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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Calla Wahlquist (now) and Amy Remeikis (earlier)

Positive Australian Covid-19 cases rise to 2,793 and states eye tighter restrictions – as it happened

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Where things stand tonight

We will leave our Australian coverage there for the night. You can follow our rolling global coverage here, and read a summary of the main news in Australia here.

To recap:

  • A second man has died from Covid-19 in Western Australia, bringing the number of deaths from the disease in Australia to 13. The man was in his 70s and had been travelling on a cruise ship, although we understand it was not the Ruby Princess.
  • Three other people, all in their 70s, died of Covid-19 in Victoria in the past 24-hours.
  • A quarter of all coronavirus cases in WA are people who have been on cruise ships, the WA government says, as it refuses to let people from two waiting cruise ships to disembark in mainland WA.
  • NSW has also banned people from disembarking from cruise ships, after the Ruby Princess disaster.
  • Prime minister Scott Morrison will attend a virtual meeting of the G20 tonight to ensure global supply chains remain open despite the coronavirus.
  • The Queensland parliament has been suspended until 28 April. The Australian and Tasmanian parliaments have both been suspended to August.
  • The Real Estate Institute of Australia supports calls for a six-month ban on evictions. The Shopping Centre Council of Australia has called on owners not to evict retail tenants for non-payment of rent.
  • Standard & Poor’s has cut Virgin Australia’s credit rating from B- to CCC.
  • A new requirement for temperature checks has caused queues and crowding at Sydney airport.
  • As of 3pm today, Australia had 2,799 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and had conducted 178,000 tests.

Take care, stay home if you’re able, and we will see you in the morning.

The head beekeeper of the Australian Parliament, Cormac Farrell, has farewelled his bees as access to parliament is restricted to essential staff.

If Farrell can socially distance from his bees, you can follow social distance guidelines too.

Deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly was also asked on 7.30 about crowds and queues at Sydney Airport after NSW health ordered all incoming international passengers to be screened with temperature checks.

He replied:

One is the numbers of people returning from overseas are decreasing quite rapidly but there’s still several thousand people every day. It’s interesting that you would say that people were concerned about being held up for temperature tester. A few days ago we were being criticised for not testing enough at the airport ...

That’s one of the reasons why we’ve gone to the 14 days of self-isolation. That means staying at home, because the airports are not set up for this sort of thing. We’re testing where we can. We’re trying to identify people that are sick so they can be tested early.

But the general principle, if you’re returning from overseas, we’re assuming the whole of the world is worse off than Australia and for most of the world that is the case, and we’re asking people to isolate at home, to self-monitor and that will be checked, Leigh. All states and territories are really ramping up their checking and enforcement of that home quarantine.

Updated

The Northern Territory government issued this warning earlier today to residents of remote Indigenous communities about travel restrictions, which kick in at midnight.

It reads:

If you do not return to community by midnight tonight, you will not be able to go home for a long time.

Restrictions on travel to communities starts at midnight tonight, 11.59pm Thursday 26 March 2020.

This is to protect you and your community from the coronavirus. The safest place for you is in your community, homeland or outstation.

If you do not leave today you will have to self-quarantine (be alone, no contact with family) for 14 days. You will not be able to go back to community for a long time.

Tangentyere Council in Alice Springs was offering to pay for travel, buying bus tickets or petrol to help people get home.

Updated

The Shopping Centre Council of Australia has urged commercial landlords not to terminate retail leases for the non-payment of rent during the coronavirus crisis.

SCCA chairman Peter Allen said he had been told by the federal government that some shopping centre owners were not “engaging with the empathy that is required during these times”.

He said in a statement:

This is surprising, and if correct, very disappointing and frustrating to hear.

The SCCA asks members to ensure there are no lease terminations for non-payment of rent for small to medium-sized businesses as we work through this period.

It is vital that our industry, as a key part of the economy and our local communities, work collaboratively with government and our SME retailers to support their cashflow and jobs across the economy.

Updated

On the ABC’s 7.30 program, Australia’s deputy chief medical officer, professor Paul Kelly, said “millions of masks” were expected to arrive in Australia over the next few months.

Kelly said the focus of the testing regime in Australia remained people who had returned from overseas, and known contacts of confirmed cases, who were asked to self-isolate and monitor themselves for any symptoms.

Updated

Sam Page, the chief executive of Early Childhood Australia, says her sector is calling on the government to continue paying the childcare subsidy, at the rate of enrolment rates on 2 March, to tide over operators as parents no longer pay their contribution.

Page told Radio National:

Early childhood services understand that parents are confused and concerned and many are holding children back at home in the interim while we’re in the middle of this crisis ... The problem is that, legally, services can’t receive the childhood subsidy without also charging parents their contribution of the fee, unless they’re directed to close by health authorities...

Which means services are in the position of having families not attending but still being charged, so then they’re un-enrolling their children and withdrawing altogether from the service. The service receives no revenue and the educators and teachers are facing, we’re facing, nationwide job losses.

Casuals have already lost shifts, and permanent workers will be lost. Page said essential workers needed services to remain open, but others withdrawing their children were threatening their viability.

Page said the education department had promised work was going on behind the scenes to provide support, but noted that many centres had already closed, with more to close next week, if the government did not adopt the “quick fix” of continuing to pay the subsidy.

Updated

More than 300 Australians on the Costa Victoria cruise ship face a choice between staying onboard the potentially coronavirus-stricken vessel or disembarking in Italy, now the global centre of the virus outbreak.

International flights are being cancelled by airlines across the globe – Qantas is set to stop all international flights by the end of the month – meaning those who disembark in Italy could be stranded there for weeks if repatriation flights cannot be organised.

Many of the Australians on board the Costa Victoria are elderly, and some have underlying health issues, putting them in the highest risk category for a severe infection.

The Australian embassy in Rome has told passengers it is working with Costa Cruises “with a view to enabling you to return home to Australia as quickly as possible”, but did not provide any detail on what was planned for the group.

Updated

Queensland parliament has reportedly been suspended until 28 April, due to the coronavirus.

Federal parliament and the Tasmanian state parliament have already suspended until August.

Second death in WA was cruise ship passenger

The Western Australian Department of Health has confirmed that a man in his 70s died in a Perth hospital today after testing positive to Covid-19.

The department said:

A male in his 70s has passed away at Joondalup health campus after testing positive for Covid-19. The man was receiving care within an isolation room prior to his death. He was a cruise ship passenger.

Overnight, an additional 26 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed, bringing the state’s total to 231.

It is the 13th death connected to Covid-19 in Australia, and the second in Western Australia after the death of James Kwan, a 78-year-old WA resident and passenger of the Diamond Princess cruise ship who died on 2 March.

Three people in their 70s died in Victoria of Covid-19 in the past 24-hours.

Updated

Adrian Kelly, the Real Estate Institute of Australia president, has lent support to a six-month ban on evictions being rolled out in New South Wales and other states and territories, telling Radio National that “everybody needs somewhere to live to ride this out”.

He said:

We’re 100% supportive of federal and state governments’ efforts in ensuring everyone has somewhere to live. Housing is a massive industry and an economic driver for this country. There are 3m rental properties in Australia and they house 8 million Australians. With all the job losses we’re seeing, we need to house all these people, many of who will be unable to pay the rent. We need to find a way to help tenants continue to pay their rent.

Asked if the commonwealth government should pay tenants’ rent, Kelly noted that both commonwealth and states had worked on ensuring there were no forced evictions and he expressed hope “they’ve found a way to fund it”. Kelly said that if landlords and real estate agents lost their income from rent, “everybody loses”.

He said:

If real estate agents and all their property owners are left spinning in the breeze, we’re going to have a disaster on our hands ...

If the property owner has to do the right thing and house all these unemployed people in their property, they’re going to need money for that ... They have their own families and their own children that need to be fed.

Updated

Meanwhile, attempts to collect unwell passengers from the cruise ship Artania, anchored off Fremantle, have hit some snags.

A man in his 70s has died of Covid-19 in WA

A second man has died from the novel coronavirus in Western Australia, according to reports. This brings the number of deaths in Australia to 13. Four of those deaths, all of people in their 70s, were announced today. The WA Department of Health said it would release a statement shortly confirming the latest death.

Updated

ALDI supermarkets have placed social distancing markers, 1.5m apart, on the floor near the checkouts to ensure people observe the correct guidelines.

They are also installing clear screens at each register to protect staff, and said security guards would “enforce customer flows”, including by limiting the number of people allowed in the store at any one time.

ALDI has increased the number of products that have purchase restrictions. Basically, for all three major supermarkets, the rules are no more than one pack of toilet paper and no more than two packs of anything else that could be considered essential.

The supermarket wars appear to have died in recent days, which is lovely and very well done to all shoppers. But these restrictions are likely to remain in place in some time, lest the panic start up again.

Updated

And some thoughts on parliaments being suspended until August, from former Tasmanian premier David Bartlett.

Tasmania closes national parks

Tasmania is closing its national parks and reserves:

Updated

Queensland cases rise to 493

Queensland has just issued its daily update of Covid-19 numbers. It confirmed 50 new cases on Thursday, bringing the total to 493.

That’s a slight increase from the 46 new cases reported on Wednesday, but still well below the highest daily rise in that state.

As in Western Australia, Queensland Health says the majority of cases are from patients who have travelled overseas or had direct contact with a confirmed case who had travelled overseas.

Contact tracing is underway for the 50 new cases.

And as a reminder:

Queensland Health is urging anyone who has been overseas in the last 14 days and has a fever or any respiratory symptoms to see a doctor immediately. Please call ahead to the GP surgery and let them know your symptoms and travel history – this will help them prepare for your arrival.

Updated

Virgin Australia’s credit rating cut to CCC

S&P has cut Virgin Australia’s credit rating to CCC, deep in junk territory, after the airline grounded 125 planes due to the coronavirus pandemic, warning the airline was at risk of defaulting on its debt.

The airline’s credit rating was already in junk territory at B-.

S&P said Virgin’s credit rating was continuing to develop, reflecting “our view that a default or distressed exchange appears increasingly likely over the next 12 months, absent timely government or other support and/or a swift reversal of the Covid-19 outbreak”.

It said:

The prospect of timely and coordinated equity support now appears unlikely.

Virgin Australia is 90%-owned by Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, Nanshan Group, HNA Group and Virgin Group. To varying extents, each shareholder is experiencing their own challenging industry conditions.

The ratings agency said the Australian government might support the airline sector during the crisis.

A government bailout of aviation has been enormously controversial over the past week, with Qantas boss Alan Joyce publicly lobbying against any bailout of Virgin Australia, only to be told to knock it off by competition tsar Rod Sims.

