance. |
| Let’s crack on. You can follow me on Twitter @callapilla and email me at calla.wahlquist@theguardian.com. | Let’s crack on. You can follow me on Twitter @callapilla and email me at calla.wahlquist@theguardian.com. |