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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Mostafa Rachwani now and Matilda Boseley earlier

Victorian premier Dan Andrews announces Covid lockdown – as it happened

What we learned today, Friday 12 February

And, breathe. That was quite a day to end the week on. Here’s a quick summary of everything that went down today:

Finally, in light of the announced lockdown, please check out our explainers on restrictions in Victoria, list of hotspots and border restrictions.

Stay safe, and good luck to everybody in Victoria.

Updated

International flights to Melbourne have also been paused, as per a statement from the Victorian government:

As part of the circuit breaker action taken today, we have paused all international passenger flights from tomorrow - excluding those already in transit.

We know this will be difficult news for people who are overseas and want to get home but our focus right now has to be taking this short, sharp action in response to this outbreak.

We will continue to assess the impact of the UK strain of the virus on our program and international arrivals, and will provide more information on the duration of this pause soon.

The return of lockdown to Victoria has sparked concerns for the mental health of residents.

AAP has the story:

Premier Daniel Andrews announced a five-day “circuit breaker” lockdown on Friday afternoon to take effect from 11:59pm in response to the growing Holiday Inn coronavirus outbreak.

Mental health organisation BeyondBlue said feelings of anxiety were a normal response to uncertainty and stress, and pointed Victorians to the organisation’s Coronavirus Mental Wellbeing Support Service, accessible on its website.

“News of further restrictions in Victoria will be distressing for many people given what they experienced last year,” Beyond Blue lead clinical advisor Dr Grant Blashki said on Friday.

“But let’s remember, we’ve done this before, so we know what to do this time around. We have already established new routines and ways to cope so in some ways, we’re going into this with more clarity.”

The Australian Red Cross offered basic tips to cope with the return of restrictions.

“What is it that you can do to feel in control?” Victorian director Sue Cunningham said.

“It’s a time to think about things you enjoy doing, whether it’s putting together a Lego set with your kids, reading a novel you’ve been waiting to read or cooking a meal you’ve always wanted to eat.

“This is not a time to boost your productivity and begin major personal projects that are on your to-do list. Be kind to yourself, and to others.

“If you are feeling isolated and vulnerable, it is important you reach out and talk to someone about it, as those feelings can escalate quickly.”

Domestic Violence Victoria chief executive Tania Farha said her message to the community was brief but vital.

“People experiencing family violence can still leave home even during a lockdown,” she told AAP.

“It’s absolutely lawful during restrictions.”

Updated

Australian Open organisers are apparently contacting people to organise refunds for tickets to upcoming matches.

In a statement, the organisers said that they are contacting ticket-holders to inform them there will be no fans allowed at the matches from Saturday 13 February:

Full refunds will be available for anyone who has tickets for these sessions and they will be advised on how to apply as soon as possible.

Victoria-NSW border to remain open: Berejiklian

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has released a short and straight to the point statement on Victoria’s lockdown:

We wish the people of Victoria well during this difficult time.

NSW acted immediately to screen returning travellers from Victoria as soon as the information was provided to us.

The border between NSW and Victoria will remain open.

NSW Health continues to monitor the situation closely.

NSW is the only state to keep its borders open to Victoria.

Updated

WA to lift restrictions from Sunday

A lot has happened today, but perhaps lost amongst it all was that Western Australia will lift a range of restrictions from Sunday.

The restrictions being lifted were the ones that remained after the snap lockdown from 31 January, including mandatory mask wearing, the 4sqm rule, as well as lifting caps on gatherings and events.

Premier Mark McGowan marked the occasion by showing support to Victorians facing the opposite situation tonight:

Updated

Kevin Rudd is making waves again, this time commenting on the PM’s decision to cancel Monday’s Close The Gap statement:

Continuing with the reactions to Victoria’s snap lockdown, Melbourne’s lord mayor Sally Capp was just on the ABC, saying the decision was “devastating”, but that it was necessary:

We know that for so many people, it is tough. It is shocking, it is disappointing. Still, right across the community, that sense of the health being the number one priority and making sure that we spend this five days listening to the advice of the health experts and supporting each other is absolutely paramount.

Capp was also asked about lockdown fatigue, especially after the long, hard lockdown Melbourne endured in 2020:

I do know that the fatigue from 112 days of lockdown last year is something that continues and certainly not where we want to go.

This is not a situation that any of us want to be in. That vigilance and diligence around what we can all do to make a difference, and get back to business as quickly as possible, is where our mindset is at at the moment.

It’s tough times, there are tough questions to be answered, but this five days is really about gritting our teeth and pulling together. The situation with the pandemic has just shown how much uncertainty there is and, you know, we’re really gearing ourselves up to support the rollout of that vaccine as quickly and effectively as possible.

Updated

The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said businesses are “anxious and frustrated” as the state prepares for another lockdown.

Chief executive Paul Guerra said it felt like “Groundhog Day” for businesses that will be impacted by the lockdown:

Victoria must avoid a third wave, and if the public health advice is that restrictions are required to do that, then we have to accept that they are necessary. However, Victorian businesses cannot and should not keep paying the price for the shortcomings in Victoria’s hotel quarantine system.

This weekend was slated to be one of our busiest for some time, with the Australian Open and other sporting events, Valentine’s Day, weddings and functions planned. Business will once again have to absorb the cost of stock losses, while thousands of Victorians won’t be able to work. It’s another massive blow to our economy which was just starting to get back on its feet.

Guerra went on to comment on the effectiveness of hotel quarantine, saying the system needed to be redesigned:

The hotel quarantine system needs an urgent redesign. There are a range of solutions that should be on the table, and Australia should be getting our best and brightest minds on to this task immediately.”

Updated

The SA premier also announced that anyone who has been to terminal 4 of Melbourne airport since February must quarantine for 14 days from the date of arrival.

Family or household contacts must also quarantine until at least the first negative result has been received.

Anyone who has been at Tullamarine airport, including staff, from 7 February, will also need to test and isolate until they get a negative result.

He also announced that SA has not recorded any new cases in the past 24 hours.

Updated

SA Premier declares all of Vic a hotspot.

South Australian premier Steven Marshall has announced that the current border restrictions has extended to also include everyone in Victoria, not just the greater Melbourne area.

McKenzie tells the sports rorts inquiry that unknown staff within her office changed the attachment to the brief approving the third round of CSIG sports grants.