Updated

WA health minister Roger Cook says one of the passengers on the cruise ship Artana has been transferred to hospital in Perth – but does not have the coronavirus.

Seven people on the Artana tested positive to Covid-19 overnight and a further 18 have respiratory symptoms.

Cook said the man, in his 70s, had a life-threatening illness that was unrelated to Covid-19 and had not tested positive to the virus.

Cook said:

However, as a precaution, he is being treated in a negative pressure room at Fiona Stanley Hospital to ensure we don’t take any unnecessary chances.

The Artana is anchored off Fremantle and its 800 passengers and 500 crew, none of whom are Australian, are not being allowed to disembark.

Cook said the WA government would like those on the Artana who had tested positive to Covid-19 to be transferred by the federal government to a military base, so the ship could sail on to South Africa.

Updated

Western Australia coronavirus cases rise to 231

Western Australia has recorded 26 new cases of Covid-19, bringing its state total to 231.

Health minister Roger Cook said four of the new cases were people who were passengers on cruise ships — one from the RubyPrincess, one from the Sun Princess and two from the Voyager of the Seas.

In total, 51 cases in WA are cruise ship passengers.

Cook said that, as of Wednesday night, all of the cases in WA “have been connected in some way to overseas travel”.

Fifty per cent of those people were people who have returned to Western Australia on flights. Twenty-five per cent are cruise ship passengers and 25% are close contacts with either those cruise ship passengers or people who have returned from flights.

So, obviously, that is a really strong situation for Western Australia to be in.

Cook said two cases in WA were listed as contracting the virus from an “unknown source” but were not “necessarily contracted the virus from community spread”.

In these particular cases, all these are close contacts with overseas travellers. Now, by the time the overseas travellers were tested, they were negative. So, potentially, these two from unknown sources could [be] from those travellers, as they were recovering from the illness, but not before they had the opportunity to pass it on.

Updated

Michelle Landry, the LNP member for Capricornia in far north Queensland, and Queensland senator Matt Canavan have written to Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to request her “urgent consideration for shutting north Queensland’s borders”.

It is worth noting that as it is not an independent jurisdiction, north Queensland does not have borders.

The request is being made because the majority of cases of Covid-19 to date have been in the south-east, particularly around Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

There are not, at this stage, formal rules against people moving within states. But all state premiers, including Palaszczuk, have repeatedly said people should stay at home for everything but essential purposes, such as a quick grocery run, and should not leave their houses to visit others or go on holiday.

Which should mean no one from southern Queensland is needlessly wandering up north.

Updated

More details on personal payments in the SA stimulus package

A few people have asked for more information on that $500 one-off payment for people on Centrelink, which the South Australian government announced today.

It is tied to the cost-of-living concession payment, which is made available once a year to low income households in SA and is intended to help cover the cost of utilities.

In 2019, the payment was worth $109.70 per household. It’s not automatic – eligible people apply between 1 July and 31 October and it can take several months to get the payment.

In response to the coronavirus, premier Steven Marshall said the payment would be brought forward and increased.

This is from his media statement today:

The government will also provide a once-off boost of $500 and bring forward the 2020-21 ‘cost of living concession’ for households who are receiving the Centrelink jobseeker payment, assisting those who are unemployed or lose their jobs as a result of the coronavirus restrictions.

For eligible homeowners, their 2020-21 payment of $215.10 will now become $715.10. Eligible tenants will receive $607.60.

Updated

Scott Morrison will attend a virtual G20 meeting tonight, as world leaders attempt to ensure global supply chains are not broken.

The national cabinet will meet again tomorrow.

There is no press conference tonight (as of this point).

I’m logging off now, and will leave you in the very clean hands of Calla Wahlquist. I will be back on Monday. Please – take care of you.

Updated

Where we are at

  • Three more Australians have died from coronavirus, bringing the national total to 12.
  • Australia has 2,793 cases in total.
  • Peter Dutton contradicted his border force chief on the issue of whether cruise ship operators are being honest about illness on board their ships. Border force says yes, Dutton says no.
  • WA has said no one on a cruise ship will be allowed to enter WA without mandatory quarantine. He is attempting to turn back a ship, with no Australians on board, to South Africa.
  • Queensland will have pupil free days from 30 March. Schools are open for parents who have no choice.
  • South Australia will move to pupil free days from 4 April. Schools are open for parents who have no choice.
  • Western Australia will move to pupil free days from April 3. Schools are open for parents who have no choice.
  • Online learning is being worked up, for the next term for all Australian schools.
  • Hairdressers can now service clients for as long as they need (space restrictions in place).
  • Hairdressers want the government to shut them down.
  • New South Wales has announced it will be moving further with restrictions if its curve does not flatten, something Victoria has already announced. A split with the prime minister’s position is imminent, with the state and federal governments hinting a consistent position is no longer possible.
  • SA has announced a further $650m in economic help, bringing its total package to $1bn. Included is $500 individual payments for those needing Centrelink assistance.
  • Testing restrictions have been loosened.
  • Labor and the Greens are pushing for a freeze on rental evictions and for a wage subsidy like the UK has in place.
  • NSW Health has ordered all passengers be screened for illness as they enter Sydney airport, after scenes of confusion at immigration lines were released on social media.
  • Australia has asked Ford to help with making ventilators.
  • A man was arrested at the Queensland border road block, driving an alleged stolen car with paper number plates.

Updated

Labor (and the Greens) are starting to push this very hard.

Updated

The man who was arrested attempting to cross the Queensland border, appears to have allegedly attempted the very well marked police road block in a stolen car, with paper number plates.

Police allege they found drugs and a gel blaster (sort of like the guns they use in paintball skirmish, which are fake, but hurt like a bejesus) in the car.

The man also has outstanding warrants. He’ll face a magistrate court soon.

The ACCC has given permission for the nation’s airlines to work together, during the Covid-19 crisis:

The ACCC has today granted interim authorisation to Regional Express (Rex) allowing it to coordinate flight schedules with Virgin Australia and Qantas Airways on ten important regional flight routes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The interim authorisation will also enable Rex, QantasLink and Virgin to share revenue from providing services on the routes. Importantly, it is conditional on airlines charging fares no higher than those in place on 1 February 2020, meaning the airlines will not be able to coordinate to raise prices.

“We recognise this is an urgent request. This authorisation will help provide certainty for regional flight operators to support services on these routes for those who need to use them,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.

“We hope that this temporary measure will also support airlines’ ability to again compete with each other on these routes once the pandemic crisis has passed.”

Updated

We’ll get you more detail on this as soon as we can.

Updated

And the rental relief package is still a work in progress, it seems.

Mathias Cormann:

Tenancies are a matter that in Australia are regulated at a state level. But there is a matter that through the national cabinet, the prime minister, and premiers and chief ministers have turned their mind to and I expect there’ll be announcements in relation to this.

Updated

Mathias Cormann was also asked if the government would release the modelling it is using to make these decisions, in the same way the UK has. The short answer, is no.

We are dealing with ... Covid-19 through the national cabinet in all the appropriate way. These are questions for others to answer.

What I will say to you, and what I think Australians would expect from us is that we will not make decisions, we will not make decisions based on political considerations.

We will make decisions based on what the experts advise, based on the evidence and based on, you know, objective indications.

Australians would not want us to gratuitously close down businesses in the absence of medical advice that that is what should happen.

It’s very disappointing that in this time – I mean, we’re all in this together. And at this time when the community actually needs the reassurance that everyone is pulling in the same direction that we get politically manufacture motivated commentary along the lines that we’ve seen.

Updated

Reports emerged overnight that the United Kingdom may allow its citizens to self-test at home for Covid-19 using a rapid finger print test, which detects antibodies in a patient’s blood and can return positive results in 15 minutes.

The test kit is being evaluated, and, if deemed sufficiently accurate, will be made available for home-testing, either via Amazon delivery or from local pharmacists.

Australia has now ordered 1.5m antibody tests from a variety of manufacturers.

Five different companies have been given conditional approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration to sell the rapid antibody tests. But the Australian health department has confirmed that it will not allow the tests to be used at home.

The tests will be used only in healthcare settings with the assistance of a practitioner, so patients can be given treatment and advice if needed.

“Australia requires testing for serious infectious diseases to be conducted in conjunction with a healthcare professional who can provide appropriate advice and treatment if required,” a spokesperson said.

“The supply of self-tests for most serious infectious diseases, including self-tests for Covid-19, is prohibited under the Therapeutic Goods (Excluded Purposes) Specification 2010.”

The government is continuing to assess the effectiveness of the tests in conjunction with the Doherty Institute.

Updated

Dan Tehan has put out a statement on child care. At this stage it is open.

The current expert medical advice is that the child care sector should remain open except where individual services have been directed to close by health authorities.

The government is aware of the challenges facing the child care sector because of reduced attendance.

I am working with the sector to minimise the impact of Covid-19, and we already have implemented additional support arrangements.

To support the sector, we have increased the number of days, up to 62, that a child care service will continue to receive the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) when a child is absent from care. The CCS covers up to 85% of the daily costs of a child’s care.

Grants ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 are available for child care providers through the Community Child Care Special Circumstances Fund to help cover business costs, including wages, to ensure services impacted by Covid-19 can continue to operate.

Families with financial difficulty can apply for funding through the ACCS (temporary financial hardship fund) to cover child care gap fees.

One of the key ways all governments can support the sector is through regulatory relief and this is on the agenda for Education Council tomorrow.

We continue to assess the issues facing the sector and we will continue to work with them to manage the impact of the coronavirus.

I will have more to say on this in the coming days.

Updated

The Australian Academy of Science, which has asked the government to release the modelling it is using to make its Covid-19 decisions, has released an article on how to look after your mental health.

It also has another video (fact checked) with how you can best prepare for what is coming.

Australian Academy of Science YouTube

Updated

South Australia has announced 38 new cases of Covid-19 since yesterday.

That makes 235 cases for the state – 60 of which came from cruise ships.

A third person, a 50-year-old man, has been admitted to intensive care.

Mathias Cormann also accuses Labor of being ‘increasingly unhelpful’, which is something Peter Dutton also said today.

Cormann:

Look, the Federal Government is working together very well with state and territory governments including the state Labor Governments, who are all working very hard to protect people’s health and save lives and to provide the appropriate supports to our economy and jobs. Federal Labor’s approach, sadly, has been becoming more unhelpful.

That is regrettable. Things are tough enough out there without political commentary undermining the medical advice and suggesting that we should close down even more businesses where the medical advice doesn’t we should.

We are never going to close down businesses based on political decisions. If there is a decision to close down certain sectors in the economy, it is going to be because the medical advice clearly and unequivocally indicates that is required to protect people’s health and to save lives.

Mathias Cormann says there is not enough time to set up a new payment scheme, despite the payments not coming through the Centrelink system until 27 April. That is the line Scott Morrison has been using as well.

