One last summary
Just recapping the major developments of the day again:
- The death toll from Covid-19 in Australia now sits at 81, with the death on Saturday of an 83-year-old man who was a resident at Newmarch House aged care home and a 90-year-old man in Tasmania on Friday. It’s the sixth death at Newmarch House.
- An aged care worker in the Blue Mountains is among 12 people to have tested positive to Covid-19 in NSW overnight, the highest daily total in seven days.
- South Australia has recorded no new cases for the third day in a row and is preparing to start sentinel testing next week.
- The Liberal party and the ALP are reportedly considering applying for the jobkeeper payment.
- Beaches in eastern Sydney have been shut again, after attracting crowds.
- The media mogul Kerry Stokes, who is also the chairman of the Australian War Memorial Council, flew to Canberra to participate in the only official Anzac Day ceremony to be held today as thousands of Australians and New Zealanders, including the New Zealand PM, marked the day by lighting a candle in their driveway.
You can read a more extensive summary here and follow the rolling global coverage here.
Once again, goodnight.
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Sixth resident of Newmarch House dies of Covid-19
An 83-year-old man has become the sixth person to die at Sydney aged care home Newmarch House after testing positive to Covid-19.
It brings Australia’s death toll from the coronavirus to 81.
Anglicare Sydney said the man died on Saturday morning, and had “multiple health issues”.
His family were contacted where they were able to visit and pay their respects.
All the relevant authorities have been informed. His cause of death will be officially confirmed over the coming days.
We continue to think of, pray for, and remember all our residents who have died and for their families as they mourn the loss of their loved ones.
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Aged care worker in NSW Blue Mountains tests positive
Just dipping back in to let you know that a woman who works at the Catholic Healthcare Bodington aged care home in Wentworth Falls, in the Blue Mountains, has tested positive to Covid-19, according to reports.
The woman had reportedly not been at work for 48 hours before showing symptoms. She tested positive yesterday. The aged care home has 120 residents.
With that, we will say goodnight again.
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A quiet Anzac day as coronavirus numbers continue to fall
We will leave you here for the day. You can continue to follow our rolling global coverage of the coronavirus crisis here and read a summary of the day’s news in Australia here.
South Australia has recorded its third day in a row with no new cases despite expanded testing, the second time in a week they have reached that milestone. New South Wales recorded 12 new cases – its biggest daily increase since last Saturday – including four new cases at the Newmarch House aged care home.
Victoria recorded three new cases, including one more among inpatients at a private psychiatric facility. Fifteen people – nine staff members and five patients – have tested positive at the clinic. Tasmania recorded two new cases and the death of a 90-year-old man, bringing the national death toll to 80. Queensland also recorded two new cases, while Western Australia and the ACT both recorded one.
Beaches in Sydney’s east were closed again at 9am today after crowds flocked to them on Friday and Saturday morning. The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, said he was disappointed people still can’t be trusted not to go to the beach when the beach is open.
A flight carrying about 180 Australians and New Zealanders will arrive in Melbourne tomorrow night. It’s the last government-supported repatriation flight from Argentina.
Anzac Day was celebrated quietly and privately, with people lighting a candle in their driveway and listening to the sound of a bugle or trumpet sounding the Last Post across their suburb. Scott Morrison led a small dawn service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, which was also attended by the media mogul Kerry Stokes.
Stokes is the chairman of the Australian War Memorial Council and had only recently cleared quarantine at home in Perth, having obtained an exemption to mandatory hotel quarantine for medical reasons.
And both the Liberal party and the ALP are reportedly planning to apply for the $1,500 per week jobkeeper payments for party staffers, citing a fall in donations. But their year-on-year results are skewed by the 2019 election (that was less than 12 months ago!) which was preceded by higher-than-usual donations.
Stay at home and stay well, we’ll see you in the morning.