Despite not being able to identify who made the change, McKenzie ruled out anyone in the prime minister’s office:

The brief was processed in my office, and sent to Sport Australia in my office. The PMO was not responsible for altering the attachment to the round three brief. It was submitted to Sport Australia, not in a timely manner, from my office.

McKenzie can’t narrow it down. It was “someone” in her office but she is “absolutely” ruling out the involvement of the PMO. Did she pick up the phone and work out who did it? No – because she was no longer the minister when the late changes were revealed.

Labor senators note that one of the nine late changes was requested by the PMO. McKenzie replies that she and her office “received representations right throughout the program” but she was responsible.

Labor senators ask if Scott Morrison has promised her anything to take the fall for the handling of the program.

McKenzie: “C’mon, really? Not at all.”

Updated

Recent Victorian arrivals to NSW must follow 'stay at home' rules

NSW Health has released an alert aimed at recent Victorian arrivals, saying they must follow “stay at home” rules.

The directive will require anyone who entered NSW from Victoria any time on or after Friday 12 February, to remain at home for the five days Victoria is going into lockdown.

People arriving in NSW from Victoria will need to complete a declaration form, although no further border restrictions were announced.

Updated

Bridget McKenzie has attempted to exonerate the prime minister’s office for any involvement in the sports rorts affair, but blamed her staff for late changes to the final ministerial brief approving the third round of projects.

On Scott Morrison’s role, McKenzie said:

The PM did not have a role in authorising projects throughout the three rounds – and the final decision maker was me. I take responsibility for all the decisions taken in this program.

The 136 email exchanges between her office and the prime minister’s office, including 15 attaching spreadsheets of projects were “not unusual” and not evidence of any involvement in selecting projects, she said.

However, McKenzie did accept that she received feedback and “inputs” from local MPs, other ministers “including the prime minister’s office”.

McKenzie said that the nine late changes made to the third round of grants were the result of “changes that had not been processed in a timely manner” that were added by staff. She said her public statement on the matter in March 2020 was designed to “refute false claims” that she’d backdated the ministerial brief.

“My expectation is any changes to the attachment would have generated a new brief,” she said. That didn’t happen – so it’s the rogue staffer defence.

Updated

The Australian Open and this weekend’s AFLW matches are set to go ahead as planned, just without crowds, but Victoria’s lockdown has caused the postponement of an A-League game.

Western United’s encounter with Sydney FC was due to be played on Saturday at Melbourne’s AAMI Park, but the match has fallen foul of the stage 4 restrictions announced this afternoon.

“We are committed to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of all players and staff, our interstate guests from Sydney and our fans,” Western United CEO Chris Pehlivanis said.

We hope that the lockdown measures are eased for Victorians at the completion of the five days, and we will remain flexible and ready to prepare for upcoming fixtures as advised by Australian Professional Leagues.

Western United are waiting advice from the Victorian government about professional sports exemptions, and whether that will allow the team to train.

Updated

The former sports minister Bridget McKenzie has begun her testimony at the sports rorts inquiry by taking a swing at the Senate select committee on sports grants.

McKenzie said that she has come to give evidence out of “deep and sincere respect for the Australian Senate”, but claims that she had “declined” to appear were “disrespectful and patently untrue”.

McKenzie said that her appearance sets a new precedent - the Senate requiring a senator who is not a member of the executive to appear. “Senators [Robert] Ray, [Ron] Boswell and [John] Faulkner would be appalled.”

McKenzie said she is proud of the $100m community sport infrastructure grant program which was “wildly popular and highly successful”.

Senator Bridget McKenzie
Senator Bridget McKenzie during her appearance at the Select Committee on Administration of Sports Grants at Parliament House on February 12, 2021 in Canberra. Photograph: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

She said: “I would like to correct a persistent false narrative: that it was a negatively politicised program. I completely reject that the exercise of my ministerial discretion resulted in negative politicisation of the program.”

McKenzie argues that the ANAO finding that she skewed the program to marginal and target seats was based on a “singular email” memo a former adviser sent to themselves, which McKenzie said she never saw and was not the basis for her decision-making. McKenzie explains the colour-coded spreadsheet by saying that electorates were used as a proxy for broad geographical spread.

McKenzie quotes the former Sport Australia chair John Wylie that the score of 74 was never intended to be a cut-off above which every project would be funded, and the decision-making in the program cannot be boiled down to a “mathematical algorithm”.

McKenzie is now running through her numerical arguments:

  • That 26% of Sport Australia’s recommendations were in Labor electorates, but her decisions increased it to 35%. Similarly 66% of Sport Australia’s recommendations were to Liberal National party seats, which she decreased to 60%.
  • Projects in marginal or targeted seats were funded at a rate of 32%. Those not marginal or targeted were funded at a rate of 36%. “They were less likely to be approved than those that were labelled as such.”

Updated

While the big news today relates to the five-day Victorian lockdown, it’s also worth noting tomorrow marks the 13th anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s formal apology to Australia’s Indigenous peoples, particularly to the stolen generations.

Rudd made a speech today that accused Scott Morrison of being “more focused on navigating the internal political shoals of the far right than he is on delivering effective constitutional change” - specifically in response to the Uluru statement from the heart’s call for a constitutionally enshrined national Voice to parliament.

Criticising the government’s preference for legislating such a Voice rather than adding to the constitution, Rudd said the mechanism needed to be placed “above the ebb and flow of partisan politics”.

I can tell you that, without the deep change that comes with a referendum which enjoys bipartisan support, the far right of Australia will always seize every opportunity to trash a limited legislated national Voice as somehow illegitimate.

If you doubt me on this, I only point out the examples of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, or the Australian Human Rights Commission. Both of these institutions exist under legislation. Both are subjected to rolling campaigns of delegitimisation, the withdrawal of funding and threats of abolition. A Voice to parliament that lacks constitutional protection will be no more permanent than the dozens of quasi-autonomous government agencies that are created and abolished by governments every year.

But Rudd said he feared the debate about legislation versus a referendum may be designed to distract from the Uluru statement’s call for a Makarrata Commission leading to a treaty with our First Nations.

The uncomfortable truth in this debate about Uluru is not really about substance. It’s all about symbols of the white identity politics of the far right. Just another battle in the seemingly endless culture wars in which any advancement – no matter how modest – in the cause of reconciliation must somehow be opposed in order to throw more raw meat to the extreme right, thereby sustaining the wider coalition of interests that makes up the fragile fabric of Australian conservative politics.

