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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Lisa Cox and Melissa Davey

Australia coronavirus news: first death associated with cluster at NSW nursing home – as it happened

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Summary

That’s where we’ll leave things for today. Here are the key events:

  • A 93-year-old man who was a resident of Newmarch House, an aged care facility where there has been an outbreak of Covid-19, died this morning. Anglicare Sydney said he was suffering multiple serious health issues and a cause of death would be identified in coming days.
  • A 74-year-old man died in Tasmania’s Mersey hospital, a 58-year-old woman died in NSW and an 83-year-old Queensland man died in Sydney.
  • The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said the government’s coronavirus contact tracing app would not be compulsory. The government services minister, Stuart Robert, said the app would not be a surveillance device.
  • The Artania cruise ship departed Western Australia with 300 crew and 11 passengers on board.
  • The Queensland government has offered $200m to struggling airline Virgin Australia, but with a number of conditions, including that the company keeps its headquarters in Brisbane.
  • The deputy chief medical officer said as growth in new infections slowed, Australia needed to expand its testing regime to make it more proactive, rather than waiting for cases to present at hospitals and medical practices.

Thanks again for following with us. You can continue to follow coronavirus news live from around the world here. Stay safe and we will see you again tomorrow.

Updated

The Western Australian government has issued a fresh statement about the Rio Tinto contractor who tested positive for coronavirus. Earlier today, the premier, Mark McGowan, said the man had been to Bali in March and described the travel as “selfish” and “irresponsible”.

The government’s new statement this evening says the case is “not cause for alarm”.

Rio Tinto conducted the test but public health officials are working to verify the results because the test used might not be reliable.

From the statement:

“Western Australians can be reassured that a confirmed case of Covid-19 in a mining worker, following a blood test performed by mining company Rio Tinto, is not cause for alarm and should not be interpreted as potential community transmission.

Western Australia’s Chief Health Officer, Dr Andrew Robertson, said the case was one of only three being reported in WA overnight, with the other two linked to the cruise ship Artania.

Dr Robertson said the Department of Health was investigating the case and undertaking appropriate contact tracing but that there was no evidence of community transmission resulting from this case.

Dr Robertson said the case had become mildly symptomatic shortly after returning from a trip to Indonesia which would indicate he most likely contracted the virus overseas. He was in isolation for the period in which he would have been infectious.

Dr Robertson said the pin-prick test performed by Rio Tinto was not an acute diagnostic test or even a reliable means of screening for current Covid-19 infection.

He said the reason point-of-care testing had been banned as an acute diagnostic test under emergency provisions of the Public Health Act was because it measured the presence of antibodies to Covid-19 – not the virus itself. This could lead to results being misinterpreted, with both false negatives and false positives being common, as demonstrated by recent such testing.

Dr Robertson said public health officials were currently working to verify the results of the individual at an accredited laboratory because the validity of the point-of-care test was unknown.

Updated

And here’s the Queensland premier:

Updated

Over the past few days, the #MeAt20 challenge has taken off on Twitter. It is as it sounds, users post a photo of themselves at the age of 20, generally in happier times than right now.

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has today contributed this excellent entry:

Now for some pieces that you might have missed today. First up, a story out of New Zealand about how the coronavirus lockdown is affecting pest control. With pest control not considered an essential service, rat and other pests are booming and there are concerns for wildlife.

Luke Henriques-Gomes has written our regular round up of non-Covid headlines you might not have seen this week – ICYMI.

Finally, Josh Taylor has written about what we know about the government’s coronavirus contact tracing app so far:

Updated

Anglicare Sydney has released another statement about the death of a resident of Newmarch House in western Sydney this morning after an outbreak of Covid-19 at the aged care facility.

The chief executive of Anglicare Sydney, Grant Millard, said the resident was a 93-year-old man who was suffering “multiple serious health issues”.

He said the man’s relatives had been informed and the cause of death would be formally identified in coming days.

“All Newmarch House residents were notified as were all staff. All relevant authorities have also been notified,” the statement says.

“Thank you to the Australian and NSW Health Departments in supporting us throughout this difficult time.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the grieving family through this very distressing time.”

Updated

McGowan is speaking more about the newly confirmed case, who returned from Bali.

He confirms the man self-isolated on his return.

“He returned from Bali on a holiday and has obviously acquired the illness there. We are doing everything we can to track down who he has been in contact with,” McGowan says.

“But I just want to reiterate, all of those people who went to Bali were selfish and jeopardised the health and well-being of other Western Australians.”

McGowan says the man was tested by Rio Tinto prior to his return to work but the company would provide more information on this at a later time.

Updated

McGowan is now talking about the Artania in more detail.

He says authorities made sure the ship was clean and ready to depart today with oversight from the Australian Border Force.

“My position on this ship has been clear from the get-go. I wanted to make sure that we avoided the Ruby Princess debacle that we saw happen in Sydney,” he says.

“The cruise saga has been one of the most difficult issues we grapple with in WA.”

He says 300 crews and 11 passengers are on board the ship as it heads back to Europe.

The ship will stop in Indonesia first where some crew will disembark before the ship sails on to Germany.