Cormann:

That is not the advice in front of us. As I said earlier, even using the existing system, the existing processes and programs, this is the amount of time it takes to get this additional level of support into the community. If we actually completely change the architecture and the system, that will make it much more difficult to get the necessary support into the community.

Updated

Mathias Cormann says the government is looking at the next stage of stimulus. It doesn’t look like the wage guarantee that the workers’ unions want is in there, though:

Well, we’ve always said that our approach to this will be scalable and we, of course, will continue to assess what is an evolving situation still, and we’ll continue to make judgements on how the support packages that are already out there can be further improved.

I’m not going to speculate. We’ve been very candid with the Australian people. Sadly, in the circumstances, businesses will close and Australians will lose their job. We’ve provided significant support to eligible businesses around Australia, about 700,000-odd small and medium-sized businesses, about 30,000 not-for-profit organisations who are getting cash payments of up to $100,000 from the commonwealth.

So, I mean, that is significant and unprecedented support. But, yes, I mean, we are continuing to consider what other sensible and appropriate things we can do to support business.

Updated

But what about asymptomatic people, who may be infectious but don’t have any symptoms, still being able to operate as hairdressers, so close to clients?

Dr Paul Kelly:

So no one is being forced to go to work. I’ll say that for sure.

In terms of the asymptomatic carriage that may lead to people being infected, yes, that is potentially an issue.

But overwhelmingly, and I’m absolutely certain about this, it’s people that have the infection and are infectious in those first few days of coughing and sneezing, they are the most infectious people.

We can’t stop this completely unless we all stay at home and the lights go out and no one has anything to eat. So we have to have some sort of sense of what we can and should do there of minimising as much as possible what can be done to stop the spread.

Updated

Dr Paul Kelly was also asked about the reverse ferret on the hairdresser time restriction. The government had ordered hairdressers could stay open but serve clients for only 30 minutes a time. This morning the government scrapped that restriction. The hairdresser lobby wants the government to just shut down their business, the same as most other services, including beauticians.

Kelly:

I’d firstly say no one is being forced to work.

For hairdressing, it’s impossible to take those social distancing rules. You can’t be that far away from someone if you’re doing their hair.

But I’ve seen many things myself in hairdressers and barbers around town here in Canberra that can be done very practically: having hand sanitiser at the door; making sure people wash their hands before they come in; insisting that people that are sick don’t come; stay at home.

For people that are actually hairdressers themselves, if you are sick with the symptoms of Covid, you stay at home. And then hygiene practices in the actual barber’s and hairdresser’s can of course be improved and we’re asking people to do that at that time.

Updated

That statement continues:

There are currently 798 Australians and 108 New Zealanders on board the ship. Based on the WA premier’s announcement, we understand that guests from New Zealand will be staying onboard the ship until they can travel directly to New Zealand. All guests with an international nationality on board Vasco da Gama have informed us that they are either Australian or New Zealand residents, regardless of nationality, and all hold the appropriate visas to reside in either Australia or New Zealand. We are working to gain clarity from the WA premier on arrangements for these guests.

Please note that we have recorded no health issues with any guests or crew members on board Vasco da Gama. By Monday, our guests will have been at sea for 16 days straight without disembarking the ship or being in contact with anyone who was not a guest or crew member of CMV, which places them outside the 14-day period that the World Health Organisation indicates is the incubation period for Covid-19.

Since the WA premier made the initial announcement yesterday about our guests having to disembark on Rottnest Island, we have been working to get in touch with the WA premier to gain further clarity around the situation. We want to assure our guests onboard that we are doing everything we can to get more information about these changes, and we look forward to starting consultations with the WA premier soon.

We thank our guests and crew for their patience during this time, as we know this will be disappointing for them. We will continue to work with the state and federal Australian government, including Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Australian Border Force as well as the New Zealand government, including the ministry of foreign affairs and trade , and Cruise Lines International Association to gain clarity around the situation.

Updated

The cruise operator responsible for the Vasco da Gama cruise ship, which has 800 Australians onboard, which WA premier Mark McGowan said had been told to delay its planned arrival until Monday to allow for the Rottnest Island quarantine to be established, claims it wasn’t told of the new arrangements.

Dean Brazier, the managing director of Cruise & Maritime Voyages, has put out this statement:

We have just been made aware via the premier of Western Australia’s media announcement that Cruise & Maritime Voyages will no longer be able to disembark guests from Vasco da Gama in Fremantle on Friday 27th March as originally agreed on Wednesday 18th March, and that guests will now be disembarked on Monday 30th March instead.

We are doing everything we can to gather the facts of this situation as soon as possible to advise our guests, agents and community of this change. Unfortunately we cannot confirm all details until the Western Australian premier’s office consults with us. At this stage, we understand that on Monday, all Western Australians will be transferred to Rottnest Island to spend 14 days in self-isolation before being allowed to continue with their onwards journey.

Western Australian premier Mark McGowan has indicated via media reports that he is awaiting notice from other states and territories as to transport arrangements for the rest of our Australian guests, and at this stage they will no longer be permitted to self-isolate on Rottnest Island as he originally announced yesterday.

Contrary to the WA premier’s statement, neither Cruise & Maritime Voyages nor the captain of Vasco da Gama were formally advised that our arrival into Fremantle would be delayed until Monday prior to the WA premier making his announcement to media earlier.

Updated

Dr Paul Kelly seems to be losing his patience a little with delivering this message:

In terms of instructions I think it is pretty simple and I don’t know how many times I’ve said this: if you’re sick, stay at home.

If you’re in quarantine, you stay at home. If you’re in self-isolation, you stay at home. If you are a contact with someone with Covid-19, you stay at home.

If you have just come back from overseas in the last 14 days, you stay at home.

I don’t know how much clearer I can make it, seriously.

But in terms of what was discussed at national cabinet last night, it was really an agreed approach as to how that could be enforced. In several states that is enforced and I’ll leave it to the states themselves to say how much the fine is and how long you can be put in prison for this because it’s a state-based, state-by-state based approach.

But those rules are enforced. In Queensland, from the beginning of this matter, anyone who came back from a high risk country, when we had a small list of high risk countries, they were given a public health order, a piece of paper that said, “If you don’t do this” – and it said what you needed to do, essentially stay at home – “then there are laws that can be brought into place to enforce this.” Other states are now taking it seriously like that as well.

There may be further measures if people continue to ignore this, and I must say most people, the vast majority of people, are not ignoring it and they are taking that advice very seriously and that’s fantastic. That’s what we expect from all Australians.

Updated

The Humane Society has had to put out a release telling Australians “bats are not to blame” for the pandemic:

Humane Society International is highly concerned at reports that paramedics are being overwhelmed by calls about bats during the Covid-19 crisis.

These calls are likely due to misinformation being spread about risks bats pose to people and are potentially jeopardising response times for critical patients as frontline responders brace for an increase in serious cases.

“At a time when health services are overburdened it’s extremely irresponsible for people to be spreading blatant misinformation about the coronavirus threat bats pose to Australians. There’s no truth to these claims – they do nothing but make an already terrible situation worse,” said Humane Society International’s head of programs, Evan Quartermain.

“Just to be clear, there are no bats in Australia that pose even the slightest threat of infecting people with Covid-19.”

The misinformation appears to have originated from viruses similar to the one that causes Covid-19 having been seen in Chinese horseshoe bats, a species not present in Australia and facing far different circumstances in wet market environments. Another contributing factor may be confusion around Australian bat lyssavirus, which is present in an extremely small proportion of flying foxes and can only transfer to humans through direct contact.

The negligible disease risk bats pose can increase slightly when they are stressed –as in situations where people are directly interfering with them and their habitat. Leave them alone and there is absolutely no need for concern, even if they’re right outside your window.

Updated

Two staff at a NSW prison hospital have tested positive for Covid-19, raising further concerns about outbreaks in detention facilities.

The two people are employees at the Long Bay forensic hospital, a 135-bed facility in the Long Bay Correctional Complex. Four patients have subsequently been tested after showing symptoms.

All face-to-face visits to inmates in the nation’s jails and prison hospitals were banned last week, as part of tougher distancing measures decided by the national cabinet.

State, territory and federal corrections and justice ministers are meeting today to discuss managing prisons during the pandemic.

NSW and the Northern Territory have already announced some prisoners could be released early under new emergency powers, on a case-by-case basis.

It follows a prison guard at Wolston Correctional Centre at Wacol in Queensland also being diagnosed with Covid-19.

The officer had contact with other staff and prisoners during a number of shifts over the weekend and Monday.

Queensland’s Aboriginal legal service is calling for a national, coordinated approach to clarify what types of offences might be considered for conditional release. It is worried the virus will spread fast in prisons, where a high number of inmates are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders and have comorbidities which make them particularly vulnerable.

Updated

Queensland closed its borders to New South Wales residents at midnight last night, but NSW has not reciprocated – Queenslanders are still free to come and go.

That’s causing concern in northern NSW, which has just 21 cases, compared with more than 440 in Queensland, most in the south-east.

Hundreds of Queensland visitors and holidaymakers are still pouring over the border into the state’s north.

Janelle Saffin, the state MP for Lismore, which takes in parts of Tweed Heads and rural communities such as Tabulam and Tenterfield, says northern NSW is especially vulnerable after being hit hard by bushfires, smoke, flood and drought.

Lots of locals are calling me to say the situation is just ridiculous. Northern New South Wales has relatively few cases and yet we are locked out of Queensland, but Brisbane and Gold Coast are corona spots in Queensland and visitors from those cities are still coming in numbers into the north of the state.

Saffin is calling for a total lockdown of NSW, “the sooner the better”.

Updated

Dr Paul Kelly says Australia has so far performed 178,000 tests and has a positivity rate of under 2%

That’s a lot. It’s probably more on a per population basis than virtually anywhere else in the world.

It is, for example, over 25 times as many on a per capita basis as has happened in the US.

In the US at the moment, 53% of those tests are positive, which demonstrates that they have a long way to go to have enough testing being done in the United States.

Here, our positivity rate is just under 2% now – 1.5% – and that again demonstrates, firstly, that we’re doing a lot; secondly, it convinces me that we’re finding the ones that we need to look for.

Updated

The deputy chief medical officer, Dr Paul Kelly, says there are now 2793 cases of Covid-19 nationally.

Australia now has capacity to do 10,000 Covid-19 tests a day.

We are continuing to scale the world for the things that have been talked about over many days, ventilators to put into our intensive care.

We’re in the midst of expanding our intensive care capacity right now but including looking to buy, to purchase more ventilators both here in Australia and elsewhere.

