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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Josh Taylor and Calla Wahlquist

Victoria reports 288 new cases while NSW records another 14 – as it happened

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That is where we will leave the blog for the evening. We will be back tomorrow as part of the global coronavirus live blog.

Here’s the news from today:

  • Victoria reported a record 288 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, taking the total number of active cases in the state to over 1,000
  • People in Melbourne or the Mitchell Shire are now encouraged to wear a mask if they leave their home for one of the four reasons, but it is not mandatory
  • Around 60 fines have been issued since Thursday, including 16 for a KFC-fuelled birthday party in Dandenong
  • Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said the northwest suburbs of Melbourne, especially the suburbs of Roxburgh Park and Craigieburn and Truganina, have “really significant” rates of community transmission and people in those areas with cold-like symptoms should isolate and get tested immediately. He said: “if they have symptoms this may well be coronavirus”.
  • NSW recorded 14 confirmed cases of coronavirus
  • There are now two cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casulaand people who attended in the past week and may have symptoms are being asked to get tested
  • A man who travelled from Melbourne by caravan to the Sutherland shire also tested positive. Health officials are tracing contacts but he had a relatively quick trip with few stops.
  • The number of international travellers allowed to arrive in Australia will be “cut by half,” which is at this stage a reduction in 4,000 per week.
  • There will be a national review of the hotel quarantine system, separate to the review already commissioned by the Victorian government into the hotel quarantine breach in Melbourne.
  • Western Australia has pushed back its planned move to stage five restrictions, which would be a lifting of all restrictions except the hard border and hotel quarantine. It was due to go to stage 5 on 18 July, but that’s been moved back two weeks.
  • Tasmania has also pushed back its border opening until 31 July
  • The WA premier, Mark McGowan, has flagged the possibility of putting a cap on the number of domestic travellers allowed into WA.

Until tomorrow, stay safe.

The Golden Sheaf Hotel in Double Bay has been fined $5,500 for breaching coronavirus restrictions after photos emerged of massive queues of around 250 people outside not adhering to social distancing.

Dimitri Argeres, the acting director of compliance for NSW Liquor & Gaming said the fine was issued after inspectors reviewed CCTV footage.

“This is the third time we’ve inspected this premises. The first time we identified issues, which were resolved before our second visit, however the situation on Wednesday night posed a serious risk to public health and an improvement notice was not appropriate,” he said.

Here’s some of that communications around mask wearing we were expecting, surprisingly from the federal government first (given the advice mostly applies to people in Victoria).

A Chemist Warehouse worker at its Somerton distribution centre in Melbourne tested positive for coronavirus, AAP reports.

The labour hire worker at CW Management, a distribution centre for Chemist Warehouse stores, last attended work on Tuesday and the pharmacy chain found out about the case Thursday night.

Chemist Warehouse said it immediately closed the Somerton facility for deep cleaning, as well as tracing and notifying the worker’s direct contacts.

The United Workers Union claims only the confirmed case and five colleagues have gone into isolation, despite the possibility that up to 100 staff had contact.

The union says the facility was operational on Friday following the deep clean, but about 80% of workers had refused to turn up for their shift after hearing of the case.

It claims Chemist Warehouse required absent workers use their leave entitlements and is calling for the staff to be paid pandemic leave.

Director of CW Retail, Mario Tascone, said all workers were encouraged to wear face masks and other PPE provided.

Employees and external contractors also have their temperature checked before entering the centre, Tascone said:

CW Management will continue to stress the importance and provide the means for social distancing within our facilities.

Updated

Carriageworks in Sydney has been thrown a lifeline after a group of philanthropists donated millions of dollars to keep the venue open.

Via AAP:

The donors include major art collector Geoff Ainsworth and his wife Johanna Featherstone, Kerr Neilson, Michael Gonski and the Packer Family Foundation.

The group has pledged to ensure the survival of the Eveleigh-based industrial chic facility after its board announced in May it had entered voluntary administration amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

NSW arts minister Don Harwin on Friday announced the philanthropists had given the venue a “multimillion-dollar lifeline”.

“We are delighted with this outcome,” he said in a statement.

“At the heart of it, we are excited for the resident companies of Carriageworks who will also greatly benefit from this announcement.”

The NSW government has committed to a 10-year lease and a five-year funding agreement with Carriageworks.

Updated

These are the roads you can travel on to enter South Australia from Victoria (in an emergency you can use any road but these are the permitted ones):

  • Sturt Highway, Yamba
  • Wentworth Road, Renmark
  • Mallee Highway, Pinnaroo
  • Dukes Highway, Wolseley
  • High Street, Frances (which terminates at Minimay-Frances Road, Frances)
  • Wimmera Highway, Laurie Park
  • Edenhope Road, Wrattonbully
  • Casterton Road, Penola
  • Glenelg Highway, Myora-Princes Highway, Glenburnie
  • Glenelg River Road, Donovans/Nelson
  • Lindsay Point Road-Lacey Avenue, Murtho
  • Summerton Road-Mulcra Road (becomes Panitya North Road), Pinnaroo
  • Wolseley Road-Serviceton North Road, Wolseley
  • Binnum-Benayeo Road, Binnum
  • Shepherds Road-Kybybolite Road, Kybyolite
  • Langkoop Road-Casterton-Naracoorte Road, Koppamurra
  • Derghom Road-Dorodong Road, Penola
  • Mingbool Road, Pleasant Park
  • Caroline Road, Caroline-Dry Creek Road, Caroline

Updated

The Herald Sun has an interesting case study on the apparent failure of the Covidsafe app.

A man working in an office in Melbourne tested positive, but none of the other staff in that office were alerted via the app, despite everyone in the office using the app. It is reported that they hadn’t been contacted by contact tracers, either.

There could be a few reasons for that, but it is interesting this is the first case study we have seen of the app directly not working as it should.

Victoria has now downloaded data from the app 222 times, but there’s still no evidence as to whether it has found unknown contacts.

Updated

Summary

Here’s what you might have missed so far today:

  • Victoria reported a record 288 new confirmed cases of coronavirus.
  • People in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire are now encouraged to wear a mask if they leave their home for one of the four reasons, but it is not mandatory.
  • Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said the northwest suburbs of Melbourne, especially the suburbs of Roxburgh Park, Craigieburn and Truganina, have “really significant” rates of community transmission and people in those areas with cold-like symptoms should isolate and get tested immediately. He said: “if they have symptoms this may well be coronavirus”.
  • NSW recorded 14 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
  • There are now two cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula and people who attended in the past week and may have symptoms are being asked to get tested.
  • A man who travelled from Melbourne by caravan to the Sutherland shire also tested positive. Health officials are tracing contacts but he had a relatively quick trip with few stops.
  • The number of international travellers allowed to arrive in Australia will be “cut by half”, which is at this stage a reduction in 4,000 per week.
  • There will be a national review of the hotel quarantine system, separate to the review already commissioned by the Victorian government into the hotel quarantine breach in Melbourne.
  • Western Australia has pushed back its planned move to stage five restrictions, which would be a lifting of all restrictions except the hard border and hotel quarantine. It was due to go to stage 5 on 18 July, but that’s been moved back two weeks.
  • Tasmania has also pushed back its border opening until 31 July
  • The WA premier, Mark McGowan, has flagged the possibility of putting a cap on the number of domestic travellers allowed into WA.

Updated

Yesterday, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews was asked at his daily press conference right at the end about his whereabouts for dinner the previous night, and the night before, which happened to be his birthday.

He responded that he was at home, but had some Zoom calls.

The reporter who asked was Herald Sun reporter Alex White. Apparently she had copped a fair bit of abuse on Twitter for asking the question.

So much so that the premier has now tweeted that the abuse is uncalled for.

The peak body for employment services in Australia has called on the federal government to strike a “new deal” with jobseekers and commit “to leave no one behind”.

Amid increasing fears about more people falling into long-term unemployment during the Covid-19-triggered recession, the National Employment Services Association (NESA), is urging the government to create a reskilling and job creation program for jobless Australians.

