Summary
That’s where I will leave you for now. Thanks as always for reading.
Here’s what we learned today:
- Victoria recorded 177 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the state’s total to 3,967. Of those, 72 are in hospital and 17 are receiving intensive care. The state’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, revealed Victoria is now recording “four or five new outbreaks every day”.
- The most significant of those clusters is the outbreak linked to the Al-Tarqwa college, which is now linked to 144 cases.
- The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, revealed there 35 outbreaks at aged care facilities in Victoria.
- The new cluster at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula in Sydney’s south west reached 21 cases. 10 of them are people who attended the hotel and another 11 are contacts of those people. The New South Wales Health department released a long list of other venues attended by positive cases in recent days. A number of security guards from the Villawood Detention Centre are also in isolation after visiting the hotel.
- The ADF revealed 12 members from the RAAF in Wagga who were self-isolating after attending Crossroads in Casula have now tested negative, although they will have to continue to self-isolate for another 12 days as a precaution in line with NSW Health advice.
- Sydney’s Star casino was fined $5,000 after groups were spotted mingling in breach of protocols. A person who attended the casino just over a week ago tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday. The NSW government is reportedly considering tougher penalties for venues which breach Covid-19 restrictions.
- South Australia will begin charging returned travellers $3,000 each for hotel quarantine, and said the state may not reopen its borders to NSW and the ACT as planned on 20 July.
- Richmond Tigers player Bachar Houli revealed his mother that his mother is in intensive care with Covid-19. He said it was “a reminder for myself and everyone out there and more specifically to the Muslim community out there” to treat the virus seriously, and urged people to get tested.
The Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszcuk is asking anyone who’s visited the Crossroads Hotel in New South Wales to immediately self-isolate and get tested for Covid-19.
We’ve issued an urgent health alert after 21 cases of coronavirus were linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula NSW. We’re asking anyone who's visited there between 3-10 July to immediately self-isolate and arrange a COVID-19 test. pic.twitter.com/bdF9gRpqh2
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 13, 2020
Updated
The Australian is reporting that the New South Wales government is debating introducing tougher penalties for venues that breach Covid-19 safety protocols after the recent outbreak in the state.
Cabinet is reportedly considering introducing heavier penalties for non-compliance as well as restrictions on large bookings. It comes after the state’s office of Liquor and Gambling issued a $5,000 fine to the Star City casino after a patron there tested positive for the virus.
A decision is expected tonight.
Updated
The Queensland government has scolded people who give fake contact details at venues, saying they are putting the health of Queenslanders at risk and threatening the state’s progress suppressing the virus.
Queensland Health requires businesses such as restaurants, bars and clubs to collect and store the details of people who enter their premises, and the state’s chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said the information would be vital if a patron or staff member tested positive to Covid-19.
If someone with the disease has been to a venue, we urgently need to know who else might be at risk of infection.
Having the names, phone numbers and email addresses of all customers and employees is critical in the event we have to carry out contact tracing and help minimise the spread of the disease.
Time is of the essence in this task, so businesses must have this information on-hand so we can quickly track down people who may have been exposed and may need to be tested.
Updated
Richmond Tigers player Bachar Houli has revealed that his mother is in intensive care with Covid-19.
In a video posted to Instagram today, Houli said it was “a reminder for myself and everyone out there and more specifically to the Muslim community out there” to treat the virus seriously, and urged people to get tested.
I’m experiencing it right now within my family. Please I urge you for the sake of Allah go get tested. If you’re showing any form of symptoms, if you’re not showing any symptoms, please do your bit.
My family has been affected by Covid-19. It’s been tough, it’s been a tough time. When you’re restricted and you’re isolated, it’s very touching.
More specifically, my mother’s been affected a lot. She’s currently in ICU undergoing some heavy treatment. The team in the ICU is taking care of her. Her current state is a mixed one. God knows best her situation.
What burns and what hurts truly is the fact that no one from her family members can go and visit her, which is very, very tough. Please put yourselves in this position.
Updated
Australian Border Force have confirmed that security guards working at Sydney’s Villawood Immigration Detention Centre are self-isolating after attending a party at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula.
The ABF refused to say how many staff from the detention centre were currently in isolation, but confirmed security guards who had recently been to the pub were following advice from NSW Health and were all currently self-quarantining.
The Refugee Action Coalition claimed as many as 30 guards are self-isolating after attending a Serco manager’s party at the Crossroads Hotel on the weekend of 4 July.
The pub is the site of a coronavirus outbreak. NSW Health has told anyone who visited it between 3 July and 10 July to immediately self-isolate for 14 days and be tested for Covid-19.
Three detainees in Villawood told Guardian Australia on Monday evening that they had not been told anything about the staff’s attendance at the venue. However, they said that some guards and other staff had been wearing masks and gloves since Sunday, which they had not previously seen.
At the end of March there were over 400 people held in detention at Villawood.
Updated
New South Wales Health has just issued a full breakdown of the 21 cases now linked to the outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula.