Similarly with personal protective equipment, there have been issues with that over the past few weeks, as has been talked about a lot, but we are increasing our capacity to make masks in Australia, looking for the ways that we can increase our capacity in our national stockpile and then to push out into the front-line services that need these things as soon as possible.

The United States has passed its $2tn stimulus rescue package, unanimously.

Updated

The SA stimulus plan is mostly focused on businesses but is also including individuals:

Updated

The New South Wales health department has ordered nurses and biosecurity staff at Sydney international airport to temperature check all incoming passengers, escalating that state’s response to combat the spread of Covid-19 above and beyond commonwealth rules.

The directive, approved by health minister Brad Hazzard, was sent on Thursday, causing delays at Sydney airport and prompting concern from the Community and Public Sector Union and others that social distancing is not being observed in the arrival hall.

In a statement the union said Australians returning home on Thursday “were met with mass confusion at Sydney airport, due to unplanned and badly communicated changes”.

Biosecurity staff and NSW health department nurses had previously been directed to test passengers who have been in countries at high risk with Covid-19 in the past two weeks and randomly test all others for temperatures.

The union said:

Today all passengers are undergoing increased health screening. The testing space is too small for all passengers and disembarking is not being staggered to allow for social distancing.

Guardian Australia has confirmed the directive came from Hazzard and NSW Health, and the union says similar delays are not being experienced at other airports.

Updated

South Australia adds another $650m to state stimulus package

SA premier Steven Marshall has announced a boost to its stimulus package:

If we continue to work together and play our part then I am confident that we will come out of the stronger and more resilient.

We will get through this. At a time like this, you need the state government to step up and we are, by providing $1bn in support to South Australian households and businesses.

Today, we are adding $650m to the first support package of $350m that I announced just two weeks ago.

I said then that we would take further strong action in response to the continuing impacts of the coronavirus.

We want as many businesses as possible to be able to continue operating during these unprecedented times so that people can go about and keep their jobs.

We want to relieve as much stress as possible for individuals and families. We want to keep the South Australian community and economy functioning so that, when this virus is beaten - it will be - we can bounce back as quickly as possible.

Updated

'If you need a hair cut, get real, people's lives are at stake'

Victoria’s health minister says that just because the federal government has decreed some services can remain open doesn’t mean that people should go out to use them.

Victoria is getting tougher on its restrictions and has said it will move, even if the federal government doesn’t.

Jenny Mikakos:

The message is very clear from us: if you are contemplating going to get a haircut or go and get a latte from the cafe, as much as possible people should be staying at home.

If you need to get a haircut, get real, people’s lives are at stake. We have sadly lost three Victorians to Covid-19, I can’t stress how important it is everyone follows the rules and stays at home.

For the record, the hairdresser industry lobby has called on the government to shut it down, as had the CEO of the largest haircut chain in the country.

Updated

Shane Richardson, the general manager of South Sydney Rabbitohs, has become the highest profile NRL personality to lose his job due to the impact of the virus.

Richardson, also the famous old club’s former CEO, has stood down from his position to ease the financial burden on the club which, along with every other NRL club, is feeling the impact of the postponement of the 2020 season.

“In times like these, leaders have to step forward and lead,” said Richardson, who will continue to be involved with the club on a consultancy basis.

The cost of having me remain in the football department was one of our largest costs and as a club we need to cut the cloth to suit the suit.

Hundreds of staff members at every NRL club, including some head coaches, have been ordered to take paid and unpaid leave, while the players are facing pay cuts as the game scrambles to cut costs in a bid to stay alive.

Updated

Mathias Cormann has called a press conference for 3pm at parliament house.

Updated

NSW Health has released its formal numbers for today, with two more children under 10 testing positive:

As at 8pm Wednesday 25 March 2020, an additional 190 cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed since 8pm 24 March, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in NSW to 1,219.

There are currently 16 Covid-19 cases in our intensive care units and, of those cases, 10 require ventilators at this stage.

South Eastern Sydney Local Health District has confirmed a midwife at St George hospital has tested positive for Covid-19.

All patients that were in close contact with the midwife have been informed. The midwife is now in isolation and there is no ongoing risk to patients at St George hospital.

A further two children under 10 have tested positive to Covid-19, bringing the total in that age group to four.

A one-year-old girl whose parent is a confirmed case and a two-year-old girl who acquired the infection overseas have both already been isolated with family and have mild symptoms.

There are 121 confirmed cases in NSW who were on board the Ruby Princess and 31 from the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship.

A Qantas charter flight from Honolulu arrived in Sydney airport overnight to repatriate 292 passengers who were on the Norwegian Jewel. The boat has been at sea with no landing and with no one coming on to the ship for 3 weeks.

While the ship has reported no acute respiratory illness onboard, the NSW Health international airport screening team screened all of the passengers on arrival.

Five passengers with symptoms were transferred to hospital for Covid-19 testing and isolation. The remaining well passengers were transferred to a Sydney hotel to be in self-isolation for 14 days.

Updated

Victoria coronavirus deaths rise to three

The Victorian health minister, Jenny Mikakos, says the Victorian death rate is now three, which is one more than announced this morning.

These three individuals were aged in their 70s, who all died in a Melbourne hospital.

The national toll is now at 12.

Updated

The pandemic has exposed shortages of hospital ventilators in the worst-affected parts of the world, such as Italy and the United States. Ventilators are, of course, crucial in pumping oxygen into the lungs of the most critically ill of Covid-19 patients.

Australia currently has about 2,300 ventilators in intensive care units across the country, with an estimated surge capacity of 5,000 ICU beds and ventilators.

The Australia and New Zealand Intensive Care Society says there is no current shortage of ventilators in Australia, though there may be a temporary deficit if the nation needs to surge beyond 5,000 ICU beds.

The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association tells the Guardian it is satisfied with the government’s planning on ventilators, but is concerned about how they will be spread evenly across the population, particularly in regional and rural areas.

The government has placed orders from domestic manufacturers for more. It is also now in talks with the car company Ford to get access to the “simplified” design capabilities it has offered the US this week.

Industry minister Karen Andrews told the Guardian:

We’ve made significant progress to secure further supply of ventilators and increase domestic production ahead of the peak of the virus in coming months.

Updated

The Australian public service union has reacted to these scenes at Sydney airport this morning, recorded by Sally Prosser:

Australians returning home this morning were met with mass confusion at Sydney Airport, due to unplanned and badly communicated changes.

Up until today Biosecurity Officers and NSW Department of Health nurses have been testing passengers who have been in COVID-19 high risk countries in the past two weeks and randomly testing all other passengers for temperatures and asking detailed health questions all that arrive, and providing every passenger with information.

Today all passengers are undergoing increased health screening. The testing space is too small for all passengers, and disembarking is not being staggered to allow for social distancing.

The Departments of Agriculture, Water and the Environment and Home Affairs must listen to the concerns of their front-line workforce who have been flagging these concerns for weeks.

Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment staff have been working hard to test and protect the Australian border, but the department is failing to provide safe workspaces.

CPSU Deputy National President Brooke Muscat-Bentley said, “What we have seen at Sydney Airport is a direct failure of government. Had the department and government listened to our members todays scenes would have been avoided.”

“Agriculture Minister Littleproud is missing in action. It is astonishing that the government is telling the nation to social distance and take the up most precautions but cannot take steps to assure us at our border.”

“This is a failure of planning, just like we have seen with Services Australia this week. The government has known what was coming, but have just been unable or unwilling to prepare for it.”

Queensland has recorded another 50 cases since yesterday, bringing its total to 493.

Updated

Courtney Barnett and Sarah Blasko to headline Isol-Aid #2

A small glimmer of good news: IsolAid – the Australian music festival which premiered last weekend on Instagram and made me a bit emotional – has announced its second lineup for this weekend, and it’s real good.

From noon to midnight on Saturday and Sunday, 74 Australian acts will play 20 minute sets from their bedrooms/living rooms/wherever on Instagram Live; you tune into one, they throw to the next, and the game continues.

Among this weekend’s lineup are some huge names: Courtney Barnett, Sarah Blasko, Josh Pyke, Camp Cope, Alex Lahey, Alex the Astronaut, Middle Kids, Montaigne and more.

Last weekend raised $12,000 for Support Act, which provides financial and mental health support to the music industry. It’s nice to have nice things.

Updated

Adam Morton has a bit more on what is happening in Tasmania:

The Tasmanian premier, Peter Gutwein, has told visitors to the island state to leave.

Those staying in hotels, hostels, bed and breakfasts, campsites and boarding houses and have until midnight Sunday to leave their accommodation.

Australian Associated Press reports that Gutwein told a press conference: “I’m sorry to say that, but go home. Unfortunately there will be some dislocation for people but I make no apologies for working hard to keep Tasmanians safe.”

The state already has a mandatory two-week quarantine for non-essential visitors to the state.

“We’re built on tourism so it hurts me to say that but do not come and put Tasmanians at risk,” Gutwin said. “We’re an island and we are unique in that regard. We have used our island state as an advantage.”

The press conference came shortly before the state parliament was suspended until after the winter recess. It won’t sit again until 18 August.

Gutwein said all elected members were still at work and parliament could be recalled earlier if there was a pressing issue that needed to be dealt with. He was in tears as he talked about tens of thousands of Tasmanians losing their jobs due to a shutdown he had enforced.

The government announced it would refund public school levies, cap power bills and freeze water prices as it increased its coronavirus support package from $420m to $1bn.

Updated

Little wonder a survey of business by the ABS, conducted last week, found that half had already been hit by the virus crisis and 86% expected damage in the future.

The damage will now inevitably flow through to landlords. Announcing that Premier’s stores would be closed until 22 April, the company also said that “Premier intends not to pay any rent globally for the duration of the shutdown”.

Lew has long been in a battle with Australia’s retail landlords, who he regards as unreasonably jacking up his rents. But he will not be alone. Businesses with no business simply cannot pay the rent.

Anecdotally, similar one-way conversations between tenants and landlords began happening in the hospitality sector a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly unemployed households are also in no position to pay rent – or will be within weeks, once they eat through accrued leave. About 30% of Australians rent, so this is an enormous problem.

While banks are willing to stall mortgage repayments on home loans for six months, there has as yet been no similar nationwide break for renters. Amid the confusion, Tasmania and New South Wales have broken ranks, moving to ban evictions during the crisis.

But a solution out of the so-called “national cabinet” of state and federal leaders has been repeatedly promised and repeatedly delayed over the past week or so as landlord lobby groups complain that they’ll be ruined if anything is done to stop them turfing people out on the street.

The issue is set to be considered again tomorrow. Quick action is needed or the coronavirus crisis risks becoming a housing crisis.

Updated

The figures out from the Bureau of Statistics today, together with the steady flow of stand downs being announced by companies, mean there are enough numbers around to get a grip on what’s happening to the Australian economy.

