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Calla Wahlquist (now) Lisa Cox (earlier) Josh Taylor (earlier)

Myer announces it will close stores and stand down 10,000 staff due to Covid-19 crisis – as it happened

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Government suspends mutual obligations for one month

The federal government has extended the suspension of mutual obligations until 27 April, “to support job seekers through this difficult period”.

The government announced it had suspended mutual obligations on Tuesday and said it would review the decision on today. Documents seen by Guardian Australia suggest it did not plan to directly inform jobseekers of this fact.

Employment minister Michaelia Cash and social services minister Anne Ruston issued this late-night statement:

As demand remains high on government services, the suspension of mutual obligation requirements will alleviate some of this congestion and give certainty to the sector.

This announcement means jobseekers will not be penalised for being unable to either attend, or report their attendance, at appointments or activities. Payments will be not be suspended and no compliance action will be taken.

These arrangements will continue to be reviewed regularly.

During these challenging times jobseekers are encouraged to stay job ready and connected to their employment services provider in their local area.

Where we leave you

We will leave our coverage of the coronavirus crisis there for the night. You can continue to follow our rolling global coverage here, and read a summary of the day’s news in Australia here.

To recap:

Be well. We will resume our Australia-specific coverage in the morning.

Updated

Keeping in Western Australia for a moment, from midnight on Tuesday police will also be enforcing travel bans within the state.

Under the new restrictions, people will not be permitted to leave their regional boundary, defined in this map tweeted by premier Mark McGowan.

The fine for doing so is up to $50,000.

There will be exemptions for people travelling for work, for medical or veterinary care, to deliver essential services, for people who live across regional boundaries, and for whom the closest shops are on the other side of a regional boundary.

There are also exceptions on compassionate grounds, for family members with primary care responsibilities, to escape domestic violence, for education purposes, or due to an emergency.

Additional restrictions apply to movement into remote Aboriginal communities, which are particularly vulnerable to the virus.

Said McGowan:

It is absolutely vital that Western Australians abide by these restrictions, to help protect themselves, their family and the wider community.

This is an important measure that will help us stop the spread.

We are all in this together. I urge everyone to do their duty as Western Australians, and cease all travel within the State.

It has come under some criticism.

Man charged for failing to self-isolate in WA

Police in Western Australia have charged a 61-year-old man with failing to comply with a public health direction to self-isolate after returning from Indonesia last Thursday, 19 March.

The man was dobbed in by a member of the public “and when inquiries were made it is alleged he was travelling to the beach,” police said.

Under the Western Australian Emergency Management Act, a direction has been made requiring anyone who returned from overseas travel to self-isolate for a period of 14 days. It is alleged the man failed to self-quarantine, and he was subsequently charged.

The man, from Carlisle, was charged via summons.

The relevant section of the act is s.86(1)(a) . The offence carries a maximum fine of $50,000.

Myer announces it will close stores and stand down 10,000 staff

Department store chain Myer will close all its stores at close of business on Sunday for at least four weeks and stand down 10,000 staff, the company says.

The chain is a household name and an anchor tenant in some shopping centres, meaning its closure will be felt across the retail and property sectors.

“As team members will not be working, they will not be paid during this period of imposed closure,” Myer told the stock exchange.

“Full-time and part-time members will have greater flexibility to access their annual leave and long service entitlements, in addition to government assistance measures.

“Our thoughts are with our team members, and their families, as we know this will be a difficult period, and, in addition to offering free counselling and support, we will look at further ways to support their health and wellbeing during this time.”

Executives and the board will work without pay, it said.

The company was already under financial pressure, due to low consumer confidence, a shift to internet shopping and a legacy of private equity ownership that left it saddled with large bank debts.

Updated

Gatherings of more than 10 people now illegal in Tasmania

Gatherings of more than 10 people have been banned in Tasmania, under laws that came into effect at 6pm tonight.

Premier Peter Gutwein announced the new rules earlier on Friday. Anyone holding a gathering of more than 10 people faces a fine of up to $16,800.

There is an exception for families of more than 10 people in the same household, although it’s not clear whether that also applies to particularly large sharehouses.

Gutwein told AAP that he did not want to see people having “a few beers” at the beach at the weekend.

We don’t want to see backyard parties, we don’t want to see parties in the park ... parties at the beach.

It’s not on. The message is clear. Unless you need to go to work, to go out to get supplies, stay at home and save lives

The ban on gatherings is indefinite and will only end “when the risk has been lowered”, Gutwein said.

Updated

The Northern Territory has recorded another case of Covid-19, bringing the number of cases in the territory to 14

The latest case is a Darwin woman in her 50s who tested positive on Friday afternoon. She had been in self-quarantine after returning from Pakistan and developed mild symptoms. She is now being treated in isolation in the Royal Darwin Hospital.

In a statement, the territory government said that because of the delay between her returning home and becoming unwell, she was not considered to have been infectious on her flights.

Twelve of the cases of Covid-19 in the NT are of NT residents, one is from NSW, and one is from Queensland. Another territory man with Covid-19 is in hospital in NSW.

Updated

600 nurses stood down in NSW due to elective surgery changes

More than 600 nurses in New South Wales have been stood down since the Australian government announced that non-urgent elective surgery would be postponed to free up hospital capacity to manage the coronavirus crisis, the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association has said.

The decision means nurses could be joining the queue for Centrelink during a pandemic, despite plans from the Australian government to boost the available medical workforce.

The NSWNMA said that nurses employed by private hospital operator HealtheCare were notified by letter that they would not have work for four weeks.

NSWNMA general secretary Brett Holmes said the federal government had mishandled the elective surgery announcement by announcing the suspension of all category three and non-urgent category 2 elective surgery immediately from Wednesday. They later said that suspension would not take effect until 1 April.

Said Holmes:

With little time to negotiate logistics around the distribution of any resources to the public hospital sector, private hospital employers have taken the drastic step of laying off their highly skilled, lifesaving workforce in the middle of a global health crisis. It’s unspeakable.

We are calling on the federal government to fix the mess it has made, by way of legislation and funding, to ensure we do not see the capacity of our public and private health services diminished overnight.

This is the time our public and private hospitals need to work together and share the load for the delivery of essential health care.

There needs to be a sustainable plan to maintain the private hospital system capacity, so they can work continuously and support public hospitals in response to the evolving Covid-19 crisis.

Updated

Hairdressing chain Just Cuts, whose founder and chief executive Denis McFadden has been critical of the Australian government for not ordering the shutdown of the industry but instead insisting upon unworkable social distancing rules, will close its salons from tomorrow.

In a statement, McFadden the company’s 190 salons in Australia would close for four weeks after the national cabinet had “failed to act on our pleas to add hairdressing to the list of non-essential services”.

He continued:

This is despite calls from medical experts including the Australian Medical Association for more and stronger self-distancing measures. This is despite the acknowledgement from deputy chief medical officer Dr Paul Kelly that ‘for hairdressing it’s impossible to take those social distancing rules’.

Our stylists are scared. Our customers are scared. How can we ask them to continue when everything and all the medical experts says the risks are too high?

So, we have today taken the decision to shut our doors for at least the next four weeks and are recommending to our independently owned and operated franchises that they do the same.