The additional cases reported today include three cases who attended the hotel:
- A south-west Sydney man in his 40s who had dinner at the hotel on 3 July and contact with other cases in early July.
- A south-west Sydney woman in her 20s who was at the hotel on 3 July.
- A south-west Sydney man in his 30s who had dinner at the hotel and had contact with other cases in early July.
Four cases who were close contacts of cases who went to the hotel are:
- Two south-west Sydney teenagers.
- A south-west Sydney child.
- A south-west Sydney man in his 30s.
A further case who was an indirect contact of a hotel case:
- A south-west Sydney woman in her 50s.
The total 21 cases include cases announced previously who were at the hotel and include:
- A south-west Sydney woman in her 30s who had dinner at the hotel on 3 July.
- A Blue Mountains man in his 50s who had dinner at the hotel on 3 July.
- A south-western Sydney teenager who worked at the hotel on several days including 3 July.
- A south-western Sydney woman in her 40s who had dinner at the hotel on 3 July.
- A south-western Sydney man in his 40s who had dinner at the hotel on 3 July.
- A Victorian man in his 20s who had dinner at the hotel on 3 July.
- A Sydney man in his 20s who had dinner at the hotel on 3 July.
Six close contacts of the cases above, but did not attend the hotel are:
- A south-west Sydney woman in her 60s.
- A south-west Sydney woman in her 30s.
- A south-west Sydney child.
- Three close contacts of the Blue Mountains man.
NSW Health is urging anyone who attended the Crossroads Hotel between Friday 3 July and Friday 10 July to immediately self-isolate until 14 days after they were last there, attend a clinic for testing even if they have no symptoms, watch for symptoms and get retested should any respiratory symptoms occur. NSW Health says that even if you get a negative test you should stay in isolation for 14 days.
Updated
That is quite a concession, and will presumably put more pressure on the handling of the hotel quarantine issue by Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
.@Raf_Epstein asks @VictorianCHO whether most if not all of the current #COVID19Vic cases came from that one hotel quarantine outbreak “Yes that’s conceivable” @VictorianCHO says. @abcmelbourne #springst
— Bridget Rollason (@bridgerollo) July 13, 2020
Indeed.
That oughta learn 'emhttps://t.co/sWzeIZKMr9
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) July 13, 2020
Penrith's Charlie Staines stood down for breaching NRL biosecurity rules
More NRL/Covid-19 news! Penrith Panthers player Charlie Staines, who scored four tries on debut on the weekend, has been stood down after breaching the league’s biosecurity protocols.
In a statement the Panthers said that following the club’s game against Cronulla on Saturday, the 19-year-old hosted 10 visitors at his home. They included his parents, his sister, the parents of his partner and four friends.
NRL biosecurity protocols allow players to host up to 10 visitors at their home each day, but they must attend in groups of no more than five.
The Panthers said that in the early hours of Sunday morning Staines suffered a recurrence of lockjaw, “which is a condition he is unfortunately familiar with and last suffered during pre-season”.
The club said:
At approximately 2.30am on Sunday, Staines attended the emergency department at Nepean hospital for treatment before being released some time later.
Panthers staff were first informed of the hospital visit on Sunday. The club later learned of the number of visitors that had attended Staines’ place of residence. The club has notified the NRL and Staines has been stood down from all duties pending the next steps, in accordance with the biosecurity protocols.
The club’s chief executive, Brian Fletcher, said Staines had “misunderstood” the rules.
Charlie has been extremely naive on this occasion and inadvertently breached the protocols that are in place to protect the game.
His misunderstanding of the specifics of the guidelines can not be overlooked, nor can his failure to contact the club before seeking medical treatment for his jaw condition. The club and Charlie will now work closely with the NRL to ensure all necessary steps are taken to rectify the situation.
Updated
Federal health minister Greg Hunt and aged care minister Richard Colbeck have announced that face masks will be made mandatory for aged care staff across lockdown areas in Victoria after a number of outbreaks at aged care homes in Melbourne.
In a statement, the ministers said an additional 4m masks will be made available to aged care and home care providers in the areas with restrictions, including greater Melbourne and Mitchell shires.
There are about 449 residential aged care facilities and 425 home care providers, with a total of 60,427 aged care residents in the areas.
Colbeck said:
With the current surge in Covid-19 cases in Melbourne, there has been a particular emphasis on ensuring additional PPE has been sent to Victoria to ensure aged care workers in that state have access to such equipment.
Updated
Now that I have a moment, here’s the full list of venues where Covid-19 positive people have visited recently. New South Wales chief medical officer Kerry Chant said earlier that while people who have visited those venues around these dates do not need to isolate, they should be on the lookout for any symptoms and get tested.
- Planet Fitness in Casula from 6-10 July.
- The Star casino, Pyrmont on 4 July between 8.20pm and 10.30pm.
- Cook at Kurnell on 5 July between 11.30am and 12.30pm.
- Highfield, Caringbah on 5 July between 6pm and 9pm.
