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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
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Graham Readfearn and Melissa Davey

Coronavirus Australia news: AMA warns against starting NRL season too soon – as it happened

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Saturday's Covid-19 news roundup

We’re closing our live coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic in Australia for the day. Thanks from me Graham Readfearn, and Melissa Davey who took you through most of the day’s developments.

The Guardian’s global live coverage continues.

Here’s what happened in Australia today.

  • Only three states recorded new cases on Saturday. Queensland had one, New South Wales five and Victoria seven. There were no new deaths announced.
  • A coronavirus cluster emerged at an unnamed Melbourne meat processing facility, with eight workers testing positive.
  • Some states started to lift restrictions. Queenslanders were allowed non-essential travel up to 50km from their homes for recreation, but had to stick to social distancing rules.
  • The National Rugby League’s hopes for a restart by 28 May were boosted when the New Zealand Warriors were told they could fly into the Tamworth tomorrow.
  • Australia’s peak medical body, the AMA, urged the NRL and other sporting codes to be cautious as they planned their returns.
  • Australia’s US ambassador, Arthur Sinodinos, said calls for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus were not about retribution or revenge against China, but “getting the facts”.

Thanks for being with us. As South Australia launches a new TV campaign tonight, I’ll steal their tag line.

Let’s Not Undo All the Good.

Updated

Saturday is South Australia’s 10th straight day with no new cases.

But like other states and territories where new cases numbers are low, the SA government doesn’t want people to get complacent.

They’re launching an ad campaign tonight under the tagline “Let’s Not Undo All the Good.”

Updated

Queenslanders were allowed out from today for recreation after coronavirus restrictions were loosened.

People were allowed to travel up to 50km from their homes and be with members of their household, or with one other person. That included non-essential travel.

That meant Queenslanders could do radical stuff like laze on a beach, hang around on a park bench, go for a drive, and have a picnic in a park. And so they did.

People relax on the beach at Burleigh Heads on Queensland’s Gold Coast
People relax on the beach at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast, Australia. Not allowed on Friday, but allowed on Saturday. Photograph: Chris Hyde/Getty Images
Family Lucas Trad, Sophia Lees, Steven Trad, Archie Tradd, Stephanie Hoppe, Joseph and Mason Trad at Daisy Hill forest in Brisbane, on Saturday.
Family Lucas Trad, Sophia Lees, Steven Trad, Archie Trad, Stephanie Hoppe, Joseph Trad and Mason Trad at Daisy Hill forest in Brisbane. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP
Picnics in a park on the Brisbane River were allowed, under relaxed social distancing rules, from Saturday.
Picnics in a park on the Brisbane River were allowed, under relaxed social distancing rules. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP
A man sits on a bench at Burleigh Heads on Saturday doing something he would not have been allowed to do the day before.
A man sits on a bench at Burleigh Heads, doing something he would not have been allowed to do the day before. Photograph: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Updated

The New Zealand Warriors rugby league team will touch down in Tamworth, NSW tomorrow after they were given a special exemption by Australia’s Border Force to enter the country.

New Zealand reported two new Covid-19 cases this morning. Matt Manukia, a sports reporter at TVNZ, says he’s been sent a welcome graphic from the team’s hosts in Tamworth.

Tamworth Warriors, anyone?

Updated

Here’s a quick look at the new cases that have been reported today by all the states and territories.

Zero cases have been reported in Tasmania, the ACT, South Australia and Western Australia. Still checking on the NT.

Queensland reported one case, New South Wales five and Victoria seven.

Updated

Afternoon. Graham Readfearn here from a sunny Brisbane, where the Queensland government has very slightly eased restrictions on people’s movement.

At lunchtime, the Queensland government launched a new health initiative to try to encourage people to stay healthy and build on all that home-based exercise that absolutely everyone has definitely been doing.

Queensland’s health minister, Steve Miles, says he wants Queenslanders to log on to the “Boost Your Healthy” website and “keep these healthy habits going as restrictions begin to be lifted”.

The government says it will be releasing daily workouts from famous Queensland sporting figures, including the Australian netball star Gretel Bueta and boxer Jeff Horn.

Here’s Horn’s workout. Do try this at home.