National cabinet on Tuesday restricted hairdressing appointments to 30 minutes, and ordered that salons maintain four square metres of space per people at all times. The time limit was subsequently lifted despite many hairdressers saying they should be added to the list of non-essential services and closed.

McFadden said the closure would be temporary.

We had hoped National Cabinet would understand the difficulties their failure to change position leaves our franchise salon owners and their teams in.

We are extremely disappointed that our calls for action fell on deaf ears. We aren’t prepared to put the lives of our people or our clients on the line anymore. Livelihoods are still at stake.

Updated

AFL players have reportedly agreed to a pay deal for the coronavirus shutdown.

The AFL season was suspended during round one and is on hold until at least 31 May. Earlier this week, we reported that AFL players had offered to take a 50% pay cut while clubs were out of action, while the AFL was pushing for a 75% cut.

The AFL and its 18 clubs have cut staff numbers by 80% since the shutdown, and executives including chief executive Gillon McLachlan are taking a minimum 20% pay cut.

Tonight’s update, from AAP:

Multiple outlets are reporting that players will take a 50 per cent pay cut until at least May 31 because of the COVID-19 pandemic halting the competition after just one round.

The deal will be reassessed in eight weeks and how much money the players eventually earn will depend on how many, if any, games are played this year.

An official announcement from the AFL and AFLPA is imminent.

Meanwhile, from the digital classroom.

The Western Australian government has outlined its expanded testing criteria for Covid-19, which prioritises vulnerable communities.

Health minister Roger Cook said that as of today, access to the Covid-19 test had been expanded to include people living in aged and residential care homes; rural and remote Aboriginal communities; detention centres; prisons; boarding schools; and military barracks.

It also includes all cruise ship passengers who have disembarked in the previous 14 days, patients in hospitals with illness of an unknown cause, WA police officers who have symptoms, and all health care staff including disability support workers and pharmacists.

Cook said:

We are doing everything we can to ensure that testing is available to some of the more high- risk populations in Western Australian. Our absolute priority is ensuring that these people can receive the care that they need.

We also want to ensure our frontline healthcare staff are being looked after, which is why we have put processes in place make their tests a priority.

Labor MP Tim Watts has written to Facebook about the advertising campaign Clive Palmer has paid for on that program, promoting the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential “cure” for Covid-19.

The letter is addressed to Mia Garlick, Facebook’s Australia and NZ director of policy.

I know that Facebook understands the imperative of stopping the spread of dangerous misinformation during this health crisis

Given this, I am seeking clarification of how Mr Palmer’s ads comply with Facebook’s advertising policies, and specifically with item 5 of the Prohibited Content list which prohibits ads that ‘promote the sale or use of illegal, prescription or recreational drugs’.

Updated

Drug regulator investigates Palmer ad

Australia’s drug regulator is investigating advertisements paid for by Clive Palmer promoting a malaria drug as a potential “cure” for Covid-19.

More details in this story by Guardian Australia’s Melbourne bureau chief, Melissa Davey.

The two-page ad in the Australian states the drug, hydroxychloroquine, when combined with another medication could “wipe out the virus in test tubes” and Australia’s drugs regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration [TGA], is now investigating whether the ad breaches drugs advertising rules.

The ad says Palmer – who has headed several failed businesses and has been hit with criminal charges following an investigation by the corporate regulator – had agreed to personally fund the acquisition or manufacture of 1m doses “to ensure all Australians would have access to the drug as soon as possible”.

The ad also quotes the leader of an Australian clinical trial for the drug who describes the combined treatment as a “cure,” even though the trial is yet to begin or receive ethics approval. The ad ran despite the TGA warning that the drug and its derivatives “pose well-known serious risks to patients including cardiac toxicity potentially leading to sudden heart attacks, irreversible eye damage and severe depletion of blood sugar potentially leading to coma”.

These photos may explain why St Kilda Beach has been closed.

A police officer and his wife were the first people to test positive to Covid-19 in a remote Indigenous community, after they travelled to the officer’s posting in Harts Range near Alice Springs after an overseas holiday.

The Northern Territory police commissioner, Jamie Chalker, said the police officer wanted to “get back to that community when he is fit and able to serve them” and had moved to the remote community to “provide service”.

Chalker said, at a press conference in Darwin earlier:

This officer was overseas with his spouse for a holiday. Upon the international breaking news of Covid-19, [they] fast-tracked their return, flew in to the country, flew back to Yulara [Uluru], which was their departure airport, where their vehicle was waiting.

They drove back to Harts Range, stopping to fuel their car and minimising contact as much as possible. Upon starting to feel unwell, contact was made with the local clinic. The local health staff facilitated the delivery of a test kit that was left outside the house. The officer then went outside and collected the test kit and returned back inside, again no physical contact occurring at all.

They then were given telephone instructions as it related to undertake the test. They secured the test appropriately, followed all the guidelines, placed the test back outside their house, and went back inside and continued their isolation. We now know that that test ultimately returned positive for both of them. Upon that positive confirmation, they were escorted back to Alice Springs to ensure there was no mechanical failure issues for their vehicle so that they could safely travel all the way back to Alice Springs where they are now in the care of the health department.

The territory’s remote Indigenous communities have been locked down to external travellers, and from midnight last night they were closed to people who had not yet returned to their home communities, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Remote Aboriginal communities are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 because they have an older, vulnerable population, and high rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and other leading co-morbidities. They do not have either the health infrastructure or the housing stock, due to overcrowding, to manage an outbreak.

Updated

Civil trials will now only go ahead in the supreme court of Western Australia with the express permission of the chief justice.

Chief justice Peter Quinlan issued the direction on Friday, saying the court had limited ability to conduct trials remotely and criminal matters, particularly those involving people who have been remanded in custody, will take precedence.

The court moved to remote proceedings, and proceedings with limited staff, in response to the coronavirus.

The direction reads:

Civil proceedings, to the extent that they involve witnesses giving oral evidence, will only proceed with the express authorisation of the Chief Justice, based on the urgency of the matter in light of available resources. This does not prevent civil proceedings, including trials, from otherwise proceeding by way of telephone or video-link, in relation to legal argument etc. It does mean that arrangements for witnesses (including for evidence to be given remotely) should not be made unless specific approval has been given.

Updated

St Kilda beach, Elwood beach, Brighton beach and all other beaches in the Port Philip council area will, from 6pm, be shut until further notice.

As a tiny quibble (and as a ratepayer of Port Philip council) I note that these closures have not been listed on the council’s website. Or social media. Or anywhere but 3AW.

Updated

Some returning travellers may have to self-isolate for 28 days

We have just double-checked this point with the Western Australian government.

Under the rules decided by the national cabinet today, returning travellers to Australia have to undergo a 14-day quarantine in a hotel in the city where their international flight lands.

If they live in one of the five states and territories in Australia that have introduced state-based border controls and require 14 days of self-isolation for domestic travellers, they will have to self-isolate for another 14-days upon arrival in their home state.

So, if a Tasmanian resident returns from overseas, they will have to self-isolate for 14 days in the city where their international flight lands – probably Sydney or Melbourne – and then for another 14 days upon return to Tasmania. That’s 28 days of not being allowed out.