- Merimbula RSL on 6 July between 6pm and 9pm.
- Waterfront Cafe, Merimbula on 7 July from 8.30am to 9.30am.
- Murray Downs Golf Club from 4-5 July.
- Narellan Town Centre Shopping Town at Kmart, Target, Best&Less, H&M and the food court on 6 July.
- The Zone Bowling at Villawood on 27 June between 11am and 3pm.
Below I’ve included a letter sent to retailers at the Narellan Town Centre in south-western Sydney. The letter says NSW Health have not informed them of the stores the person visited, but as you can see above we’ve since been told.
Letter sent to retailers at Narellan Town Centre in south-west Sydney after a person who attended tested positive for covid-19. pic.twitter.com/CGO6LRS0Em
— Michael McGowan (@mmcgowan) July 13, 2020
Updated
AAP reports that players and staff from Melbourne’s three A-League clubs are isolating in their hotel rooms following a Covid-19 scare.
After Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City and Western United arrived in Sydney on Saturday, a player displayed some symptoms and was isolated and tested for Covid-19.
The player returned a negative test but players and staff from all three clubs were tested on Monday and will self-isolate until they are cleared.
Updated
Federal housing minister Michael Sukkar is being interviewed by Patricia Karvelas on the ABC just now. She asks him whether steps are being taken in places like New South Wales to prevent the kind of public housing outbreaks seen in Victoria.
He says it’s an issue of density, not specific kinds of housing.
I think all housing ministers and health ministers at a state level – indeed, all premiers and chief ministers – are concerned around any areas that have got high density. I think if you look at the experience out of Europe, certainly out of North America as well, clearly where you’ve got higher density, the issues tend to be more acute as far as Covid-19 goes.
So that would apply to high-density public housing, as it would to high-density public housing anywhere. There are some parts of our country where public and social housing is not high-density, and I don’t think you would necessarily expect to see a higher incidence of Covid-19 there. I think it’s more of a density question.
Updated
No new cases in South Australia today.
South Australian COVID-19 update 13/07/20. For more information go to https://t.co/mYnZsG7zGQ or contact the South Australian COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787. pic.twitter.com/GxlBFkrzLp
— SA Health (@SAHealth) July 13, 2020
An update from the Top End.
COVID-19 - INFRINGEMENT NOTICES
— NT PFES (@ntpfes) July 13, 2020
Northern Territory Police have issued a further seven quarantine infringement notices over the weekend for failing to abide by the Chief Health Officer Directions https://t.co/MUIK68bqoF pic.twitter.com/wAkohNWgzz
Here’s the full story on that news about Bulldogs player Jake Averillo. Given how they’re going this season it really makes perfect sense that this would happen to Canterbury.
In addition to 500 ADF troops assisting NSW with border controls, ADF personnel are:
- In Victoria assisting at testing sites across Melbourne (160).
- Helping Victoria police at metropolitan checkpoints in and out of Melbourne (currently 100, with an increase of 75 approved today).
- Assisting with the South Australian border (60).
- Assisting Victoria with the telephone assistance line in Ballarat.
Updated
Love a Covid-19 and NRL crossover. The Canterbury Bulldogs have announced centre Jake Averillo will go into isolation because his parents, who he lives with, attended the Crossroads Hotel on Sunday 5 July.
It increasingly feels like I am the only person in Sydney who didn’t attend the Crossroads last week.
Bulldogs centre Jake Averillo will go into isolation and be unable to train or play until Sunday 19th July.#NRLhttps://t.co/WIzVOBIcJv
— Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (@NRL_Bulldogs) July 13, 2020
Major General Paul Kenny has told reporters in Canberra that over the weekend the Victorian government “accepted an offer of an additional 1,000 ADF personnel” to assist the state’s efforts to contain the Covid-19 second wave.
Kenny said the ADF is working with the Victorian authorities to determine how they will be deployed, but suggested they will likely augment Victoria police at checkpoints and the government is also considering allowing them to accompany police on compliance checking.
Kenny confirmed that 12 members of the ADF, from the RAAF in Wagga who were self-isolating after attending Crossroads in Casula have now tested negative, although they will have to continue to self-isolate for another 12 days as a precaution in line with NSW Health advice.
Asked about the ADF’s contribution to hotel quarantine, Kenny said he “won’t guess at what went wrong in Victoria” but praised the ADF’s assistance in hotel quarantine to other states and territories, noting they are fully trained and disciplined in the way they went about the task.
Updated
The acting commander of the department of defence’s Covid-19 taskforce, major general Paul Kenny, is speaking in Canberra now. He says that about 1,500 defence personnel are now deployed as part of national response.
Kenny says 12 ADF members are isolating after attending the Crossroads Hotel in Casula. He says they have tested negative for Covid-19, but will continue to self- isolate as a precautionary measure.
He says there has been “a rapid increase in defence support in recent days” due to the recent uptick in cases. He says that will “likely increase” in time. In New South Wales, Kenny says there are approximately 500 ADF members supporting police at 29 different border control points.