In short, vast swaths of it are either already shut down or in the process of shutting down, and both households and businesses are now in the grip of a rental crisis.

Hospitality and entertainment was first to go. Those businesses started sacking people more than a week ago and on Monday the entire sector was shut down at midday, tipping hundreds of thousands of people in to queues that soon stretched around the corner.

Airlines moved next, with Qantas standing down 20,000 last week and Virgin Australia this week standing down more than 8,000 – some 1,000 of whom will probably be sacked.

This week, layoffs accelerated in the retail sector, which has been badly battered by increasing – and confusing – restrictions on trade.

On Thursday, Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments Group, which owns stationery chain Smiggle, Dotti and other clothing stores, stood down 9,000 employees and footwear retailer Accent Group, which owns The Athlete’s Foot, stood down 5,000.

All up, among high-profile companies alone, more than 63,000 people have been tipped out of work over the past week.

This is just the tip of an unemployment iceberg: more than 280,000 people applied for benefits on Wednesday, according to the minister for government services, Stuart Robert.

Updated

The Greens have also called for a freeze on tenant evictions.

From Adam Bandt:

The Greens have also written to the National Cabinet urging a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures as well as rent and mortgage holidays, after the New South Wales and Tasmanian parliaments over the last two days passed Greens amendments to protect renters.

Scott Morrison’s trickle-down stimulus is failing to keep people in work because he refused to make jobs and wages guarantees part of his multi-billion dollar support package.

Updated

So to recap those announcements from Mark McGowan:

  • WA schools are moving to pupil free on 3 April.
  • Term two will most likely be online (with students whose parents are essential workers, supervised at school).
  • The international passengers on the Artania cruise ship, who fall ill and need treatment, will be taken to a commonwealth facility – like a defence force base – and flown home by direct flight, if their government can arrange it. Other passengers must remain on board, until the ship can return to South Africa.
  • The Australian passengers on the Vasco de Gama will be quarantined on Rottnest Island. Each state is being asked to take back their residents. There are 800 Australians on board, with 200 West Australians. The ship is due to dock in Fremantle on Monday.
  • No one from a cruise ship will be allowed off, without an escort to an isolation facility. No one gets to go home until that isolation is complete.

Updated

Mark McGowan moves on to the Vasco de Gama which has 800 Australians on board, including 200 West Australians, which is also due to dock in Fremantle on Monday (there are also 109 New Zealanders, 33 British people and other international passengers).

Yesterday, he said all the Australian passengers would have to self-isolate on Rottnest Island.

Today, he wants the other Australian states to take back their residents:

We are in urgent talks with the other Australian states to see if they would agree to accept their citizens from the Vasco da Gama via a direct flight.

Currently we don’t know how many passengers are from each state, other than the 200 from WA.

In summary, regarding the Vasco da Gama, the international passengers will be held on board until direct transport arrangements are finalised to fly them home, escorted to the airport. The crew will remain on board. All West Australians will self-isolate for 14 days at Rottnest Island.

Interstate passengers will have an option. If agreed by their home state to fly home directly or remain on the ship, self-isolating, until travel arrangements are made.

Rottnest Island will be used as a last resort for them. I am phoning each state premier about this. We would prefer they go home and self-isolate in their home state rather than stay here.

The reality is I want to make sure Rottnest Island has capacity into the future if we need to use it for other West Australians or other emergencies. I know this all sounds pretty extreme but it’s the right thing to do because our first priority is the health and wellbeing of West Australians.

Updated

Mark McGowan on the Artania cruise ship (docked at Fremantle, with no Australians on board) which has seven passengers with Covid-19:

WA’s position is this: If the seven passengers need to come onshore for medical treatment, they will have to go to a commonwealth facility, such as a defence force base. If this occurred, then Germany and the Australian government can organise a plane to come and pick those passengers up and take them home. We are working with the Australian government to do this immediately. The Artania cruise ship must continue on its journey to South Africa urgently. This ship needs to leave immediately. I want the commonwealth to make that happen.

Updated

WA premier Mark McGowan says WA will also go pupil free from 3 April.

Like Qld, NSW, SA and the ACT, schools will be open (outside of the school holidays) for parents who have no choice.

Online learning is on its way.

Updated

Virgin Australia announced yesterday it would be grounding all Tiger Air flights.

This is the next step:

Updated

The Maritime Union of Australia wants the government to turn the Aurora Australis (the former Antarctic expedition ship) into a new distribution vessel for Norfolk Island:

The Aurora, affectionately known as the “Orange Roughy”, this week returned from its final voyage for the Australian Antarctic Division where it delivered 12 months worth of cargo, food and fuel to remote Macquarie Island.

Norfolk Island is dealing with a growing crisis following the loss of one of two vessels that previously supplied the island, along with a massive reduction in air travel, resulting in chronic shortages of food, stock feed, building materials, and other essential supplies needed by the island’s 1,800 residents.

With no port, and without the ability to handle containerised freight, the island has been left dependent on a single small vessel sailing once every two months from Auckland. For the limited goods that are supplied, freight costs have led to the doubling of prices compared to mainland Australia.

The Maritime Union of Australia argues the Aurora Australis is uniquely suited to addressing the crisis facing Norfolk Island. Not only does it have the capacity to carry 1,790 cubic metres non-containerised break bulk cargo, along with an additional deck capacity for 700 tonnes of containerised freight, but it has three decades of experience delivering supplies to remote locations.

The vessel can also carry and transfer nearly two million litres of fuel, meaning it would be able to provide all the fuel needed by vehicles, heavy machinery, and the airport on Norfolk Island.

Updated

The Family Court has released information on parenting orders – it has been inundated with calls.

All the state leaders are having a very hard time with this – particularly the smaller states, where tourism is the main economy driver.

Veterinarians are classified as essential services and will be able to cross state borders and continue working under shutdowns currently in operation in Australia, the agriculture minister David Littleproud has said.

The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) and the RSPCA have lobbied the government to ensure that veterinary and animal welfare services are declared “essential” and exempt from pandemic-related shutdowns, as they have been in New Zealand.

In a submission sent to government on Sunday, the AVA said that shutting down veterinary services would impact not only animal health, welfare, and biosecurity, “but also to human health and mental wellbeing, food safety, and food supply chain integrity and continuity”.

It said the AVA was willing and able to put in all necessary health and biosecurity controls.

In a statement to Guardian Australia, Littleproud said:

Veterinarians provide essential services to the agricultural sector and the general public.

The federal government has not placed any restrictions on their ability to operate.

The only confusion that has been created has been from some states closing borders but they have assured us that vets will still have the ability to operate across borders.

The RSPCA wrote to health minister Greg Hunt and other public health officials on Thursday, seeking “urgent confirmation” that its animal welfare inspectorate and other animal welfare services would be classified as essential services and allowed to continue operating.

Chief executive Richard Mussell said that people and organisations responsible for delivering “essential frontline animal care and protection services” needed clarification that they would be allowed to continue to operate.

In addition, we’re seeking confirmation that other primary animal carers will be able to access the premises where animals are kept and continue to provide them with food, water, attention and medical care.

These include, for example, zoos and aquariums, stables for racing and recreational horses, animal management services and local pounds, research facilities, and other breeding, housing and boarding facilities.

Updated

The agriculture industry is pushing for exemptions to ensure it can keep operating:

Here’s one reason the Queensland health authorities have judged it OK for the local government elections and by-elections to go ahead – people keep rushing out in large numbers to the liquor stores anyway:

Updated

Chris Bowen also wants to see the government expedite the respiratory clinics it promised:

The clear facts published on the department of health website confirms there are only two fever clinics up and running:

‘We are setting these clinics up over the next few weeks. Clinics in Ryde, NSW, and Morayfield, Qld, started operating on 21 March 2020.

If you’re not currently near Ryde, NSW, or Morayfield, Qld, there is no GP Respiratory Clinic in your area yet.’

The minister for health must take every action available to him to speed up the operation of the 100 respiratory clinics as soon as possible.

This would include any resources available through the national coordination mechanism or the Australian defence force.

Updated

The Australian Services Union, Australian Industry Group and the Australian Chamber of Commerce have come to an agreement to improve workplace flexibility during the coronavirus crisis for clerks.

It just needs a tick off from the Fair Work Commission now.

The application seeks to provide relief to business and employees during the pandemic by:

  • Allowing employees and employers to agree to change ordinary hours of work whilst an employee is working at home. This should give employees expended options to help manage their job around things like schooling children from home during the day without an employer facing additional costs for work being conducted out of usual business hours.
  • Allowing a business with one weeks’ notice to direct an employee to take annual leave if it decides to close down its operations.
  • Allowing staff to work more flexibly across classifications, provided it is safe to do so and the employee has the necessary qualifications.
  • Allowing for employers to direct employees to take annual leave.
  • Increased flexibility in taking leave such as double leave at half-pay, where employers and employees agree.
  • Allowing employers to engage casual and part-time employees for shorter shifts.
  • Giving employers flexibility to reduce hours for full and part-time staff, whilst allowing employees whose hours are reduced to take on another job or ask to engage in training or additional study.

Updated

Labor calls for ban on evicting tenants

Labor’s Jason Clare, Chris Bowen and Anthony Albanese are out and about today (at the necessary social distance) to call for renters to be looked after.

We are still waiting on the decision from the national cabinet about what to do for renters. It is complicated – some landlords have lost their jobs, there are insurance implications and some people are just panicking, but a decision will need to be made soon, given that 280,000 people registered an intent to claim Centrelink benefits in one day.

Jason Clare:

Our home is our castle. In the next few months, it’s going to be our fortress. More and more Australians are being told to stay at home, but you can’t day at home if you don’t have one.

You can’t stay at home if you have been evicted. That’s why we’re saying we need a freeze on evictions, just like we’ve seen in the UK or in New Zealand, or for that matter in Tasmania.

Tasmania announced just yesterday that they are taking steps to stop evictions for the next few months.

That’s the sort of practical, common-sense measure, to make sure that we protect people.

This is a health measure, as much as an economic measure. When people are being told to stay at home, we need to make sure we’re not kicking people out on to the street.

And as Albo said, we’ve also got to protect landlords. We have to protect the home owners.

We have do protect the people who rely on that money - that rent - to pay the bills, put food on the table or to pay their mortgage.

That is why it is important that the big four banks have done what they have already promised to do - and that is defer mortgages to give people relief there.

We have to make sure that all banks, all building societies, all financial institutions that provide that finance to home owners provide the same sort of relief. Because we’re all in this together. We have to make sure that we look after each other. The bottom line is that no-one should lose their home, whether they own it or rent it, because of this virus.

Updated

South Australia to go pupil free from 4 April

On the footsteps of the Queensland announcement, South Australia is following suit, going “pupil free” from 4 April.