Updated

Thanks for following our Covid-19 updates throughout the day. I’m handing the blog over to Graham Readfearn to take you through the evening.

Signing off from Melbourne, where restrictions are still firmly in place and where it’s 13C. I hope all you Queenslanders are enjoying your beaches and picnics.

Updated

Back to the deputy chief medical officer update. Prof Michael Kidd urged more people to download the CovidSafe app, with just over 4m downloads to date.

He said 611,000 tests had been carried out in Australia, and as of Friday the criteria for testing had been widened. Anyone with respiratory symptoms or fever or “even the slightest sniffle, cough or sweating” should contact their GP or the healthdirect phone line.

He said people with non-Covid health issues should look after their own health and should still call their doctors and arrange an appointment, many of which could be conducted via telehealth. Kidd was concerned people with chronic conditions in particular were putting off appointments and said people should not delay those appointments.

“If you have a child due for immunisation, please take your child to get their regular immunisations. If you need a test including cancer screening please continue to do this as you usually would,” he said.

Kidd thanked healthcare workers including those in aged, disability and home care, saying they were looking after the most vulnerable people in challenging times.

Updated

The West Australian health minister, Roger Cook, said that for the third day in a row no new virus cases had been recorded in the state. He announced the Therapaeutic Goods Administration had approved an order for up to 10,000 West Australian-manufactured face shields. They are being made in the suburb of Malaga, and will be rolled out to hospital staff. The shields have involved input from staff at Royal Perth hospital.

Updated

A deputy chief medical officer, Prof Michael Kidd, is giving an update, and saying there’s no “absolute number” of Covidsafe app downloads the government is aiming for, but that it wants as many people as possible to download it. A return to normality will depend on uptake of the contact tracing app, the prime minister said on Friday. Kidd said more than 4m people had downloaded it.

“Obviously the prime minister is keen to get the number up a lot further,” Kidd said.

He said there had been a glitch with the app, with reports that it may be interfering with diabetes-monitoring apps. He said work was being done to rectify that but in the meantime diabetes patients should prioritise their diabetes monitoring and uninstall the app if it was causing problems.

Kidd said 611,000 Covid-19 tests had been carried out in Australia to date, one of the highest testing rates in the world.

Updated

Afternoon recap

In Australian Covid-19 news so far today:

Updated

More on flight QF614 from Melbourne to Brisbane which the Queensland health minister earlier said had a traveller on board with the virus. Queensland Health is in the process of contacting people from the 22 April flight. In a statement the department said:

We ask that passengers seated in rows 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 of this flight who have not already been contacted by Queensland Health call 13 HEALTH and advise that you were a passenger on this flight.

All other passengers are considered very low risk, however anyone with health concerns can contact 13 HEALTH.

Queensland health’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, said 972 of the state’s 1,034 confirmed cases had recently travelled overseas or had close contact with a confirmed case, such as their partner or flatmate.

Updated

NSW high-risk patients to receive test results within the hour

High-risk patients will now receive their Covid-19 test results within the hour, down from between 24 and 48 hours, the New South Wales health minister, Brad Hazzard, said.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kits have been used in priority regional areas where clusters of concern were identified and will now be rolled out to 29 additional labs.

“The faster we can isolate higher-risk patients and quarantine their contacts, the less likely they can unknowingly spread it to others,” Hazzard said. “On average, test results are being processed in less than 48 hours from the far corners of this vast state which is an achievement in itself, given the issues with flights and logistics.”

The new, rapid PCR testing kits are presently in use in NSW Health Pathology laboratories in Broken Hill, Wagga Wagga, Orange, Coffs Harbour and Tamworth and 29 more labs across the state will commence rapid testing from next week.

Updated

From AAP:

Fewer people are turning up to Queensland hospitals for sporting or car crash injuries but paramedics are getting more mental health related calls amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Health officials are holding their breath to see whether allowing people to venture outside their homes will drive a wave of new diagnoses.

“We have seen reduced presentations for things like road trauma and sporting injuries [but] that’s been in part offset by an increase in mental health presentations,” the health minister, Steven Miles, said on Saturday.

“Our ambulance service has seen a 12 to 15% increase in mental health-related calls – anxiety depression, suicidal ideation, that kind of thing.”