At least, that is how the WA government understands the new rule.

Previously, the rules on this were more flexible. Mandatory self-isolation was largely conducted at home, and people were allowed to return to their home to begin their isolation. But all that slack has been gathered up.

This is what Scott Morrison said on this point earlier today:

If their home is in South Australia or in Perth or in Tasmania and they have arrived in Melbourne, they will be quarantining in Melbourne. If it’s in Sydney, it will be in Sydney, if it’s Brisbane, and so on.

Updated

Summary

I’m signing off from the blog and handing over to Calla Wahlquist who will take you through any developments this evening.

Before I leave you, here are some of the key events from today:

  • Australians returning from overseas travel will now be quarantined at places including hotels instead of undertaking self-isolation. This was agreed to by the national cabinet to make sure strict isolation measures are followed. The new measure will commence from midnight on Saturday.
  • The Australian Defence Force will help states enforce social distancing measures. This will include ADF personnel being involved in checks to make sure people asked to isolate at home are doing so.
  • The prime minister, Scott Morrison, says there will be a “hibernation” plan for businesses that have to close to try to help them reopen when this is all over. We don’t yet have the detail on what this will entail.
  • Covid-19 infections linked to cruise ships continue to increase. The number of cases in NSW among Ruby Princess passengers is now up to 162.
  • In NSW, the number of Covid-19 infections rose by 186 to 1405.
  • In Victoria, the number has risen by 54 to 574.
  • Queensland has 62 new Covid-19 cases, taking the state’s total to 555. The Northern Territory recorded 5 new cases; one of those was a Queenslander in transit through Darwin.
  • There are now 257 cases in South Australia, up 22 from Thursday. 38 new cases had been announced in that state the previous day.
  • WA recorded 24 new cases overnight, bringing its total to 255.
  • The ACT recorded 9 new infections.

Thank you for following us today. I hope you can enjoy your weekend and stay home if you can.

Updated

The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne now has “limited” access to its haematology and oncology ward after four inpatients tested positive to Covid-19.

The source of the transmission remains unknown.
In a statement, the hospital said two of the patients remain in hospital and two have died. It’s understood they are among the deaths announced yesterday.
Three staff on the ward have also tested positive to Covid-19 and others are in self-isolation. The health department is conducting contact tracing.
Alfred Health chief executive Prof Andrew Way said the situation was distressing and would be investigated: “It is important that we complete the contact tracing to truly understand what has happened, and I appreciate how upsetting this is for everyone involved.
“This situation highlights how devastating the virus can be for vulnerable patients. I urge the community to follow health advice and to self-isolate if they’re unwell. We need to act now to protect those at risk in our community.”

Updated

Australian stock market tumbles

The Australian stock market tumbled in afternoon trade after the prime minister, Scott Morrison, said he would put the economy into “hibernation” but gave no details.

Morrison said Australian businesses would need to be able to spring back into action once the coronavirus crisis was over, and the pain of doing so would be shared with landlords and banks.

But he did not outline any concrete proposal for rent relief for businesses and households whose incomes have been reduced to zero by his government’s measures to fight the crisis.

The benchmark ASX200 index, which opened the day up as much as 2.4%, finished the day down 5.3%.

Updated

The Victorian Council of Social Service says governments need to be doing more to ease the anxieties of renters who might be struggling to pay bills as a result of job losses.

“Now is the time for governments to say: ‘We won’t let you be evicted,’ ” the council’s chief executive, Emma King, said.

“We understand the issue of residential tenancies was discussed at the national cabinet today, and we anticipate announcements over the coming days.

“We’d obviously like that to be sooner rather than later to give people certainty.”

Updated

First Northern Territory residents outside Darwin test positive

From AAP:

The first Northern Territory residents outside Darwin to test positive for coronavirus have been recorded, including a couple from central Australia, raising fears that Indigenous communities were more at risk.

The NT health minister, Natasha Fyles, said she did not know whether they were from a town or Indigenous community, despite it being more than 12 hours since it was announced.

The ability of non-residents to go to Indigenous NT communities has been greatly restricted as the pandemic has spread.

That is because in the past viruses such as the 2009 swine flu caused six-fold more per capita deaths and far more hospitalisations among Aboriginal people.

The Central Australian couple had been on holiday in Austria and returned to the NT on Jetstar flight JQ664 from Melbourne to Yulara last Sunday.

They had followed all precautions and gone into isolation before feeling unwell and testing positive for Covid-19 at their home and were now being treated about five hours’ drive from Yulara at Alice Springs hospital, the centre for disease control NT said.

Fyles had only been told that they lived in central Australia and would not say if they had been in isolation in an Indigenous community.

“I don’t have that detail – that is what the centre for disease control is working through,” she said.

“We of course understand the anxiety of the broader territory community, particularly those [who] live in a remote community, and we will provide that detail when we have it.

“We also need to follow clinical processes and respect privacy.”

“I can assure you that the [centre for disease control] assured me that these people followed the practice of isolation having come back as international travellers.”

A Katherine couple, aged in their 60s, had returned from a holiday in South Africa on Silk Air flight MI801 from Singapore to Darwin last Saturday. They tested positive at Katherine hospital.

A Queensland woman in her 20s arrived in Darwin on Thursday 26 March on Qantas flight QF2 from London and tested positive.

Contact tracing was occurring, including contacting people sitting near them on planes.

Twelve Territorians have now been diagnosed with Covid-19, all of whom had been overseas. There have been no community transmissions yet.

Updated

For those wondering whether NSW, the state with the highest number of Covid-19 cases, is considering tougher restrictions, read this piece by my colleague Anne Davies, who writes that a more widespread shutdown for all but essential businesses such as grocery stores and pharmacies could be on the way.

SA premier says people doing the right thing

Now the South Australian premier, Steven Marshall, is up.

He says his state is seeing some evidence now that people are doing the right thing in terms of physical distancing.

There has been a “massive reduction” in the number of people coming into South Australia because of the new border controls.

Marshall says quarantine for South Australians returning from overseas will be supervised in the state of their arrival. If they arrive in Perth they will do their quarantine there. If they arrive in Sydney they will isolate at a centre there.

Updated

Steven Miles confirmed returning travellers will also be quarantined in hotels.

He says the state had already developed guidance for ”cleaners housekeepers, and hotel management”.

“I know many hotels are struggling right now and this will give them a chance to have guests, to keep their staff employed, and that is certainly welcome,” Miles said.

Updated

Queensland has 62 new cases of Covid-19

Queensland’s health minister, Steven Miles, is speaking.

There are 62 new confirmed Covid-19 cases in that state, taking the total to 555: 80% were acquired overseas and almost all the rest as a result of contact with someone who had been overseas.

“What that tells us is that our social distancing measures are working,” he says.

Updated

WA premier explains cruise ship situation

Western Australia’s premier, Mark McGowan, has been giving an update on the cruise ship situation in that state.

One has been allowed to dock at Fremantle because of two unwell passengers – their illnesses are not related to Covid-19.

Passengers are being flown back home overseas.

Two other cruise ships nearby, including the Vasco de Gama with hundreds of Australian passengers onboard, will dock at Fremantle later tonight. Passengers will be taken to Rottnest Island for two weeks of mandatory self-isolation.