Updated

So, lots happened in that flurry during the press conference in Victoria, and although I think we all need a breather, this was an interesting point made by deputy Queensland premier, Steven Miles:

I don’t think that will be the end we hear of that discussion.

It appears the announcement of a lockdown has already reached Sydney Airport:

Victorian presser summary

Here is what was announced at the Victorian press conference:

  • All of Victoria will enter stage four lockdown from midnight tonight, until midnight Wednesday.
  • Victorians will not be able to leave their homes, except for work, essential shopping, short exercise and caregiving.
  • Masks must be worn everywhere.
  • Private and public gatherings banned, shopping limited to essentials, schools and universities are also closed. Funerals, weddings, religious gatherings, all banned.
  • Nearly 1,000 Melbournians are currently in quarantine
  • No spectators will be allowed at the Australian Open for the duration of the lockdown.
  • Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT, the Northern Territory, and Queensland all announced border restrictions with Victoria.

Updated

OK, and with that, the marathon presser in Melbourne has finally come to an end, around an hour and 45 minutes after starting.

Stay tuned, I’ll be bringing you a summary of what just happened.

Updated

Tasmania shuts border to Victoria

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein has announced that Victoria will be declared “high risk” from midnight tonight.

The declaration will remain until the end of the Victorian lockdown.

Tasmanian residents who need to travel home from Victoria must go through G2G process.

Non-Tasmanian residents will be denied entry, though extreme circumstances can apply for an exemption.

Updated

Embattled gambling group Crown Resorts has taken another blow in what has been a terrible week for the company.

Due to a snap five-day lockdown announced by Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, today, the group’s biggest casino, in Melbourne, will slam down the shutters from midnight today.

In a statement to the ASX said the gaming floor, restaurants and conference halls would close at midnight and re-open at midnight on Wednesday. Restaurants will still be able to do food delivery.

Hotel accommodation will continue to be provided in a reduced capacity.

Crown Melbourne will continue to work closely with the government and health authorities in Victoria and will respond to measures taken in relation to Covid-19.


This comes on top of the resignation yesterday evening of Crown director Andrew Demetriou - who was also the chair of the Melbourne operation - and resignations earlier in the week of two directors linked to majority shareholder James Packer.

The resignations in turn followed the tabling of a report in NSW parliament on Tuesday that found money laundering occurred at Crown’s casinos and junket operators who brought high-roller customers to them were linked to organised crime.

Updated

The move on toilet paper has been lightning fast this time:

Andrews has just addressed this, saying there “is no need to be doing that”:

You are allowed to go and shop. Supplies are adequate. There is no need to be doing any of that. You just put all manner of pressure on some of the hardest workers, some of the best Victorians, the people who are there trying to - driving the trucks from the distribution centre to the supermarket, the people who are stacking the shelves. They are equal to the task.

Let’s just use commonsense. There is no need to be doing that. There just isn’t! There never, ever was. It creates shortages. It doesn’t protect you against them.

Updated

Building on that point, Sutton has just said that this was “essentially a super-spreader event”, in response to a question about the capacity of contact tracers to get on top of this variant:

In this circumstance, we have essentially had a super-spreading event at the hotel with multiple residents and staff all being infected in the first instance. There will be other circumstances where a variant of concern is involved, where as the premier said, minimal contacts with other people, minimal people to chase up, where contact tracing will absolutely get ahead of it.

Updated

Andrews has indicated that there should be some re-assessment of allowing people to return to Australia, in light of the UK variant’s infectiousness:

Andrews has repeatedly and pointedly outlined how virulent the variant is, to the point where he indicates it may be that some policies need to be reviewed:

It’s not for me to make announcements about how many Australians get to come back to Australia. That’s for the federal government. What I’m saying is the game has changed. This thing is not the 2020 virus. It is very different.

It is much faster. It spreads much more easily. And therefore we, all of us, have to have a conversation about what’s safe, what’s proportionate, what’s reasonable.

Updated

Was Sutton disappointed that a new lockdown needed to be implemented?

It’s always a disappointment to have to face those tough decisions that include a shutdown as a circuit-breaker. Of course, that’s disappointing ... And, again, comparisons with jurisdictions are not always fair, but Europe are now making decisions about extending their lockdown, which is a really harsh lockdown, into March, at a point when they reassess. It will probably go on for months and months to come.

In the grand scheme of things, if this is the sacrifice that we have to make to be free of community transmission again, then we really need to be making this choice and I do fully expect that we’ll get on top of it.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton speaks at a news conference on February 12, 2021 in Melbourne.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton speaks at a news conference on February 12, 2021 in Melbourne. Photograph: Diego Fedele/Getty Images

Updated

The ripple effect of this lockdown is beginning to be felt already:

Should the Victorian government have moved quicker on this outbreak?

Sutton doesn’t think so:

I don’t think so. This is just the time when we have a number of exposure sites, a number of people who have been infectious out in the community. This is the time.

These next five days, where we want to make sure that no one who might be out there now infectious is putting others at risk. In the very first days after this, we were - we knew exactly who was infectious, who were defined as primary close contacts, and we chased them all down.

Updated

Good afternoon everyone, and a quick thanks to Matilda for expertly guiding us through a lot this morning.

We’ll be jumping straight in and bringing the latest from Daniel Andrew’s marathon presser.

Updated

This presser is a marathon so I’m passing over now to the amazing Mostafa Rachwani to guide you through the rest of it.

WA imposes 72-hour hard border with Victoria

This will start 6pm tonight Perth time, 9pm Melbourne and Sydney time.

I mean this WA announcement feels a little braggy given they put it out right as Andrews was stepping up.

No spectators to be allowed at Australian Open

So just to clarify when it comes to the Australian Open, sports editor Mike Hytner says the new “circuit-breaker” rules class professional athletes as essential workers and stipulate that sporting venues hosting professional events can remain open with key staff present to ensure the safe-running of the event. But “no spectators” are allowed.

Spectators watch the third round match between Serena Williams and Anastasia Potapova at the Australian Open
Spectators watch the third round match between Serena Williams and Anastasia Potapova at the Australian Open on Friday, 12 Feb. There will be no spectators from Saturday. Photograph: Andy Brownbill/AP

Updated

Andrews:

This thing is not the 2020 virus. It is very different. It is much faster. It spreads much more easily. And therefore we, all of us, have to have a conversation about what’s safe, what’s proportionate, what’s reasonable.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews addresses the media during a press conference in Melbourne, Friday, February 12, 2021.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews addresses the media during a press conference in Melbourne, Friday, February 12, 2021. Photograph: Luis Ascui/AAP

Updated

It looks like Victoria won’t be accepting any international flights for the next five days either.