Saturday is the first day of an experiment in easing some restrictions on people’s everyday lives. It will take two weeks before officials know whether they can successfully juggle suppressing the virus while allowing people to move around a little more freely.

“If we don’t mess this up, we’ll be able to get more of our freedoms back,” Miles said.

Non-essential travel is allowed but there are still limits. People are limited to spending time with members of their own family while those who are single can spend time with one other person.

Picnics, hikes and shopping for clothing and shoes are permitted but Queenslanders must stay within 50km of their home.

“This is a test run,” the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said in a pre-recorded video message on Twitter on Saturday.

“How well we do this weekend determines what else we can do in the future. I know it’s been hard; I know you’re sick of it. Who isn’t? Keep up the good work and have a great weekend.”

There were 63 active cases of the virus in the state on Saturday.

Updated

Here’s a comprehensive list of shopping centre testing locations in Victoria.

Peak medical body urges NRL caution

The Australian Medical Association has issued a statement urging the NRL to be cautious about its plans to fast-track the restart of its 2020 season. It follows news today that the New Zealand Warriors have been approved to take part in the 28 May return of the NRL season. They will arrive in Tamworth on Sunday and will be able to train despite having a 14-day isolation period.

But across the world all major sporting competitions remain on hold, and the Tokyo Olympics have been suspended for a full year.

The AMA president, Dr Tony Bartone, cautioned the NRL and all sporting codes about rushing to start or restart competitions, and said they should wait until the medical experts advise it is safe.

“Sport is a big part of the Australian way of life, and the absence of sporting events is obviously affecting many people,” Bartone said. “We understand the financial and other pressures on the big sporting codes during the Covid-19 crisis, but we have to put the broader public health implications first.”

Bartone said all sports bodies must recognise the expertise of the Australian health protection principal committee, which will work with relevant state governments advising on how and when the NRL could and should resume its competition.

“Any discussions and decisions about return to play before that advice is received is premature,” he said.

“There must be absolutely no risk to the health of players, officials, support stuff, or anyone involved with the possible resumption of the NRL competition, including the fans and the general public. In recent days, we have seen a handful of elite sports people ignoring social distancing rules.

“These examples raise serious questions about the ability of all players to fully comply with requirements that are likely to be part of return to play, and a resumption of competitions.”

Updated

The AFL’s chief executive, Gillon McLachlan, has set a target of 31 October to complete the 2020 premiership season. He is increasingly confident long-term hubs won’t be required.

Some players have balked at the prospect of going into an isolation hub for up to 20 weeks, but McLachlan moved to allay fears that would be required in a teleconference with the 18 club captains on Friday. However, shorter-term hubs are still in play to get the season restarted. McLachlan confirmed Queensland has given the AFL permission to fly teams in and out of the state without going into quarantine.

Updated

The foreign affairs department has urged Australians in Africa to leave ASAP.

Incoming passenger flights to Thailand have been suspended. There are limited flights out. “If you want to go home [from there] do so as soon as possible by commercial means,” the department’s Smartraveller warned.

Updated

Specialists concerned at drop in diabetes checks

AAP reports that there has been an alarming drop in patients presenting for diabetes check-ups.

Diabetes Australia, the Australian Diabetes Society and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners are urging people living with diabetes to have their routine pathology and other check-ups to avoid long-term damage to their health. About 1.35 million Australians have diabetes.

Diabetes Australia’s chief executive, Greg Johnson, said regular health checks were essential.

“It is really important that people don’t stop getting these checks and that they keep up with other aspects of their diabetes management during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Johnson said on Saturday.

“Diabetes doesn’t stop during Covid-19. We are concerned that if people don’t have their pathology checks, or checks for their vision, foot problems, kidney function or other health checks, then serious problems could develop unnoticed.”

Updated

Looking overseas briefly, with news that at least 3,334,416 people have been infected and at least 237,943 have died around the world since the pandemic began, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University.

In the US, president Donald Trump has offered an increasingly bleak picture, telling a White House event: “Hopefully, we’re going to come in below that 100,000 lives lost, which is a horrible number, nevertheless.”

Meanwhile, the UK reported 739 more deaths, bringing the total death toll in the country to 27,510.

You can read the latest developments from around the world here.