“Everyone on board has been given a clean bill of health after spending a full 14 days in quarantine. The ship is clean and authorities report no evidence of Covid-19 on board,” McGowan says.

“About 79 crew members and 28 passengers remain in Perth, either in hotels or a smaller number, which is 11, in hospitals.”

A crew member looks on as the Artania prepares to depart Fremantle harbour on Saturday
A crew member looks on as the Artania prepares to depart Fremantle harbour on Saturday. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

Updated

Western Australia’s premier, Mark McGowan, is speaking.

He starts by noting the cruise ship Artania has departed this afternoon.

He says he and WA residents are “very pleased to see it leave”.

McGowan says there was only one new confirmed WA Covid-19 case overnight, the second time there has been an increase of just one WA-based case in this pandemic.

He says there are two more new cases from the Artania. He says there have been 245 cases linked to cruise ships.

He also says 26,631 people have tested negative for Covid-19 in the state.

The newly confirmed case today is a Rio Tinto contractor who travelled to Bali.

McGowan describes it as “selfish” and “irresponsible” of the individual concerned to travel to Bali in the month of March.

Australian Medical Assistance Team (Ausmat) staff who worked with the passengers and crew of the Artania wave goodbye as it departs Fremantle harbour
Australian Medical Assistance Team (Ausmat) staff who worked with the passengers and crew of the Artania wave goodbye as it departs Fremantle harbour. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP
Crew members on the Artania are seen with a sign thanking Fremantle and Ausmat staff as they leave Fremantle
Crew members on the Artania are seen with a sign thanking Fremantle and Ausmat staff as they leave Fremantle. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

Updated

The NSW government says it is injecting $25m to fast-track statewide research and clinical trials to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and reduce its impact on the community.

It’s part of $800m in already announced extra funding for the health budget.

The funding will be directed to research focused on:

  • Accurate and timely diagnosis of Covid-19.
  • Support conducting Covid-19 clinical trials including vaccine trials.
  • Monitoring, developing and evaluating strategies to slow community transmission.
  • Developing and evaluating treatments for Covid-19.
  • Preventing the need for intensive medical care.
  • Minimising the impact of physical and psychological trauma on the community.

Updated

Thanks for joining me for our live Covid-19 coverage today. I hope everyone is coping okay during these trying times. I’m handing over to my colleague Lisa Cox, who will carry you through to the evening.

In the meantime and on a bright note, I will leave you with one of my favourite videos from the pandemic. Stay safe!

Updated

The deputy chief medical officer is expanding on what he means by increasing surveillance.

Prof Paul Kelly says he will be encouraging people to download the government’s Covid-19 tracing app when it is released in a couple of weeks. He says the other aspect will be increasing testing.

He says until now surveillance of cases has relied on people going to see a doctor if they are sick and the test going to the laboratory, then the result going to health departments who can then begin contact tracing. He says:

What we’re talking about here is something much more broad. Trying to find cases that would not necessarily come to hospital because we know that people that are mildly sick, they may not come to hospital or general practice or to one of the Covid clinics necessarily to seek treatment and they may not recognise the signs of being this particular illness.

We are at that stage now of the epidemic in Australia where we need to take those ones much more seriously than we were when we were seeing hundreds of cases every day. And we were definitely concentrating on that side. So this is a way of getting out into the community and doing essentially relatively random testing potentially for people in high risk situations, for example. I know in other countries, they have done testing of supermarket employees, for example. Those pieces of information are obviously very vital in our response.

Updated

Deputy chief medical officer says now is no time to decrease measures

The deputy chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, is giving an update in Canberra. One of the deaths that happened yesterday was a 42-year-old man who was a crew member on the Artania cruise ship, which is leaving Fremantle today on its way to the Philippines.

“So that is by far our youngest person that has died in Australia from this disease, and a terrible tragedy for that man and his family,” Kelly says. “But it is a reminder for us that this is not just an old person’s disease. We are all in this together for a reason.

“Because it can affect any of us, and while it is true to say that the majority of cases, over 80%, are mild, some of them can be very severe. We still have 55 people across Australia in intensive care right now, some of those have been ventilated, some of them extremely sick. These are really strong reminders for us why we are taking this disease seriously and why, indeed, the whole world is taking this pandemic seriously.

“We are continuing to concentrate on the way out of where we are now. Australia has done extremely well compared with the rest of the world up to this point. But it is not a time for us to decrease the measures that we have in place. We have, for example, been one of the major testing countries for Covid-19 and a recent paper published by the London school of hygiene and tropical medicine – I am an alumnus of that institution – shows that we are at the highest level in terms of case ascertainment and making sure that the cases that are out there are being found.

“We reached a milestone: we now have over 400,000 tests that have been done here in Australia, and so again, by sheer numbers, we are doing a lot of testing. But one of the challenges that was put back to the Australian health committee from the national cabinet on Thursday was for us to continue to look and consider what our testing strategy should be into the future. So that is part of our surveillance plan that we are developing, and we had a discussion about that today at our Australian health committee meeting with the other chief health offices. I chaired that meeting today and we discussed what that surveillance plan should look like and particularly what should we be doing in terms of expanding testing now that we have that capability to do so.