Sally Sinclair, the chief executive officer, said answers were needed before the scheduled end of the jobkeeper wage subsidy and the additional jobseeker payments in September.” Otherwise, the situation we enter when those benefits are withdrawn will be much worse than the situation we are in now,” she said in a statement. Sinclair said she knew, as the head of NESA, “that we can’t just offer jobseekers what we were offering pre-COVID” because it was “a global crisis that could continue to alter labour requirements for years” and many Australians had been locked out of work.

Sinclair called on the government to come up with an ambitious plan, “otherwise, it is risking the very real consequences of an unchecked rise in unemployment and even more damaging spiralling of long-term unemployment”.

As a starting point, she said, the government should identify the industries that were least likely to recover from the impacts of Covid-19 and focus on guiding and reskilling those workforces to industries with jobs. A commitment to leave no one behind should be “accompanied by the investment to realise that”.

Updated

Hotel quarantine inquiry first hearing set

The hotel quarantine inquiry set up by the Victorian government and chaired by Jennifer Coate AM, will hold its first hearing on 20 July.

The hearing will be livestreamed for public viewing.

The $3m inquiry into the quarantine breaches and issues associated with Melbourne’s hotel quarantine will report back to the Victorian government in late September.

This is separate from the broader hotel quarantine inquiry set up by the commonwealth government today.

Updated

No new cases in South Australia.

Victoria is preparing 2m reusable masks for people in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire by the end of July, and 1m single-use masks, but in case you want to go and make your own now, you can find a CDC guide on how to make one here.

The Victorian government is going to prepare its own how-to guide for masks in the coming days.

The masks are not mandatory for people in the lockdown areas, but are encouraged for people over 18 who have left their home for one of the four reasons allowed, particularly in places where social distancing is less possible, like in Ubers or public transport.

Updated

NSW press conference summary

Here’s what we learned from the NSW press conference:

  • There were 14 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in NSW on Friday
  • There are now two cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula, in Sydney’s south west from Saturday night
  • Those who were at the venue around that time are encouraged to come forward for testing, and a pop-up testing site has been set up in the hotel carpark
  • One case is a man in his 20s who travelled up to the Sutherland area from Melbourne in a caravan
  • Health officials don’t believe he was in contact with many people on his trip up, but they are assessing what to do with the as-yet-unnamed caravan park
  • Seventy-seven tests from people linked to a case at the Woolworths in Balmain/Rozelle were lost, and those affected are being asked to be tested again

Dr Kerry Chant indicates the two cases from the Casula hotel in Sydney’s south west could have picked up coronavirus from a third person who was at the venue on the same day.

What we do is we go back 14 days, which is the incubation period, and look at where people have been. And the fact that both these cases had been at the same hotel in an overlapping period of time, on the same day, gave us cause for raising the possibility and the strong possibility that they both acquired the infection at the same time, from a third party at the hotel.

Updated

Hazzard says the government is not currently focusing on easing restrictions, because the focus is on what is happening in Victoria. He says members of the community have expressed strong views that there should be stronger restrictions.

On whether laws will be tightened to prevent people other than NSW residents coming from Victoria, Brad Hazzard says everything is on the table.

“Absolutely everything. We take the health advice of the government, but we need to make decisions in the interests of our community and there are a lot of things under active consideration at the present time.”

He wouldn’t say whether the caravan man was in breach of the orders. He said the man did the right thing by coming forward and being tested when he had symptoms in NSW.

Dr Kerry Chant: This is not the time for complacency.

She notes that the lack of social distancing at the press conference is partly an issue with the venue of choice.

She says people need to maintain social distancing and hygiene.

Updated

On the caravan man, NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant says his trip from Melbourne up to Sutherland was quick, and he didn’t have that much contact with people, but it is being explored.

We are currently interviewing him to ascertain that information. At this time, because he was travelling in a car and in a caravan and did the trip quite swiftly, we understand that he has not had any, had minimal or any exposure on his route up here. It is just the person he is with in the caravan and one or two other contacts that we are now exploring.

Brad Hazzard is asked how many were at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula on Saturday night. He says he can’t say, but it is a popular venue, so it “would have been pretty full”.

The hotel did have a “Covidsafe plan” including recording who was at the venue. The pop-up clinic at the hotel will be in place from 5pm.

Updated

Hazzard says 77 swabs from people tested in association with the Balmain/Rozelle Woolworths case have gone missing.

Hazzard says he is sorry on behalf of NSW Pathology that they went missing, but he is getting a report on it.

Those 77 are asked to come forward for testing again.

I think everybody understands this is like a war. There is a lot happening every day, a lot of people under massive pressure. I won’t point the finger at anybody, I just ask that New South Wales pathology give me a report at some stage, and tell me how they are addressing the issue. These things can happen from time to time.

Hazzard says people visiting NSW from Victoria are encouraged to return to Victoria.

“Please go home as soon as reasonably practicable, if you can, go home, go back to your area and comply with the government laws.”

The second NSW case of concern is a man in his 20s who tested positive in the Sutherland area. He is from Melbourne, Brad Hazzard says.

The man towed his caravan up from Victoria.

Hazzard says anyone who is coming up from Victoria needs to be on high alert.

“It is crucial you do, because otherwise you will be the instrument of seeding or one of the possible instruments of seeding here in New South Wales.”

Hazzard says he won’t be naming the caravan park yet, but they are looking at what measures need to be put in place around that caravan park.

NSW reports 14 new cases, two linked to a Casula hotel

NSW health minister Brad Hazzard says there are 14 new cases of coronavirus in NSW.

There were two cases of concern.

In the past few days, one man in his 50s tested positive in the same Liverpool vicinity as a 30-year-old woman.

When they went back and checked, they found the two cases went to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula on Saturday night.

“That obviously has major ramifications because that appears to be a likely point of connections where those two people could have come in contact with the virus,” he said.

NSW Health has been in contact with the hotel and has directed them to close. Hotels need to keep a list of people at the venues, so it is hoped contact tracers will now be following up on people who had been there.

There will be a pop-up testing facility in the car park of the hotel and people who were at the hotel in the past few days and have symptoms are encouraged to go and get tested.

Updated

Tasmania defers opening its borders to 31 July

Tasmania was due to open its borders on 24 July, but isn’t opening now until 31 July, in light of the situation in Victoria.

Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein said it could be longer, depending on what is happening around the rest of the country.

We’ll use these next couple of weeks to gain a full understanding of what the outbreak in Victoria means for the rest of the country. I hope, as I’m sure most Australians do, that Victoria will get on top of it and we won’t see community transmission occur in those other states to a great degree. But we’re in the fortunate position in Tasmania of having one of the safest places in the country, and importantly, we need to ensure we maintain that position as we move forward.

Updated

A brief summary of the past two hours

I’m about to hand over to my colleague Josh Taylor, but before I do I wanted to quickly run through what we learned in the past two hours. Because it was quite a lot.

shoppers wearing masks
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has ‘requested’ that people in greater Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire wear masks, including homemade reusable masks, when out in public in circumstances where they can’t socially distance. Photograph: Luis Ascui/AAP
  • Victoria has recorded 288 new coronavirus cases in a single day. That’s the biggest daily total from a single Australian jurisdiction since the pandemic began – the next closest is 212 in NSW on 27 March, at the height of the Ruby Princess and Newmarch House outbreaks.
  • There are 1,172 active cases of coronavirus in Victoria and more than 5,000 close contacts that are in quarantine or being followed up by public health officers.
  • Premier Daniel Andrews has “requested” that people in greater Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire wear masks, including homemade reusable masks, when out in public in circumstances where they can’t socially distance, like at the supermarket or on public transport. It’s not compulsory at this stage.
  • Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said the north-west suburbs of Melbourne, especially the suburbs of Roxburgh Park and Craigieburn and Truganina, have “really significant” rates of community transmission and people in those areas with cold-like symptoms should isolate and get tested immediately. He said: “If they have symptoms this may well be coronavirus.”
  • The number of international travellers allowed to arrive in Australia will be “cut by half”, which is at this stage a reduction in 4,000 per week.
  • There will be a national review of the hotel quarantine system, separate to the review already commissioned by the Victorian government into the hotel quarantine breach in Melbourne.
  • Western Australia has pushed back its planned move to stage five restrictions, which would be a lifting of all restrictions except the hard border and hotel quarantine. It was due to go to stage five on 18 July, but that’s been moved back two weeks.
  • The WA premier, Mark McGowan, has flagged the possibility of putting a cap on the number of domestic travellers allowed into WA.