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#ANZAC2020 at Northern Beaches Hospital with medical staff who, while giving care to patients, reflected on the solemn significance of the contribution of men & women who served our nation. Dr Pincott, Dr Franks & Dr Morgan hold wreaths honouring veterans. @NSWHealth pic.twitter.com/HGmhsfjNYu
— Brad Hazzard (@BradHazzard) April 25, 2020
News Corp’s Samantha Maiden has reported that national officials for the Liberal and Labor parties are considering applying for the jobkeeper payment.
It follows that earlier report in the Age that the Victorian Liberal party is considering applying for the payment, despite concerns from some party officials that it will be a “bad look”.
Maiden writes that it is a “cheeky proposition for political parties to claim it because donations always nosedive after an election”.
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The St Vincent de Paul Society has welcomed changes to the jobkeeper payment announced yesterday, to exclude government grants from revenue calculations.
Registered charities are eligible for the program, which pays out $1,500 per employee per fortnight to cover employee wages, if they have had a decline in turnover of 15% or more. Amendments announced on Friday mean that calculation will now exclude government grants, so that charities don’t miss out on support because they have, for example, received funding to support bushfire victims.
Here’s the St Vincent de Paul Society national council CEO, Toby O’Connor:
The St Vincent de Paul Society is one of many charities in Australia which has received government funding to help ameliorate the impact of the drought, bushfires and Covid-19.
The government’s announcement addresses any unintended consequence of the jobkeeper assistance package which would have required charities to include government grants which are distributed to Australians in need.
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In other news, it is world penguin day.
Happy World Penguin Day! 🐧 Show some ❤️ for these cuties! pic.twitter.com/MjTFIr6lJv
— Perth Zoo (@PerthZoo) April 25, 2020
A bit more on that two-week testing blitz that has been conducted in South Australia.
Between 16 April and 30 April, all South Australians with any symptoms of Covid-19 are eligible to be tested. SA is the first state in the country to introduce such a broad testing regime, although all other jurisdictions have now followed suit.
The next stage of the testing is currently being designed.
Steven Marshall says his state has “plenty of testing reagent” and will be looking at doing targeted testing as well as potentially sentinel or surveillance testing in SA.
He also promoted the coronavirus tracing app, which is expected to be released some time next week.
We will be very keen to promote it. I certainly will be downloading it.
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The South Australian premier, Steven Marshall, says his government received a letter from the AFL yesterday, canvassing the possibility of establishing an “AFL hub” in the state.
The AFL is feeling out every footy-playing state as a potential hub to host the game, on the assumption that if the season is to resume all players and teams will have to be located in the same place to minimise the risk of infection and get around border restrictions. Unsurprisingly, the Sydney Swans want the AFL to choose NSW.
Marshall says he would love to host the AFL in Adelaide, but he’s awaiting health advice from the AHPPC, which will come in the national cabinet meeting on Friday.
He says:
We will do what we are advised to by the health authorities ... if the risk is acceptable then I would be very keen to see AFL. I would be very keen to see the FFA. I would be keen to see a lot of sport back here in SA. But we don’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot at the last point. We have done really well in SA, we have to stay the course.
South Australian AFL fans are really, really, really into their footy so this would go down very well in Adelaide, with the bonus of being the bitterest pill to Melbourne.
The AFL has said it will make an announcement about the resumption of the season this week.
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A reporter at the press conference in Adelaide asks Cusack if he is concerned that if South Australia continues to report no new cases people will begin to relax their adherence to social distancing laws.
Cusack says that’s just “an expression of human nature”, but if you explain the reason behind public health orders people are more likely to comply.
He says:
I think if people understand why they are being asked to behave in a certain way or why they are being asked to comply with certain directions then I think it’s much easier for them to do so. I think what we see from other countries, where perhaps that messaging has been less clear is where we perhaps see less compliance and, unfortunately, the very serious effects that the virus can have in those communities.
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South Australia records no new coronavirus cases for third day in a row
South Australia has recorded no new coronavirus cases for the third day in a row. This is the state’s second three-day streak – it also recorded no new cases for three days over last weekend, before recording three cases midweek.