Andrews:

If they’re in the air ... we’ll still receive those that are en route.

But it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to be having additional flights coming in during the 5-day period beyond those already on their way.

Updated

Melburnians barred from Queensland for two weeks

Unsurprisingly Queensland has declared Greater Melbourne a hotspot.

This means for the next two weeks Melburnians will not be allowed into the state.

Updated

Obviously, the fate of the Australian Open and AFLW season is on everyone’s minds right now. Here is what Andrews has to say about it:

AFLW or that event or any number of other large and small professional sport events, they will function essentially as a workplace.

But they will not function as an entertainment event, because there will be no crowds. And the workforce will be the minimum that is needed in order for that to be Covid-safe and safe in lots of other contexts.

Updated

Obviously, plenty of Victorians will have/had Friday night plans. Andrews has clarified why he didn’t start the lockdown earlier in the night to prevent those gatherings.

The fact of the matter is, if you chose 9:00 or 9:30 or 8:30, or whatever it might be, or even 6:00, there will be things that have started that will not have ended ...

I hope people will use commonsense and good judgement and perhaps not go out tonight, as they had planned to do. That would be a great thing for them, for all of us. But you’ve gotta draw a line somewhere, and we think that there will be less activity that’s already begun, and would have to stop halfway through, say, which causes all manner of confusion and all sorts of logistics issues, if we choose 11:59 rather than an earlier time.

We went through it, and there was quite a discussion and there were pros and cons for each of those different times. But this is probably the most seamless.

Updated

Andrews says it would be impracticable and dangerous to limit the lockdown just to the Greater Melbourne area (like they did back in August).

I don’t want this thing to go from Melbourne to regional Victoria. If we have rules that are softer, that are easier in regional Victoria, and barely enough time to set up a ring of steel - once you had it up, you’d almost be dismantling it at the same time - it’s five days, it’s not weeks.

It’s not a long-term thing. Therefore, it’s appropriate to have the same rules apply across the whole state. And it’s to keep, frankly, Melburnians and potentially the virus out of regional Victoria.

Weimar says nearly 1,000 Melburnians are now in quarantine:

We have now a total of 905 primary close contacts across this entire outbreak. That’s over 900 Victorians who are currently isolating. We have significant numbers of test results coming back from those individuals, and my thanks to them for their full cooperation in this regard.

Updated

Testing commander (yes that is his real title) Jeroen Weimar is explaining why the transmission of the UK variant is different.

(It’s a big of a long explanation by it lays out the situation quite well so wroth reading through.)

We are seeing a different type of transmission ... where a staff worker in the system worked a number of days in January and February.

Their last working day was 7 February, Sunday ... they tested negative with a nasal swab on the Sunday. That person was negative, was not infectious on the last day they worked in the hotel quarantine system.

They were instructed to isolate on the Tuesday as part of our management of the growing outbreak at the Holiday Inn. They were defined as a primary close contact.

At the same time, three other household members - two identified here - were identified as secondary close contacts, on the same day. And they were directed to isolate, which indeed they did.

The primary close contact tested positive on the Wednesday. The result came through on the Wednesday. The secondary close contacts were tested. Their results came through on the Thursday. They were all positive.

So, what we’re dealing with here is the first chain here was negative on the Sunday, they were tested positive on the Wednesday. By that point, their secondary close contacts were already infectious. They weren’t just incubating, they were already infectious.

Updated

Martin Foley:

This is about getting ahead and not waiting for the problem to be in a position that it catches us. We’re gonna get ahead of this and we’re gonna squash it. And we will do that with all Victorians’ support whilst we look after each other and look after, particularly, our most vulnerable Victorians.

Health Minister Martin Foley has explicit stated that this lockdown is an attempt to avoid a “third wave”, which is language Victorian politicians are usually pretty keen to avoid, so I’d say that’s a fair indication of how seriously they are taking this outbreak.

The important need to get ahead of this virus and to have a short, sharp circuit breaker is so we do not have a third wave. And a third wave would be catastrophic, particularly for our vulnerable Victorians. Those people in aged care settings and those people unwell in hospital settings.

Foley says this is why visitation to hospitals, aged and disability care settings will be banned.

As of midnight tonight until midnight Wednesday, there will be no capacity to visit private residential aged care or state residential aged care, and restrictions will be placed in regards to capacity to visit public and private hospitals. That is to make sure that our most vulnerable community members, those who are unwell, those who are aged and frail, can be protected.

Updated

Just in case you wanted all those rules in one large document - here you go:

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton says without the circuit breaker lockdown the state could be up to 30 new cases a day by next week:

It is significantly more infectious than any other virus that we’ve seen previously. And we’re seeing this play out in the cases that we’ve had in this cluster of cases in Victoria.

As the premier said, there are individuals who are becoming symptomatic, testing positive, who have already infected their close contacts. And even though, you know, test, trace and isolate is working, we are interviewing people immediately on notification of their positive result.

We are quarantining their close contacts, we are identifying those secondary close contacts, but there are individuals who are already infectious at the time that we are identifying those cases.

And that means that there are exposure sites where people have been with this super-infectious variant, and that becomes a danger for widespread transmission.

So, this circuit breaker - and, again, nobody wants all the consequences of a circuit breaker, but the alternative is potentially devastating. I do not want to be here either, come Wednesday, not having done this and talking about 10, 15, 20, 30 new cases a day, including mystery cases, or including cases that we can’t chase down.

Updated

Andrews is continuing to explain the snap lockdown rules – these will be in place until Wednesday:

Schools will close but will remain available over those three days - Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday - for vulnerable children or for the children of those who are permitted to go to work, those who can’t work from home.

Childcare and early childhood centres will remain open. If this was a longer period, we would look at that decision, but we believe that it is better to keep those settings open ...

Higher education is closed.

In terms of special events, places of worship are closed other than for broadcasting of services. Religious gatherings and ceremonies are not permitted.

Funerals can involve no more than 10 people. And that applies indoor or outdoor.

Weddings are not permitted unless on compassionate grounds.

Updated

So, Andrews is breaking down some of these restrictions (although they are pretty familiar to Victorians after last year).

There will only be four reasons to leave your home ...