Updated

And now for some depressing graphs, courtesy of data editor Nick Evershed.

Source of Covid-19 infections in Victoria.
Source of Covid-19 infections in Victoria.

Look at that spike.

Source of Covid-19 infections in Victoria since 1 May.
Source of Covid-19 infections in Victoria since 1 May.

Everything is fine. (It is not fine.)

Trend in local and overseas-related transmission of Covid-19 in Victoria
Trend in local and overseas-related transmission of Covid-19 in Victoria

McGowan said the level of community transmission in Melbourne meant there was a risk the virus could return “with a vengeance”.

He said:

There is a real possibility that the virus could return to WA. Believe me, I don’t want to see that happen. I don’t want to be reimposing restrictions.

WA is currently in phase four of its lifting of coronavirus restrictions and was due to move to phase five – no more restrictions except for the hard border with the other states and international hotel quarantine – on 18 July. That has now been delayed for two weeks.

Given the number of people in hotel quarantine and with the situation in Victoria worsening, there is an increased risk of the virus spreading.

Updated

Western Australia flags capping the number of interstate visitors

Meanwhile, WA premier Mark McGowan has been talking about how the rest of the nation has looked to his state “for guidance” in managing the pandemic. He has flagged the prospect of capping the number of interstate arrivals.

This is because of their hard border, presumably.

McGowan says:

Arrivals into WA, both international and domestic have been hugely reduced. International air travel into WA is about 98% down compared to the same time last year. Interstate air travel is 98% down. As a result, we successfully suppressed the virus within WA. We have no evidence of community spread. With the fastest easing of restrictions in the country, our lives have effectively got back to normal and our economy is recovering.

This is both a good thing and a problem, he says, because it has led to an increase in the number of people seeking to travel to WA from interstate and overseas.

To highlight the increase in interstate arrivals, in a 10-day period in June, we had 2,705 interstate arrivals by air for a range of reasons.

More recently, in the last 10 days, we have seen 4,995 people from interstate arrive in Perth by air. A majority of these arrivals are from Melbourne and Sydney. In the last two days alone, we have seen 414 people arrive from Melbourne.

Today with our new measures in place, one flight is scheduled to land from Melbourne, potentially carrying 72 passengers but it could very well be less.

It is our expectation these numbers should continue to return to more manageable levels. However, if they don’t, I won’t hesitate in introducing harsher measures to limit arrivals and protect the health of West Australians.

Updated

The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, and chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, will give a press conference at 3.15pm.

Andrews ends the press conference with a plea for everyone to remain at home unless they have to leave for essential reasons.

This is not a normal weekend. It really isn’t. I just appeal to everybody to play their part.

Fourteen of the new cases are health workers. A significant number of health workers are now quarantined, as confirmed cases or close contacts.

Sutton says:

I hope that all health care workers are wearing masks in all settings where it is required. It is the coalface, they are seeing those most likely to be carrying the virus. They are doing absolutely essential work and it is dangerous work. It is not entirely unexpected that health care workers make up a proportion of our cases but we want to do everything possible to protect them in that critical work.

Updated

There are, as of today, 1,172 active coronavirus cases in Victoria.

Sutton says they are monitoring Geelong – which is not included in the greater Melbourne lockdown area – daily for signs of community transmission.

I would say to those in Geelong, you need to be as mindful of testing and symptoms as anywhere else in Victoria and if you’re commuting for essential purposes, especially to the western suburbs of Melbourne, bear in mind all of the things that you need to do to protect yourself.

Updated

Sutton is asked if he would declare this outbreak to be “out of control”.

He says:

I wouldn’t, for a start.

Everyone laughs.

He continues:

We are working on controlling this. We know what works. We know it works through our first wave. It absolutely has to have people doing the right thing across the board and so, in a sense, it is in all of our hands. So I can’t answer it definitively because it is not just for government and it is not just for those who write public health directions to bring it under control. It is for everyone to do the right thing in order for that to occur.

Updated

Sutton says they are “working on preparedness for remote learning”.

Term three is due to start on Monday. It could, potentially, be only VCE students returning to on-campus learning.

Sutton says:

Students coming back will have all of the requirements embedded in those schools as they return. The focus on making sure that anyone with the mildest of illness doesn’t turn up is the key one.

That includes temperature checks.

Updated

There are 5,000 close contacts of coronavirus cases in Victoria.

Sutton says there are more than 5,000 close contacts of the currently active cases in Victoria. It is, he says, “a big number”, and we haven’t got enough humans to make all those calls, so it’s an automated message.

The national guidelines say, where feasible, everyone should get a phone call every day. That means where feasible, what happens is Victoria is everyone gets an automated message. The app provides them a link. They get a prompt about needing to quarantine. They get a prompt every day about whether they have developed symptoms and if they develop symptoms and they are flagging that they have, they are prompted to test.

The work for close contacts is being done and we are now at daily levels that were similar to the peak in Australia. It is stretching contact tracing activities but for contact tracers it is a relatively routine business to check in with those in quarantine and make sure they haven’t developed symptoms and make sure they’re adhering to the quarantine requirements.

The real work is done in the long form interview with cases. We have very professional individuals in the team doing that to identify all of the close contacts, all of the potential sensitive settings that those individuals go to. That is a more specialised work force and we have got that work force and they are doing a fantastic job.

Updated

Sutton says it’s unlikely people will be advised to wear facemasks in schools.

I don’t think masks are feasible in schools. Kids can’t necessarily wear the masks in the same way that adults can. Teachers can’t really teach with masks. I think everyone in schools should feel free to bring a mask if they feel comfortable with it. Teachers in the common room, or individual students if they so choose.

There are currently 12 people with Covid-19 in intensive care in Melbourne. That is not enough to overwhelm the system, but if the numbers are not curbed, that could be a problem.

Victoria will see more deaths from Covid-19, says chief health officer

A reporter asks if the virus is milder in this outbreak, because there is not a proportionate increase in the number of people in hospital with Covid-19. (Thank god.)

Sutton says:

The virus is the same. It is as dangerous as it will was. It is not mutating to be more or less dangerous but who gets infected manifests in hospital. Wh owe are seeing in hospital at the moment are the most vulnerable.

The ICU numbers have gone up significantly and the hospitalised numbers have gone up significantly. That usually lags the increase in numbers by a week or two as people develop the worst manifestations of the illness. We will see an increase in hospitalised and ICU cases and in deaths in the coming days because of the spike that we have seen in recent days.

Updated

Andrews said he is not considering imposing stricter stay-at-home orders or hard lockdown restrictions on the most-affected suburbs.

But he says he reserves the right to go further in any particular postcode, if needed.

He also says that people should not really be moving around the city, unless it’s for one of the four reasons for leaving your home. There are no limits on where you can exercise, but Andrews says people should keep to the spirit of the lockdown.

We would ask you to do daily exercise in the spirit of limiting your contact with others. It is not an opportunity to run a marathon or travel three hours from home. It is a walk. It is getting some fresh air. It is daily, that doesn’t mean it is all day.

Andrews says they will probably have to hire more contact tracers to keep on top of all the close contacts from these escalating coronavirus cases.

It is bigger than it has ever been and I will have more to say soon about additional resources and support to expand that team even further. That is not just because of the circumstances we face now, but if we are going to keep a lid on things even very small numbers of cases in regional Victoria, then we will have to do even more.

He is asked about criticism that contact tracing teams in other states are “more professional” than they are in Victoria.

I wouldn’t accept that criticism. I’m not sure anyone’s putting their name to that criticism.

Updated

Andrews says the federal inquiry into hotel quarantine, announced today, is not an indication of a lack of confidence in the Victorian government or Victoria’s own review.

He says that the Victorian review is historical, looking at what happened, and the national review is prospective, looking at what can be improved.

Seems to me you can’t do one without the other, but the core point is: the Victorian review is specifically about what went wrong in Melbourne, the national review is not.

He says Victoria will not need to go into the national medical stockpile to access masks, that it has enough on hand.