Updated
That’s Kerry Chant done. I’ll try to get you a full breakdown of those seven new cases and the locations she identified as being attended by people who later tested positive as soon as possible.
In the meantime, the New South Wales police have fined a man in the west of the state for breaching self-isolating rules related to the closed border between NSW and Victoria.
Police say that at 2.30pm on Wednesday last week a 24-year-old man was stopped by police on the Newell Highway at Tocumwal, as part of border enforcement patrols. He was issued a direction under the Public Health Act to self-quarantine for a period of 14 days and “was provided with information before being allowed to leave”.
Officers attended the man’s home in Leeton in the state’s west at 12pm and again at 4pm on Thursday and found he was not home. Police again attended the home at 5.30pm and provided the man with a formal warning in relation to self-isolation.
Then, at about 8pm on Friday, police attended the man’s home and again found he was not home. He’s now been fined $1,000 for failing to comply with the ministerial order.
Updated
Chant on the patron of the Star City casino who tested positive:
My understanding was the person had no symptoms when he attended the Star City casino, and may well have not been infectious, it is sometimes unclear, particularly when people have very mild disease [the] exact time of onset or infectiousness.
We [were] also advised that he was largely maintained within his group and really did not interact with anyone else, but obviously we have let the community become aware of the sites web people may have been at who may have been infectious, but as I said we are taking a very cautious approach.
Updated
Chant is asked whether the outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel would prompt her to recommend a localised lockdown in Casula. She doesn’t rule it out.
At this point in time we are focused on getting high rates of testing. [The] fact that I’m announcing that we have had 21 cases linked in one way or the other to the Crossroads Hotel, or that cluster, to some extent that represents a success because everyone of those cases we can find we can stop that going into transmission.
At this stage all of the cases that have been notified, to date just before coming into this press conference, all cases have been able to be linked to either the Crossroads or another known case. If we see any emergence of cases that are not linked to either known cases or the Crossroads attendance on those days, then obviously that will lead us to reflect on additional measures.
Updated
While Kerry Chant is speaking in Sydney, this has just come out of Victoria. Bit going on!
#BREAKING the total number of community transmission cases in Victoria has just shot up by 79 cases.
— casey briggs (@CaseyBriggs) July 13, 2020
That's more than twice as high as the previous biggest single day jump
Chant says NSW Health is still investigating the source of the outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel but the “hypothesis” is that it has come from a visitor from Melbourne.
We are awaiting further testing results, I expect those results to be in the next few days, at that point we can update you. Clearly we are pursuing, it’s a pivotal part of the investigation as to whether these cases can be linked to any travellers from Melbourne because that gives us comfort we are not missing another avenue of transmission.
The hypothesis as this could have been introduced through contact in Victoria, but we have to remain open-minded. What’s most important is we don’t go down one path without keeping a very open mind. It is premature for me to conclude, how this came about. I need a few more days to do the relevant testing.
Updated
Ok Chant is now listing a whole bunch of places these new cases have visited after being at the Crossroads hotel. This is not exhaustive (I’ll get the full list ASAP) but they include:
- Planet Fitness gym at Casula.
- Star City Casino on 4 July, which we knew about.
- Canterbury Leagues Club on 4 July.
- Cook at Kurnell, a cafe, on 5 July.
- Highfield Caringbah on 5 July.
- Merimbula RSL on 6 July.
- The Waterfront Cafe at Merimbula on 7 July.
Chant says NSW Health is not asking people to isolate if they attended those venues but urges anyone who attended those venues to watch for symptoms and, if they occur, isolate and get tested.
Updated
21 Covid-19 cases linked to Crossroads Hotel cluster
Chant says there are now 21 cases linked to the Crossroads outbreak. 10 of them are people who attended the hotel and another 11 are contacts of those people. Three of those new cases attended the hotel itself, two on 3 July and one on 4 July.
Updated
NSW reveals seven new cases linked to Crossroads Hotel outbreak.
Good afternoon, thanks to Calla Wahlquist for her excellent work today. Big early March vibes in Sydney today – feels like we’re all watching and waiting to see how the situation unfolds. We’re hearing from the state’s chief health officer Kerry Chant now.
She’s told us that in addition to the 14 new cases to 8pm last night, there have been an additional seven cases have been reported to noon today. All of them are linked to people at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula.
Updated
I’m going to hand over to Michael McGowan to take you through the afternoon. He will bring you the NSW update, which is expected in the next few minutes.
Have a good afternoon, and practice putting on your mask at home before trying it in public.
If you’re wondering what the 1,000 additional ADF members deployed to Victoria will be asked to do, it will probably look a lot like this.
These ADF members are among the 350 already deployed to Victoria, and they have been stationed at the main arterial roads outside Melbourne helping police check vehicles to ensure they do not contain Melbourne residents leaving the city without a reasonable excuse.
Western Australia has recorded no new cases of Covid-19 today. It has 20 active cases.