More tests planned in locked-down Victoria

While restrictions have eased elsewhere in Australia, they remain in place in Victoria. There are only four reasons for people in the state to leave their home: food and supplies, medical care and care giving, exercise, and work or education.

The state government has announced expanded testing which will help inform decisions about potentially slowly lifting restrictions ahead of the state of emergency being reviewed on 11 May.

“Up to 100,000 Victorians will be tested for coronavirus over the next two weeks as part of a major testing blitz across the state,” Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, said.

“We’ve more than doubled the number of daily tests we’re conducting since the introduction of this blitz and these results will be reflected in coming days.

“The main aim of this increase in testing is to improve access and actively search for cases, allowing us to gain a better picture of this virus and make informed decisions for Victoria.

“Victorians have done a remarkable job sticking to the coronavirus restrictions, and by staying home have saved lives. We are now asking Victorians to again play their part and get tested if they have symptoms, because the more tests we do the more data we have about the prevalence of coronavirus in the community.

“People with common symptoms of coronavirus including fever, chills, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose or loss of sense of smell – however mild – are encouraged to get tested.

“Our daily case numbers are still low which is encouraging. They prove that our physical distancing measures are working but this is not a time to relax our strong approach. This disease can get away from you very quickly as we have seen overseas.”

Updated

One additional case of the virus has been identified in Queensland overnight in a returned overseas traveller who acquired it from a cruise ship. Anyone on QF614 on 22 April has been urged to contact 13 HEALTH. Those near the passenger will be asked to quarantine.

Updated

Guardian Australia wants to hear from couples of all backgrounds and orientations – especially if your relationship is non-traditional – about how they are coping with Covid-19 isolation and restrictions. Tell us about what you’ve learned and we may interview you and your partner for our How we stay together series. Submit your stories here.

Updated

Only five new cases in NSW

Brad Hazzard, the NSW health minister, is speaking in Sydney and said he had “good news”.

“We have five new cases,” he said. “I’d still like to see zero, but it’s still good.”

There have been 3,031 cases in the state. Almost 236,000 tests have been carried out and 232,863 were negative. Of the 3,031 confirmed cases, 2,300 have recovered and just over 300 have not.

“While we’re doing better, if we take our foot off the brake we will be in deep trouble,” he said. “We need to be careful in what we do – in how we lift some of these onerous restrictions.”

Hazzard said with Mother’s Day coming up he had received requests about reopening including tanning, waxing and beauty salons.

“We are not reopening those,” he said. “It is not the right time. But we are opening them for limited activities to allow the sale of retail items from these facilities. You can go into beauty salons and buy favourite retail products.”

So products and vouchers can be bought but no appointments can be made.

Updated

Expert urges vulnerable to get pneumococcal disease vaccine

The chair of the Lung Foundation Australia and leading respiratory physician, Prof Christine Jenkins, says that amid the Covid-19 pandemic, vulnerable groups should not underestimate the seriousness of pneumonia.

Pneumococcal pneumonia is a potentially deadly lung infection caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae and is one of the most common types of pneumonia. Over 65s, infants, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, those with impaired immunity, chronic tobacco smokers and people with chronic medical illnesses, such as heart, lung, kidney and liver disease, and diabetes are considered most at risk. Each year in Australia, pneumonia and influenza account for more than 4,200 deaths.

Jenkins urged vulnerable groups to get vaccinated against pneumococcal disease. Just 51% of over 65s vaccinated against it.

Updated

The outbreak in Tasmania’s north-west in which two hospitals closed and health workers were placed in quarantine is “largely under control”, the state’s premier, Peter Gutwein, says.

As of Sunday at midnight, additional restrictions placed on the north-west would be lifted, he said. Strict rules in place elsewhere around the state would still apply.

“I have said consistently we acted early and we acted hard because we had a more vulnerable, older population and we need to protect them,” Gutwein said. “What we need to do is keep people safe and at the same time start to open up our economy in a sensible way. All of these steps will be guided by public health.

“It is so important we do not become complacent.”

Gutwein said Australia was in a much better position than the UK, the US and much of Europe. He said Australia’s success must not be railroaded by reopening the country too quickly. He added: “I’m absolutely convinced we will be able to rebuild Tasmania.”

There were no new cases of the virus in Tasmania on Friday.