Updated

Daniel Andrews gave a little more detail about the ADF’s new role in enforcing measures to slow the spread of Covid-19.

He says it will be involved in enforcing self-isolation for those in their homes.

And he says Victorians should expect to see more ADF personnel “out and about”. There is also a team helping with logistics and planning.

“The ADF will not be exercising any statutory power. They will be working to assist those who, beyond any doubt, have the powers to get the job done. I am grateful for their support,” Andrews said.

Updated

16 cases linked to community transmission in Victoria

And here is the latest data out of Victoria from my colleague Calla Wahlquist.

Victoria has recorded 54 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 574.

The number of cases from community transmission is now at 16.

That’s a significant increase from nine cases linked to community transmission yesterday.

Twenty-two people with Covid-19 are in hospital, including three in intensive care.

Some 174 people, or 30% of the total diagnosed in Victoria, have recovered.

More than 27,800 people have been tested in Victoria.

The split of cases in Victoria is 60:40 men to women, and the people with Covid-19 range in age from 8 to 88. That’s aligned with global trends, which show that men seem to contract Covid-19 at a higher rate.

Updated

Daniel Andrews says there will be a “stage three” with further restrictions.

“It is not yet here but when it is I will take you through from A toZ, what all that actually means, and the proportionate response ... ” he says.

Updated

Daniel Andrews: 'We have 5,000 rooms on standby'

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is now speaking.

He says the state has 5,000 rooms on standby for the new quarantine measures for returning travellers. He emphasises there will be no cost to travellers.

“We have about 1,300, between 1,300 and 2,000 people arriving back in Melbourne each day. Those numbers will perhaps drop off in coming days but we have sufficient capacity and we have done the work early to be able to accommodate those people,” he says.

He warns 500 police are now involved in Covid-19 enforcement.

“This is gotten to a point now where if we are going to contain this and let us keep a trajectory ... it is a big step to take away someone’s liberty and make them go to a certain place and stay there for two weeks but this is life and death,” he says.

“There is too much at stake to do otherwise.”

Updated

Just to wrap up if you are just joining us. The big points from Scott Morrison’s press conference this afternoon are:

  • Returning travellers will be be quarantined for 14 days, instead of self-isolating at home. The cost of their accommodation in places such as hotels will be borne by the states.
  • The ADF will be used to enforce measures to ensure people already self-isolating are complying with instructions.
  • The government and states are working on a “hibernation package” that will aim to help businesses that have to close to try to ensure they can reopen when this is over.

Updated

Have a good weekend, says PM

And that’s it from Morrison. He finishes by wishing Australians a good weekend even if it looks different from what they might be used to.

Updated

Murphy is asked how close Australia’s hospitals are to reaching their capacity.

It’s mentioned that the Medical Journal of Australia says we might be 10 days away.

Murphy says he does not agree with that forecast and there is “advanced work” under way to triple intensive care capacity.

“We are working very closely with the Australian and New Zealand intensive care society. They are preparing a national heat map of where they are, where the usage of those beds are, and we are working very hard to increase our supply of ventilators and consumables,” he says.

“We are, compared to many countries, our baseline ICU capacity is very good, much better per head of population than many other high-income countries.”

Updated

Morrison is asked whether there might be a national approach to rent relief for people struggling to pay rent.

He says it’s the province of the states but they are working together to develop a “consistent approach when it comes to residential tenancies”.

“The treasurers of all the states and territories are working under our treasurer – leading the process is looking at exactly what you are talking about right now,” he says.

Updated

Morrison is asked if he’s confident that stricter measures won’t be necessary to reduce the spread of the virus.

He says he can’t say that absolutely and that particularly in states where the number of infections is higher further restrictions might happen at some stage.

Updated

Media should avoid saying 'lockdown'

The PM cautions against media using the word “lockdown”.

He says even under tighter restrictions, supermarkets will be open and it’s important for people to understand this to ease panic buying.

“I would actually caution the media against using the word ‘lockdown’, because I think it does create unnecessary anxiety because that is not an arrangement that is actually being considered in the way that term might suggest,” he says.

Updated

Morrison says the foreign affairs department is working to help Australians stranded overseas through no fault of their own.

But he warns Australians who have travelled after warnings were in place will not be “high on the list of people we need to go and support”.

Updated

Morrison says it is not a time to talk about where and how Covid-19 started. He was asked a question about China.

He goes on to talk about the position Australia is in compared with other nations dealing with Covid-19.

He says as a developed nation Australia “would be taking particular responsibility, with our cousins across the ditch in New Zealand, to ensure that we do everything we can to support our Pacific family”.

Updated

What about childcare fees when kids are at home?

Morrison:

“This is one of the very sensitive areas that we’re working through. We’re working on a plan to deal with that ... those many premises around the country. They are an essential part of keeping the economy running for those who are still part of it and for those who are still going to work.

“And we understand that. We are working through these issues, through a list of priorities, and that is one that is certainly very near to the top of that – high to the top of the list – about how we’re supporting people who remain in work to be able to stay in work and the childcare support is a key part of that.’

Updated

'A burden for everyone to share', says PM

Morrison has been asked for some more detail on the business hibernation package. He says those announcements will come.

“Today I wanted to set out what the objective was. There will be a burden for everyone to share. And that will include the business as well. There will be landlords who will suffer. There will be – the banks will be having to make arrangements with them. Whether councils are involved in providing waivers on rates, things of that nature that will be something states work through. Whether land tax will be relieved for those who have tenants in a distressed situations – all of these are what we are working through. It isn’t simple.”

Updated

Morrison says we have entered a “transition phase” with schools.

School attendance is already down. The commonwealth will need to work with the states to determine when schools reopen after the school holidays.

“It won’t look like it has looked up until now,” he says.

He says this about vulnerable families and children of essential workers: “If they are in a position where they cannot provide the suitable arrangements for their children to learn at home, then I’m assured that no child will be turned away under those circumstances.”

Updated

States will make their own arrangements about schools

Morrison says there will be a statement from the national cabinet about what will happen with schools.

He says states will make their own arrangements with schools between now and the end of term.

“At the end of the day it needs to be sorted out in each state and territory.”

Updated

The largest cost will be to NSW because that state gets the greatest share of overseas arrivals.

Morrison says the cost of the quarantine accommodation is being handled by the states and territories.

A question about the scale of the quarantine measures: how many people will this affect?

“To give you an idea, yesterday there was 7,120 arrivals at our airports around the country. To give you an idea of what that was this same time last year, it was 48,725. That gives you an idea of what has happened over the course of these past few weeks and months.

“The number of arrivals now are at a level which the states and territories believe means they are able to practically implement these types of arrangements.”

Updated

Katharine Murphy asked Morrison about whether there would be stronger lockdowns once the “hibernation package” for businesses was ready.

“We want to ensure that as far as practicable that we continue to pursue this both from the health point of view and ensuring we minimise the impact on people, particularly economically, and we do understand the need to try and keep these things as close together as we possibly can,” Morrison says.

He rambles on for a bit.