“The other thing we discussed today at the committee meeting was about our rapid response capability. How should we, and how could we, respond to things like what is occurring in north-western Tasmania at the moment?”

He is referring here to the healthcare worker in Tasmania with the virus who worked across with three aged-care facilities in the north-west, and as a result in the past 24 hours, almost 500 tests have been done on all the residents and the staff of those facilities.

Updated

Afternoon summary

Let’s take a look at some of the key announcements and updates from today:

  • The federal government has said its Covid-19 tracing app will not be compulsory. The government services minister, Stuart Robert, revealed details about how the app will work, saying there will be no geolocation, surveillance, or tracking of people with the app, and that the federal government would not have access to any of the app’s data. He said if two phones with the app downloaded to it were within 1.5 metres of each other for 15 minutes, the app would record the phone numbers and names of those people. That information is held encrypted and securely on the individual’s mobile phone until it is needed.
  • Four additional deaths have been recorded bringing Australia’s total deaths to 69. These include a 74-year-old man who died at the Mersey hospital in Tasmania, an 83-year-old Queensland man who died in Sydney, and a 58-year-old woman in New South Wales. A resident of Newmarch House in western Sydney died on Saturday morning after an outbreak at the home, becoming the first death associated with that facility. Thirty people, including 10 staff and 20 residents, have tested positive with the virus in the home.
  • The Queensland government said it would contribute $200m towards the Virgin airline. The state’s development minister, Cameron Dick, said it was imperative Australia had two airlines to support tourism, jobs and regional investment. Queensland’s support is conditional on debt restructuring, and shareholders and bondholders doing their bit.

Updated

First death associated with NSW aged-care facility Newmarch House

A resident of Newmarch House in western Sydney has died after an outbreak at the home. Thirty people, including 10 staff and 20 residents, have tested positive with the virus. In a statement to residents, Anglicare, which manages the home, said:

We are saddened to inform you that a resident of Newmarch House, who tested positive, passed away peacefully this morning. The resident’s family has been contacted, as have all the relevant authorities.

We would like to assure you that the staff are doing everything possible to care for your loved one. Please be assured of our prayers for you at this challenging time. Further updates will be provided to you in due course.

On Friday the NSW chief health officer announced that every staff member and resident would be tested with the virus, even those who had already returned a negative result. Aged care homes are particularly vulnerable to spread once a case occurs. Dorothy Henderson Lodge, also in NSW, recorded multiple deaths following an outbreak there last month.

Updated

The AFL’s chief executive, Gillon McLachlan, says Victoria remains a viable option to host a quarantine hub as the league edges closer to restarting the 2020 season, writes AAP reporter Jason Phelan.

Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland had been viewed as key states in the hub plan, which would see teams split into three groups and isolated to limit their exposure to Covid-19.

“Victoria has extraordinary proximate facilities, so there are obviously opportunities, like there are in every state to various levels,” McLachlan told Fox Footy on Saturday.

Hubs, where teams are separated into three groups and isolated in different states to limit their exposure to Covid-19, is one of the scenarios the league is considering as it plots a way out of the financially crippling shutdown.

Last week Victoria’s sport minister, Martin Pakula, described the hubs as the AFL’s best shot at completing the 2020 premiership season.

Updated

As people were looking for ways to keep themselves entertained while isolated at home, they began sharing photos of themselves as 20 year-olds on Twitter. The hashtag #MeAt20 began trending on Twitter as people shared photos from their younger days.

Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton is the latest to jump on the bandwagon of reminisce, and it’s a ripper.

Donald Trump and his incendiary tweets

Looking to the US for a moment where our Washington reporter David Smith reports that president Donald Trump has posted highly incendiary tweets stoking protests against physical distancing and other coronavirus stay-at-home measures. Smith reports:

“LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” the US president wrote in capital letters on Friday. “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”

He followed up with a third tweet: “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” – a reference to Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam, last week signing into law new measures on gun control.

Trump has repeatedly ignored his own entreaty to put partisan politics aside during the coronavirus pandemic. His latest provocative interventions followed demonstrations against stay-at-home orders in Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia and other states that have drawn elements of the far right.

Some protesters have carried guns, waved Trump and Confederate flags and sought to frame the debate as a defence of constitutional freedoms. They have been egged on by conservative media hosts such as Fox News’s Jeanine Pirro, who said: “What happened in Lansing [Michigan] today, God bless them: it’s going to happen all over the country.”

At Friday’s White House coronavirus taskforce briefing, Trump played down fears that by crowding together, the protesters could spread the Covid-19 illness. “These are people expressing their views,” he said. “I see where they are and I see the way they’re working. They seem to be very responsible people to me, but they’ve been treated a little bit rough.”

Updated

The Western Australia government has appointed a travel agent to help bring home Western Australians currently in others states and to return those quarantined in Perth back to their state or territory of origin.

The state government said the appointment of FCM Travel Solutions will provide support and assistance to those who need help booking their commercial flight to get them back home.

While the cost of the flights will be the responsibility of the individual, associated booking fees normally associated with a travel agent will be covered by the state government.