Shopping for what you need, when you need it. Caregiving for compassionate reasons. Essential work or permitted education where that cannot be done from home. Exercise for two hours per day, with your household members, your intimate partner, or one other person who is not from your household or your partner.

You must stay within 5km of your home other than for permitted work, or if you need to go shopping for things you need when you need them, and you cannot access those things that are – again, commonsense tells you if they’re essential, if they can’t wait until Thursday, then you would be permitted to be beyond the 5km limit.

Masks must be worn everywhere - everywhere - in Victoria other than in your home.

Private gatherings - so, there will be no visitors to anyone’s home - they are not permitted.

Public gatherings are not permitted.

If you can work from home, then you must work from home.

Updated

Here are the details of the lockdown:

Victoria to enter stage 4 lockdown from midnight

And it’s confirmed.

Andrews:

Therefore, I’m announcing, on advice from the chief health officer, and after a meeting of relevant Cabinet committees and the full Cabinet, that from 11:59pm tonight Victoria - all of Victoria - will go to Stage 4 restrictions. And I’ll take you through the details of those. It probably won’t be an exhaustive list. There will inevitably be questions that will be posed, and we’ll deal with those throughout the day. From 11:59pm tonight until 11:59pm on Wednesday.

Updated

Andrews is outlining why this outbreak is different to previous ones we have faced:

The way in which they are presenting is a very significant concern to us. If I can just give you a couple of examples, I’ll make the point this way. We are having cases test positive - and we, in rapid time we get notified of that positive test result - by the time we find that case as positive, they’ve already infected their close contacts. Their family. People they live with, people they’ve spent time with.

That makes it incredibly difficult, incredibly difficult to do contact tracing, because there is no gap, if you like, between when we have the first case and their close contacts and potentially others that they have spent time with.

The whole process, because of the hyper-infectivity and the speed at which this moves, the whole process has been condensed down, and it is now, I am sad to have to report, it is the advice to me that we must assume that there are further cases in the community than we have positive results for, and that it is moving at a velocity that has not been seen anywhere in our country.

OK, Andrews really does seem to be ramping up to some bad news:

Victorians will be well familiar with the term “UK strain”, “UK variant of concern”.

We have talked about this for a long time, because it is so hyper-infectious, and moves so fast, that it is presenting a very, very real challenge to our status, our stay-safe, stay-open, our precious thing that we’ve built - all of us - throughout 2020.

Updated

Andrews:

Everyone right to go?

You betcha!

Updated

Andrews' press conference begins

Daniel Andrews is speaking now.

Honestly big blessings to Richard Willingham from ABC for giving us up to the second updates on what’s going on in that lecture theatre.

So obviously we are still standing by for Daniel Andrews, but the fun doesn’t just end there!

Straight after that, the WA premier will speak at 1.30pm (Sydney and Melbourne).

Then an ACT update at 2pm.

Then South Australia and NT update at 2.30pm.

It’s a full afternoon of programming!

Although expecting a Victorian press conference to start on time was maybe a little ambitous.

Daniel Andrews about to speak

OK, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews will step up in just a few minutes to make a potentially major announcement about a snap five-day lockdown in Melbourne.

I will bring that to you as soon as he appears.

Updated

Things aren’t looking amazing for Melburnians hoping to see their Queensland lovers for Valentine’s Day. But until we hear the Queensland health minister’s announcement at 12.15pm Brisbane time, I guess there is still hope!

Updated

Melbourne exposure site expanded

All of Melbourne Airport Terminal 4 is now considered a hotspot, not just Brunetti Cafe anymore.

Anyone who visited this location on Tuesday 9 February between 4.45am and 2.00pm must isolate, test and remain isolated for 14 days.

Updated

NT declares Melbourne a hotspot

I’m hearing that the NT has declared all of Greater Melbourne a hotspot. I’ll bring you more as soon as I can.

Updated

And Ten News has joined the “lockdown locked in” fold.

That announcement will come in about 20 minutes.

Updated

Okay, ABC seems pretty firm on the lockdown now.

Updated

Melbourne radio station 3aw has reportedly seen an email sent from the Brunetti cafe management to staff this morning. Here are a few experts from that:

Updated

7,000 people in NSW asked to isolate

So the big area of concern in Victoria, and across the country, today is this infectious worker at the Brunetti cafe in Melbourne airport.

NSW has now asked anyone who was in Terminal 4 between 4:45am and 2pm on 9 February to immediately isolate, get tested and remain in isolation for 14 days from when they were there.

To be clear, that is everyone in the whole terminal, not just the cafe.

NSW Health has also ordered these people’s household contacts to isolate:

Out of an abundance of caution, NSW Health is asking anyone who is a household contact of someone who visited Terminal 4 on 9 February at the above time to stay in isolation until that person receives a negative result.

In addition, anyone who attended any terminal at Melbourne airport on 7 and 8 February must immediately get tested and isolate until a negative result is received.

NSW Health is currently contacting approximately 7,000 people who have entered NSW from Victoria after attending these venues of concern, to ensure they are aware of the requirements.

Updated

I’m wading my way through a whole bunch of tweets about rumoured Victorian lockdown announcements, (the vast majority aren’t reliable enough to bring to you on the blog), but if you see something that you think I should know about make sure you send it to me over Twitter on @MatildaBoseley or email me on matilda.boseley@theguardian.com.

Oh, by the way, no local Covid-19 cases in Queensland.

And just because I think we could all do with a touch of humour right about now...

There is growing speculation about what exactly is being discussed in this Victorian cabinet meeting.

Here is what Raf Epstein from the ABC is reporting, but it’s important to remember that this isn’t confirmed and everything is still up in the air.

As far as we know no decisions have been made yet.

Nine News has reported some additional details about the Brunetti’s worker. The Guardian has not yet independently confirm this, however.

Obviously, there is a lot of noise in the Victorian political space right now but looks like there might be concerns that the ACT could declare Melbourne a hotspot in the near future.

This would create a whole raft of problems for politicians who need to get to Canberra for parliament sittings.

Updated

Just back to that Scott Morrison presser from before, one interesting question I didn’t mention was the prime minister being asked if he was concerned controversial celebrity chef (and known conspiracy theorist) Pete Evans making a run for the Senate would undermine confidence in Australia’s vaccine rollout.

Prime minister Scott Morrison
Prime minister Scott Morrison speaks at a news conference at the CSL facility on February 12, 2021 in Melbourne. Photograph: Diego Fedele/Getty Images

Morrison replied:

No.