“What we are saying right now is the thing we need to take action on right now, after the good response – great response – we’ve had from Australians to what we announced particularly last Sunday, that this gives us the opportunity to do that and to continue to work on the economic supports as well that will be there to help people should those other restrictions become necessary.”

Updated

Brendan Murphy says following physical distance rules vital

Murphy is now talking about how closely they are monitoring community transmission. He emphasises how important it is that all Australians comply with physical distancing measures.

“We can’t have anyone breaking the rules, being stupid, being cavalier,” he says.

He points to what has happened overseas where transmission in the community has taken off.

Updated

The chief medical officer, Prof Brendan Murphy, is now talking about the significant number of returning travellers developing a Covid-19 infection.

“So the health protection principal committee yesterday recommended to governments that the single most important thing we can do is completely stop the capacity for any returning traveller transmitting the virus. We would look after them when they get the virus, as some will do, as they continue to come home,” he says.

Updated

Morrison has turned to the economy. He wants to maintain “as much of an economy as we can” through this crisis.

“Part of that plan what we will be announcing will be to seek to hibernate Australian businesses,” he says.

Morrison says that means he wants to make sure businesses that have to close can start again.

There’s not a lot of detail here, but the PM says it will include states and territories considering how they manage the issue of commercial and residential rental payments.

Updated

“I thank the ADF for their great support in turning up to this task. We believe these important actions are the most important we can take right now because of what you’ve done, Australia.

“By you getting on board with the changes you have needed to make, this means we can target our efforts even more into these areas, where we believe the most critical concern is right now.”

Updated

ADF will help with compliance checks

Morrison says the Australian defence force will be supporting states and territories with compliance checks for people already in self-isolation.

Updated

“States and territories will be quarantining all arrivals through our airports in hotels and other accommodation facilities for the two weeks of their mandatory self-isolation before they are able to return to their home.

“If their home is in South Australia or in Perth or in Tasmania and they have arrived in Melbourne, they will be quarantining in Melbourne. If it’s in Sydney, it will be in Sydney. If it’s Brisbane, and so on,” he says.

Updated

Returning Australians will be quarantined for 14 days of their isolation

The big announcement: by midnight Saturday, Australians returning home will be quarantined for the 14 days of their isolation.

Updated

He says there will be further measures to support enforcement of self-isolation by Australians returning from overseas.

Morrison is now pointing to the card Australians have to fill out when they return home and warns there are penalties if they don’t comply with isolation measures.

He says today, they believe they need to go further.

Morrison is an announcing actions targeted at the greatest area of concern which he says it will enable them to deal with “the increasing pressure of Australians coming home”.

He says Australians returning from other parts of the world remains the greatest risk at this point.

Updated

Morrison says “every day I can keep an Australian in work” – where the health advice allows it – matters.

“We will not take these decisions lightly. We will not take them for a matter of convenience. Because every decision we are taking has very real personal impacts.”

Updated

Covid-19's health and economic impacts will take lives, says PM

He warns that both the health and economic impacts of Covid-19 will take lives and livelihoods. He says we need to battle both “enemies”.

Updated

“I promise you we will be doing more,” Morrison says. He says he will have more to say about support and assistance shortly.

Morrison is now running a list of how pubs, cafes, businesses are changing the way they do things.

“But for many others, it has been devastating,” he says, referring to the long queues outside Centrelink offices this week.

Morrison says he would rather be in Australia now “with the way we are dealing with this together” than anywhere else. He says this after speaking with G20 leaders last night.

We might have to keep our distance but it doesn’t mean we have to disconnect from each other, Morrison says.

He says we need to support each other and no Australian should have to go through this alone.

PM thanks Australians for their behaviour

Here we go, the prime minister starts by thanking Australians for the “very significant changes that we’ve been asking you to make to your lives and to your livelihoods”.

“We always knew Australians are up to this test.”

Keep doing it he says. Washing hands. Staying 1.5m apart. Only going out when necessary.

Updated

One of Australia’s largest aged care providers has banned all visits to its homes citing the “growing risk of Covid-19 infection” and government advice on social distancing.

“We have now made the difficult decision to stop all visits to Bupa aged care homes starting tomorrow, Saturday 28 March,” Suzanne Dvorak, the managing director of Bupa Villages and Aged Care Australia, said in a statement.

“There will continue to be compassionate exceptions for visits to residents, such as for those who are receiving palliative care.”

The decision follows moves from most other major aged care providers to close their facilities to visitors last week, which was described by one home as a “voluntary lockdown”.

Updated

From AAP:

Hundreds of people stranded on a cruise ship in Western Australia will be evacuated to Germany within days, but seven passengers with coronavirus will likely be treated locally.

Most of the almost 832 passengers onboard the German-owned Artania vessel will be flown to Frankfurt on charter flights.

“By the end of the weekend, nearly all of them will be evacuated on three planes back to Germany,” the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, told Sky News on Friday.

Seven people – five guests and two crew members – have been infected with coronavirus and have mild symptoms.

Cormann indicated they would receive medical care in Australia.

“Some appropriate arrangements will be put in place locally, again, in close coordination and consultation between the federal and state governments,” he said.

On Thursday the state government insisted the commonwealth must manage those people.

One ill person, who does not have coronavirus, was taken off the ship by boat on Thursday for medical treatment.

The ship was later allowed to dock in Fremantle after a second person became unwell with an unrelated illness, but no one else disembarked.

There are no Australians on the vessel or on the cruise ship Magnifica, which is anchored off Fremantle but does not have any coronavirus cases.

About 200 locals on board the Vasco da Gama will go into quarantine on Rottnest Island for 14 days next week, while about 600 other Australians will likely return to their home states.

Updated

PM to speak at 2.15pm

A small update from the national cabinet meeting. The prime minister, Scott Morrison, will hold a press conference at 2.15pm. Stay tuned and we will be here when that begins.

Updated

Livestock saleyards will continue to operate through coronavirus shutdowns, the Australian Livestock Markets Association has said.

In a joint statement with the National Farmers’ Federation, Australian Meat Advisory Council, Cattle Council of Australia and others, the association said it had been assured by the federal agriculture minister, David Littleproud, that saleyards would be allowed to continue to operate as an essential part of the food supply chain, provided they follow new safety precautions.

Those precautions include limiting attendance at sales to “essential saleyard site staff, accredited livestock agents and essential agency staff along with genuine buyers with a true intention to purchase”.

The group thanked LIttleproud for a “pragmatic and commonsense decision today”.

“The decision allows our sector to get on with producing world’s best red meat for Australians, in what are challenging times for our nation,” they said.

Updated

The Australian market has slipped back into the red after being up as much as 2.4% in early trade.

It began to fall shortly before midday and by about 1pm was down 1.7% for the day.

This morning the market was shaping up for a fourth day of increases in a row.

We explained why rushing in to buy shares after a bounce like this might be a bad idea earlier today.

Updated

An update on repatriation flights for Australians stranded in South America:

Tour company Chimu Adventures, with logistical support from the Australian government, has organised a flight for Australians in Peru and Chile likely to leave on Sunday.

The flight will fly Lima-Santiago-Sydney. Passengers will be brought from Cusco to Lima’s military airport (from where the flight will depart) on a separate internal flight.

All passengers will have to undergo health screening before boarding, and they will have to wear a mask for the flight. Passengers have been told they will not be permitted to board without a mask.