The state’s deputy chief medical officer, Mike Cusack, says there are currently 32 active cases in SA, including four people in hospital. Two people – a 68-year-old man and a 75-year-old man – are in intensive care in the Royal Adelaide hospital and are in a “critical condition”, Cusack says.
The state is currently undertaking a testing “blitz”, which is due to finish on Thursday. It has conducted 51,000 tests since February.
Cusack says the state will now start doing targeted testing, including testing groups of asymptomatic people, to ensure there is no undetected spread in the community.
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Coogee beach in Sydney was closed at 9am today. This photo, of the scenes that disappointed the NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, was apparently snapped at 9.11am.
Social distancing at Coogee beach. #COVID19Aus #coogee #SocialDistancing pic.twitter.com/NwJIReWOTl
— Bruce Templeton (@brucetempleton) April 24, 2020
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I’ll be handing over the blog now to my colleague Calla Wahlquist. Thanks for following along today, and stay safe.
Today’s news in one image:
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Western Australia has recorded only one new case of Covid-19, taking the state’s total to 549.
The person who contracted the virus is a 65-year-old woman in metropolitan Perth, linked to the Costa Luminosa cruise ship, according to WA Health.
16 people are in Perth hospitals with Covid-19, including four in intensive care.
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State of Origin could go ahead if rugby fans self-isolate for 14 days before game, says ARLC chief
The chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission has floated the possibility of having rugby fans download an app and “self-isolate” for 14 days if they want to go to the State of Origin.
Peter V’landys made the comments to Triple M radio this morning, saying he was looking at ways to hold the event with a safer or smaller crowd.
The ARLC has already announced that a three-game Origin series will be held at the end of the year, but the exact details are yet to be determined.
Today V’landys floated a number of possibilities, including holding the games in a way that “rewards health workers”.
“We may not have the crowds of a normal State of Origin, but a limited crowd with social distancing, and there’s a few ideas we have in rewarding the emergency workers,” he said.
“There’s another one where we put people on an app and if you’re a really hardcore supporter and you can stay at home for 14 days and isolate yourself and we track you on the app, you can go to the game.
“There’s a few things we can do in that period of time.”
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Some photos now from Anzac Cove in Turkey, empty save for some wreaths laid this morning.
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You may have been reading our weekly How we stay together column. Well don’t forget that you can be a part of it
Share your story, and tell us how you stay together during this trying time.
More information and the form are below:
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People are getting creative wth Anzac Day under lockdown rules:
ACT has only one new case of Covid-19
The ACT has recorded only one new case of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, taking its total to 106.
The person is a woman under 30 and it is “ believed to be related to overseas travel”, ACT health said.
The territory’s chief health officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman, has reminded people to stay at home.
“With nice weather today we know that Canberrans will want to get out and about,” she said. “Whilst we understand that staying active and connected is important, please avoid any unnecessary travel, gatherings of people, and do not use playgrounds, skate parks, outdoor exercise stations or dog parks.”
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Kerry Stokes visits Canberra after WA quarantine
The billionaire media mogul Kerry Stokes – who you may recall was granted an exemption to hotel quarantine on medical grounds and allowed to self-isolate in his Perth mansion upon returning from the US in his private jet earlier this month – travelled to Canberra for Anzac Day.
He and his wife, Christine Simpson Stokes, completed their mandatory 14-day quarantine on Wednesday.
Stokes is the chairman of the Australian War Memorial council. He and Simpson Stokes laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier this morning. They were photographed doing so by Alex Ellinghausen, who was the pool photographer for the day, and reporters at WAToday.com.au, which first reported on Stokes’s quarantine exemption, picked it up.
There are no travel restrictions on entering either the ACT or NSW from another part of Australia. But the hard border remains in place in WA, so if they return to Perth before that’s lifted they will be subject to another mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine period – unless they again apply for and are granted an exemption.