Updated

Meanwhile in Victoria, seven people gathering for a birthday party are among fines that have been issued for breaches of the public health act in the past 24 hours. Since 21 March, Victoria police have conducted 34,192 spot checks.

Updated

Outbreak confirmed at meat-processing plant in Victoria

Victoria’s health minister, Jenny Mikakos, says there has been seven more cases of Covid-19 cases in the state since yesterday, bringing the total to 1,371. There have been no further deaths; the death toll remains at 18. There are 12 people in hospital, four fewer since yesterday. Of those in hospital, seven are in intensive care.

Of the seven new cases, three relate to a meat-processing facility, Mikakos said. Eight employees have tested positive.

“The advice I have is testing for all staff is being conducted and contact tracing is occurring,” Mikakos said. “The business has now been closed and is being thoroughly cleaned. I am also advised there is no concern about food safety.”

Updated

This is a heartwarming read by Alyx Gorman about how she and her husband planned and held their wedding in the middle of a pandemic. She writes:

Covid-19 had already robbed the world of thousands of lives, jobs and freedoms – but could it give us our dream wedding? No complex travel arrangements, no savings drained.

When most people’s realities have been completely upended, getting married on the internet just didn’t seem that weird any more. We could skip the most painful gut churn of wedding planning – weighing up our love for our friends against the cost of feeding them – and invite anyone who wanted to come. We just had to act fast.

Read the full piece here.

Updated

My colleague Naaman Zhou has examined how Australians are reacting to the easing of restrictions in some states and territories. You can read his piece here.

A reminder that we have a breakdown of what is and isn’t allowed in each state and territory, which can be found here.

Australia's US ambassador says virus inquiry just about getting the facts

The Australian ambassador to the United States says calls to hold an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus are not about retribution or revenge, but just getting the facts.

From AAP:

Covid-19 was first recognised in Wuhan, China, before it became a worldwide pandemic, but the Chinese government has taken offence to such an inquiry.

It has even floated a consumer boycott of Australian products in retaliation for the Morrison government’s backing for a global investigation.

Arthur Sinodinos, who took over from Joe Hockey as US ambassador earlier this year, said he understood the Chinese government being defensive about the prospect of an inquiry.

“But my view is we have got a lot to learn from this, China has a lot to learn from this, we’ve all go a lot to learn by comparing how we did things and in the early stages working out what could have been done better,” he told Sky News on Saturday. “This not an exercise in retribution, it’s not an exercise in revenge or whatever. This is about getting the facts.”

He said the call by the prime minister, Scott Morrison, for such an inquiry was “pretty sensible”.

“We’ve had a major life-changing event, the biggest event probably of our lifetimes,” the former Liberal senator said. “We did it after the ebola crisis a few years ago. The World Health Organisation and other bodies looked at what lessons we could learn from that. We have got to do the same again.”

As he said in his final speech to the Senate last year, as an emerging superpower, a strong and prosperous China was in the best interest of the world. “But we also have to accept that everyone should live by the same rules,” he said.

Updated

There’s more news this morning of job losses in the childcare sector after a drop in attendance and funding during the Covid-19 crisis.

Uniting NSW.ACT, which provides community services on behalf of the Uniting church, has announced it is standing down 45 workers across its early learning services. This decision is effective from Monday and will apply for an initial four weeks, although the group will keep the workers on its books and hopes they can come back in the near future.

Rod Nadwie-Smith, the group’s head of early learning, said it was “heartbreaking to have to stand down some of our talented and committed team of educators”.

“What we need right now is certainty of funding so we can keep the remainder of our team engaged and employed and continue to provide our quality services to the 4,500 children and essential workers who rely on us,” he said.

The organisation employs 850 people at 56 early learning services across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory but is not eligible for the jobkeeper wages subsidy because it provides a range of other services that have not been as badly affected.

A week ago, Nadwie-Smith told Guardian Australia the organisation had “held on” and sought to keep its centres open without standing down staff or closing services, but that was becoming increasingly difficult because of a projected $3m loss over the next three months.

Updated

New Zealand Warriors given clearance to fly into Australia

In NRL news, the New Zealand Warriors will arrive in Tamworth on Sunday and be able to train despite a 14-day isolation period, after receiving clearance from Border Force. They received final approvals today.

