Good evening, and welcome to our daily roundup of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic in Australia. This is Calla Wahlquist bringing you the main stories on Thursday 30 April.
ACT has no active cases of Covid-19 in Australian first
The Australian Capital Territory has no active cases of coronavirus for the first time in seven weeks. All 103 people to have survived the virus in the territory have now recovered. The ACT has recorded three deaths. It is the first jurisdiction in Australia to record no active cases.
Nationally, just 10 new cases were recorded. Most were in Victoria, where a cluster of seven cases were detected at an aged care home. New South Wales reported two new cases and Tasmania reported one. It’s not clear if the NSW total includes three new residents at Newmarch House aged care home in western Sydney, who tested positive over the past 24 hours. Some 37 residents at the home have now tested positive to the virus, and 12 have died.
Report into Tasmanian outbreak names Ruby Princess as cause
An interim report into the outbreak in north-west Tasmania found that 20% of the 73 healthcare workers to test positive to the virus attended work while symptomatic, and 77% attended work during the infectious period, or 48 hours before symptoms were shown. The outbreak was traced back to two passengers on the Ruby Princess cruise ship, who sadly died. They infected a healthcare worker, and the virus spread through work meetings and other contact. The investigation ruled out an illegal social gathering and said no one was to blame for the outbreak, which has been linked to 11 deaths.
Jobseeker recipients top 1.3 million
The $550 jobseeker coronavirus supplement, which has effectively doubled the fortnightly rate of the unemployment payment to $1,125, will cease from 24 September. It’s a hard finish date in the legislation, meaning that recipients who don’t receive their first payment until May will not get the full six months worth. As of 24 April there were 1.3 million people receiving the payment, up from 815,000 on 28 February. That’s forecast to reach 1.7 million by September.
The Department of Social Services told the Covid-19 Senate inquiry that the supplement was not extended to disability pensioners because “DSP residents weren’t generally in the workforce”. The committee also heard that Services Australia never told the government services minister, Stuart Robert, that the MyGov website suffered a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.
Twiggy reportedly makes a play for Virgin
Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest reportedly plans to make a bid for Virgin Australia. The airline went into administration on 21 April and creditors held a meeting by video link this morning. Forrest’s investment group, Minderoo, has hired investment bank Credit Suisse as advisers, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review.
Forrest is also facing criticism for intervening in Australian-Chinese relations and inviting the Chinese consul general to a press conference with Greg Hunt without the health minister’s knowledge.
The NT eases restrictions, announces a return to the pub in two weeks
The Northern Territory will ease restrictions from noon on Friday, allowing people to go to playgrounds, pools, water parks and skate parks, and to play non-contact outdoor sports like golf and tennis. Residents will also be allowed to visit national parks, camp and fish, so long as physical distancing is maintained. Outdoor weddings and funerals will also be permitted.
The only states not to announce an easing of restrictions are Victoria and Tasmania. Victoria’s stay-at-home orders are set to expire on 11 May, the day the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee will decide if Australia has met the three requirements to ease the national baseline restrictions. The Victorian health minister, Jenny Mikakos, says police are continuing to enforce the order, issuing 43 fines in the past 24 hours.
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