That means the schools will be open for people who need to send their kids there (outside of the school holidays for Easter) but parents, if they can, should keep their kids at home.

Teachers there are working on online and distance learning things as well.

Updated

The Queensland schools announcement from the education minister, Grace Grace:

In a nutshell, student-free days from Monday. Schools are open for essential workers and workers required in the workplace. Teachers will move to developing remote learning and online learning for students, and all those learning materials for what potentially may lie ahead, we will cater for any high risk workers that have concerns, and obviously vulnerable children will be catered for as well.

The ABS has released a survey of businesses before the first round of social distancing – which shows that businesses were already falling off the cliff. It basically shows that people were freaking out, before the forced business closures.

Approximately half of the Australian businesses surveyed (49%) had experienced an adverse impact as a result of Covid-19 during the mid-March data collection period and 86% of businesses expected to be impacted in future months. The collection period pre-dated the Australian government’s announcement of Phase 1 Social Distancing measures.

Adverse impacts were most prevalent in accommodation & food services with over three quarters of businesses (78%) already reporting impacts and 96% of businesses reporting that they expected impacts in coming months. Businesses in professional, scientific & technical services (21%), electricity, gas and water supply (34%) and businesses in mining (37%) were the least likely to have been adversely impacted by Covid-19 in the collection period.

A reduction in local demand was the most common impact experienced (82%) and was also the most common impact expected in coming months (81%). Of impacted businesses, over a third had experienced staff shortages (36%) and 59% expected to experience staff shortages in coming months.

Updated

Queensland kindergartens will also follow the pupil-free school examples.

Day care centres remain open, but it is advised that if you can keep your kids at home, you should.

Day cares, schools and kindys remain open for parents who have no choice but to send their children to outside care.

Updated

The Queensland education minister, Grace Grace:

From Monday, 30 March we will be moving to student-free days, but we do stress that school also remain open for those workers who have students and are working in the essential services area, and that is obviously workers who are required in their workplace.

And the premier has outlined a couple of examples, such as those who are stacking the shelves of our supermarkets.

It’s important that we remain open for these workers because we do not want to put pressure on the economy and enable those workers to be able to continue to provide for the community at large.

Long day care centres and outside school hours care will continue, but parents are reminded of the need to stay home as much as possible and adhere to the self-isolation rules.

So, they will be there essentially for those workers required in their workplace.

Teachers will be using the pupil-free time (which they can spend at home, if they wish) preparing online learning portals.

From that, you can take that schools will be closed, as least as we know them, for quite a long time.

Updated

Queensland schools to go pupil free from next week

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says Queensland schools will go “pupil free” from next week.

That means the schools will be open for parents who have no choice, but essentially, closed.

Updated

'Just bonkers' – Just Cuts CEO on stay open decision

The CEO of Australia’s largest haircut chain, Denis McFadden has come out very strongly against the federal government’s decision to keep hairdressers open:

This decision is bonkers. It is physically impossible for stylists to do a shampoo or haircut without touching the client. It’s physically impossible for stylists to do their job and keep the 4sqm which national cabinet now says “must be strictly observed”.

This is not about what services can and can’t be provided in a 30 minute window. This is about health of everyone in our salons, our hairdressers and our clients. Hairdressing is not an essential service. Of course I would prefer this weren’t happening at all, and calling for the sector to be shut down might seem counterproductive but it simply must happen in the interests of people’s health.

Without hairdressing being on the shutdown list, it is incredibly difficult for our franchise owners to take the heartbreaking but necessary steps to stand down workers so they can access available support or call for breathing space on leases.

Given the steps taken in the UK and NZ to close salons along with other non-essential businesses and given everything the medical experts are saying, we simply cannot justify the health or financial risk to our franchise owners, stylists and clients.

Australian national and state governments, we are pleading with you. We understand that you’re trying to juggle protecting livelihoods and saving lives but this decision puts both at risk for our people and clients. Please act now.

Updated

Canada has passed its $127bn coronavirus stimulus measures

Peter Dutton also directly contradicted his Border Force chief in that interview with Ray Hadley.

Asked about changed cruise ship protocols yesterday, ABF commissioner, Michael Outram explicitly said the cruise industry was on the whole, responsible, and Border Force would take ship masters at their word about whether or not flu symptoms had been present on board.

Outram: “These people don’t just become a captain overnight, you know, their careers are long and the stakes are very, very high in terms of safety and wellbeing of passengers and other people at sea. And so, I’ve not experienced captains of these sorts of vessels who deliberately mislead and lie.”

But Dutton told Hadley Australia was dealing with a “difficult situation” because of “lies”:

Some cruise ships are lying about the state of passengers.

Updated

Tasmania tells tourists to go home

Tourists in Tasmania have been ordered to go home by the state’s premier, who has also implored people not to visit the island amid the coronavirus pandemic.

People staying in hotels, hostels, bed and breakfasts, campsites and boarding houses have until midnight on Sunday to leave their accommodation, the state government has announced.

“I’m sorry to say that, but go home,” premier Peter Gutwein told reporters on Thursday.

“Unfortunately there will be some dislocation for people but I make no apologies for working hard to keep Tasmanians safe.”

Mr Gutwein also implored non-essential visitors to stay away, noting a mandatory 14-day quarantine period on arrival for anyone not considered essential.

“We’re built on tourism so it hurts me to say that but do not come and put Tasmanians at risk,” he said.

“We’re an island and we are unique in that regard. We have used our island state as an advantage.”

Tasmania will more than double its coronavirus economic stimulus package to $1bn after an initial $420m spend last week.

“It is unprecedented. Never before has the state had to take steps of this magnitude,” Mr Gutwein said.

“The health, wellbeing and safety is the government’s number one priority but we need to ensure we underpin our economy and community.”

Mr Gutwein said a hard lockdown was possible if people ignored current advice.

The state has recorded 42 coronavirus cases, the latest six confirmed on Wednesday night, but there remains no evidence of community transmission.

Three of the cases recently travelled from overseas, two were on cruise ships and one is a close contact of a previously confirmed case.

Public health director Mark Veitch said 240 people linked to cruise ships are in self-isolation and are being monitored.

Another 80 people, who are close contacts of cases, are also in self-isolation.

Premier of Tasmania Peter Gutwein
Premier of Tasmania Peter Gutwein Photograph: James Gourley/AAP

Updated

We have a bit more detail on employers’ calls for wage subsidies at the meeting yesterday between treasury officials and peak business groups, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Australian Industry Group, Business Council of Australia, Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, the Australian Banking Association and the National Farmers Federation.

COSBOA chief executive, Peter Strong, told Guardian Australia if Australia is moving towards a shutdown the proposals for a wage subsidy need to be considered.

He said:

We [COSBOA] have got a model in mind that takes into account what’s already been provided by the government, to add [a] 60% [wage subsidy] on top of that, not the full 80% [adopted by the UK], because the [Australian Council of Trade Unions] has worked out what’s already been given is equivalent to 20%. So, make it a 60% wage subsidy - it works out around $21bn for three months, assuming that 1.7m are displaced from their jobs, but who knows how many it will be.

Strong says the emphasis has now shifted from whether workers have been technically retrenched, made redundant or stood down to the concept that they have been “displaced” but should return to those jobs when the crisis passes.

COSBOA also wants the efforts to improve supply chains to keep supermarket shelves stocked to be applied to smaller retailers like IGAs, petrol stations and convenience stores – so that people don’t need to crowd into Coles and Woolies and the big two don’t become the only place in town to get basics.

Updated

Ray Hadley says Peter Dutton’s position to not blame NSW Health, while blaming NSW Health is “very gallant” but demands “for someone to be held accountable” for the death of a woman, who died after contracting Covid-19 on the Ruby Princess.

The 77-year-old woman was a passenger on the Ruby Princess, which is where she contracted the virus. She was taken straight from the ship to a New South Wales hospital by authorities after it docked.

While the decision to let the 2,700 passengers disembark should be examined, given there have been 133 cases from that one ship alone, so far, there is nothing more anyone, from any authority, could have done to stop a death from a virus which was contracted before the ship docked. She did not contract it from someone who had been released from the ship, she contracted it onboard the ship.

Hadley has other views:

...Her death has been caused by the stupidity of someone in NSW Health, or a conglomerate of people, and I appreciate what you are saying, we are in a desperate situation here, but someone died, because of a decision taken by a public servant, or by someone in government, and that person needs to be held accountable for that death.

Dutton does not correct him:

And that person will live with that mistake. We are all working to try and clean up after that mistake was made.

But no doubt, that officer within NSW Health, and many others, are making decisions today, yesterday and tomorrow that will save lives, so that is the situation they are dealing with at the moment here.

Updated

Peter Dutton:

I have not been critical of NSW Health, nor the premier, I actually think it is a time, where regardless of people’s politics, people need to pull together and I think that is in the national interest and I have not been critical of NSW Health.

Clearly they have made the wrong call. Somebody has made an error in relation to a decision that has been made, but I honestly believe hanging somebody out to dry in the current circumstances, is not the way to do it. I think we can work closely together, we have done that. I spoke to the premier yesterday and we will make sure we continue to work closely together.

...These people are under enormous pressure, and I want to make sure that we are supporting them, not chastising them and that is why I am not going to be critical of NSW Health. Equally, I was not going to tolerate the Australian Border Force Commissioner, or anybody in the Australian Border Force being hung out to dry. I made that point privately, and I will defend them.

Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton.
Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

Updated

A guard at Queensland’s Wolston prison has tested positive to Covid-19.

Corrective Services said the officer had contact with officers and prisoners during a number of shifts over the weekend and Monday.

Wolston Correctional Centre is in lockdown and all staff are being individually contacted.

“We are seeking urgent advice from Queensland Health on the next steps to minimise the potential impact of this incident,” a spokesperson for Queensland corrections said.

“We have ordered a forensic clean of all areas of the prison the officer attended during his shifts.

Queensland Health staff and management will talk with officers today.

All face to face visits to inmates in the nation’s jails were banned last week as part of tougher distancing measures decided by the national cabinet on Friday night.

Last week, more than 370 legal, academic and criminal justice professionals signed a letter calling on governments to address mounting concerns about the implications of Covid-19 on the criminal justice system.

Some New South Wales prisoners could be released under new emergency powers announced on Tuesday by the attorney general, Mark Speakman.

The powers will give the corrections minister authority to release or parole inmates who are nearing the end of their sentences, or considered on case-by-case basis.

Corrections NSW will not have the power to release inmates sentenced for serious crimes like murder, terrorism or sexual offences and in all cases must “consider the risks to community safety, the protection of domestic violence victims and the impact on any victim before releasing an inmate”.

