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Coronavirus Australia live update: Queensland closes border to Sydney as NSW records 19 new Covid-19 cases
Coronavirus Australia live news: Victoria premier Daniel Andrews provides update on Covid-19 cases as Queensland closes border to Sydney
(32 minutes later)
Queensland announces border closure to greater Sydney after two women who returned to Brisbane from Melbourne test positive. Almost 20% of aged care facilities in Victoria affected as crisis deepens. Follow live
Schools and aged care homes closed after two women who returned to Brisbane from Melbourne test positive. Almost 20% of aged care facilities in Victoria affected as crisis deepens. Follow live
Also before we go back to Canberra I wanted to let you know that the Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and health minister Jenny Mikakos will give the coronavirus update at 11.45am.
Andrews said he would provide numbers tomorrow around how many people have applied for the $300 hardship payment to get tested for Covid-19, and $1,500 payment if they test positive.
Back to NSW quickly, where premier Gladys Berejiklian is addressing the media and said she was given no prior notice of Queensland closing its border to greater Sydney, which the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk announced via tweet a short time ago.
He reemphasised that anyone with any symptoms should not go to work, and should self-isolate at home until they get tested and until they get that test result.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, was asked if the federal and Victorian government were playing a “blame game” over who was responsible for the Covid-19 crisis currently in aged care in Melbourne.
Andrews said there were now 804 cases connected to the aged care sector, both staff and residents, and 502 cases among healthcare workers.
Morrison said:
There are 4,849 active cases of Covid-19 now, 9,304 in total since 1 January, and 195 of the active cases are in regional areas.
However Morrison obliquely mentioned Andrews’s comment that he would not put his mother in some of the private aged care facilities in Melbourne, saying decisions about placing a loved one in aged care was very difficult.
Andrews said further regional health teams have been stood up to respond to the regional cases and conduct contact tracing.
Back to Canberra, Prof Brendan Murphy said the aged care facility of the biggest concern in Melbourne at the moment is Epping Gardens aged care in Epping, where the majority of the workforce had to go into quarantine and where the ADF moved in late last night.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is speaking now and says the state has recorded 295 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours and sadly, nine people have died.
He said two-thirds of the residents at St Basil’s home for the aged in Fawkner are now in hospital, that’s 64 residents, with the remaining 32 being cared for in the home.
The people who died were aged in their 60s to their 90s, and seven of the nine are connected to aged care.
He also disputed claims aged care residents had been turned away from hospital.
There are now 307 Victorians in hospital, 41 in intensive care.
NSW has recorded 19 new cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. Two of those cases are in hotel quarantine.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was speaking in Bundaberg a short time ago about her decision to extend hard border restrictions to all of greater Sydney.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says no one from greater Sydney will be allowed into Queensland from 1am on Saturday.
She said it was “extremely disappointing” that Queensland had recorded two new cases in the community from people who allegedly travelled from Victoria.
Murphy said there are outbreaks in 77 of the 465 residential aged care facilities in Melbourne.
We are standing by waiting to hear the Victorian coronavirus figures, which means we will be hearing from the chief health officer, Brett Sutton.
He says that given how widespread community transmission has been in Melbourne, “that, in some respects, shows just how well the others have done”.
And on that issue, can I just say to fans of the CHO... please do less.
Murphy said most of the 77 facilities only have “one or two small cases” and have been met with a “swift and prompt” public health response.
From AAP:
To date, 49 people in aged care in Victoria have died after testing positive to Covid-19.
The prices paid on consumer goods dropped by 1.9% in the June quarter, the largest fall in the 72-year history of the consumer price index.
Prof Brendan Murphy said the aged care sector could not protect against the virus coming into residential aged care facilities.
The result was mainly the result of free childcare and preschool policies in several states, as well as a 19.3% slide in the price of petrol.
Morrison said the outbreak in Melbourne was impacting the Australian economy.
“Excluding these three components, the CPI would have risen 0.1 per cent in the June quarter,” Australian Bureau of Statistics chief economist Bruce Hockman said.
He said restaurant bookings and employment figures in other states were down due to the Victorian outbreak.
Asked why that was taking so long, Murphy said:
Morrison said he wanted to thank the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, for working together on the response. There’s been some sniping between the Victorian and federal government over whose fault this aged care crisis is (the answer is it’s both their fault).
Prof Brendan Murphy said the report on the outbreak at Newmarch aged care centre has not been completed yet, and the report on the Dorothy Henderson Lodge is currently before the royal commission into aged care.
He says:
Morrison was also asked about his senior aid, Nico Louw, who is in self-isolation after being exposed to Covid-19 at Sydney’s Apollo restaurant.
Morrison said the first Ausmat team will arrive in Victoria tomorrow, and five teams would be stood up there “within a reasonable period of time”.
Ausmat teams have seven members, and are usually used in Australia’s humanitarian response to disasters overseas.
He also said that 150,000 aged care workers had now completed an online training module on infection control, through a refresher course issued by the new Victorian Aged Care Response Centre which was set up in Melbourne this weekend.
The aged care minister, Richard Colbeck, has been taking the lead on communicating with families, Morrison said.
Morrison:
Morrison:
Morrison said there had been the “immediate isolation of entire workforces in these places,” where there had been widespread infection among staff.
My colleague Paul Karp asked for more detail on the conversations around paid pandemic leave, and asks why those conversations were only happening now when unions have been calling for paid pandemic leave for months.
Morrison thanked Victoria for suspending non-urgent elective surgery to free up hospital capacity for aged care residents to be moved to hospital, and for nurses to move in to aged care to supplement that workforce.
Morrison told Paul he had already answered that question earlier this week.
Morrison said Australia was now experiencing the same issues as every other country that has had “sustained community transmission,” as there was now in Victoria.
Morrison said Covid-19 had got into aged care facilities through workers, who were infected in the community, and the focus now was to protect against workplace transmission.
There are 430 aged care facilities in Melbourne, he said.
Morrison said the situation in aged care in Victoria was “very distressing”.
Prime minister Scott Morrison is speaking in Canberra about the aged care situation in Victoria.
He is alongside the former chief medical officer, Prof Brendan Murphy, who is now the secretary of the federal health department and therefore has oversight of aged care matters.
The Queensland chief health officer, Dr Jeanette Young, said the state has already closed its border to anyone from Victoria, and would not say if border restrictions would be tightened in response to this latest case.
It’s the first time a Covid-19 case has been detected outside of quarantine in Queensland since May.
Young said Queensland still does not have community transmission.