The flight is over-subscribed. However, many Australians stuck in Peru could not afford the $5,000 ticket for an economy fare on the flight, or missed out on booking, while others are in remote parts of the country, in total lockdown, with internal movement banned, putting airports out of reach. About 140 Australians will be left in Peru after the flight leaves.

Another flight is bringing Australians home from Montevideo, collecting passengers off the Ocean Atlantic cruise ship as well as other Australians in Uruguay.

Some Australians were able to leave Bolivia in recent days on commercial flights, Australia’s ambassador, Diana Nelson, said. Bolivia has tightened lockdown restrictions. Nelson said adults were allowed to leave their accommodation only once a week, and only to go shopping between 7am and midday.

All accommodation is locked down at weekends. Those out shopping are required to carry ID, as well as a mask and gloves.

Updated

162 Ruby Princess passengers in NSW have Covid-19

NSW has released more data as part of its daily Covid-19 updates. The number of infections connected to cruise ships is up again. Remember, the total number of known infections in the state is 1,405. Here is what we know:

  • There are 162 confirmed cases diagnosed in NSW who were on board the Ruby Princess, up 41 from yesterday.
  • There are 41 confirmed cases from the Ovation of the Seas.
  • A doctor from Bathurst Base hospital has tested positive for Covid-19. Investigations continue and close contacts of the doctor are being informed. The doctor is in isolation with several other staff.
  • A one-year-old child confirmed yesterday to have Covid-19 attended a childcare centre the day before onset of symptoms. The centre will be closed while contact tracing is completed. The public health unit is working to identify and notify contacts.
  • Two confirmed cases have been identified from a group of 100 Chilean navy personnel who have been in NSW since 1 March. They are self-isolating in hotels in Sydney. Investigations and contact tracing is under way.
  • Five passengers with symptoms on the Qantas charter flight from Honolulu that arrived in Sydney yesterday who were referred for Covid-19 testing were negative and have been returned to their hotel to continue their self-isolation.
  • 134 Covid-19 patients are being being treated in NSW: 19 are in intensive care and, of those, nine require ventilators; 53 are in hospital wards; 62 are being cared for with hospital in the home.
  • The number of people tested and excluded for Covid-19 is 76,284.

Updated

The Australian economy was already extremely weak before the coronavirus crisis, according to research from the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Institute.

Like most economists, the institute’s researchers say a recession is now inevitable – the only question is how bad it will be.

The institute’s experimental Nowcast project predicts the economy shrank by 0.1% in the three months to the end of March, a period that includes only a few weeks of the pandemic’s effect.

Going backwards in the March quarter reduces the estimated annual growth rate to just 1.6%.

“What we see now is just the beginning of what is to come when the negative impacts of the lockdowns, to stem the spread of the outbreak, start to take their toll on economic activity across major states,” said a senior research fellow, Viet Nguyen.

“The announced stimulus packages, at both the federal and state levels, are encouraging and helpful to cushion the blow to the economy, particularly to small businesses and employees in retail and hospitality industries, whose revenue and income will be most affected by the lockdowns.”

Updated

We are still waiting for news from that national cabinet meeting that’s been happening this morning.

The NSW Labor leader, Jodi McKay, has called for the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, to push for a full lockdown of the state.

McKay says if the national cabinet “fails to act” the state should go it alone and announce a full lockdown with 48 hours’ notice.

“Premier, you must announce a full lockdown. I will back you. You have my full support. Everyone must go home and stay home,” McKay said.

It comes after infections in the state rose by 186 over the past 24 hours. NSW has 1,405 known Covid-19 infections and there is no known source of transmission for 145 of them.

Here is an earlier piece about calls to close NSW borders.

Updated

Nine new cases in the ACT

The ACT has released its daily Covid-19 update. Here are the key points:

  • There have been nine new cases confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the ACT’s total to 62.
  • The new cases include six males and three females, aged between 21 and 73.
  • ACT Health says it is “undertaking thorough contact tracing but can confirm that seven of the cases are linked to overseas travel, including cruise ships, and two are close contacts of confirmed cases”.
  • There is still no evidence of community transmission in the ACT.
  • There have been 3,698 negative Covid-19 tests in the ACT.
  • There are five Covid-19 patients in the Canberra hospital. The rest are isolating at home with ACT Health support.

Updated

The consumers health forum of Australia has called for private health funds to defer premium increases due in April.

It said while some funds, such as Bupa and Medicare Private, had announced programs and expanded benefits during the Covid-19 crisis, a freeze on premiums would have more benefit for members.

The forum’s chief executive, Leanne Wells, said health funds’ expenditure will be significantly reduced as a result of the suspension of non-urgent elective surgery.

“Elective surgery accounts for a large proportion of the funds’ costs so the savings during the pandemic will be substantial. Surely it would be of more direct help to all fund members to have their premiums reduced,” she said.

“Many people will lose most if not all of their income, and even those lucky enough to retain their jobs will be making careful household decisions about what they spend.”

Updated

In some cheerier news, the Australian Reptile Park on the NSW Central Coast will run daily virtual tours and educational videos for kids at home from school from Monday. The wildlife sanctuary closed on Wednesday.

The tours will show zookeepers with their favourite animals and viewers can ask questions.

The educational videos will be posted on general manager Tim Faulkner’s Facebook, Instagram and the park’s YouTube channel at 10am daily.

Live streams of zookeepers will be at 2pm daily on the park’s Facebook, Instagram and TikTok pages.


Updated

And some more closures:

Surf Life Saving New South Wales has cancelled the remainder of its beach patrols by volunteer surf lifesavers for the 2019-20 season.

As you are no doubt aware, some NSW beaches had to be closed this week because of crowds not following physical distancing measures.

In a memorandum to its members, SLS NSW said: “All patrols by volunteer surf lifesavers on NSW beaches will be cancelled for the remainder of the 2019/20 season.

“This unprecedented decision has been made to protect the safety and welfare of volunteer surf lifesavers from potential infection by the Covid-19 virus and to support the government’s position in discouraging large gatherings of people on beaches across NSW.” he memo says.

It will attempt to maintain “adequate lifesaving response capability” along the NSW coast through emergency club call-out teams, unmanned drone surveillance, and by maintaining its state operations centre.

Updated

Football Federation Australia has announced about 70% of its staff have been stood down to try to stabilise the organisation as it and other sporting bodies respond to the financial effects of the virus.

Its chief executive, James Johnson, hoped the move would enable FFA to continue to “service the game” while all football across all levels is on hold.

“We are in a situation where grassroots football and the A-League are currently suspended, we’ve had the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the deferral of the international football calendar, so virtually all football activity has now ceased for the foreseeable future because of Covid-19,” he said.

“These developments impact many forms of revenue for FFA, including national registration fees, broadcast fees, sponsorship, ticket sales and government funding, so we have needed to adjust our operations to ensure that we can remain operational, forcing us to take the unfortunate decision to stand down approximately 70% of our workforce.”

He said FFA had explored ways of keeping as many staff as possible, including reducing roles to part time and asking staff to take annual or long service leave, but some have been asked to take leave without pay.