Later he was asked again if he was concerned that there was now an “anti-vaxxer” was running for Senate.

That all depends how much publicity you choose to give him. I’m not going to give him any, so I don’t propose you do that.

And as guardian political reportrer Paul Karp has tweeted, other members of the government don’t seem too excited about the prospect either

Updated

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she will be closely monitoring the border situation with Victoria and may have further announcements once a decision on a snap lockdown for Victoria has been made.

I just want to advise that we are closely monitoring the situation in Melbourne. We had a phone hookup this morning with the chief health officer and the deputy premier who is the acting health minister at the moment.

We understand that the Victorian government may be making further announcements later on today and we will be monitoring very closely following advice from AHPPC.

Our chief health officer is currently in AHPPC. The chief health officer ... will be updating Queenslanders following that advice and following the Victorian conference.

Updated

No local NSW Covid-19 cases

In some more cheerful news, NSW has recorded no locally acquired cases for the 26th day in a row.

Victorian cabinet considering a snap lockdown

Just in, but ABC is reporting that the Victorian cabinet will meet at 11.45am to consider a lockdown.

This notionally could be a five-day snap lockdown similar to the one seen in Perth a few weeks ago. This is a tactic to buy contact tracers time and ensure highly contagious variants can not take root in the community.

I must just stress though, this is not confirmed. This is only being considered.

We should hear from the premier with a decision after that meeting.

Updated

The next question, could this whole cluster have been avoided is Australia didn’t have to wait so long for vaccines, and hotel quarantine workers were already immunised?

Morrison only sort of answers:

The vaccination program will commence first with hotel workers, quarantine workers, those vulnerable populations, you are familiar with the rollout plan.

I think it is unrealistic to think that any quarantine program, wherever it is run, has some sort of 100% fail-safe. I think we just have to bring some reality to the understanding of this issue.

We have had breaches before and we’ve got on top of them quickly. That is my belief in what will happen here in Victoria. 220,000 people have been through the quarantine system around this country and there have been a very small relative number of breaches, a handful of breaches.

Journalists are pushing him on what that cryptic “proportionate response” comments means, but he won’t be drawn.

There have been proportionate responses offered in other states. I will leave to it the premier to make his announcement.

I am not here to run commentaries on premiers. I am here to support premiers in keeping people safe and keeping their economies as open as possible to support people’s jobs.

Updated

Morrison has asked if he is planning to get out of Melbourne as soon as possible, but the prime minister doesn’t seem too worried.

I was here yesterday and today I am here. As soon as I concluded my program here I was head back to Sydney. That is my plan.

Morrison says he isn’t aware of Victoria making any firm decisions as of yet.

As far as I am aware no decisions have been announced so I am in the same position at this point. I have been touring a facility for the last half an hour so there hasn’t been that opportunity.

So I guess in the wise words of Matt Damon, “Scotty doesn’t know”.

Updated

Morrison has turned his attention to the outbreak situation in Melbourne and is giving us some vague hints about what the premier might announced later today.

We have dealt with [outbreaks] in the last few weeks in Sydney and Brisbane and Perth and so a proportionate response by the Victorian government – which I understand from what we’ve been hearing this morning and the health minister has been in contact with his counterpart here in Melbourne – a proportionate response that enables those, the tracers and others, to be able to get on top of it and get the same successful result we have seen in other states.

That can, and will be, achieved here. Our role as the federal government is to support those efforts, to support premiers, to support health minister, to support the health workers here to ensure they can do the best they possibly can in the job that they have.

So we thank all those who are doing what they are doing at the moment. I thank Melburnians and Victorians more broadly for their patients over many, many months in the past.

I know you don’t want to see Victoria go back into what you had to endure last year and I can assure you that everyone is doing everything to ensure that is not replicated again on this occasion. There is no reason as it should as other states have demonstrated.

I speak here as a Melburnian, not a journalist but TELL US WHAT YOU MEAN SCOTTY!

Updated

But looks like Scott Morrison has beat her to it! He is speaking from Melbourne now at the facility that is ramping up to manufacture millions of Astra Zeneca vaccine doses.

Our vaccination program is on track and it is sovereign. We are doing it here, in Australia, right here in Melbourne. That is something that few prime ministers and presidents around the world can say because we are one of a handful of countries that made the decision to be able to ensure we had this capability here in Australia by Australians.

(Worth note, although our program is “on track” it is also very far behind other developed nations.)

Updated

We are standing by now for a press conference with Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Yesterday Queensland did not close the border to Victoria like South Australia but are requiring all Victorians to fill out a border declaration form when entering the state.

Updated

Australians are more worried about their financial wellbeing than they were at the end of last year, and confidence in the Morrison government has declined in recent months, according to new research from the Australian National University.

The survey of more than 3,000 respondents, part of the ANU Centre for Social Research Methods’ Covid-19 monitoring program, charts fluctuations in public sentiment in Australia during the pandemic and the first recession in three decades.

The ANU research shows when the Morrison government rolled out economic supports to households during the opening months of the pandemic, there was a large decline in the proportion of Australians reporting that it was difficult to get by on present income.

This positive trend continued through much of last year.

But with the government signalling the jobkeeper wage subsidy will end in March, and with a lack of clarity about the level of unemployment benefits that will apply during the recovery, the survey recorded a five-point jump in the survey’s measure of financial distress between November 2020 and January 2021.

You can read the full report below:

A few people have asked me where the Libertyworks federal court challenge to the outgoing travel ban is up to.

Libertyworks’ case seeks to argue that the health minister, Greg Hunt, does not have a blanket power to prevent all Australians leaving Australia. However, it doesn’t seek to challenge the incoming arrival cap.

At a case management hearing this morning, justice Anna Katzmann listed the case for hearing on 26 April.

The manufacture of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in Australia will reach the final stages next week, reports the AAP.

Melbourne-based biotechnology company CSL says this means the first doses will likely be released at the end of March, subject to regulatory approval.

Local manufacture of the vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford, has been underway since late last year at CSL’s manufacturing facility in Broadmeadows, Victoria.

Early next week, the final manufacturing phase will begin at CSL’s other facility in Parkville.

CSL released a statement on Friday:

The vaccine is formulated to a precise concentration, before being repeatedly filtered and filled into vials ahead of labelling and packing.

Each batch will undergo quality checks by CSL, AstraZeneca and the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Production is expected to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week before the expected release of 2 million doses at the end of March, followed by 1 million doses a week thereafter.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is currently being considered by the TGA for use in Australia.