Western Australians returning home will need to produce their letter of quarantine completion upon arrival and undertake a further 14-day quarantine at home. Exemptions may be granted, but these will need to be applied for in advance. Visit the wa.gov.au website for further information.

Travellers leaving Western Australia have been told to check with their home states about any conditions applying to them.

The FCM Travel Solutions dedicated phone number for post-quarantine travel into and out of Western Australia is 1300 165 764.

Bunnings is trending on Twitter as Australians use their time in isolation to catch up on DIY projects, gardening and home improvement. Long lines have been reported outside the stores, and Bunnings is limiting the number of customers inside at any one time due to social distancing measures.

I asked on Twitter what you’re all buying. Paint and plants seem popular.

Updated

NZ Warriors hope to be part of NRL launch

AAP reports that the New Zealand Warriors boss, Cameron George, is hoping the NRL team can arrive in Australia in time to resume training with rival clubs on 4 May.

The league is forging ahead with plans to relaunch its season in late May after meetings with broadcasters on Friday.

It remains unclear how many games will be played and how much the networks will be willing to pay for a restructured competition. However, all parties agreed on aiming for a return to action on 28 May, with teams pencilled in to recommence squad runs in just 16 days.

The inclusion of the Warriors remains a significant hurdle because of international travel restrictions on both sides of the Tasman. The club is also demanding answers on a number of key issues before deciding whether to stay in Australia for up to seven months.

Among them include player renumeration, competition structure, and whether families will also be able to be housed with the team.

“Once that comes to light, we’ll be better equipped to make the right decision,” George told Fox Sports News on Saturday.

“And then we get to Australia, we can train with every other club from the 4th of May on. That’s our goal, notwithstanding a lot of water to go under the bridge.”

Updated

In a joint statement, Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman, Kristina Keneally, and transport spokeswoman, Catherine King, said the federal government must help the crew of the Covid-19-infected Ruby Princess.

It comes as the owner of the cruise liner company is being sued by the family of a US citizen who died from the disease.

“Only crew members who return negative test results and volunteer to remain on the vessel for the ship’s journey to its next port should remain on the vessel,” the statement said.

They say the government must work with the cruise company and the International Transport Workers Federation which represents the crew to repatriate the remaining crew members as quickly and safely as possible.

“Each day that passes without the Morrison government helping this stranded crew to get home safely risks more people on board contracting Covid-19, and placing unnecessary additional stress on the NSW health system,” they said.

Updated

The NSW government has announced $25m to fast-track statewide research and clinical trials to tackle Covid-19. The state’s health minister, Brad Hazzard, said the funds are part of about $800m in extra health funding from the state.

The funding will be directed to research focused on:

  • accurate and timely diagnosis;
  • support conducting Covid-19 clinical trials including vaccine trials;
  • monitoring, developing and evaluating strategies to slow community transmission;
  • developing and evaluating treatments;
  • preventing the need for intensive medical care;
  • minimising the impact of physical and psychological trauma on the community.

Updated

Minister defends CentreLink

Before the press conference on the tracing app ends the government services minister is asked what he has to say to people still struggling with the CentreLink system, spending hours on the phone and trying to access assistance.

Stuart Robert replies:

To give you an understanding, we normally process 10,000 claims a week for jobseeker. This week we’ll process 210,000 claims, 21 times [the normal amount]. In the last three weeks, we have processed nine months worth of annualised claims.

That gives you the volume of work staff are working through. Today there’s 4,500 staff working right now. There’s tech teams working around the clock. Those looking for a customer reference number, that went live yesterday. You can go to MyGov right now to get a CRN, to get access to a payment right now, online, a 100-point check. There’s an enormous amount of tech and resourcing going and Services Australia are stepping up to the plate.

A reporter presses, asking: “People are still frustrated, aren’t they?”

Robert: “It’s an unprecedented crisis with unprecedented demand. We ask people to be patient.”

Updated

Stuart Robert further explains how the Covid-19 tracing app will work:

Let’s say I have got the app downloaded and I test positive to the virus. I will literally click enter, I have tested positive. The last 21 days of people I may have come into contact with, so for 15 minutes in a one-and-a-half metre proximity, goes up to a national health data store, and because the app knows what suburb I live in, that information goes straight to the state health authorities and the state health authorities do the tracking.

At no point does the commonwealth get the data at all. And when the pandemic is done, I delete the app and all the data from my phone and then I, the minister, will blow away the national datastore and therefore no data will be kept for individual citizens.

Nobody will be forced to use it. It is absolutely voluntary. There is no question I will be the first one to download it, probably after the prime minister, and we will be encouraging everybody to download it. I will be encouraging corporate Australia, not-for-profits, to actually download it. It is a big moment for Australia.

If we want to loosen these restrictions we have got to be able to have an effective tracing mechanism. The current mechanism, manual, is very good. But a digital mechanism will advance that in terms of days. Days quicker for your family to find out if you have been in proximity to someone with the virus.