This is not compulsory or across the board. We would like people to do it but it won’t be relevant for every person and it is not relevant in every set of circumstances.

In your own home, unless you are specifically advised to protect a vulnerable person in your home, then you wouldn’t be wearing them in your own home.

If you’re out for daily exercise and you think that you can keep your distance, then you need not wear it. You might choose to as an extra thing that you might do, an extra important contribution that you might make.

If you’re getting into a cab or on a train or tram, going to work, for instance, which is one of the reasons to leave home, and you think there is a chance you might not be able to keep your distance, then a homemade mask will be of some benefit to you, to your family, to your suburb, your community and indeed of us all.

The Victorian government is going to share a video on how to make a homemade reusable mask. That’s an acceptable solution, Andrews says.

Andrews is also disgusted by people whale watching. He says if that sort of behaviour continues, Victoria will be locked down longer.

The four reasons are not an invitation to leave home, they are reasonable excuses – reasonable terms on which you would leave home.

It is not an invitation to go shopping for things that you don’t need, to be doing things that you really don’t need to do. That is why the rules are there, to try to do everything we can to limit the spread of this virus.

I don’t want our city shut down for a moment longer than it needs to be. If people follow the rules, then we have a much greater chance of being able to bring stability to the numbers.

Updated

Patton says they will use automatic number plate recognition on highway patrol cars to identify Melbournians – or Melbourne-registered cars, at least – outside of the lockdown bubble.

There are also 30 members of the Australian Defence Force, with another 130 to come, helping police at vehicle checkpoints and working on planning and logistics.

He said he expects police to issue more infringements in the next few weeks.

I expect to see those infringements numbers rise from those parties and things like that. It is finished. The time for that is done and we will continue to issue the infringements to make people comply.

Updated

Victorian police commissioner Shane Patton is now running through the 60 or so infringements issued by police to people breaching the stay-at-home orders.

They include a frankly bonkers story about discovering a birthday party through the indiscreet ordering of KFC. Patton says:

We had ambos who were at a KFC at Dandenong and while they were getting something to eat. They saw two people in there and they were ordering 20 meals at 1.30am this morning. They spoke to the people at KFC and subsequently, there was a report made to us.

We got the registration number of the car and we followed through and went to that address in Dandenong. It was a townhouse. When we went in there was two people asleep but there were 16 others hiding out the back and they just got the KFC meals at a birthday. That is ridiculous that type of behaviour.

It is an expensive night when you think apart from the KFC, we have issued 16 infringements at that amount, that is $26,000 that birthday party is costing them. That is a heck of a birthday party to recall.

Patton says police also fined four sex workers at Glen Waverley (but not their clients, interestingly) and complained that people had been whale watching on Mornington Peninsula.

Totally unacceptable. A total breach of the distancing rules. Arguable whether it is even an exercise full stop or there is a reason to be there.

That conduct won’t be permitted. If the public don’t comply, we will continue to ramp up our infringement issuing.

Updated

Sutton says the evidence on masks was “ambivalent” until recently, until an analysis in the Lancet showed that when masks are worn broadly across the population they can reduce transmission by up to two thirds.

That’s a really important addition measure and we are trying to do absolutely everything in Victoria to drive transmission down, it’s a really important additional tool.

Sutton says they should be worn when people are in proximity to others and cannot remain 1.5 metres apart, but said they are no substitute for not maintaining adequate social distancing. He also urged people in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law.

The numbers that we are seeing at the moment are of concern, but we do expect them to plateau in the next week. But it requires everyone to follow the stay-at-home directions.

Updated

Chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton says the figure of 288 new cases is a “pretty ugly number” and “we may well see it worsen before it gets better”.

Specifically, he says case numbers may rise in the next two weeks until lockdown has an effect.

Sutton says:

We know that there are continuing hotspots in the north-west corridor in particular, of recent days there has been an uptick, especially in Roxburgh Park and Craigieburn and Truganina. There are some postcodes that are really significant and showing up in terms of transmission.

People in those areas in particular should bear in mind that any symptoms, really, should prompt you to be testing stop at that is true across Victoria. But in those postcodes in particular ... those people really need to have an awareness if they have symptoms this may well be coronavirus.

Updated

People in Melbourne 'requested' to wear a mask in public

Andrews says the government is in the process of trying to make two million reusable masks, and acquire one million single use masks, which will be distributed. The distribution will be focused on priority communities, like public housing tenants.

He says:

...it is our request of you, it’s not compulsory, we are simply asking that if you can wear a mask where you can’t distance, that is exactly what we would like you to do.

That’s a relatively small contribution but one that could make a really big difference.

He gives some example of times people are requested wear a mask, including being in an Uber or taxi, being on public transport, or doing the supermarket shopping.

That’s not to say that we should be compelling people...It’s a small thing, but our request, not an obligation, but our request.

Updated

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says 37,588 tests were conducted in the state yesterday, the biggest total ever, which he says is “an equally significant number” to the 288.

He is offering what I think are intended to be reassuring words, saying “it was always going to get worse before it gets better”.

I know there will be great concern about these numbers. People will feel deeply concerned to see that number as high as it is.

I just want to remind everybody that we have been very, very clear. We didn’t take this step to return to staying at home, except for the four reasons for metropolitan Melbourne, because the numbers were stable. We didn’t take that step because we didn’t have a problem, we took that step because we knew it would need to get worse before it got better and that unless we took those steps we simply wouldn’t be able to bring a sense of control to this.

We would not be able to see a stabilisation and then a driving down of those case numbers stop at the same time, no one should underestimate how significant, how big a challenge we all face. It is very significant.

Updated

Victoria records 288 new coronavirus causes

This is the biggest ever daily total recorded by a state in Australia since the pandemic began.

Only 26 are connected to known outbreaks, the rest are still under investigation.

We are standing by waiting for Daniel Andrews to speak. There are reports of a record-breaking number of new daily cases in Australia, which we will bring to you once it is confirmed.

Only a fraction of the Victorians who are confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been paid the state government’s $1,500 worker hardship payment.

A Victorian Department of Health and Human Services spokesman told the Guardian on Friday 100 payments had been made up to 8 July, although he would not say how many applications had been made.

The payment was introduced by the Andrews government on 20 June to prevent confirmed cases and their close contacts from going to work, as case numbers continued to rise sharply in Victoria. Daniel Andrews described it as “essentially a no questions asked hardship payment” to deal with disincentives around testing.

Although 100 payments have been made, there have been nearly 3,000 Covid-19 cases in Victoria, including 1,214 cases which have been diagnosed since 20 June when the payment was introduced.

The case figures do not include close contacts who would also be eligible to access the payment, provided they met other criteria.

According to the department, workers are eligible if they would have worked but have been directed to self-isolate, have exhausted sick leave including pandemic leave, and are not receiving the jobkeeper wage subsidy or Centrelink payments.

“The Department of Health and Human Services’ case and contact tracing team directly contacts all confirmed coronavirus (Covid-19) cases and their close contacts. A needs assessment for the payment will be done over the phone,” the website says.

“This is the only way to access this payment.”

Meanwhile, the separate financial support package for the 3,000 residents in the nine public housing towers who were placed under “hard lockdown” will be rolled out “shortly”, the department’s spokesman said on Friday.

He said 1,300 households would receive a $750 payment, while an additional $750 employment supplement would be paid to households in the nine towers where one or more people were employed.

The spokesman did not provide figures on how many households would receive the extra cash.

Updated

Morrison says his family is going on holiday on the outskirts of Sydney next week, but he will not go on leave.

A Hawaii lesson learned.

Morrison was just asked about an editorial in the China Daily newspaper, which said Australia was “not irreplaceable”. Is Australia concerned it will see further retaliation in terms of trade with China.

Australia will just continue to stand up for our interests and continue to pursue our policy as is consistent with those interests.

Scott Morrison has briefed premiers and chief ministers on the government’s plan to offer extended visas to people from Hong Kong. Yesterday, the prime minister announced Australia would allow a range of visa holders from Hong Kong to stay in the country for five years and then offer them a pathway to permanent residency.

The federal government estimates almost 10,000 temporary skilled, graduate and student visa holders in Australia would be eligible for the special arrangements, along with a further 2,500 outside Australia and 1,250 applications on hand.