Data editor Nick Evershed has updated the map of Melbourne’s coronavirus hotspots.
He says there are now no local government areas in Melbourne where case numbers are trending downwards.
The long, non socially-distanced queues outside Brisbane nightclubs are not the fault of the licensees, say the licensees.
From AAP:
Brisbane nightclub licensees say they’re not to blame for patrons ignoring social distancing and gathering en masse outside their venues and the problem could easily be resolved by doubling capacity limits.
Concerning photos of clubbers displaying little regard for social distancing as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder in long queues on the weekend has caused angst with police and the premier.
Fortitude Valley Safe Night Precinct president Jason Hirt said under government coronavirus restrictions venues were restricted to a quarter of their licensed capacity.
He said if that was doubled then there would be very few clubbers lining up on footpaths or gathering in the Valley mall.
“This is a massive problem,” Hirt told AAP. “There are more people on the streets and in the mall than in the venues and that’s because they’re waiting to get in as venues are full.
“Some of these venues don’t have the money to pay for the security or staff to maintain the queues because they’re only allowed to be a quarter of their capacity.”
He said licensees had the impost of not only being restricted to one person per four square metres but also recording the details of everyone inside a venue.
Valley Safe Night Precinct members vented their anger at a recent meeting with liquor licensing, council and state government officials for being unfairly targeted.
“We are catching everyone’s name that is coming but you can go to Bunnings and supermarkets and be shoulder-to-shoulder and they are catching no information, Hirt said.
He said they will ask the government to allow one person per two square metres when they meet in a few weeks.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said police would meet with Valley licensees this week about addressing social distancing
Updated
The ACT government has asked anyone currently in the ACT, who may have visited the Crossroads hotel in south-west Sydney between 3 and 10 July, to immediately get in touch with ACT Health by calling (02) 6207 7244.
They are also encouraged to get tested, regardless of whether they are experiencing any symptoms.
This will help us in assisting the NSW government in their efforts to establish the source of infection at the hotel.
Canberrans who have been in Victoria in the past 14 days have to notify ACT Health before returning to the ACT. People who have already returned to the ACT, but have been in Victoria in the past 14 days, have been asked to self-isolate for 14-days.
Updated
The ACT has recorded no new cases of coronavirus.
There are still five active cases in the territory.
The NSW opposition leader, Jodie McKay:
There’s a five hour wait for COVID testing at the Crossroads Hotel pop-up clinic. Thanks to all those who’ve heeded the message to be tested. We’ll keep pushing for more pop-up clinics - it’s quite obvious the Government response is woefully inadequate.
— Jodi McKay (@JodiMcKayMP) July 13, 2020
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) says alternative places of detention — such as the Mantra hotel in Preston — should come under state public health rules for the purpose of managing coronavirus outbreaks.
In a statement released by the ASRC, Mustafa Azimi, a human rights activist detained in the Mantra, says:
The staff made us feel humiliated by telling us to wash our hands and practise distancing when we have no control over close contact with staff coming and going.
How can they say this when the staff don’t practise physical distancing and we are kept in crowded, narrow places. We cannot even open windows, there is little sunlight and no fresh air and we cannot physically distance from each other.
The ASRC’s director of advocacy and campaigns, Jana Favero, says:
When businesses or schools have had people test positive to Covid-19, wide testing, lockdown and quarantine measures are urgently put in place to prevent outbreaks spreading.
Somehow in detention centres there are different public health standards to the rest of the community and it is pure luck that there has not been an outbreak as of yet.
It’s the federal government’s responsibility to keep people safe during this health crisis, including refugees in detention. People must be released for their health and safety.
We want to work with the government to find a solution such as immediate wide testing and release.
Updated
Visitor to The Star casino in Sydney tests positive
Sydney’s The Star casino has confirmed that a person who attended the casino just over a week ago has tested positive for Covid-19.
The casino said the patron visited on 4 July, from 7.30pm to 10.30pm, and they are now conducting contact tracing, which includes Star casino staff members.
The casino says that NSW Health informed them today that the person tested positive.
It is unclear whether the person was symptomatic or infectious at the time they visited.
In a statement to the ASX, the casino said it had been operating under a “Covid-safe plan” since reopening on 1 June, which includes spatial distancing and “comprehensive” cleaning every day between 6am and 10am.
Guardian Australia has contacted The Star Sydney for more information – including how many people are being contacted for tracing, whether staff are being asked to stay away from work, and whether the casino will shut down for any period of time.
Updated
The NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, will give an update on new cases at 3pm.
If you, like Greg Hunt, are a bit new at putting on a facemask, please do watch this video on how to use PPE correctly.
SA could delay reopening its border with NSW and the ACT
Marshall says South Australia may not reopen its borders to NSW and the ACT, as planned on 20 July.
He says:
At this stage we have to put a question mark around lifting the border on Monday the 20th with both the New South Wales and ACT. We are going to be looking at their new infections tomorrow very carefully at our transition committee meeting and if it is not safe to lift our border restrictions then we won’t be doing so.