Updated

Covid-19 tracing app entirely voluntary, government reiterates

The government services minister, Stuart Robert, is giving an update from the Gold Coast about the government’s Covid-19 tracing app, which has caused some confusion and concern among Australians over how data would be stored and collected and whether it would be compulsory.

Earlier on Saturday, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, clarified that the app would not be compulsory.

Robert says:

The app itself, CovidTrace, simply digitisers a manual process. Nothing more, nothing less. It is entirely voluntary. It will be available in the next week or two for Australians to use. And all it does is, it allows a manual process to be sped up digitally.

Right now if you test positive to coronavirus, health officials will sit down with you and ask you to trace back where you were and who you have been with. And it is really hard to try to remember the 90-year-old lady in the queue behind you at a shopping centre, or a family that was close by you for whatever purpose.

CovidTrace as an app digitises that and allows the tracing aspect to be sped up. The intent being, and what we really want, is for as many Australians as possible, well over 40%, to download the app. It works very simply. There is no geolocation, there is no surveillance, there is no tracking.

The app simply connects with another [phone with the] app if those two phones are within 1.5 metres for 15 minutes. It simply swaps phone numbers and names. That information is held encrypted and securely on the individual’s mobile phone. You control your own data and if you test positive to coronavirus, that information is given straight to state governments so they can contact individuals [who] may have come into contact with an infected person.

Right now, a privacy impact assessment is being conducted. The privacy commissioner is involved, and all that will be made public. The source code will be made public, so all Australians can have absolute assurance, from the privacy right the way to the security, right the way to the individual elements, the bits and bytes of the code, that the app is simply a health app for individuals voluntarily used to help us trace those who may have been close to someone who has been infected by the virus.

So we want to be as transparent as we possibly can. It is a big team Australia moment.

Updated

AAP reports the first face-mask testing facilities in Australia will be launched in Adelaide:

Millions of respirator and surgical masks needed to help stop the spread of Covid-19 will be produced at Australia’s first face mask testing facilities established in Adelaide.

The state government is allocating $450,000 for the project where more than 20m masks will be produced each month for local and national markets.

The equipment will be tested at Flinders University and the University of South Australia laboratories and will begin production in May.

Prof Karen Reynolds at Flinders University said face masks needed to meet strict standards to protect hospital staff, filter out bacteria, resist blood, withstand wear and tear, and still be breathable.

The innovation and skills minister, David Pisoni, said as China produced most of the global supply of face masks, science, research and collaboration have never been more important.

“Usually testing is undertaken in the United States, taking around three weeks,” Pisoni said.

“With this new testing facility we will be able to deliver this medical equipment to hospitals within weeks, substantially faster than previously.”

Updated

Now for the good news: no new cases in ACT

Some good news from the ACT: there have been no new cases of Covid-19 recorded in the past 24 hours. Its total is still 103; 88 cases have recovered and been released from self-isolation. This is 85% of all confirmed cases in the ACT. There is one Covid-19
patient in the Canberra hospital. The rest are isolating at home with ACT Health support.

Updated

NSW police have given an update about the investigation into the handling of the Ruby Princess cruise ship. More than 20 deaths and 600 cases have been linked to the ship.

The New South Wales police homicide squad is gathering evidence for the investigation. The NSW assistant commissioner said the ship is unlikely to leave Port Kembla tomorrow and will probably remain docked until late next week. Authorities are not at a point where they can say the crew are well enough to travel.

There are 162 crew on board who have tested positive for the virus, an additional nine from yesterday, and there are 13 crew members in health facilities in NSW.

Updated

Two more deaths in NSW

Over to NSW where the state’s health minister, Brad Hazzard, has just told reporters in the 24-hour period to 8pm last night, the number of cases in the state has continued to slow with just 10 new cases. There are 2,936 cases in NSW.

But Hazzard says there have been two deaths overnight, an 83-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman. The 83-year-old has been included in Queensland’s death toll as he was a resident of that state, and was included in the Queensland premier’s update earlier in the day.

“I think on behalf of the entire NSW community, I want to express my sympathy, and the community’s sympathy, to the families of those two people,” Hazzard said.

Australia’s death toll from the virus is now at 68.

Updated

Senator Penny Wong, the shadow foreign affairs minister, says with today marking one month since the Australian government changed its travel advice to ‘Do Not Travel’ it is time to repatriate those who have been stranded overseas.

More than 11,000 Australians have registered for consular help, with no commercial options available, Wong said in a statement.

“They’ve spent the last month emptying their bank accounts on commercial flights that have been cancelled – while watching citizens of other countries rescued by their governments,” the statement said.

Labor is calling on the government to organise assisted departure flights for the 6,600 Australians stranded in India, as well as flights for the 650 Australians stranded in South Africa, 1,100 in the Philippines, and nearly 2,000 in Thailand and Bangladesh.

An urgent plan was needed for the Australians still stranded in the Middle East and South America, Wong said.

“We don’t want to look back and say there was more we could have done to bring stranded Australians home to safety,” she said.

Updated

Deputy prime minister welcomes Queensland assistance

The deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, said the Queensland government’s $200m to Virgin Australia will assist in keeping the airline running.