The government is also offering opportunities for future applicants and will attempt to attract entrepreneurs – but has been at pains to say the focus is on skills shortages and normal applications processes will apply. Morrison said he had received strong encouragement of the government’s announcements.

He said there was “a keenness for states and territories to work with us as we attract footloose business and industries” from Hong Kong “that may be looking to relocate”.

The prime minister took the opportunity, once again, to affirm “that we were not anticipating large volumes of people seeking to enter the country following the announcement we made yesterday”.

For more details, I filed a piece of analysis on Morrison’s attempt to minimise the impact of Australia’s plan at a time of domestic economic pressure and tensions in the relationship with China.

Updated

Paul Kelly is asked if his advice around attending schools has changed, due to the outbreak at the Al-Taqwa College.

The short answer is no. Here’s the long answer:

There is an outbreak in one particular college in Melbourne. And some smaller ones related to other schools....

On the basis of evidence and we look at this continually, about the risk to children. The risk to children of this virus is much less than adults and that is very clear around the world in terms of the severity of the illness.

In terms of this particular cluster in this college in Melbourne, this seems particularly linked to family interactions around the school and not the school itself.

Does Morrison now admit that he oversold the Covidsafe app, Samantha Maiden asks? It hasn’t provided new information in any significant contact tracing efforts.

Morrison says he did not.

The two work together. They were always intended to work together. They are working together. That is why I would continue to encourage people, wherever you happen to be, to download the Covidsafe app.

In most parts of the country there are no community transmission cases, so therefore you wouldn’t expect to be having a high level of use. It is being used in Victoria and the other methods of tracing are also being used and the two work together.

Updated

Morrison says he has no reason to believe that there have been significant breaches of hotel quarantine in any other states or territories.

Updated

Morrison repeated his comment that income support would be extended past the previously stated end of the jobkeeper program, but still won’t say what that will look like.

The details of our decisions will be set out at the time of releasing the economic statement, as I have been saying for some weeks and there is no change to that timetable.

I do note today, regrettably, that the Labor party has engaged in fear mongering during a pandemic. I think this is disgraceful.

Updated

Morrison said there is no hard figure on the number of international arrivals that are allowed to enter Australia, because it depends on the available capacity in hotel quarantine.

He adds:

More broadly, when Victoria is in a position at some stage in the future to resume receiving flights, well that will obviously change the capacity at that time. I would say also, at a time when Victoria was able to take flights again, then obviously the challenges to the system presently caused by the outbreak in Victoria would have subsided and that then would mean that there would be less pressure on the system nationally.

Until that is under control, or even beyond that has been under control and Victoria is able to take up those flights again, then we will be in a restricted capacity for the foreseeable future.

He says those restrictions will be handled in the same way as current restrictions on inbound flights, managed in conjunction between airlines and border force.

People in Melbourne are advised to wear a mask in public

This was flagged yesterday. The national medical advice, for places where there is ongoing community transmission is to wear a mask where you cannot guarantee that you will be able to socially distance.

At the moment, that’s in greater Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire.

Kelly:

The overarching advice is people should stay at home unless they need to go out. Assuming that people do need to go out, what has not changed is if people have symptoms and they need to go for a test, for example, which we would definitely encourage, they should wear a mask. Other people, where physical distancing cannot be guaranteed, they should also wear a mask in Melbourne and Mitchell shire.

So if you’re going outside in Melbourne today, should you be wearing a mask?

That is the advice if you cannot guarantee physical distancing. In these circumstances, some of you might want to consider that.

Updated

Kelly said the Halton review is on top of a review done by the AHPPC and by health departments in every state and territory.

Kelly says:

But this is a way of looking at quarantine in a more detailed fashion and we have given suggestions to Jane Halton about the types of things that we would like to have checked.

To be clear, there have been a lot of people have come into hotel quarantine. There have been very few breaches but we have seen, as has been reported in Victoria, a single breach, even if it’s low risk can lead to a catastrophic outcome.

Morrison said the reduction in the number of international travellers will begin on Monday. Melbourne is still not accepting international flights.

Morrison:

The decision that we took to reduce the number of returned travellers to Australia at this time was to ensure that we could put our focus on the resources needed to do the testing and tracing and not have to have resources diverted to other tasks.

We will review that as the weeks go by but for now, that is where we have reduced it. It is a reduction of over 4,000 people coming each week and that is spread across those ports of entry and that will take affect from Monday.

Updated

Prof Paul Kelly said it is “very clear now that there is a community transmission issue in Melbourne”, which is currently confined to Melbourne.

This increase in cases, particularly locally acquired cases, particularly those that are not related to known clusters, are a concern. There are differences compared with the first peak, back in March-April, in terms of people that are being affected by the virus there are many more younger people.

He says that’s particularly because of a large cluster connected to the Al-Taqwa College, which is of yesterday linked to 113 cases.

Updated

The hotel quarantine review will be conducted by Jane Halton, the former head of the federal health department and current member of the Covid-19 commission.

She will be undertaking that review working with states and territories and that again is an important step in providing reassurances, making sure that as we look into each of these states and territories and how they are managing the quarantine, and as our country opens up again, with the exception of Victoria, we can make sure we have even greater confidence in those quarantine arrangements as they have been put in place.

Australia reduces international arrivals, announces hotel quarantine review

Morrison said national cabinet agreed to a reduction in “the number of inbound arrivals into Australia across those ports that are able to accept returning Australian citizens and residents”.

It will cut the number of inbound flights by half. Returning travellers will also be asked to pay for the cost of the 14-days mandatory hotel quarantine.

There is also a view across the national cabinet that they are all effectively moving to a charging system for the hotel quarantine that is in place for those returning businesses. Some states already have it, other states are moving towards that, and I will leave that to them to make their announcements at the appropriate time and where possible, we will seek to have some sort of national uniformity across those pricings and we are sharing those information with the states and territories.

There will also be a national review of hotel quarantine.

Updated

He says national cabinet also discussed the need to be “very careful to protect against complacency in other parts of the country”.

Now, this is particularly true behind closed doors, not just out in the open.

That means you cannot hug your granny or your mates when they come around to your house, he says, and you still have to wash your hands for at least 2o seconds.

It is still not ok for hugs and handshakes. It’s important to maintain the discipline of the social distancing behind closed doors, not just out in the public space. The restrictions on people being able to go to each others’ houses has been eased right across the country, with the obvious exception of Victoria.

It is important to ensure social distancing is the norm. It is not the exception, it is the norm and it will be the norm for a very long time, until at least we have a vaccine that can be mass produced and made available across the population.

This is particularly an issue for young people, he says.

If social distancing habits are not maintained, he says, an outbreak – even in states that currently have no community transmission – will spread more rapidly.

Updated

Morrison says the news from Victoria remains “very concerning”.

The premier will standup through the day and update the situation there, but it is concerning. They have called for help, they are getting help, but the key here is that all states and territories again reaffirmed their support for Victoria in providing whatever resources they needed to deal with the outbreak in Victoria.

Updated

Prime minister Scott Morrison speaks after national cabinet

Scott Morrison is standing up in Canberra alongside the acting chief medical officer, professor Paul Kelly.

National cabinet met for the 23rd time this morning.

While we’re waiting for the prime minister to step up, a warning that we’re hearing that the coronavirus figures in Victoria today could be quite high.

The highest daily state total of the pandemic so far was 212 cases recorded in NSW on 27 March.

Andrews has been pushed back.

Scott Morrison is also giving a press conference at 1pm. The same time as Daniel Andrews.

Australian government suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong

Australia has taken steps to suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong, prime minister Scott Morrison has said.

In a joint statement with foreign minister Marise Payne and attorney-general Christian Porter, he said:

The Australian government remains deeply concerned about China’s imposition of a broad national security law on Hong Kong.

The National Security Law erodes the democratic principles that have underpinned Hong Kong’s society and the One Country, Two Systems framework.

It constitutes a fundamental change of circumstances in respect to our Extradition Agreement with Hong Kong.

As a result, we have today taken steps to suspend our Extradition Agreement.

We will continue to monitor developments in Hong Kong closely.

Updated

The state funeral of Kamilaroi elder and Aboriginal leader Uncle Lyall Munro Senior will be held at 10am on Saturday, and streamed online here.