Updated

Hello everyone, this is Lisa Cox, taking over blogging duties from my colleague Josh Taylor.

We are waiting on updates from the national cabinet for Covid-19 that is under way this morning.

In the meantime, there is a lot of discussion today about local government elections to be held in Queensland tomorrow. You can catch up with this piece by Ben Smee.

Updated

Google has released its latest update on Australian search trends. Coronavirus has been the most searched topic in Australia for four consecutive weeks.

Updated

NSW announces second $1bn stimulus package

The NSW government has announced its stage two package to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and its economic devastation.

The measures include:

  • A $1bn fund to create businesses and retrain employees
  • Deferral of payroll tax for businesses with payrolls over $10m for six months. Businesses with payrolls of less than $10m already received a three-month waiver, but now will get an additional three-month deferral
  • Deferral of gaming tax for pubs, clubs, hotels and lotteries for six months on the condition this is used to retain staff
  • Deferral of parking space levy for six months
  • Deferrals of rent in government-owned buildings for commercial tenants with fewer than 20 employees
  • $34m to prevent homelessness
  • $30m boost to the energy accounts payments assistance scheme
  • $10m for charities and $6m for Lifeline

Updated

The Australian cyber security centre is noticing a rise in the number of scams related to coronavirus.

Its acting head, Karl Hanmore, says people should be alert and avoid being lured in to clicking links or attachments in emails or messaging apps.

“A key concern for the ... centre is cyber criminals looking to prey on businesses as they transition to an increasingly remote workforce,” he said.

“Now is a good time for businesses to be more aggressive in blocking potentially malicious emails and websites from their network gateway.”

Updated

ASX opens up 2.4%

The Australian stock market is up by about 2.4% on Friday morning, setting it up for a fourth day of rises.

But people who think this means the rout that has smashed share prices and superannuation balances is over should pause before breaking out the champagne and gobbling up cheap shares.

For a start, the three-day rally has only recovered about a quarter of what has been lost in the blizzard of coronavirus-inspired selling over the past month.

This means that the market still remains at levels last seen in late October 2016 – more than three years of gains have been wiped out.

Such mini-rallies are quite common in stock market crashes. In markets jargon, they can be what is known as a “bull trap” – a misleading rise in share prices that entices investors to buy, only to be wiped out by renewed waves of selling.

There’s also a charming phrase for investors who rush in to buy off the back of a few good days: “dumb money”.

Updated

Victoria coronavirus cases up 54 to 574

ABC is reporting 54 new cases in Victoria overnight, up to 574 across the state. There will probably be another press conference on it shortly.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is participating in the national cabinet phone hookup this morning.

Updated

Something schools using Zoom should consider: putting a passcode on rooms.

Just a bit more on Clive Palmer promoting hydroxychloroquine and his funding of it.

He also went on Sunrise on 7 to promote it, and is now running Facebook ads about it. We’ll have more on this later today.

Just on the NSW stats again, the number of new cases (186) today was less than yesterday (190), and that was less than the day before (212).

The main focus now for NSW, as I mentioned, is the community transmission rate, which is harder for the government to track and lock down than returning travellers.

Updated

The Queensland government is temporarily reducing the number of train and coach services.

There has already been a 60% reduction in patronage on buses and trains.

Under the changes, Spirit of the Outback (Brisbane to Longreach), Westlander (Brisbane to Charleville) and Inlander (Townsville to Mount Isa) services will be suspended.

XPT trains between Sydney and Brisbane operated by NSW Trainlink terminate at Casino and will not enter Queensland.

The north coast line (Brisbane to Cairns) passenger rail services will be reduced by about 50%.

The Savannahlander, Gulflander and Kuranda Scenic Railway services will also be suspended.

Long-distance coach services will be reduced, but will replace rail in areas where corresponding rail services have been suspended.

Updated

Scott Morrison statement on G20 conference

Here is a statement from the prime minister, Scott Morrison, on the G20 video conference:

Overnight I joined G20 leaders for an extraordinary summit, hosted by ... king Salman of Saudi Arabia.

The G20 has come together to tackle what will be one of the most difficult and severe crises any of us will face.

The Covid-19 virus respects no borders.

On behalf of Australia, I urged G20 leaders to do whatever it takes to fight this twin crisis: to save lives and overcome the pandemic, and to cushion the economic blow.

G20 health response

Working together our countries can speed up research and the discovery of a vaccine and antiviral drugs.

We will work in partnership on a vaccine.

We may be closing borders for now to stop the spread of coronavirus but we are committed to sharing ideas and collaborating on research.

Australia’s world-leading researchers are working tirelessly with international partners to strengthen testing, develop treatments and, critically, to find a vaccine.

The G20 will take all necessary health measures to contain the pandemic and protect the world’s citizens.

Crucially, we agreed to expand manufacturing capacity for medical supplies to ensure these are made widely available, at an affordable price, on an equitable basis, where they are most needed and as quickly as possible.

Economic response

Collectively G20 economies are injecting trillions into the global economy as part of targeted fiscal policy and economic measures to counteract the social, economic and financial impacts of the pandemic.

Australia has already announced economic measures worth nearly 10% of GDP. I urged the G20 to act with resolve and urgency.

Collective G20 action will amplify our efforts.

We have also agreed to resolve disruptions to supply chains, to secure the flow of vital medical supplies.

Supporting the Pacific and Timor-Leste

I explained to G20 leaders that our Pacific island family must be a focus of international support.

There has never been a more important time for Australia’s Pacific step-up as we all face these massive challenges.

Since January, Australia has provided support for laboratories and public information campaigns, medical equipment, health expertise and for the WHO’s regional preparedness plan. We are reconfiguring our development assistance to ensure critical health services can continue to function and to help our Pacific neighbours and Timor-Leste to manage the immediate economic impacts of the pandemic.

As we fight this virus on our shores, in our region or around the world, the G20 has committed to working together to stop the spread and to save lives.

Updated

Similar rules on self-isolation will apply for Tasmanians travelling to Flinders Island. Gutwein says the hotels and national parks are closed so people who don’t live there, and non-essential travellers, should not be going there.

Updated

Spirit of Tasmania has also been directed to prioritise locals, freight or essential travellers. People will be offered full refunds if they try to travel by Spirit of Tasmania, Gutwein says.

Updated

There’s an update from the Tasmanian premier, Peter Gutwein. He’s addressing concerns about the TT Line carrying caravans to Tasmania.

He says the only caravans transported by the Spirit of Tasmania on the last two trips were those owned by Tasmanians returning home, even those with interstate licence plates.

“We will let Tasmanians come home,” he says. “If they want to come, we will ensure they can, but importantly, they will go into self-isolation for two weeks.”

Updated

The Age is reporting plans are being developed to use the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition centre as a makeshift hospital and morgue.

Victoria’s government is bracing for up to 2,000 intensive care admissions at the peak of the pandemic here, expected in late May or early June. The state only had about 475 ICU beds before the crisis developed, compared with about 875 in NSW.

Updated

More than 60,000 job losses in past nine days

Stand-downs at the clothing and camping chain Kathmandu will reach 2,000 when the retailer shuts its Australian stores at 5pm today.

The company’s New Zealand stores are already shut.