The airline has so far been unsuccessful in its request for a $1.4bn loan from the federal government. But McCormack said the federal government was exploring all avenues to keep both Virgin and Qantas going.

“Sustaining Australia’s aviation industry is critical to protecting livelihoods and saving lives and the federal government is exploring all possible avenues to keep two airlines in the air, throughout this pandemic and on the other side of it,” McCormack told AAP on Saturday.

“I welcome states and territories exploring ways to assist their local aviation businesses and welcome the Queensland government’s commitment to Virgin.”

McCormack said the federal government had made a “significant investment” of an initial $165m to keep Qantas and Virgin operating essential domestic network services, including the most crucial metropolitan and regional routes in Australia. He said there was a heavy focus on Queensland routes.

That brings the federal government’s total support to the aviation industry to $1.28bn.

Updated

The Queensland government has boosted specialist support for seniors by enlisting Uniting Care Queensland to the Care Army.

The Covid-19 seniors taskforce co-chair, Kate Jones, said it means seniors in distress can get on the phone and talk to a specialist seven days a week.

“We understand that having to stay in isolation for long periods of time can be distressing and add to people’s loneliness,” she said. “We’ve boosted funding to Uniting Care to put on more staff to answer these calls for help.”

Uniting Care Queensland is assisting those in quarantine who are over the age of 70, over the age of 65 and have an underlying health condition, or are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the age of 50. Those people can call the community recovery hotline on 1800 173 349.

The service will work with other local providers including Meals on Wheels, neighbourhood centres and social isolation services.

The seniors inquiry line had already helped hundreds of Queensland seniors, including those needing help with groceries, a flu shot, transport and loneliness.

Updated

Queensland reports another death

Over to Queensland where the health minister, Steven Miles, is announcing that an 83-year-old Queensland man has died after contracting the virus.

“He [died] in Sydney and we were advised by New South Wales Health yesterday and obviously will have more detail soon,” Miles said.

“Every Queensland life is precious and I pass on my condolences to that family and their friends and relatives. It is obviously a very sad day for them.”

There are now 1,014 cases in Queensland, Miles said. There have been six deaths.

The additional deaths announced so far today in Tasmania and Queensland brings Australia’s death total to 67.

Updated

Eight deaths in Tasmania

The Tasmanian premier and health minister are holding a press conference. As of 6pm yesterday, there were an additional four cases of coronavirus, bringing the state’s total to 184. Sadly there has been an eighth death from Covid-19 there, a 74-year-old man who died at the Mersey hospital.

The premier, Peter Gutwein, urged people to: “Turn on your lights, light a candle, put a light out the front of your home and actually demonstrate the support we have for all of the people that are doing so very much, and going above and beyond to help both those that are in the midst of fighting this virus, but those that are dealing with it as well.”

Two “very different situations” were playing out in Tasmania.

“In the north-west we obviously have an outbreak that we have to work very hard to contain and get on top of and we are taking every measure that we can,” he says. “In the south of the state we’re not seeing the same level of positive cases ... It demonstrates the early measures we put in place are working – we just have an outbreak we need to get on top of. It underlines the fact that Tasmanians cannot become complacent. It underlines the fact that the rules are in place to ensure that we stay safe.”

Updated

AAP Canberra journalists Colin Brinsden and Marty Silk report that two former Australian foreign affairs ministers have weighed in on China’s knowledge of the origin of the coronavirus before it became a global pandemic. They write:

Alexander Downer, who was foreign affairs minister under the Howard government, said China must come clean on Covid-19 or it would “arouse the wrath” of the world. He said there was still speculation about whether the virus jumped from bats to humans directly, in wet markets or escaped from scientific labs.

He told the Australia-UK Chamber of Commerce that the world would demand answers from China after the pandemic.

“For China this is a slow burn,” he said. “So far China sending masks and testing kits – some of which apparently don’t work too well – to other countries and saying: ‘Oh look we’re here to help you,’ ” he said a webinar on Friday. “Come on guys. You started it in the first place. Let’s find out how that happened and let’s do our best to make sure that can never happen again.”

Downer said if China was not transparent, some countries would try to counter its global influence “which will be confrontational and prima facie not to be encouraged”.

Chinese exporters could suffer as countries reviewed their supply chains for raw materials and essential products. He also believed Australia and the UK in particular would mull their dependence on Chinese pharmaceuticals and rare earth metals like lithium.

China is Australia’s number one trading partner.

Julie Bishop, who was foreign affairs minister under the Coalition Abbott and Turnbull governments, said Australia’s relationship with China was “under constant review”.

“I think we will see a different world when we pass through this pandemic,” she told Sky News.

“I’m sure many nations will be looking to diversify and perhaps bring a greater domestic focus on supply chains.”

The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, has also demanded China be more transparent about the origins of coronavirus. He said the families of more than 60 Australians who had died deserved answers about how the outbreak originated.

Downer called for China and the WHO to lead a probe, but it must involve scientists from the international community, including the west.

“There has to be a proper investigation into how this happened, where it came from, and China will, I think in time, be put under huge pressure to agree to that investigation,” he said.