The latest green light was crucial for the NRL’s ambition of a return by 28 May, AAP reports.

The NRL chairman, Peter V’landys, said the Warriors would join every club in a mandatory education day on Monday to ensure players toed the line during the coronavirus pandemic.

The approval comes after Friday’s crucial move from Queensland’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, confirming borders would be open for the state’s three NRL teams to play in NSW. It means North Queensland, Brisbane and the Gold Coast will not need to enter isolation camps in Sydney and can remain at home with their families.

Updated

As mentioned earlier Anglicare’s Newmarch House aged-care facility is continuing to grapple with the spread of the virus. Two more staff members were confirmed to have the virus this morning following the deaths of 13 residents.

My colleagues Michael McGowan and Elias Visontay have interviewed family members of some of the residents and looked into how the highly infectious virus was able to take hold.

You can read their feature here.

Updated

A reader, 70 year-old Karl from Canberra, has emailed me to ask whether the government’s CovidSafe app works with an iPad. The answer is yes, it is compatible with a number of devices including the iPad or iPod touch.

My colleague Josh Taylor has written an explainer about how to download and use the app here. The ABC has also written a useful explainer on troubleshooting and problems you may have trying to download it.

Hope that helps you and others, Karl.

Updated

Petrol prices creep up in Queensland

AAP reports that petrol prices have crept up in Queensland, where people are venturing out of their homes for the first time after being confined for weeks of semi-lockdown. The report says:

Fuel pumps across Brisbane have bucked recent record low prices, jumping as high as $1.19 on Saturday morning, as people head outdoors for picnics and retail shopping following an ease on restrictions.

However, some southern suburbs are still selling for as little as 82.9c at the end of a week where the state recorded just eight new diagnoses for Covid-19.

All Queenslanders are restricted to staying within 50km of their home and must continue to practise social distancing.

Meanwhile, about 150 extra police will be out questioning Queenslanders as they enjoy their first weekend under eased restrictions which means they can leave their home for recreation. Queenslanders can have a picnic, shop for non-essential items, and the distance they can travel has also been extended. Some national parks are also open.

You can read an explainer of the lockdown restrictions and rules in each state and territory here.

Updated

In overseas developments it seems the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has reemerged after being absent for almost three weeks, if reports from South Korea’s Yonhap news agency are correct.

Conjecture about Kim’s health had grown since his conspicuous absence from the 15 April celebrations for the birthday of his grandfather, Kim Il-sung. But he attended a fertiliser factory completion ceremony, state media reported on Saturday, his first public appearance after 20 days of absence that sparked rumours about his health.

Yonhap news reports: “The official Korean central news agency [KCNA] reported that Kim cut the tape at the ceremony marking the completion of Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory in Sunchon, north of Pyongyang.”

However ... KCNA has not released photos of him or the ceremony.

Updated

Guardian Australia’s editor Lenore Taylor writes that after listening to the experts to successfully curb the spread of Covid-19, Australia should do the same thing when it comes to climate change. In this note from the editor, she says:

We’re already being swamped with ideas about “reforms” needed to recover from the pandemic crisis. But the word reform is like gift wrap – a handy cover for any offering, thought-through or otherwise.

Perhaps we should ditch the word entirely, and with it the forest of feelpinions about what governments “must” do to advance an author’s previously-held ideological positioning in the post-corona world.

Imagine if we took just two lessons from the way Australian governments responded to the coronavirus: that good decisions are made when they consider the evidence and the best available expert advice; and that policy-making can accommodate reasonable differences of opinion, without becoming a “war”.

Think, as Laura Tingle did in a piece for the ABC’s 7.30 this week, of the difference it would make if interviewers and commentators allowed room for discussion of complex and competing ideas, before demanding that politicians rule them “in” or “out”, or before finding a backbencher who will say they might cross the floor on a policy that conflicts with their ideological prejudice – even if that policy hasn’t yet been outlined.

Now consider if those principles were applied to climate policy in Australia.”

Read the full piece here.

On Thursday, the Northern Territory government announced a multi-staged approach to lifting restrictions after successfully containing the virus.

As of noon yesterday, simple and safe outdoor activities where physical distancing can be maintained were once again allowed. It means personal gatherings including outdoor weddings and funerals can recommence, and playgrounds, parks and campgrounds outside biosecurity areas can reopen.