Updated

This also doesn’t take into account the processing time for the payment.

The confusion continues – Border Force is coming under increasing pressure.

Updated

The Australian market has opened about 1.6% up even as more companies announced they were shutting down operations and standing down thousands of staff.

Job losses and stand downs among Australian listed companies now total more than 65,000 since the middle of last week after retailer Premier Investments and travel agent Flight Centre laid off staff on Thursday morning.

Casino operator Star Entertainment Group was the biggest gainer among top 200 companies, rising more than 15% even though its operations are shut down due to the crisis.

Gold miner Northern Star Resources was the biggest loser, shedding 9% after it withdrew profit forecasts and cancelled its dividend.

Updated

The Queensland local elections and the two state by-elections, are still going ahead.

Pre-polling hours have been extended to help cut down on the number of people appearing on Saturday and a low voter turn out is expected, but the elections WILL go ahead.

Updated

But they won’t have much time to rest, with reservists getting the warning they could be mobilised.

Updated

The ADF has finished its bushfire duties:

Defence will formally cease Operation Bushfire Assist 2019-2020 on 26 March 2020, having completed the emergency and recovery tasks requested by state and local authorities.

Defence has been assisting with the bushfire efforts since early September 2019 by providing wide-ranging support as part of the national response.

Prime minister Scott Morrison thanked all personnel who provided direct support in the field, at sea, in the air, and from defence bases as part of Operation Bushfire Assist.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the way Defence has been assisting emergency services across the country in these challenging circumstances,” the prime minister said.

“The permanent and part-time Australian Defence Force members provided essential support to our emergency services across Australia. This remarkable hard work has made a significant difference to the immediate emergency response and the longer-term recovery which defence will continue to support.”

Operation Bushfire Assist commenced on 31 December 2019 to support state fire and emergency services across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland and later provided support to the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania.

Updated

Virgin Australia boss Paul Scurrah has been doing TV and radio interview this morning talking about the grim state of the airline industry.

He told ABC TV that about 1,000 of the 8,000 staff the airline stood down on Wednesday will probably be made redundant, AAP reports.

Earlier, speaking on ABC radio, he said that every airline in the world would need government money to survive if the coronavirus crisis went on too long and hit back at Qantas boss Alan Joyce.

As Guardian Australia reported on Monday, Scurrah has complained to competition tsar Rod Sims about Joyce’s public campaigning against Virgin, prompting Sims to tell Qantas to knock it off. Scurrah said nobody knew how long the crisis would go for.

“If it goes too long, there won’t be an airline in the world that can survive without government support,” he said.

Asked by host Fran Kelly about his complaint to Sims, Scurrah said he would “take any action I need to to make sure we get through this and our reputation is intact”.

“We need a strong aviation sector that can provide competitive pricing, it’s in the public interest and it’s in the tourism industry’s interests as well.”

Asked about Joyce’s sledge that the Australian government should not support “a company that’s owned by Singaporeans, Chinese, Abu Dhabi and a British billionaire” – a clear reference to Virgin’s shareholders.

Scurrah agreed that they should be approached for money first, saying: “As a responsible company, yeah, we have to make sure that if and when we need cash that we try every avenue we possibly can.”

He dodged questions about how long the airline could survive with its fleet largely grounded, but said any bailout of the industry should be for everyone.

“What I have said to the government is that if this goes on for a prolonged period, every airline will be turning to the government for assistance – it won’t be just us,” he said.

Updated

Here is Gladys Berejiklian warning that New South Wales will go further if it doesn’t see a reduction in Covid-19 cases.

That is after another 190 people were diagnosed with the virus since yesterday.

I do also want to say to the community that if we don’t see things shifting in the numbers because of those actions, NSW will have to go further.

And I think everybody appreciates that.

But I’m saying no need to panic, supermarkets and essential things will always be available for people to obtain.

But if things haven’t shifted because of the actions we took earlier in the week, and actions which I’m very pleased we took at that time, we will have to go further.

And I just want everyone to be prepared for that, not to be overly concerned or panicked, but just to know that the NSW government will go further if we have to, because it’s in the interests of public safety.

And on the increased police enforcement:

I also want to thank the police yesterday, for supporting our government or having the ability to issue on-the-spot fines.

We are at a stage in the virus where we do have to reduce the spread. We have to see the number of cases transmitted in the community reduced, and we need to make sure people who are supposed to be in self-isolation or people who are supposed to exercise social distancing, if they’re out and about, to exercise both of those important things. And if they’re not, the police will be on hand to issue fines. But in the main we want people to please do the right thing, because if the spread continues NSW will have to take immediate action to go further.

Updated

Plan International has created a ‘how to talk to children about coronavirus’ guide.

You’ll find that here.

Updated

Not coronavirus related, but still very important:

The Australian man, charged with killing 51 people in a Christchurch far-right terrorist attack, has changed his plea to the court and will now plead guilty.

Mass job losses continue

An additional 15,000 people have been thrown out of work this morning due to the coronavirus crisis.

Solomon Lew’s retail group Premier Investments, which owns the stationery brand Smiggle and clothing chains including Just Jeans, Portmans and Dotti, will close all its stores at 6pm, standing down 9,000 people.

Travel agent Flight Centre will stand down or sack 6,000 people, including 3,800 Australian staff, due to the coronavirus crisis.

The company employs about 20,000 people worldwide.

Premier said stores would remain closed until at 22 April.

It also told its landlords it wouldn’t be paying the rent during this period.

Flight Centre said that some of the 6,000 staff put out of a job would be made redundant, but did not provide numbers.

“In Australia, where international travel bans and domestic border controls are in place, about 3,800 people in sales and support roles will temporarily stand down in the near-term,” the company told the ASX.

Updated

The Artania cruise ship, which was turned away from Dubai and remains docked in Fremantle, has had seven passengers test positive for coronavirus.

Mark McGowan had previously ordered no passengers were to disembark, except in the case of a medical emergency.

WA Health staff are on board, testing and offering assistance, but the passengers will remain on board.

There are no Australian citizens travelling on the ship.

Flight Centre is the latest Australian company to report Covid-19 changes to the Australian stock market.

It has stood down 3,800 Australian workers.

Globally, 6,000 people will be laid off.

That follows Virgin Australia announcing it was laying off 8,000 of its 10,000 staff yesterday and mass lay offs – 20,000 – from Qantas.

Updated

Australia’s spaces are emptying.

Just remember, when you are staying at home, you are doing a lot – protecting those you love, and those you’ll never meet.

Not going out, seeing these empty spaces, might seem depressing, but it’s really an act of care and kindness. Staying home and all the other sacrifices you are making, means others will live. And that’s a huge gift.

Updated

The Queensland police commissioner and senior officers have been speaking at the state border.

They say the “methodology” for closing the border could change regularly, and has already changed. So far this morning delays are stretching to about 45 minutes for cars with interstate licence plates.

Trucks travelling north on the M1 (otherwise known as Pacific Motorway) are being waved through. Cars with Queensland licence plates are also not being checked, though police say they might to do random checks to ensure people in those cars are actually locals.

Several people have already been turned away because “they did not meet any of the exemptions”.

Residents on the NSW side of the border can now apply online for a “border pass”.

The police state disaster coordinator, Steve Gollschewski, said there were clear exemptions for people to “cross the border seamlessly”.

For those people in Queensland registered vehicles they’ll just be waved through.

We expect there are going to be delays, there are delays, this is not going to be easy for any of us.

This is not a short term thing. People need to be prepared for this to happen for quite some time. We expect we will review the levels of compliance as we go forward and we will review how this is operating as we go forward.

In terms of whether we scale up or scale down, we do have the ability to adjust our posture. If we need to we may well have to increase those measures if people aren’t being compliant.

If you are not exempt you can expect to be asked to turn around.

Updated

The Australian parliament is closed to visitors.

Updated

How successful we are in flattening the curve will be evident in 'seven to ten days'

Dr Nick Coatsworth also said Australia needed to prepare itself for more deaths.

This is the social media pandemic. So we can see the images coming out of Italy and they are very concerning indeed. So there will be more deaths.

But I am absolutely confident, having practiced in this system since I graduated in 2000, that we are different to Italy, we are different to the UK and we are different to the US.

When Italy was at 2,500 cases as we have just exceeded, they had widespread community transmission already, their hospitals were already filling. They were only testing people in hospitals, so they had a massive amount under the iceberg.

We know that well over 50% of our cases are still travel related, or the contact of those people who have travelled. Now, because our borders are closed, we are pivoting that testing regime, so there is going to be much more community testing.

Within seven to ten days, we are going to get a picture, precisely, of what the measures the PM has announced this week, are going to do to the epidemic curve

And every Australian has to be their own policeman and woman now. When we are hurting, because of these measures, we are hurting because we need to flatten the curve, and when that curve flattens, every Australian will be able to look at it and think ‘well, I contributed to that’.

Updated

Over on ABC Breakfast, infectious disease expert Dr Nick Coatsworth, who is one of the experts advising the government on the Covid-19 pandemic, had some very, very strong words for doctors like the ABC’s Dr Norman Swan who are pushing for stronger lockdowns and restrictions.

Coatsworth, who has also managed disaster and humanitarian response for two decades, says “the experts around the table” of the medical committee “do not think this will be over in weeks if you put in harder and faster measures”

This is about degrees. We have gone hard, to say that we have gone light and slow would be completely inaccurate. The measures we have got in at the moment are unprecedented. The impact they are going to have on individual families is unprecedented. I’ve got three kids, I’ve got a mum who has emphysema, I’ve got a wife who is a respiratory physician and I’ve got a sister-in-law who has lost $100,000, because she is a high live opera performer and her entire annual income is gone.

These are unprecedented measures already and I am sorry I disagree with Norman when he thinks this is going to be over in weeks if we go for harder and faster lock downs, I would like Norman to go to Darwin and tell the people of Darwin why they have to stay in their houses, when we are a continent and there is differential expression of this virus and its impact across the country.

So people can ask for the hardest and fastest, but I don’t think they have thought through the impact on Australia, and Australians who are doing that.”

This morning the federal government announced the time restrictions would be lifted.

Last night the hairdresser lobby was begging for the industry to be part of the lockdown.

Approximately 40,000 hairdressers and barbers continue to be at risk following the federal government’s announcement last night to leave hairdressing off its latest COVID-19 shut down list.

In addition, salons are forced to only conduct 30 minute appointments, which is not a viable time frame to conduct most hairdressing services and offer a professional experience for clients.

“This decision is outrageous,” says Australian Hairdressing Council CEO Sandy Chong. “Around 40,000 hairdressers and barbers continue to be at risk of as they are directly exposed to large members of the public. Why beauty was shut down but hairdressing wasn’t, I don’t understand.