Updated

Government's tracing app will not be mandatory, Morrison says

The government services minister, Stuart Robert, will hold a press conference at 12.30pm (AEST) to talk about the government’s Covid-19 contact tracing app. On Saturday, after confusion grew about the app and how it would be rolled out, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, issued a tweet to say the app would not be mandatory.

Morrison added: “We will be seeking the cooperation and support of Australians to download the app to help our health workers, to protect our community and help get our economy going again.”

Updated

$200m rescue package for Virgin from Queensland

AAP reports that the Queensland government has offered $200m to help rescue Virgin Australia as the cash-strapped airline struggles to survive.

The airline suspended trading in its shares to continue talks on financial aid and restructuring alternatives to help it weather the coronavirus downturn.

Queensland’s state development minister, Cameron Dick, said it was imperative Australia had two airlines to support tourism, jobs and regional investment.

“Queensland has given Australia both our national airlines – we won’t let them go, or let thousands of families watch their jobs go, without a fight,” he said on Saturday.

“But we can’t do it alone, and nor should we, because all parts of Australia benefit from two national airlines.”

Queensland’s support was conditional on debt restructuring, shareholders and bondholders doing their bit. The airline’s headquarters would also need to remain in Brisbane and regional flights would need to continue.

The deal would also require the federal government to chip in.

Earlier the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said there would be no early end to Queensland’s tough lockdown restrictions.

The state’s infections continued to rise: six people tested positive on Friday. The total stands at 1,007 with 19 people in hospital, with 11 in intensive care.

The state’s death toll remains at five.

Updated

On Thursday, National Cabinet agreed to release the management and operational plan for Covid-19 for people with disability. Currently, there are more than four million people with disability in Australia.

Today the health minister Greg Hunt said this plan will “save and protect some of Australia’s most vulnerable”.

“Some people with disability are significantly more at risk of adverse health outcomes if they become infected with coronavirus than the general population–this plan will ensure our support is joined up for these at risk groups,” he said.

The plan addresses factors such as the reliance on close contact with carers and support workers, having a compromised immune system, and the presence of multiple underlying health conditions.

The plan can be found here and will be updated periodically as new evidence emerges. It document states the goals of the plan are to:

  • recognise that people with disability have an inherent right to life and its enjoyment on the same basis as others
  • provide people with disability the same standard of health care as other persons
  • provide people with disability access to health services as close to their own community as possible, including rural and remote areas
  • promote dignity, autonomy, and respect for people with disability when receiving health care and that the provision of health care is free from bias or discrimination

Meanwhile in Birdsville, in outback Queensland, a police officer is doing his part to keep local businesses afloat ... by moonlighting as a pizza delivery driver.

I decided to give the officer in charge at Birdsville police station, senior constable Stephan Pursell, a ring, and he told me it was true. Once he knocks off his shift at the station this evening he will become a delivery driver for the Birdsville Hotel, an iconic venue that coronavirus has left struggling.

As the only person manning the Birdsville station, Pursell has one of the most remote jobs in the country. The town is on the edge of the Simpson Desert, almost 1,600km west of Brisbane. In summer it gets upwards of 45C.

“So in some ways, the town is used to isolation,” Pursell says. “We go into summer trading mode from December through to March, and everyone kind of bunkers down until the heat is over.”

But once the heat starts to ease off the town relies on tourists coming through to support businesses such as the Birdsville Hotel. With Coivd-19 lockdowns and shutdowns under way, the town has lost a lot of that business.

“So I thought I’d deliver pizzas for the hotel as a bit of a novelty and also to show my support and help them out,” says Pursell, who is originally from Victoria.

“This is a small, close community and I’m in a position to do it, and it’s something different I can do to help. But importantly for me, it gives me a chance to check up on people and make sure they’re going OK. I hope it provides something a bit fun for the community during these hard times.”

His top pizza pick? “I’m a meat-lovers fan all the way.”

Updated

Cases in Victoria reach 1,319

The latest figures for Victoria have just come in. The state’s health minister, Jenny Mikakos ,says there are 1,319 cases, including 14 deaths. There are 136 cases that may indicate community transmission has occurred. There are 30 people in hospital, including 12 in intensive care. Meanwhile 1,172 people have recovered and more than 79,000 Victorians have been tested.

Updated

My colleague Michael McGowan reports that many of the services Sydney’s rough sleepers rely on have disappeared in the Covid-19 lockdown. But others have adapted, like the Wayside Chapel in Sydney’s Kings Cross. McGowan writes:

Like everything else, an average day at the chapel has been turned on its head in the past month. Where usually the not-for-profit homelessness service’s famous rabbit-warren headquarters in the Cross would be a hive of activity until late into the night, now the doors are locked and the building near-empty.

Outside, the people who still rely on the services Wayside has been offering since the mid-1960s mill around; they charge their phones, wait to speak to counsellors about temporary housing or simply try to avoid the police.

Hazel, in her 20s and homeless, hasn’t received her usual disability pension. She is “very, very short” on money: “Most of my street family have gone into housing since all this, so I’m on my own. It’s very hard. I just sleep anywhere. I don’t know what I’ll do if it doesn’t come soon.”

Read the full story here.