Updated

The upturned boat of a fisherman missing since Thursday afternoon in central Queensland has been found.

According to police the 69-year-old man went fishing around 3pm on Thursday, in Gayundah Creek near Hinchinbrook Island, which sits just off the coast between Cairns and Townsville.

He was only meant to be gone an hour but when he failed to return his wife called police. Officers couldn’t reach him by radio and began a search.

They found his upturned boat about 2.30am on Friday but have found no other sign of the man.

Updated

A member of the Australian government’s advisory group on infection control has defended the decision not to recommend the use of N95 masks in all settings in hotel quarantine, saying that – with the exception of the Holiday Inn outbreak – most of the recent outbreaks in the quarantine system can be explained as droplet transmission.

Prof Peter Collignon, a member of the Infection Control Expert Group (ICEG), which advises the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee on infection prevention and control measures, including use of personal protective equipment (PPE), said there was no evidence to suggest aerosol transmission was in play in Australian quarantine hotels outside of the case at the Holiday Inn, where a nebuliser was used which caused aerosolised particles that apparently dispersed through the hallway.

“The use of the nebuliser produces aerosols there’s no doubt about that,” Collignon said. “And it explains why there’s a bigger cluster. All the others are one-offs, which in my view is more a reflection of poor eye protection rather than because they’re aerosols.”

You can read the full report below:

It feels a bit like we are just playing the waiting game at the moment for Victoria.

There is no time confirmed yet for a press conference, but we do know that premier Daniel Andrews will be stepping at some point this morning or early afternoon.

What he will announce when he does ... that’s anyone’s guess right now.

Updated

Crown has now moved to clarify the position of its chief executive Ken Barton, who was reported yesterday to have offered his resignation.

As we reported this morning, he has not actually resigned (so far) - but is considering his position after Barton was heavily criticised by commissioner Patricia Bergin after an inquiry into the casino group in NSW.

Crown told the ASX that:

Contrary to media reports, Mr Ken Barton, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Crown has not resigned.

Crown and Mr Barton are continuing to consider his position having regard to the recommendations and findings of the Commissioner’s report of the inquiry under section 143 of the Casino Control Act 1992 (NSW).

Our post at 8.25am about who is and isn’t on the Crown board remains accurate (for the time being) and we’ll keep you updated through the day with further developments.

Holiday Inn cluster explained

Okay so the Melbourne hotel quarantine/Holiday Inn/ Melbourne airport cluster (we really need to all decide on a name), now has associated 13 cases, but only 10 local infections.

It’s a bit confusing so here is break down of the outbreak:

  • Four quarantine workers are infected, this includes at least one authorised officer and one worker who delivered food to rooms.
  • Two returned travellers tested positive after they left quarantine. They caught the disease in the hotel.
  • Four household close contacts have been infected, two are close contacts of infected hotel quarantine staff, we don’t know about the other two yet. All would have been in quarantine for at least part of their infectious period.
  • Three index cases. The last cases are a family of three that are believed to have contracted the virus overseas and possibly due to the use of a “nebuliser” machine the virus from their room was able to spread out into the hotel. They don’t count as locally acquired cases but they are still part of the cluster.

Updated

Facebook has confirmed it has removed a post from the outspoken Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly claiming that children wearing masks was akin to child abuse after a complaint from Labor.

In correspondence seen by Guardian Australia, Mia Garlick, Facebook’s Australian director of public policy, confirmed the platform removed one of the controversial MP’s posts “which made claims about the impact on children of wearing masks” because it violated Facebook’s “misinformation and harm policy”.

The shadow health minister, Mark Butler, wrote to Facebook during the opening parliamentary sitting week urging the social media platform to continue to monitor Kelly’s page for harmful content and demanding “appropriate action to protect public health”.

You can read the full report below:

Crown Resorts has confirmed Andrew Demetriou has resigned from its board, and the board of the subsidiary that holds the licence for its Melbourne casino, Crown Melbourne.

In a statement, Crown said:

He has advised Helen Coonan of his resignation effective immediately.

The company has also forwarded on Demetriou’s statement about his resignation, which reads as follows:

This was not an easy decision and I have thought carefully about taking this step. I have always been a team player and supported the greater good. I will therefore step down from the Crown Resorts Board to give Crown the best possible chance of becoming suitable to the NSW Regulator.

In taking this decision I believe the comments directed at me in the report are unfair and unjust and I will defend my reputation at every opportunity.

It has been an honor to serve on the Crown Resorts Board. Crown is a great company, with outstanding people who serve the Company well. Barangaroo will be a magnificent addition to the Sydney landscape and I look forward to when it is fully operational.

Demetriou himself has not responded to Guardian Australia’s requests for comment.

Updated

Just a bit more from prime minister Scott Morrison’s interview with Melbourne Radio station 3AW.

He says as of this morning he had not been briefed on if Victoria would be entering a snap lockdown after reports suggested this was one option being considered overnight.

Morrison also seems to have thrown a bit of cold water on the idea.

I think proportionate, targeted responses ... are the most effective way to deal with this.

Updated

The Australian Bureau of Statistic has released data that shows retail alcohol sales in 2020 increased at 15 times the rate recorded in 2019.

Supermarkets, take-away shops, hardware stores and the like turned over a record $15.6 billion in alcohol sales in 2020, up 26.7 per cent or $3.3 billion on 2019 levels.

In terms of year-on-year increases, 2020 was up almost 17 times the year before, when alcohol sales grew by $195 million.

Unsurprisingly alcohol sales spiked in the months most heavily impacted by the pandemic. May saw the biggest increase with turnover almost one and half times 2019 levels.

December highest earning month in Australian history for alcohol retail stores, turning over almost $2 billion.

Obviously, the closure of bars and restaurants had an impact on people buying alcohol to bring home, but 80 per cent of alcohol sold in Australia was already takeaway and delivery before the pandemic.

Australia’s ambassador in Myanmar has spoken with Sean Turnell, the detained economics adviser to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, foreign minister Marise Payne says, AAP reports.

Senator Payne made a statement to Reuters on Thursday:

Our ambassador and Prof Turnell discussed his health, welfare and the conditions in which he is being detained.

Prof Turnell, of Sydney’s Macquarie University, is director of the Myanmar Development Institute in Naypyitaw and has served as a consultant to Suu Kyi since December.