We can see what happens when this disease gets away from a state. There are very devastating scenes in Melbourne at the moment. Businesses who had only reopened four or five weeks ago already shut down, putting tens of thousands of people back onto the unemployment queues. We don’t want to see that happen in South Australia. We have worked really well as a state to get to the point that we are and we don’t want to go backwards.
He says SA officials would particularly be watching the Crossroads hotel cluster.
We just have to see if there is a significant escalation between now and 20 July. I think that that date will come under some further consideration.
Updated
Marshall says police have “significantly increased their compliance checks” on businesses to ensure they are complying with a Covid-safe plan.
Some of these have now had to endure a fine. I think this is only reasonable. People have had plenty of warning about what is going on. We need every single business that is customer facing, public facing, to have that Covid-safe plan.
He adds:
You only need to look across the border at the moment so see exactly what happens if you don’t have proper Covid-safe plans in place. Everybody has an obligation in this state to do the right thing. We want to keep this horrible disease at bay. We have done extraordinarily well as a state to date we want to keep that going into the future.
Updated
South Australia to charge returned travellers for hotel quarantine.
From Saturday, international arrivals landing in South Australia will have to cover the cost of their own mandatory hotel quarantine.
The cost will be $3,000 per individual traveller. If you’re in a family group, it will be $3,000 for the first adult, $1,000 for their partner, and $500 per child.
Premier Steven Marshall:
We are still keen to assist with the national repatriation program but taxpayers will not be footing the bill going forward.
He says it’s not about making a profit.
We are not looking to make a profit out of this. This is on a cost recovery basis. Up until this point the taxpayers have been footing the bill. The prime minister said Australians need to get back. He has given them plenty of time, there will now be a charge from Saturday morning onwards.
He says they will look at offering hardship payments for returned travellers who cannot bear the cost.
But the reality is that people have had plenty of time to get back to Australia. There are some real stragglers at the moment and they will need to be paying for the costs that are incurred by the taxpayers. They won’t be getting that free of charge going forward.
Updated
South Australian premier Steven Marshall, is addressing the media, wearing a hard hat, and talking about unemployment. He says the job figures coming out on Thursday are “essentially a survey, that survey was taken four weeks ago”.
Look, the ear loops are tricky.
Video from today's coronavirus press conference shows Health Minister @GregHuntMP struggling to fit himself with a face mask.
— 7NEWS Perth (@7NewsPerth) July 13, 2020
Latest news on face masks: https://t.co/xsfQ9wqEst #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/2K826fZCeF
I’m going to gently disagree with the claim that those who raised concerns with Scott Morrison attending the football this weekend also “hate the footy and hate the people that go every week”. That is an extremely long and wobbly bow.
Make no mistake. What this faux elitist outrage is about is that a Liberal PM goes to the footy & has a beer on a Saturday night, because he enjoys the footy & supports his local team. These same “outraged” elites hate the footy and hate the people that go every week. Full stop.
— Alex Hawke MP (@AlexHawkeMP) July 12, 2020
In case it needs saying: it’s perfectly fine to attend the football in NSW, not contrary to any current public health orders. Doesn’t mean people aren’t going to have opinions.
There are 35 coronavirus outbreaks in aged care services in Victoria
Federal health minister Greg Hunt says there are 35 outbreaks in age care services across Victoria.
He told reporters in Melbourne:
The latest advice that I have is that there are 35 services, whether it’s an aged care residence or in some way shape or form, [or a] homecare residence where there have has been either a staff member or a resident identified and having been tested positive.
Earlier today Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, said a number of aged care outbreaks in the state were containing only to staff members, with facilities being in lockdown before any patients become infected.
However, a large cluster of 26 cases has emerged at the Menarock Life aged care facility in Essendon.
This outbreak is spread between staff and residents and some who have tested positive have been moved out of the facility for acute hospital care.
Hunt says federal authorities are involved in managing the outbreak.
This is a very important case... [the] home has seen federal authorities ensure that all staff and all residents have been tested. Those that have been tested positive, where hospitalisation is recommended are being provided hospitalisation. Otherwise, there is immediate isolation and separation being put in place.
Updated
Cook was asked about people in Sydney who are apparently holding parties and then boasting about hiding it from police.
He says he does know that is happening, but that “there are a number of people who have brains and should be taking care for themselves as well”.
Cook is also asked about a pub in Jindabyne, where social distancing rules were reportedly breached.
He says:
My advice is that the premises were not compliant with either the Liquor Act or the public health orders. Actions were taken under the Liquor Act, a 72-hour closure has been enforced and they will continue inquiries around possible breaches of the public health order regulations as well.
The fine for breaching public health acts is $5,000. One reporter suggests publicans can “find that money in the ashtray of a car” and asks if the fines will be increased.
Says Elliot:
At the moment they could go to a fine much larger than that but it comes with a potential six-month imprisonment. I am comfortable at the moment.