Munro was a fixture of life in Moree. He was a direct descendant of the victims and survivors of the Myall Creek massacre and campaigned for the memorial that was created in 2000. He was also involved in the freedom rides that drove through Moree in 1965, and a prominent member of the New South Wales land rights movement. He died on 21 May.

Munro’s family have invited members of the community to watch the service, and to contribute to a book of condolence that will be printed and given to the family.

Updated

Going to be a crowded few hours.

Greens leader Adam Bandt and the local state MP, Ellen Sandell, have scheduled a press conference about their call for an independent review of the Andrews government’s handling of the hard lockdown of public housing towers at 1.15pm.

As previously mentioned, Daniel Andrews is scheduled to go at 1pm, which followers of Victorian politics would know means he’s likely to start at 1.15pm, at the earliest.

And we’re expecting the prime minister to step up too.

This is just to say: there could be some delays in bringing these press conferences to you if they all happen at once.

Updated

The Australian government has welcomed the World Health Organisation’s review into the world’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a joint statement, foreign minister Marise Payne and health minister Greg Hunt said:

The Australian government welcomes the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General’s announcement of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response to evaluate the world’s response into Covid-19.

We acknowledge the leadership and experience the distinguished co-chairs former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former prime minister of New Zealand Helen Clark will bring to the panel.

This follows our call for an independent review into Covid-19 and a World Health Assembly resolution supported by a record number of 145 co-sponsors, including Australia. The resolution committed to an impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation to review lessons learnt from the international response as well as further work to identify the source of the virus. Australia has been working closely with the WHO and key partners to maintain momentum and deliver on the World Health Assembly’s mandate.

We are also pleased the WHO Director-General will convene a special session of the WHO Executive Board on Covid-19 in September 2020.

Australia looks forward to working with the panel and the international community to ensure this important evaluation helps to strengthen the WHO and prevent and mitigate future pandemics.

Updated

About 45% of current PhD candidates in Australia are considering dropping out due to financial pressure caused by the pandemic, Naaman Zhou reports.

A new study from the University of Sydney found that 5% of PhD students are currently experiencing, or about to experience, homelessness, and 11% are skipping meals.

Fifty-three percent of the 1,020 students surveyed had their employment negatively affected by the pandemic, 75% said they expected to experience financial hardship, and almost a fifth said they were already, or anticipated being, unable to pay bills or buy medicines.

The study’s lead author, Rebecca Johnson, said:

The people we are hoping to become the next generation of researchers, the people we want to develop a vaccine, to remodel the economy, rebuild our infrastructure and social services after the pandemic, they are the ones right now that can barely [buy] enough food to eat, or put a roof over [their] heads.

More here:

Updated

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and police minister Lisa Neville will give a press conference at 1pm.

The defence department says the 21-year-old US Marine who tested positive to coronavirus was picked up in an initial screening, upon arrival in Darwin.

He caught a charter flight into the country along with a group of Marines on 8 July, and went through the defence side of Darwin airport, not the one open to the public.

Here’s the statement from the department:

The individual was part of the third group of Marines who arrived on Wednesday, 8 July, to take part in this year’s Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D) visit.

In line with established processes and the agreed plans for MRF-D, the Marine will be taken to the Royal Darwin Hospital by Northern Territory Health patient transport for assessment. The Marine is currently asymptomatic.

Due to the strict procedures put in place before the arrival of the Marines, the Marine has had no direct contact with the general community.

All US personnel who arrived with the US Marine and may have interacted with the individual will continue to be monitored during their mandatory 14-day quarantine.

As per the established protocols, all US personnel will be tested again prior to leaving quarantine.

Updated

We have not yet got a time for the two press conferences you will probably be most interested in – the Victorian health update and the post national cabinet press conference – but I can tell you that WA premier Mark McGowan and health minister Roger Cook will front the media at 12.15pm Perth time.

That’s 2.15pm in the east.

Updated

Queensland borders are now open

Queues of cars have been building on the main motorways into Queensland, the A1 and the M1, for several hours. As of a few minutes ago, those queues began to move.

The first plane to land at the Gold Coast airport was met with a celebratory water cannon. Or perhaps they’re just trying to wash the passengers.

To get into Queensland, you need a border pass and proof that you have not been in Victoria in the past 14 days.

Three people have been charged with animal cruelty offences in Queensland, connected to the slaughter of racehorses as filmed by activists and aired on the ABC’s Four Coroners report last year.

Slaughtering horses is not against Australian law, but allowing retired racehorses to go to slaughter is against the industry’s self-imposed rules.

From AAP:

Hidden-camera footage of racehorses being kicked, dragged and shocked before slaughter at the Meramist Abattoir in Caboolture was screened by the ABC in October, sparking a suite of investigations.

Biosecurity Queensland says three people are facing a total of seven charges under the Animal Care and Protection Act, as well as failures to comply with regulations on animal care and protection.

US marine tests positive to coronavirus in Darwin

Here is the statement on the US marine testing positive, from the department of the NT chief minister, Michael Gunner.

A 21-year-old US man on deployment in Darwin has tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19).

The man has been in quarantine since his arrival in Darwin on 8 July.

Complying with the current guidelines, the man has been in quarantine on barracks in Darwin since arrival. He has had no contact with the public.

The man is now under the care of Royal Darwin Hospital in isolation.

All 32 cases of Covid-19 in the NT are related to international or interstate travel, with no cases of community transmission.

Updated

A US marine has tested positive to coronavirus in Darwin, the ABC has reported.

It brings the number of active cases in the Northern Territory to two.

It seems like there has been a response to calls from residents for mobile testing on public housing estates throughout Melbourne.

Guardian Australia, as well as other outlets, reported that tenants like Cory Memery wanted testing to be brought to the estates in a bid to prevent a hard lockdown as imposed in North Melbourne and Flemington.

Memery told the Guardian on Friday that mobile testing had now arrived to his estate. The Greens and local councillor Stephen Jolly were among those supporting the initiative.

Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services was contacted for comment.

Updated

Just on national cabinet, the meeting began at 10am and we’re expecting a press conference in the early afternoon.

On the issue of limiting international travellers returning to Australia, which national cabinet is considering as we speak, Albanese says he will support whatever the health advice says.

We should be listening to the medical advice, if the medical advice says that we need to slow down the entry into Australia, then that advice should be heeded.

Albanese also made some criticisms of the airport screening process, which Elias Visontay covered extensively in this post and about which federal health minister Greg Hunt has already commissioned a review.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese is giving a press conference in Sydney, arguing again for the $1,500 jobkeeper payment to be extended beyond 27 September, and for the Morrison government to release the report of its jobkeeper review.

What we need to do is have a transition and a strategy for jobs, a strategy to maintain jobs that the government also has to be clearer about what its plan is for economic growth and jobs into the future. Because at the moment, we’re not seeing out from this government, and that is creating so much uncertainty and anxiety in the community.

He said the outbreak in Victoria shows “we cannot be complacent”.

Unless we are vigilant, we know from overseas as well as Victoria, that you can have a second wave, you can have a spike in the number of infections, which is why we need to continue to be vigilant.

NSW records 14 new cases of Covid-19

NSW health says the state has recorded 14 new cases of coronavirus in the 24-hours to 8pm last night.

That’s 13 in hotel quarantine and one case in Albury. The Albury case was already mentioned as a probable case and is linked to two positive cases in the border town recorded earlier this week.

The total number of cases in the state now sits at 3,278. About 430 are active.

Updated

In case there was any doubt: Daniel Andrews does not support you getting on the “nose beers”.

Who is actually responsible for screening passengers at airports?

I’ve spent some time trying to establish who’s responsible for screening passengers at airports, and what it should involve, after Jetstar passengers walked straight off a plane in Sydney earlier this week.

State health departments do the work but the specifics remain somewhat cloudy.

Jetstar chief executive Gareth Evans on Thursday claimed NSW Health had failed to meet the flight on Tuesday night but noted passengers had already been screened prior to departure in Melbourne.

Federal health minister Greg Hunt instructed his department to investigate the state protocols to make sure there were “no excuses” for future breaches.