About 900 people have been granted an exemption so far, on medical, compassionate, or other grounds.
I asked Stokes’s public relations contact whether they planned to apply for an another exemption and was told the couple had gone on to their home in Sydney. I’m seeking further clarification on whether they intend to remain there until the hard border is lifted.
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The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, is “disappointed” in Sydneysiders who flocked to recently reopened beaches in Sydney’s east, prompting them to be swiftly closed again.
“I have to express a degree of disappointment and agitationa bout the fact that some people, when the rules are relaxed, when we try and do the right thing by giving people the opportunity to have some outside exercise, [they] are disregarding the very strong message of social distancing,” he said earlier today.
Coogee, Clovelly and Maroubra beaches were all closed on Friday after being open for only a few days.
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Victoria has recorded three more cases of Covid-19, bringing the total to 1,346. One is linked to a private inpatient psychiatric facility, bringing the total number of cases linked to that cluster to 15. At least five of those infected were patients, the rest were staff.
The deputy chief health officer, Dr Annaliese van Diemen, is due to give an update shortly.
Twenty-four people remain in hospital in Victoria and 11 are in intensive care. Sixteen people have died. 93.7% of all cases have recovered, and the level of active cases sits at 68. 135 cases in Victoria are confirmed to have been acquired through untraced community transmission.
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Queensland records two new cases from 2,000 tests
Only two new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in Queensland overnight, despite what the health minister described as record testing.
Stephen Miles said 2,093 tests were undertaken in the past 24 hours.
The state’s total is 1,026: 217 people are still considered active cases, 803 people have recovered and six people have died.
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Hazzard is asked if sunlight can kill the virus. “I watched Mr Trump with amazement, that is all I can really say,” he says.
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NSW has recorded 12 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the health minister, Brad Hazzard, has just said.
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Australians and New Zealanders about to come home from Argentina
About 150 Australians and New Zealanders are scheduled to leave Buenos Aires on Saturday afternoon local time in what will be the final government-supported repatriation flight from Argentina.
The Qantas flight is due to land in Melbourne at 7.30pm on Sunday. It was announced last weekend, after an earlier attempt to organise a commercial flight was delayed.
Argentina has closed its borders, meaning the flight was only open to those already in the country. Another flight is due to leave Uruguay on Sunday.
Message for #Australian and #NewZealanders taking the flight home departing from #BuenosAires tomorrow #COVID19Aus @NZinBuenosAires @carlworker @dfat @Qantas pic.twitter.com/AWAyiESVDs
— Brett Hackett (@EmbAustraliaBA) April 24, 2020
In a video message on Facebook an hour ago, Brett Hackett, the Australian ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, urged everyone booked on the flight to be punctual when picked up from their hotel and taken to the embassy for medical checks.
“For some of you there will be periods of sitting around doing very little tomorrow either at the embassy while you are awaiting your medical clearance or at the airport,” Hackett said. “This is simply an unavoidable fact. We have to comply with the rules that the government of the province of Buenos Aires, the city of Buenos Aires and the federal government have imposed on us.
“We understand that you will be impatient but you have to understand that we need to comply with the rules that are given to us.”
Hackett said the embassy had to cancel its Anzac Day commemorations because of Argentina’s lockdown: “But I reckon helping Australians and New Zealanders return home on the 25th of April is just as good if not better.”
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A bit more from AAP on the death of a 90-year-old man in Tasmania from coronavirus.
The man, who was from the state’s north-west, died at the Mersey Community hospital in Latrobe on Friday.
“On behalf of the Tasmanian government I would like to extend my heartfelt sympathies to [his] family, friends and loved ones,” the premier, Peter Gutwein, said on Saturday.
The man’s death takes the national Covid-19 toll to 80.
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The Victorian health department will give an update at 1pm.
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Liberal party branch looks at applying for jobkeeper
The Victorian branch of the Liberal party is considering applying for the jobkeeper payment, the Age reports.