Updated

In sport news Australian cricketers Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner are the latest to lose English county cricket contracts because of uncertainty over coronavirus.

AAP reports the international allrounders were due to represent Lancashire during the domestic T20 Blast competition but the club announced on Friday that overseas deals would be terminated because of uncertainty over when cricket in England would resume. The England and Wales Cricket Board initially put the season on hold until at least 28 May but uncertainty remains about whether there will be further interruptions.

New Zealand Test wicketkeeper-batsman BJ Watling has also had his red-ball deal terminated. The ECB still hope the vaunted Hundred competition will be able to start on 15 July, but there have been calls for it to be postponed until 2021, with tickets sales suspended and players such as David Warner withdrawing. Australia Test spinner Nathan Lyon’s red ball contract with Hampshire was also terminated last week.

Updated

Just looking globally for a minute, researchers at Johns Hopkins University say more than 2.2 million people have been confirmed as having contracted the virus worldwide. Their data shows at least 153,00 have died.

Italy’s total death toll has risen to 22,745, the Civil Protection Agency said, the second highest in the world after the US. The US daily coronavirus death toll hit a new record. According to the Wall Street Journal, 4,591 Americans died over the 24 hours to Thursday, nearly doubling the record of 2,569 that was set on Wednesday. The country’s total death stands at 34,614.

Meanwhile, 14,576 people have died in the UK.

Updated

Aged-care residents and staff in Tasmania to get test results

In further aged-care home developments, hundreds of residents and staff at three nursing homes in north-west Tasmania are expected to get their Covid-19 test results on Saturday, AAP reports.

The state government issued blanket testing across the Melaleuca nursing home in east Devonport, the Eliza Purton home in Ulverstone, and Coroneagh Park in Penguin after the discovery that a healthcare worker had done shifts at all three facilities before testing positive for coronavirus.

The person also worked at two closed hospitals in Burnie at the centre of the outbreak, which is linked to almost 100 of the state’s 184 cases. The prime minister, Scott Morrison, claimed on Friday the healthcare worker in question had been dishonest about their contacts, but state authorities later said this was inaccurate.

Tasmania’s total number of coronavirus cases is 184, with four more in the north-west region added on Friday evening. Tasmania has had seven deaths.

Updated

Good morning, Melissa Davey with you for another Saturday of Australia Covid-19 coverage and curve-flattening news.

To recap the latest, the national death toll rose on Friday to 65. The latest deaths include a 72-year-old Tasmanian man, and a 42-year-old man who was a crew member on the Artania cruise ship died in Perth. The 42-year-old became the youngest person in Australia to die from the virus.

Meanwhile an aged-care home in NSW has grappled with a major outbreak throughout the past week. Thirty staff and residents at the Anglicare Newmarch House have tested positive for Covid-19. It has prompted health authorities to test every staff member and resident, including those who already tested negative.

As my colleague Josh Taylor explains in this piece, the prime minister has not ruled out making a Covid-19 tracking app mandatory. The Australian government is planning to launch an app in a matter of weeks which will trace every person who has been in contact with a mobile phone owner who has tested positive for coronavirus in the previous few weeks. This is in a bid to automate coronavirus contact tracing, and allow restrictions to be eased. Josh has answered some of your questions about the app in his piece.

In business news, the federal government announced on Friday it would spent $165m to underwrite Qantas and Virgin to conduct domestic flights for at least eight weeks.

In upsetting news, a database collecting racist incidents against Asian Australians has received 178 responses in two weeks – roughly 12 incidents a day. Queensland police also condemned a rise in anti-Asian racism that has led to 22 criminal charges of racially motivated offences in the state. As Jason Yat-sen Li writes: “There is one area of civic discourse where we are letting ourselves down, and that is the marked uptick in racial abuse of Asian Australians.”

Meanwhile the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association issued a media release detailing occasions of medical practitioners denying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders access to culturally safe healthcare seeking testing for Covid-19. These cases in rural NSW and Western Australia involved medical practitioners refusing Covid-19 related healthcare on the grounds of patient identity and racist stereotypes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders not practising self-hygiene.

Let me know if I miss anything throughout the day over at Twitter or by emailing melissa.davey@theguardian.com. As always, be nice, especially to each other.

Updated

On Friday morning an Anglicare spokesman said 10 staff and 20 residents at the western Sydney Anglicare Newmarch House aged-care facility had Covid-19, a doubling in cases associated with the home in 24 hours.

The aged care quality and safety commission issued a statement overnight, saying it was involved in discussions with representatives from the NSW office of the federal health department and the NSW public health unit.

“These discussions are focusing on ensuring that the service receives appropriate support to assist its management of the evolving situation in relation to the Covid-19 outbreak, and to concentrate on ensuring the safety and wellbeing of residents at the service,” a spokeswoman said.

Matthew Fowler’s 87-year-old father is in Newmarch House and returned a negative test for Covid-19 earlier in the week. But Fowler told Guardian Australia he had been retested on Friday along with all the other residents. Fowler said he wanted infection control procedures at the home reviewed. He has also made a complaint to the aged care quality and safety commission.

Updated

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