“The Fair Work Act, as it stands, makes it costly for businesses if they choose to stand down without the Government’s directive.”

Updated

The ACT, which will move in lockstep with NSW, if further restrictions are ordered by the NSW government, has made the takeaway rules a little easier for licensed venues.

There is a very big craft beer industry in the ACT, so this is one small step to try and help them keep going.

Updated

AAP has more on the latest deaths from Covid-19:

Victoria has recorded its first coronavirus deaths, with two people succumbing to the virus overnight.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton confirmed the deaths of two men in their 70s.

The state’s total number of confirmed cases has also risen to 520.

It comes a day after Premier Daniel Andrews warned he may implement further measures to fight the spread of the coronavirus, as the police union called for a state of disaster to be declared.

The state’s tally includes four health workers at Werribee Mercy Hospital in Melbourne’s outer west.

The hospital confirmed one emergency department worker tested positive to COVID-19 on Sunday.

Fellow staff members considered at risk of infection were isolated and tested, with three confirmed as also having the virus.

The Police Association has called for a state of disaster to be declared, which would give its members greater powers during the coronavirus pandemic.

About 500 police officers are tasked with enforcing the closure of non-essential services in Victoria and the mandatory 14-day self-isolation for travellers.

Individuals face fines of up to $25,000 and businesses could be forced to cough up $100,000 for breaching restrictions.

Updated

Victoria, which has 520 cases of Covid-19, and just recorded its first two deaths from the virus, has been pushing for further restrictions for some time. Some time in this fast moving story is a few days, but Dan Andrews has been public about it – he will go harder, even if the PM disagrees, if he thinks it is warranted.

It is also worth noting that New Zealand has moved into its “alert 4” stage, which means all citizens will have to stay indoors for four weeks, except for necessary trips to the grocery store, or an emergency.

Updated

A few quick observations from Queensland’s border closure.

Cars with Queensland licence plates appear to be being waved straight through roadblocks by police in an attempt to avoid delays. Anyone with NSW plates is looking at a 10- to 15-minute delay.

Trucks and anything that looks as thought it’s freight is also being let through without a check.

There are definitely mixed feelings. Some commuters are happy at the relatively minimal disruption. Others, well, seem to think that you either go hard or go home.

“That’s not a border closure, it’s a detour,” once commuter said. “Are we fair dinkum or what? That was laughable.”

Police yesterday had said there would be a process for people to apply for a pass to ease the process but that doesn’t appear to have been set up yet.

Updated

Frontline health workers came together on the ABC’s 7.30 overnight to pass on a message: Stay at home.

Victoria’s police union wants the premier to declare a state of disaster to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.

That would give police more powers to disperse people, as well as give orders which would be an offence to ignore.

You might remember that during the bushfire crisis at the beginning of the year a state of disaster was declared, which meant authorities could force people to leave their homes.

Victoria already has dedicated police to enforce the social distancing laws and has warned of new measures.

Updated

Victoria records first Covid-19 deaths

For now, NSW will have the same lockdown strictures as the rest of the nation. But it WILL go further if the cases don’t start to slow down.

NSW Health and Border Force will have to tick off on any passengers leaving any cruise ships which arrive in Sydney.

After the Border Force chief, Michael Outram, made a rare media appearance yesterday to deny that his agency or staff had any responsibility for the decision to let passengers from the Ruby Princess disperse, placing all the blame on NSW Health, Gladys Berejiklian, has refused to budge, saying her agency did nothing wrong.

More than 130 of the Ruby Princess passengers have been found to have the virus.

Updated

New South Wales now has 1,219 cases of Covid-19.

That is 190 more people since yesterday.

Updated

Thirty-minute rule for hairdressers lifted

The prime minister’s office has just released this statement:

Following the receipt of feedback on the practical implementation of measures announced regarding barbers and hairdressers it was agreed by Premiers and Chief Ministers at National Cabinet last night that the instruction regarding 30 minutes per patron will be lifted (effective immediately), but that the 4 sq m rule per person must be strictly observed within the premises and that personal contact during the patron’s visit should be minimised wherever possible.

Also it was noted that in hardship cases, States and Territories can provide exemptions in relation to attendance at funerals, but only at the margin.

National Cabinet will meet again on Friday, March 27.

So hairdressers can keep clients in for longer than 30 minutes (and for as long as the service takes) but they can’t have more than the allowable amount of people in doors (one person for every 4 sq m).

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian announces NSW prepared to go further with restrictions

After Danield Andrews came out yesterday and said Victoria would go further with lockdowns, if it deemed it necessary, the NSW premier has said her state would also move stronger restrictions, if needed.

Both NSW and Victoria have a bigger challenge with Covid-19, partly because of their larger populations, but also because of the travel between the states and the number of international travellers who pass through the ports.

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian says there are new protocols in place for cruise ships, with no one getting off any cruise ship which docks in Sydney without a thorough check.

That’s after a 68-year-old Queensland man who was onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise which docked in Sydney last week died overnight. He was the second person in Australia to have died after contracting Covid-19.

Updated

As the blame game over the Ruby Princess continues, Ben Smee has this report over information given to travellers arriving in Sydney airport on Sunday:

An unknown number of international travellers arriving at Sydney airport on Sunday were given an outdated information sheet about coronavirus precautions, including incorrect advice they could immediately return to their workplaces.

Guardian Australia understands the information handouts, which were more than a week old, were given to passengers on at least two Air New Zealand flights that arrived in Sydney on Sunday afternoon.

All travellers returning to Australia from overseas must self-isolate for a period of 14 days, whether or not they feel unwell.

Updated

Prince Charles testing positive for Covid-19 has made headlines around the world. The palace says he hasn’t seen the Queen in two weeks so she has not been exposed (at least not by him).

Australia’s man in London, George Brandis, was at a function with the prince recently, but says he is fine.

As AAP reports:

Australian High Commissioner George Brandis has no coronavirus symptoms after hosting one of the last official functions attended by the now sick Prince of Wales.

Heir to the throne Charles, 71, is displaying “mild symptoms” of the illness but is in good health and spirits as he self isolates at Birkhall in Scotland, a spokesman said.

It’s believed one of the last official engagements the Prince attended was an Australian bushfire fundraiser at Mr Brandis’ official residence at Stoke Lodge in London on March 12.

But Australia House spokesman says the high commissioner, 62, has no symptoms and is following UK government guidelines.

“All of us at the Australian High Commission wish His Royal Highness a speedy recovery,” the spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Prince’s Clarence House office can’t pinpoint whether Charles had picked up the infection at the fundraiser or not.

“It is not possible to ascertain from whom the Prince caught the virus owning to the high number of engagements he carried out in his public role during recent weeks,” a spokesperson said.

His wife Camilla, 72, who is also at Birkhall, in Aberdeenshire, has tested negative for the virus, so is separating herself from the prince.

Doctors believe future king Charles became contagious on March 13, the day after he last saw his mother, the Queen.

Buckingham Palace said the 93-year-old monarch, who is staying at Windsor Castle with the 98-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, remains in good health and is following all appropriate advice.

Philip was not with the Queen at Buckingham Palace when she last met Charles on March 12.

Updated

Scott Morrison will be part of a virtual G20 today as the global leaders try to work out a way to keep world supply chains open.

The world is facing a global recession, with increasing fears that the spreading virus will halt or disrupt shipping channels and supply chains, further compounding the economic crisis which has accompanied the pandemic.

Updated

In case you were wondering what the last time the “greatest nation on earth”, Queensland, looked like when it shut its borders, it was something like this.

Updated

Queues form at Queensland border

Queensland’s border has been closed – for the first time since 1919 (during the Spanish flu pandemic) and, as you could expect, there is slight chaos.

Thousands of people live on one side of the border and work on the other, so it’s not an easy task.

Our Queensland correspondent, Ben Smee, is headed down there to see what is going on.

Updated

Amidst all of the devastating layoffs and industry shutdowns, regional communities are also losing their media sources.

Another regional paper has announced its closure.

Updated

Good morning

The Queensland border is now closed to all non-essential or exempted travellers. Anyone entering without an exemption will have to self-isolate for 14 days.

A 68-year-old Queensland man with a “serious underlying medical condition” died on Wednesday night after contracting Covid-19. He is the ninth person to die from the disease in Australia.

Scott Morrison acknowledged ahead of the national cabinet meeting on Wednesday night that Victoria and New South Wales are likely to impose stage 3 lockdowns.

Evacuation flights for Australians who are stuck overseas due to border controls and cancellations of commercial flights will be organised only “where feasible” and on a case-by-case basis, meaning Australians could be stuck overseas.

NSW has introduced on-the-spot fines of $1,000 for people breaching self-isolation rules and introduced new laws allowing police to fine or even jail people for breaching social distancing requirements.

The Victorian government has said it may also introduce laws on social distancing, if Victorians do not heed orders to stay home.

Western Australia is sending 800 Australians from a cruise ship to Rottnest Island to sit out their 14-day self-isolation. Foreign nationals and crew members will not be allowed to leave the cruise ship unless they are headed directly to a flight home. WA has also restricted alcohol sales.

Wednesday night’s meeting of the prime minister and premiers was due to consider the next batch of restrictions to enforce social distancing, as well as financial assistance measures for renters and landlords – a package that will require cooperation with the banks and insurance companies.

The meeting was also expected to consider how the states can manage the anticipated surge in hospital admissions as coronavirus infection rates continue to climb. We’ll bring you all of that and more as it unfolds.

Updated

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Euronews
Gen Z is Addicted to Social Media? Seniors Are Worse, Study Says
For years, social media addiction has been framed as a “Gen Z problem”- a generation endlessly scrolling through reels, chasing notifications, and living online. But new research is quietly rewriting that narrative. The reality now emerging is both surprising and deeply human: older adults are not just catching up- they…
MyLifeXP
MyLifeXP
Police video of Justin Timberlake's 2024 drunken driving arrest released
Police have released body camera footage from Justin Timberlake's drunken driving arrest in New York’s Hamptons in 2024
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Brand New Day's Tom Holland Explains Why Spider-Man And Punisher Might Be His 'Favorite Dynamic' For Peter Parker Yet
I can't wait to see these two together!
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
43 Years Before It Was Trending, Steven Spielberg's Living Room Was a Jewelbox of Vintage Style – Recreate His Look With Tiffany Lamps, Butter Yellow, and Dark Wood
All the chicest people are decorating with antiques in 2026, but Steven Spielberg was ahead of the curve – experts discuss the trend
Homes & Gardens
Homes & Gardens
Does Zendaya Only Hold Tom Holland's Hands? 'Euphoria' Star Rejects Other Men's Sweet Gesture
Explore the rumours surrounding Zendaya and Tom Holland, including claims that they have already tied the knot.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
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