The state branch is looking for ways to pay its 12 employees after donations reportedly “fell off a cliff” and finances dried up during the pandemic.
The party’s administrative committee voted for the state director, Sam McQuestin, to “explore” whether they would eligible for the scheme.
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Death toll rises to 80
A 90-year-old man has died at Tasmania’s Mersey Community hospital, the ABC reports.
This takes the national death toll from Covid-19 to 80.
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Victoria police have issued 55 fines in the past 24 hours for people breaching coronavirus restrictions.
That includes busting “five friends having a party in Melbourne’s north-west”. They conducted 879 spot checks on homes and businesses over the past 24 hours.
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Apple and Google update coronavirus app
Overnight Apple and Google announced some changes to their planned tool for contact tracing that can be integrated into apps such as the one the Australian government has made.
The most noteworthy change is that the IDs used for figuring out who you’ve been around are more randomised now, and the metadata for Bluetooth communications will be encrypted.
The other big change is that the app developers will be given information about the power level of Bluetooth signal in the data exchanged between phones. This means it’ll be easier for app developers to get a precise measure of how close you are to someone else in deciding whether you would be a close contact who should get tested in the event someone you’re nearby tests positive for coronavirus.
This is better because it is likely to exclude, for example, people in adjacent cars to you in traffic. If it is developed properly.
For more background on the Apple-Google version of contact tracing you can read our explainer here.
So far the Australian government appears reluctant to integrate this into the app we’re going to get soon.
The biggest issue we are likely to see from the Australian app, aside from the privacy concerns, is the Singapore version of the same app for iPhones requires you to keep the app open in order to work. The proposal by Apple and Google does not require that.
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And some music and culture for you for the weekend.
In Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, musicians are in lockdown but streaming free dance and music to communities that ordinarily would be together.
The livestreams begin today.
And every Saturday, Guardian Australia’s culture desk add 15 new songs from local artists to a Spotify playlist – designed to get you through physical distancing and help your favourite musos get paid.
This month another 49 organisations have missed out on Australia Council funding in yet another blow to Australian music.
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Some of the many people commemorating Anzac Day in isolation:
New Zealand’s oldest living WWII veteran and Ron Hermanns (108) in his driveway on Anzac Day. #AnzacDay #AnzacDay2020 pic.twitter.com/U3LokhmjE5
— Alden Williams (@WilliamsAlden) April 24, 2020
Thank you to those who serve, including MIDN Lucy Sara. #AnzacDay pic.twitter.com/NQ3xktO0Qc
— Sally Sara (@sallyjsara) April 24, 2020
6 am ANZAC DAY . Today pic.twitter.com/lIkRITrnTv
— Sam Neill (@TwoPaddocks) April 24, 2020
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Also earlier this morning, a bushfire in Western Australia was contained.
The fire, which started near the intersection of Howie Road and South Coast highway, initially threatened lives and homes in the town of Manypeaks, near Albany, in Western Australia’s Great Southern region, AAP reported. It burnt about 60ha.
It is now under control.
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Coalition MPs ask for permanent jobseeker increase
MPs from within the government are asking the prime minister, Scott Morrison, to make the higher jobkeeper rate permanent when the coronavirus pandemic is over, Daniel Hurst reports.
Before the pandemic, the unemployment allowance (previously called Newstart) was only $40 a day, and had not been raised in real terms since 1994.
The Nationals MP for Cowper in NSW, Pat Conaghan, said the temporary doubling of jobseeker should continue well beyond the six-month deadline.
Even former prime minister Tony Abbott said the same, writing an op-ed to that effect in the Australian yesterday.
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Also from this morning is Ben Butler’s piece on why the banks are not to blame for the failings of jobkeeper, despite what the politicians may tell you.
Businesses say the fundamental problem with the jobkeeper scheme is that it’s paid in arrears. In other words, businesses have to front up the money to pay their workers for each month ...