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant has since made it clear planes will not be allowed to disembark until a NSW Health team is in position at the gate.

Hunt acknowledges airport screening is the responsibility of state health authorities but after Tuesday’s misstep instructed his department “to work with the relevant state authorities to make sure that the individuals are all contacted and traced and that the standards and protocols are changed and in place”.

However, when Guardian Australia contacted the federal health department on Thursday about what screening standards and protocols were currently in place or being reexamined, a spokeswoman referred us back to the individual health authorities.

I then asked specific questions about how passengers should be screened — including where and under what legal obligations — but the spokeswoman instead detailed government advice regarding “physical distancing and hygiene measures” on board noting “specific distancing has not been mandated for domestic flights”.

We contacted several state health authorities — including NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia — with specific questions about where and how screening of passengers was being conducted.

A spokeswoman for the Victorian department said:

Anyone arriving into Victoria via plane is required to identify where they are travelling from and what their reasons for travel are.

Authorised officers have the ability to issue prohibition notices to those found breaching the restrictions. If someone is suspected of having Covid-19 airlines can refuse access to the plane, regardless of the reasons for travelling.

We understand the checks involve nurses taking travellers’ temperatures and asking about potential symptoms at staging areas before they enter a plane.

None of the other health departments responded.

A Jetstar spokesman said the airline sends warnings to customers about the travel restrictions in each state ahead of their flights but referred the question on screening responsibility to “each individual airport”.

A spokesman for Sydney airport said airport management did not conduct screening and inquiries should go to NSW Health while a spokesman for the Australian Airports Association referred us to the federal health department.

Updated

China repeats its criticism of Australia over support for Hong Kong citizens

The Chinese foreign ministry has made some more comments overnight about Scott Morrison’s announcement yesterday extending visas for Hong Kong residents in Australia.

It’s an elaboration on comments made by the Chinese Embassy in Canberra yesterday.

Asked about this by a reporter from Reuters, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said:

The Australian side’s comments and measures are in serious violation of international law and the basic norms governing international relations. They constitute gross interference in China’s internal affairs, and China doesn’t accept it. We express strong condemnation and reserve the right to make further reaction, and Australia should bear all the consequences.

The Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR is an important step to ensure the steady and sustained implementation of the “one country, two systems” principle. Its implementation will strengthen Hong Kong’s legal framework, ensure social order, improve business environment, and contribute to Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability. The attempt to pressure China will never succeed.

China urges Australia to immediately change course, stop intervening in Hong Kong affairs and China’s domestic affairs, and prevent further harm to China-Australia relations.

The BBC asked Zhao Lijan to explain which basic norms Australia had breached.

He said:

Isn’t “non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs” a basic norm governing international relations? Do I have to elaborate?

Updated

The Deni Ute Muster has been cancelled.

This is probably a good idea, as I can’t imagine a group less able to adhere to social distancing requirements than Deni Ute Muster attendees. It’s not really in the spirit of the thing.

Love you, Deni. This is from an attempt to break the world record for the largest group of people wearing blue singlets at the 2019 Deni Ute Muster.
Love you, Deni. This is from an attempt to break the world record for the largest group of people wearing blue singlets at the 2019 Deni Ute Muster. Photograph: James Gourley/Getty Images

Pallas says that there will be “literally billions of dollars written off the expected size of the Victorian economy” because of the coronavirus and expected lockdown, and that it would take two to three years for the state to get back to where it expected to be at the end of 2020.

The outbreak and subsequent lockdown means the June quarter will finish 14% below previous government estimates, Pallas says.

He says he now expects unemployment in Victoria to peak at 11%. It’s currently about 6.9%.

So that is a profound reduction and it will take some years before we see that level of economic activity come back. So I think the simple and probably the candid response is that our expectation is our original modelling, as I admitted at the time, it was conservative modelling, and that modelling is, at the moment, our best estimate of where we are at.

Pallas says if you had asked him “a few weeks ago” about Victoria’s economic outlook, “I would have probably been a little more optimistic. Today, I’m less so.”

Updated

A few more details about that package.

  • Any business within the lockdown area will be eligible for a $5,000 support payment. That was already open to businesses in the hotspot postcodes, which were locked down first.
  • The $30m fund for the hospitality sector is targeted at the “nighttime economy” plus large restaurants, pubs and clubs that were not eligible for the first round of support offered back in March and April.
  • There will be specific support for businesses in the CBD.
  • $36m for a mental health and wellbeing fund
  • Regional tourism businesses will be offered marketing support.

Updated

Victoria announces $534m support package for business

Victorian treasurer Tim Pallas and minister for industry support and recovery, Martin Pakula, are speaking now, announcing a $534m business support package.

It’s directed at businesses affected by the six-week lockdown of the Greater Melbourne region and the Mitchell Shire.

It includes cash grants, mental health support for business owners, and relief for tourism operators outside Melbourne who were expecting Melbourne visitors. Some $30m is directed at the hospitality industry, $20m for a fund for businesses in the Melbourne CBD, and $6m for mental health support. There’s also a further payroll tax deferral.

Pallas says it brings the total level of support offered by the Victorian government to $6bn.

He says:

Clearly, the return to Melbourne to stage 3 restrictions just isn’t where we want it to be. Really what this will be is a clearly traumatic, a very difficult, time for many people. And for the pain, for the hardship that people have to endure, I want to be very clear that the government apologises to Victorians for it.

It isn’t where we want to be. And the only way we are going to get through this is together ... But, it is, of course, the government’s responsibility to help those most exposed and can I assure you that that is the thing that keeps us focused every day.

Updated

Still in Melbourne, there will be an additional 95 train services running during morning and afternoon peak hour to help maintain social distancing, public transport minister Ben Carroll has announced.

The new train services will begin running on Monday. The The Sunbury, Craigieburn, Werribee, Mernda, Dandenong, Ringwood and Glen Waverley lines will each get an extra 10 services per week and the Hurstbridge line will get five new services.

From 27 July, the Frankston and Sandringham lines will also get an additional 10 services per week.

We’re expecting the Victorian government to make an announcement about a business support package at 10.30am.

Robert, who lives in one of the eight public housing towers in Melbourne that were brought out of hard lockdown last night, is taking his dog for a walk. It’s his first time out of the building since the lockdown began on Saturday.

One more tower, at 33 Alfred Street in North Melbourne, remains under hard lockdown for another nine days.

Flemington tower resident Robert takes his dog for a walk on July 10, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. It is his first day out of the building after the total lockdown of the Public Housing complex.
Flemington tower resident Robert takes his dog for a walk on July 10, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. It is his first day out of the building after the total lockdown of the Public Housing complex. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images
A Flemington tower resident takes her dog outside, after five days of hard lockdown.
A Flemington tower resident takes her dog outside, after five days of hard lockdown. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Can I recommend to you the second part of James Button and Julie Szego’s series on life in the public housing towers. It’s the product of a long period of work.

Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (the APY lands) in South Australia have reopened to visitors for the first time since February.

It means that people will be able to return to the lands without having to undergo a 14-day quarantine, provided they have a permit from APY management and SA police.

This is mainly significant for people who live on the lands, who are able to leave for the first time in months knowing they will be able to easily return.

If you’re following our global coverage of the pandemic, you can find it here.

Greens call for independent inquiry into the Andrews government's handling of the public housing lockdown

The Greens have called for an independent inquiry into the Victorian government’s handling of the “hard lockdown” imposed on 3,000 residents of nine public housing towers in Melbourne’s inner city.

In a letter to the premier, Daniel Andrews, the party said although it supported the government’s “health-led” response to the crisis, there were “serious concerns” about the lockdown of the North Melbourne and Flemington housing estates.

It said:

We appreciate that this is an unprecedented situation, but we remain deeply concerned that residents were locked in their homes without access to essential provisions, such as food and medicine, or even any information about how they would receive such provisions.

It added:

Similar to the inquiry into the outbreaks arising from quarantine hotels, it is vital the Victorian public and, most importantly, the residents of public housing, have answers to what has gone wrong with the management of the lockdown and can be confident the government will learn all relevant lessons from this experience.

On Thursday, the government moved eight of the towers from hard lockdown – which prevented them from leaving their building for any reason – to stage three restrictions, which are in place across Melbourne.