The fast food franchisor Retail Food Group will also stand down or reduce the hours of most of its staff, but numbers were not immediately available from the company.

This morning’s job losses add up to more than 60,000 announced by listed companies alone over the past nine days.

Updated

Queenslanders are still expected to vote in local council elections tomorrow.

It’s estimated more than 1 million will still be expected to vote despite the coronavirus pandemic.

There have been reports of long queues and social distancing not being observed in pre-polling.

The Queensland electoral commission says polling places will follow the rules about the number of people allowed inside, follow social distancing rules, and have hand sanitiser on hand.

Updated

I wish this was actually true.

Benjamin Law on the impact of coronavirus restrictions on the arts sector:

On the day Australia banned “non-essential” gatherings of more than 100 people, Patrick had two hours of phone calls, emails and Zoom video conferences in which his remaining wages for 2020 disappeared.

What hurt more was that 2020 was to be the first year Patrick finally pulled off working full time as an artist. When I ask if he’s tallied up his lost earnings yet, he laughs grimly and says he’d been avoiding it. But he’s done the sums for me now. All up, he lost $32,000 in those two hours alone.

Updated

20,000 new jobs at Woolworths

Woolworths’ chief executive, Brad Banducci, is on ABC TV talking about the 20,000 new jobs the supermarket giant is recruiting.

He says in particular it is working hard to get online orders meeting demand again soon, and part of that is curtailing hours in about 41 supermarkets to meet the demand.

There is “plenty” of stock coming in to replenish shelves, he says, particularly toilet paper supplies.

“All I can say is, there is more coming and hopefully you will see the shelves fuller every day.”

On abuse of supermarket staff, he says the number of rude customers has declined over the past week but there have still been a number of incidents, and that’s why Woolworths has increased security presence in stores.

Updated

The NSW police commissioner, Mick Fuller, says crime is down in the state compared with this time last year.

“What does it mean? The streets are safe and people are generally behaving themselves,” he said. “So I would ask that we continue to be calm. Calm on the streets and calm at home.”

He said CrimeStoppers had about 600 calls in the past two days from people dobbing in those who were not complying with the restrictions.

As we reported earlier, fines have been issued for a massage parlour in central Sydney that continued to operate, and a woman who returned from Bali but wasn’t complying with self-isolating requirements.

Updated

There are 134 people in NSW receiving care currently, including 19 in the ICU and 53 in hospitals.

NSW records 186 new confirmed cases, for a total of 1,405

There are now 1,405 confirmed cases of coronavirus in NSW, up 186 overnight.

Of those, 877 cases are overseas-acquired and 278 are locally acquired, but they are contacts of a confirmed case or part of a known cluster. The locally acquired number with contact non-identified is 145.

Updated

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, says community transmission is the most concerning because you can monitor the source for returned travellers, whereas you might not know where community transmission came from. She urges people to stay home.

Updated

My colleague Graham Readfearn has explained this morning why ventilators are so important.

Clive Palmer has taken out a two-page ad on pages two and three of the Australian today to talk up hydroxychoroquine as a potential treatment or cure for coronavirus. He has said he’s funding 1m courses of it.

Read this by my colleague Melissa Davey on why it’s inappropriate to call it a cure at this stage.

Updated

National cabinet is meeting again today at 10am. It is expected that Scott Morrison will hold a press conference in the early afternoon.

According to reports this morning, NSW and Victoria are pushing for stage three lockdowns that would mean all non-essential workers would need to stay home, except for grocery shopping, medical needs and outdoor exercise (however that ends up being defined).

The national cabinet is also expected to look at how it can help renters, both residential and business.

Updated

Woolworths to hire 20,000 new staff

Woolworths has announced it will hire up to 20,000 people over the next month for its supermarkets, commerce, supply chain and drinks businesses.

Its chief executive, Brad Banducci, said: “These are uncertain times for many industries and we have an important role to play keeping Australians employed through this crisis.”

The immediate focus of hiring will be on the ALH team members hit by mandatory hotel closures, some of those have already been deployed to BWS, Dan Murphy’s and Woolworths.

Some 5,000 short-term roles will also be offered to Qantas employees taking leave without pay, including 1,500 in Woolworths distribution centres.

The company is also working to streamline applications for short-term roles from other retail business employees suddenly out of work, including Village, Michael Hill Jewellers, Cotton On and Accor.

Woolworths has received thousands of applications via its careers website, and from people applying in store.

Updated

Last week we broke the news that more than 100 Australian doctors and other medical experts were stuck on the Roald Amundsen cruise ship after a trip around Antarctica wasn’t able to dock in Chile when the borders were closed.

The good news today is all the more than 300 passengers on board have now left on a charter flight from the Falkand Islands and will be on their way home soon. From the cruise operator, Hurtigruten:

378 guests of MS Roald Amundsen are now safely on their way back to their home countries.

There have not been any confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 on any Hurtigruten ships, including MS Roald Amundsen. The ship, her guests and crew had been on an Antarctica cruise since the end of February – probably as far away as possible from any possible source of infection.

In response to the many unforeseen travel restrictions, a decision was made to redirect MS Roald Amundsen to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands rather than to her planned port of Punta Arenas, Chile.

The final charter flight with guests from MS Roald Amundsen departed the Falkland Islands Thursday afternoon local time.

Updated

New South Wales has issued its first fines for people failing to comply with Covid-19 restrictions.

A media release from NSW police says a massage owner, three staff members and a returned traveller from Lake Macquarie were the first to be issued with fines, which are $1,000 for people and $5,000 for businesses.

The massage parlour on Sussex Street in Sydney was still operating in defiance of the order yesterday.

And a 65-year-old woman who returned from Bali on 21 March was told to quarantine but police were told she left had her home on Thursday morning in defiance of the order.

“No one is above the law,” said the NSW police minister, David Elliott said. “If you decide to ignore a direction, you will be caught, and you may very well find yourself slapped with a hefty fine.”

Updated

Just a bit more on the G20 phone hook-up this morning, via AAP:

Prime minister Scott Morrison and other leaders described the pandemic as “a powerful reminder of our interconnectedness and vulnerabilities”.

“This virus respects no borders,” they said.

“Combating this pandemic calls for a transparent, robust, coordinated, large-scale and science-based global response in a spirit of solidarity.”

In his contribution to the meeting, Mr Morrison is understood to have called for greater assurances that medical supplies and medicines will freely flow to those who need them.

Updated

Good morning and welcome to the live blog for the latest news on coronavirus in Australia. I’m Josh Taylor and I will be taking you through the morning.

As of this morning, there are 2,810 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia, and 13 people have so far died from the virus. We are expecting updates from NSW and Victoria early this morning so we’ll bring them to you when we get them.

This is the latest on the global situation:

  • There are now more than half a million confirmed cases of coronavirus globally. Cases stand at 510,108 and deaths at 22,993.
  • G20 leaders (including Australia), meeting in a video conference call, have committed to do “whatever it takes” to minimise the social and economic damage of the pandemic.
  • The UK government has called on world leaders to collaborate on a vaccine.
  • China is closing its borders to foreign nationals.
  • More than 3 million people in the US have registered for unemployment benefits.

For more on the global news you can see our other live blog.

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