None of this is the fault of Australia’s banks – it is instead a fundamental flaw in the way the program was designed by Morrison and his treasurer, Josh Frydenberg.
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And here is reporter Matilda Bosely’s feature on the ways people are marking Anzac Day today from their homes.
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For the first time since the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, there was no formal Anzac Day service in New Zealand.
But the country’s leaders found their own ways at dawn to commemorate the day, AAP reports.
The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, was one of many who spent at least a minute of their morning in contemplation by their letterbox. Ardern has relocated her family to Wellington for the lockdown, and left the official residence at Premier House just before 6am.
“While we cannot gather in person, we join in spirit as we remember the service and sacrifice of New Zealanders in times of war and crisis,” she said in a statement.
The defence minister, Ron Mark, also had a message read out as part of Radio New Zealand’s official broadcast of the morning.
“While there can be none of the customary dawn services, no breakfasts, tots of rum, or pints with old mates, almost none of the events we normally associate with this special day, we can still take the time to pause, reflect and pay our respects to those who gave so much,” he said.
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In Adelaide, a small dawn service was held at the city’s war memorial as state laws allow gatherings of up to 10 people.
The Anzac Day committee chairman, Ian Smith, said it was important for veterans to stay connected during physical distancing.
“Many men and women commemorating alone or with close family in Australia, New Zealand and across the world will be missing their mates and finding this Anzac Day particularly hard,” he said. “Many will appreciate a call from former comrades, friends and family.”
Wreaths were laid by the SA governor, Hieu Van Le, the premier, Steven Marshall, and the opposition leader, Peter Malinauskas, AAP reports.
In Brisbane, the Tomkins family played The Last Post in the driveway.
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Veterans urge us to "protect the vulnerable"
Nurse Sharon Bown also spoke at the televised, mostly empty service today and called on Australia to protect its most vulnerable.
Bown has served as a combat nurse for 16 years and her great-uncle took part in the Gallipoli landings.
“Let us do more than just honour those who have defended Australia,” she said this morning. “In this time of crisis, let us realise the innate capacity within each of us to do the same – to unite and to protect the more vulnerable among us.”
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In a televised dawn service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, paid tribute to Carolyn Griffiths, a nurse who has served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and an Afghanistan war veteran, corporal Matt Williams.
“Willie is in isolation today because his immune system depends on all of us keeping our distance,” Morrison said. “He has served us, but now we must do the right thing by him.”
He reflected on the Anzac ceremony in Gallipoli in 1919.
“There was no pomp at that little service,” he said. “There were no dignitaries, no band. Just the sound of lapping water on the lonely shore. And so our remembrances today, small, quiet and homely, will be.”
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Overnight:
- The US’s Covid-19 death toll passed 50,000 and the number of people infected passed 875,000. That’s the highest death toll of any country, and has doubled in only 10 days.
- The UK also recorded 684 more hospital deaths and Sweden reported its highest number of infections yet: 812 new cases.
- The US Food and Drug Administration has warned doctors against prescribing the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine touted by the US president, Donald Trump, weeks ago.
- And the Guardian has revealed that the leader of the group peddling bleach as a coronavirus “cure” wrote to Trump earlier this week, before the president suggested that injecting disinfectant could defeat the virus.
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Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in Australia this Saturday, Anzac Day.
Today’s ceremonies have taken on a different tone. Marches, large gatherings and your traditional dawn services are all off. Overseas, all official Australian-led ceremonies were cancelled weeks ago, including the Gallipoli service in Turkey.
But that hasn’t stopped people marking the day.
At the Australian War Memorial, nurse Sharon Bown delivered a unique dawn service – to a mostly empty room, but beamed out on TV across the country. Bown has served as a combat medic for 16 years and her great-uncle was part of the Gallipoli landings.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, the governor general, David Hurley, New Zealand’s high commissioner, Dame Annette King, and the opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, were also in attendance.
Stay with us for all of today’s news.
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