But a final tower at Alfred Street, North Melbourne, will remain in lockdown for another nine days after 53 cases were detected.

The proposed inquiry would only begin after restrictions on the towers are lifted, so resources were not diverted, the letter said.

Updated

This is Queensland.

Not pictured: sign saying VICTORIANS KEEP OUT.
Not pictured: sign saying VICTORIANS KEEP OUT. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

From midday today, the Queensland border will lift to visitors who have a border pass. But not to Victorians, or anyone who has been to Victoria in the past 14 days.

Almost 314,000 people have downloaded a border pass as of this morning. That indicates there will be very long queues.

This is what the checkpoint at Coolongatta looked like last week. Expect the same, but with much, much longer queues, from midday today.
This is what the checkpoint at Coolongatta looked like last week. Expect the same, but with much, much longer queues, from midday today. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told Channel Nine this morning that Victorians would be locked out for the foreseeable future.

Says Palaszczuk:

As long as it takes ... I hate to say that, but it’s as long as it takes until the community transmission there is under control

There is no community transmission in any other state or territory.

I’ll add: there’s no detected community transmission in any other state or territory.

Anyway. She said people “could be sitting in traffic for hours”.

If you’re thinking about coming today, maybe think about changing your plans.

Queensland’s airports are also preparing for an influx of arrivals, but travellers will not be allowed to leave terminal buildings until restrictions officially ease at midday, AAP has reported. Some flights have been delayed to help avoid passenger traffic jams.

All arrivals into Queensland must hold a valid border pass, including residents returning to their home state.

The only Victorians who’ll be allowed in are those who can prove they left the state at least a fortnight ago by presenting documents such as dated accommodation receipts.

That’s fine. We don’t need “warmth” or “the sun” here in Melbourne, we have coffee and a sense of ennui.

Updated

Margaret Simons has returned to the public housing towers in Flemington this morning to see how residents are feeling about the hard lockdown being lifted.

She says the police have gone.

This is very good news — but Daniel Andrews did say yesterday that police would maintain a presence, so don’t look away. We know from data about fines issued by police during the last lockdown in Melbourne that disadvantaged areas were heavily targeted. Lawyers say they are concerned about that happening again.

Updated

Reproductive health provider Marie Stopes Australia says it is concerned that telehealth services introduced as part of the coronavirus support package in April could be rolled back in September, increasing the cost to people accessing termination services.

A study published in BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health journal, on patient experiences of accessing medical abortion services at Marie Stopes using a telehealth in 2017, was released on Friday.

More from AAP:

Marie Stopes Australia says women could face higher out-of-pocket costs when they try to access discreet medical terminations if the measures are done away with.

Before the pandemic, people were only allowed to bill Medicare for telehealth when it was their regular GP or one they had seen in the past six months.

Deputy medical director at Marie Stopes, Catriona Melville, says under that system, abortion providers like Marie Stopes would have to charge clients more.

“The restrictions being placed on them would basically make them unusable for reproductive health,” Dr Melville told AAP.

Marie Stopes has seen a 25 per cent jump in women using telehealth to access medical abortions since April.

They expect this number to grow as movement becomes more restricted in Victoria due to the rapid rise of coronavirus cases.

The federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt, said telehealth would continue for the long term.

“We are not proposing to include or exclude individual items as part of that process,” he told AAP.

A-League boss Greg O’Rourke was just on Radio National, and told host Hamish McDonald he was “pretty relieved” that three Melbourne-based clubs have obtained permission to enter NSW.

About 120 players and staff from Melbourne City, Melbourne Victory and Western United will fly up via charter flight today, then spend 14 days in quarantine, being shuttled from the hotel to a quarantined training ground.

It’s their third attempt to enter the state this week. They tried to fly up on Tuesday, but the plane was turned around because the airport was “fogged out”. Football fans will want to know that O’Rourke took full responsibility.

Yeah absolutely, absolutely, as the head of the league it is my responsibility and I take full accountability for it.

More from AAP:

No departure plans have been announced, with head of leagues Greg O’Rourke announcing on Thursday each traveller will need to have tested negative to Covid-19 before making the trip.

Regular testing has been ongoing at all A-League clubs and O’Rourke said when Western United’s most recent swabs had been cleared, the teams will be free to travel.

“We won’t be able to move until the players from Western United swabs are returned and we can guarantee that everybody has a negative,” O’Rourke said.

With less than a week until the league was set to restart, the scheduled fixture on July 16 between Victory and Western United will have to be rearranged due to neither team being able to play a match during their quarantine periods.

That should mean the July 17 match between leaders Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix at Jubilee Stadium will be the first fixture to be played since the league was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

O’Rourke said with a competition window that can be extended until August 30, he was confident the remaining 27 regular season fixtures and finals can still be accommodated despite the quarantine period.

Updated

Border force has refused a UK man permission to fly home to London to work as an emergency doctor, even though he plans to leave Australia permanently as a family.

More on this from Melissa Davey.

On a related note, cities minister Alan Tudge told Channel Nine this morning that some businesses in greater Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire “will not survive” another six weeks of lockdown.

If only there was a government program to keep those jobs.

The shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has been on Radio National arguing against the jobkeeper payment ending on 27 September as planned.

But he will not say how long it should be extended, or the conditions on which it should be extended.

And he again called for a release of the jobkeeper review, which the government has been sitting on for a fortnight.

Updated

The NSW government has issued a clarification to its public health orders, concerning the closure of the border with Victoria and the self-isolation requirement.

The clarification states that only people who enter Victoria after the border was closed on 8 July have to self-isolate.

Said a NSW Health spokesperson:

The government’s policy was NOT to be retrospective. This action follows legal advice that the orders are open to an incorrect interpretation.

You can find those public health orders here. Also, lest anyone on the border read this and panic, the self-isolation requirements don’t apply to people just popping across in border communities – but whether or not you need to self-isolate will be spelled out on your permit, so don’t take my word for it.

Updated

Good morning,

My name is Calla Wahlquist, I’ll be your Amy Remeikis for the day.

National cabinet will meet today to consider a proposal from prime minister Scott Morrison to cap international arrivals to Australia to ease the pressure on the hotel quarantine system.

The meeting will also discuss the escalating coronavirus outbreak in Victoria caused by failures in hotel quarantine infection control protocols, which saw 165 new cases reported yesterday, most not yet linked to known outbreaks.

The hotel quarantine system has been in place since late March, and requires returning overseas travellers to remain in a hotel room for 14 days, at the state’s expense. NSW has flagged requiring returning travellers to foot the bill instead.

Last month, some 28,000 people arrived in Australia, with about half quarantining in Sydney and 5,000 each in Melbourne and Brisbane. Melbourne’s currently not taking international flights and Sydney refuses to take more, so the overflow’s in Perth and Adelaide.

And before we leave Melbourne, all but one of the nine public housing towers placed under hard lockdown conditions are now under the same stage three stay-at-home orders as the rest of the city.

The remaining tower block, at 33 Alfred Street in North Melbourne, will remain under hard lockdown for another nine days. About 480 people live in the building, and as of Thursday it had 53 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

But Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, warned that as many of a quarter of the residents could yet test positive.

For all of the other towers, and we will have new cases emerge over coming days, but the numbers are relatively less.

For some, just a few cases. For others, several. We really need to have an intensive monitoring program.

Obviously for all of those cases in those towers, they need to remain in isolation. For all of their close contacts, they need to remain quarantined.

After the national cabinet meeting, Tasmania will announce whether it has decided to lower its borders to the rest of Australia, excepting Victoria. Premier Peter Gutwein said yesterday that Victorians would not be able to travel to the island state and people from New South Wales would also probably not be allowed in, but states like South Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland were considered safe. He’s given an indicative date of 24 July.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has warned that the coronavirus pandemic is escalating. Global cases have passed 12m, and the US broke the global daily case record by recording 60,000 new cases in 24 hours.

The WHO has appointed former New Zealand prime minister, Helen Clark, and former president of Liberia Ellen Johnson to lead an evaluation of the WHO’s response to the pandemic and the response of individual countries.

You can yell at me on twitter at @callapilla or at calla.wahlquist@theguardian.com.

Now, on with the show.

Updated

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