He says that many pubs in regional areas are smaller operations, for whom $5,000 would be a significant fine.
Updated
Asked about the police investigation into the Crossroads hotel, which is the site of Sydney’s largest community transmission cluster in months, Cook says that police are working with the liquor and gaming regulator to investigate the venue.
He says if anyone did not have their contact details taken at that pub, in accordance with coronavirus safety rules, they should contact Crimestoppers.
Updated
That “moronic behaviour” was happening in the eastern suburbs of Sydney this weekend, Cook says. He particularly mentions the Eastern Suburbs Rugby Club in Bellevue Hill, which police were called to on Saturday.
Updated
NSW police warn of crack down against pubs and clubs
Assistant commissioner Scott Cook says the “moronic behaviour of people at dance parties has got to stop”.
Cook says police will work with liquor and gaming investigators to ensure pubs are complying with coronavirus rules, and says the time for warnings has “long passed”.
The moronic behaviour of people at dance parties has got to stop and we will continue to seek these people out and, where appropriate, take actions.
The time for warnings has passed and that’s in defence of us as a community. We are all responsible for our own actions here and we need to be serious about this. We have come a long way. Complacency is the ally of the virus. We need to take this seriously. It is a massive wake-up call for us all and we need to get back on the bus together.
Updated
NSW police minister David Elliott is addressing reporters in Sydney.
He is cautioning the hotel industry against allowing crowds of people to gather, against social distancing guidelines.
Only recently, only a few moments ago, I was briefed that there were another 177 cases in Victoria. If that occurs in New South Wales, we will have to continue to look at what restrictions need to be reintroduced and that would be devastating, particularly to the hospitality industry.
My appeal is also to the patrons. They have to take responsibility. A government and the hospitality industry can only do so much. Some of the practices that we have seen are occurring because people are going to these licensed venues thinking that it is business-as-usual. If we have to close hotels and clubs again, the patrons will have to take some of the ownership of that. I will, however, work to my dying breath to make sure that that doesn’t happen. We don’t want to see the hospitality industry close down again, go into lockdown again, because it may not survive.
Elliott says he is expecting the hotel industry to introduce further restrictions on itself, to “ensure that what we have seen in the last couple of days isn’t replicated”.
I don’t want to point fingers. I don’t think that is healthy. I want people to take responsibility for their actions and I want people to download the app and the plan, the strategy, and make sure they register it so that both government and, of course, the industry, know exactly what restrictions they have available to them.
Updated
The Rydges on Swanston, the location at the centre of Melbourne’s current coronavirus outbreak, is reportedly up for sale.
The Carlton hotel at the centre of Victoria's second wave of COVID-19 is about to hit the market for a massive sum https://t.co/FVBt6eoMPy pic.twitter.com/KSx0Kbl3L4
— Samantha Landy (@SamLandy) July 13, 2020
The hotel was one of those used for quarantining returned travellers. More than 20 security guards working at the hotel have tested positive to Covid-19, and the cluster grew to the point that, on 30 Jun, premier Daniel Andrews said genomic sequencing had traced the outbreak in Melbourne’s north-western suburbs back to hotel quarantine staff.
Updated
The member for Cooper, Ged Kearney, has provided Hannah Ryan with this statement about the staff member at the Mantra Bell City hotel in Preston testing positive to Covid-19. The third floor of that hotel is being used as a detention facility for asylum seekers.
Kearney said:
We warned the Morrison government about the risk of Covid spreading in places of detention months ago. They could have moved the men into the community to minimise the risk. They did not.
These men are my constituents, some are my friends and I’m furious the government has let this happen.
The government now needs to be forthright about the risk of coronavirus spreading and plan with the detainees about how best to prevent this, including testing those who want to get tested.
Updated
The ABC has announced the cancellation of this year's Andrew Olle Media Lecture due to COVID-19.
— amanda meade (@meadea) July 13, 2020
Another 1,000 ADF personnel to be deployed to Victoria, including to hotel quarantine
Health minister Greg Hunt is speaking in Melbourne. About ... everything.
He is releasing five million masks from the national medical stockpile to Victoria, of which one million will go to primary health networks and four million will go to aged care homes.
Hunt also says another 1,000 ADF members will be deployed to Victoria, including in hotel quarantine.
His other comments are a summary of announcements made elsewhere, so I won’t repeat them.
Also included is this comment on the importance of social distancing: “if you can touch someone, then you’re too close, if they’re not a member of your immediate family.”
Updated
Police in South Australia have levied $5,000 fines against two businesses, a nightclub and a hostel, for breaching coronavirus safety measures.
More from AAP:
Police conducted checks on 111 venues over the weekend and found 10 without virus safety plans in place.
The breaches at two, a hostel and a nightclub, were serious enough to warrant fines.
Images from the nightclub show large numbers of people in close proximity with little scope to socially distance.
However, police said they were generally pleased with the level of compliance which comes as SA prepares to hit returning travellers with the cost of their hotel quarantine stay.