Turnell said on Saturday he was being detained, in the first known arrest of a foreign citizen since the 1 February military coup.

Payne has said that Australia is working hard to secure his release.

Turnell’s wife, Ha Vus, posted to social media that he had done nothing wrong.

We all know that wherever he is now he will be worried.

He worked for Myanmar by using his knowledge of economic from 20 years. He is someone who brings job opportunities and jobs to Myanmar people.

Updated

Victoria records five new Covid cases

The health department has just released the daily numbers – five new locally acquired cases.

But let’s remember that the state did have five cases announced throughout the day yesterday that weren’t yet officially included in the daily numbers, meaning it’s likely that these are all already accounted for.

Updated

No decisions made yet on next steps for Melbourne cluster

The Herald-Sun is reporting that “high-level discussions” were underway last night as to if Melbourne requires a snap lockdown to ensure the Holiday Inn cluster is under control.

Let me stress this is absolutely not confirmed, and the Herald-Sun is only reporting that it’s being considered, not that a lockdown is actually in the works. ABC is also reporting a government source saying “that all options are being discussed” this morning, concerning this “fast-moving situation”.

These kinds “hard and fast” lockdowns have been used in South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia as a way to buy contract tracers some time and ensure that new highly contagious Covid-19 variants can’t take root in the community.

Premier Daniel Andrews will step up at some point this morning and we should be getting the overnight numbers any minutes, so it’s just going to be a wait and see.

Updated

Here’s an update on the somewhat confusing state of play as to who exactly is and isn’t on the Crown Resorts board right now.

This information is current as of around 8am this morning, but probably won’t last all day so get into it while it’s fresh.

Andrew Demetriou – the director slammed in a NSW inquiry report for reading from notes while he was giving evidence and then saying he didn’t do it – did indeed resign yesterday, company documents show.

He’s reportedly very unhappy with his treatment at the hands of inquiry commissioner Patricia Bergin, saying that “the comments directed at me in the report are unfair and unjust and I will defend my reputation at every opportunity”.

However, Guardian Australia has so far not independently obtained this statement. Demetriou didn’t respond to calls and text messages late last night.

Demetriou’s decision to quit appears to have come fairly late – sources who have had more luck talking to him than Guardian Australia has say he was not in a mind to resign as late as Wednesday.

Ken Barton, who has reportedly offered his resignation, is still on the board right now. He also hasn’t yet responded to calls and text messages from Guardian Australia.

Two directors who served on the board to represent major shareholder James Packer, Guy Jalland and Michael Johnston, resigned on Tuesday as Packer reduced his grip on the company, which had been criticised by Bergin.

So that means the current Crown board is: Helen Coonan (chair), Harold Mitchell (who sources say is likely to resign soon due to an adverse court ruling against him in another matter), Toni Korsanos (who got good reviews from Bergin), John Horvath, Jane Halton and John Poynton.

We’ll bring you more during the day as it inevitably unfolds towards the end of what has been an incredibly tumultuous week inside the boardroom of the casino empire.

Updated

Pete Evans announces political ambitions

Celebrity chef Pete Evans is planning to run for a federal NSW Senate position as part of the Great Australia party ticket.

Evans has been repeatedly accused of spreading dangerous and discredited conspiracy theories, including on topics like Covid-19, QAnon and 5G networks, as well as recently coming under fire for sharing a Facebook post using a symbol associated with the alt-right and neo-Nazis.

There have been murmurings of his political ambitions for a while now, but this morning it was confirmed.

Here is the statement from the Great Australia party:

Renowned Australian chef, restaurateur, author and television presenter, Pete Evans, has been approved to run as a NSW senate candidate for the Great Australian Party in the forthcoming federal election ... Pete Evans is fully supporting of the GAP ethos, supporting restoration of the Commonwealth and the preservation of democracy in Australia.

Pete Evans has maintained his principles and inspired others in the face of uncommon adversity.

Updated

Restrictions ease in NSW

Twice as many customers will be allowed back in New South Wales cafes and restaurants from this morning as Sydneysiders wake up to ased restrictions.

NSW has from Friday reverted back to the “two square metre” rule for indoor venues and outdoor events, and mandatory mask use has been scrapped in a number of settings.

Face coverings are now optional in hairdressers, beauty salons, places of worship and hospitality, but will remain mandatory on public transport, in taxis and rideshare cars.

Gyms will maintain the “four square metre” rule, while caps on weddings and funerals remain at 300.

This comes after NSW recorded 25 consecutive days without a local case.

Updated

Here is a bit more information about the Melbourne cluster:

Welcome to Friday

Good morning, Matilda Boseley here to see off the week with you. (Well, I mean I’m working Saturday, but I’ll try not to resent you too much for that).

If you see anything that you think I should be aware of or should be in the blog, send me a message on Twitter on @MatildaBoseley or email me on matilda.boseley@theguardian.com.

The Melbourne hotel quarantine cluster has grown overnight with 13 cases now associated. The two new cases are both household contacts of previously announced cases, which mean they notionally will have been isolating for at least some of their infectious period.

But at least one exposure site has been added to the Victorian health department list overnight, with everyone who visited the Brunetti cafe in terminal 4 of Melbourne airport between 4.45am and 1.15pm on Tuesday now asked to isolate immediately for 14 days and get tested for Covid-19.

This is obviously a pretty large period of time, in a fairly popular cafe, so we will keep an eye on any fallout from this today.

In news from the business world, former AFL chief Andrew Demetriou has reportedly stepped down from the Crown Resorts board, making him the fourth directorial casualty of a scathing review of the casino giant.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Demetriou hit back at the report in his official statement:

In taking this decision I believe the comments directed at me in the report are unfair and unjust and I will defend my reputation at every opportunity.

It’s widely expected that Crown chief executive Ken Barton will be the next to announce his departure.

This mass exodus of Crown leadership was precipitated by a report from commissioner Patricia Bergin, which found Crown is not currently fit to run the new casino at Sydney’s Barangaroo.

The NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority chair suggested on Thursday that Barton and Demetriou would have to leave the company for it to have a chance of keeping the licence for its Sydney casino, and even the Crown chairman Helen Coonan conceding there needed to be a “‘root and branch’ change,” in the company.

Obviously, we will be keeping a close eye one this today, with better business minds than me (senior business reporter Ben Butler) stepping in on the blog to explain all the ins and out.

Well, with that, why don’t we jump into the day.

Updated

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