Public swimming pools, lagoons and water parks are also open. Outdoor sports where physical distancing can be maintained including golf and tennis as well as training outdoors are back on. Fishing, boating, and sailing with other people is also allowed.

Northern Territory chief health officer Dr Hugh Heggie was very excited about the developments, while urging people to still be responsible with hygiene and physical distancing.

Updated

Anglicare issues a statement on Newmarch House

Anglicare has issued a statement following news this morning that two staff members of its Newmarch House aged care home in Sydney have been diagnosed with the infection. The virus has killed 13 residents of the home since April. The statement says the new infections occurred “despite having strict procedures and enforced infection control practices in place”.

We are investigating further as to how this occurred and we continue to work closely with the NSW Public Health Unit on this. Additional positive cases associated with Newmarch House are very distressing for our staff, our residents, and their families.

We are very appreciative of the support being provided by the commonwealth and NSW governments and by the aged care sector more broadly.

We are further improving our pastoral care for residents and their families by offering access to Anglicare Sydney’s counselling and chaplaincy services as well as continuing the successful window visits between residents and families.

Additionally, Anglicare Sydney was relieved to hear that the outbreak of Covid-19 at Dorothy Henderson Lodge has now been dealt with. This gives us great hope that we will overcome this devastating virus at Newmarch House.”

Updated

Virus continues to spread at Newmarch House

This virus is proving devastating once it gets into nursing homes. Another two staff members at Sydney’s Newmarch House nursing home have tested positive for Covid-19 following the deaths of 13 residents over the past few weeks. More than one third of the home’s residents have now been infected.

New South Wales Labor leader Jodi McKay last week criticised the state government for not acting sooner on the coronavirus-stricken aged care home, and said families were not always given the choice to transfer Covid-19 positive residents to hospital.

The home began testing for coronavirus on 11 April after a carer who worked part-time at the facility tested positive to Covid-19. The NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, said the carer had extremely mild symptoms such as a “scratchy” throat and worked five shifts at the home and two at a western Sydney disability service before she realised she was sick. It’s understood she did not have symptoms while still working.

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said at a press conference on Wednesday she was concerned at the lack of information given to family members of residents since the beginning of the outbreak.

Updated

Flinders University this morning published an analysis of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on South Australia. The director of Flinders University’s Australian Industrial Transformation Institute Professor John Spoehr says by 2024, some 61,000 people in the state will lose their jobs, notwithstanding the JobKeeper initiative.

“Gross State Product will be 14.8% lower this quarter than it would have been without the Covid-19 restrictions, and recovery will be slow, with GSP remaining 6.4% lower than would otherwise have been the case at this time next year,” he said. “Our earnings from interstate exports will fall 18% and our overseas export earnings will plunge 23.5%.”

Meanwhile two new reports released by the Melbourne Institute assess the scope of the Covid-19 pandemic’s economic impact in Australia at a state-by-state level. The Melbourne Institute Nowcast of Australian GDP report found “Consumer sentiment, which tends to lead consumption, fell dramatically in April. It is now at a similar level to that observed during the global financial crisis”. Its report on State Leading Indexes of Economic Activity says federal government support packages, to a certain extent, may have helped to soften this rising consumer pessimism.

Updated

Good morning everyone, Melissa Davey here with you to take you through all the Covid-19 updates for Australia today.

Here’s a quick recap of where we are at, starting with some good news:

It seems as we go into the weekend, many are hopeful that we will be seeing some kind of easing of restrictions sooner than anticipated. But the last thing Australian wants is the situation we’ve seen unfolding in Singapore, where after successful containment of the virus which were praised around the world, it experienced record-breaking days of new cases last week. The country has now implemented a lockdown.

This is something we are going to see those countries who are containing the virus increasingly grapple with over the next few weeks. The deputy chief medical officer on Friday described this navigation between a return to normality and avoiding unmitigated virus spread as a “dance”, and it’s something that the national cabinet will be discussing over the coming days.

Let me know if I’ve missed anything throughout the day over at Twitter or at melissa.davey@theguardian.com . Or feel free to just tell me how you’re coping with all of this. As always, please be nice.

Updated

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