Premier Steven Marshall says the bill for hotel quarantine is likely to be between $2,000 and $3,000.
“Some jurisdictions are talking about per person, couple or family, and we will talk about those things,” he said.
“Australians have had plenty of time to get back and we’re making it very clear that the taxpayers won’t be wearing that cost going forward.”
Several hundred people remain in hotel quarantine in Adelaide after returning from India and Malaysia, and more are expected in coming weeks.
Updated
Here is a bit more on what prime minister Scott Morrison said to Ray Hadley on 2GB this morning.
Hadley: Can we afford to drop our guard?
Morrison:
No we can’t. I mean, what’s happened in Victoria and what we’ve seen more recently in New South Wales, I think demonstrates that. And that’s why we need to keep up all of those disciplines that have been in place.
And you know, when people are, you know, going round to see friends, which you can do now in obviously New South Wales, Queensland and other places, not in Victoria, then you need to practise that social distancing when you’re seeing friends at their houses as well, don’t all cram in together. And no hugs, none of that. You can’t do that. Otherwise, there’s the very real risk that if something takes off, that it will be very hard to contain.
So we’ve just got to maintain the discipline. That means we can keep businesses open. We can keep life going back to normal as much as it can in a Covid world. And that’s where we want to keep going. We don’t want to have to go back, but that requires everybody to keep showing that discipline.
Updated
Just on NSW, the police commissioner will give a press conference at 1pm.
Expect a bit of yelling about parties.
The final question, for Sutton, is on whether anyone in Victoria has contracted the coronavirus twice.
He says no, thank God.
Updated
Andrews is asked about the offer, from NSW deputy premier John Barilaro, for NSW to host a number of significant Melbourne sporting events, including the Melbourne Cup.
Andrews says:
How very kind of him.
There are so many polite ways to tell people to get stuffed in politics.
He continues:
I haven’t got time for those really silly games. That’s what they are. We’re all in this together. They’re doing a lot of contact tracing up in Sydney. They’ve got an issue. We’ve got a much bigger issue and we’re focused on dealing with that.
Updated
Sutton is asked if the Covidsafe app has been a useful tool. He says yes, but also that Victoria has not found any additional close contacts using the app.
Yes, I am puzzled too. Here’s the full answer.
The Covidsafe app is a very useful tool when we have a lot of people moving about who may be standing next to strangers, people they’re not familiar with, for more than 15 minutes. The Bluetooth handshake that occurs between phones where the app is downloaded captures everyone. In stage three restrictions, we won’t have people standing next to other people for more than 15 minutes.
He adds:
We haven’t found a number of additional contacts with the Covidsafe app.
If you take the pub outbreak in New South Wales, with 600 people there for the night, that’s exactly the kind of setting you hope the Covidsafe app has been downloaded by a significant number of people. They won’t be known to each other. That Bluetooth handshake will flag some interactions when someone may be notified automatically by SMS if that linkage has been made.
To clarify, we haven’t had any confirmation that the app has been used to identify unknown close contacts from the Crossroads hotel outbreak. It’s theoretically the kind of situation where the app is useful.
Updated
There is a positive coronavirus case at the Royal Women’s hospital in Melbourne. I believe that’s in a staff member.
Updated
Andrews is asked if Victoria would consider moving to stage four stay-at-home orders.
He says we’re not there yet, but he can’t rule it out.
I can’t rule out we have further limits placed on people’s movement. I can’t rule that out. As I always said, if we’re planning for it, we’ll share it with the community.
That’s in the hands of hard-working Victorians. People in every family right across metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell shire, and indeed regional communities. If you don’t want a stage four, if you don’t want the lockdown to last a moment longer, then please follow the rules.
He says the vast majority of people are doing the right thing.
You can see it in shopping centres, on the freeways, in lots of different ways. In people wearing masks. It’s a very, very impressive thing. It makes you proud to think that Victorians are sticking together and Victorians know and understand this is something that affects and impacts all of us. The key point is we’ve just got to stay the course. Otherwise those sort of options will be our own options.
We have not actually got a defined sense of what stage four restrictions would mean, only that it would be worse than stage three. Stage three is what we’re in now, and what we were in back in March and April.
Updated
Andrews says that a decision on whether the whole state should be locked down, rather than just the greater Melbourne area and the Mitchell shire, would depend on the type of cases seen in regional Victoria.
There has been an increase in cases in regional Victoria in the past week.
Updated
Asked if there would be any capacity for year 11 and 12 students, who return to school today, to do remote learning instead because they are concerned about the risk of infection, Andrews says the system will be “as flexible as it can be”.
That also applies to teachers.
This is done at a local school level, because I think that local schools know their circumstances better than anyone at the Department of Education, or me, but some teachers, because of their age, [and] potentially underlying health issues, that sort of judgement is made at the local level.
Updated
Andrews is asked about reports people were advised via text message that they could finish their self-quarantine seven days earlier than they were supposed to.
He says he was only aware of cases where people had been given “more cautious advice” but says that with such a big contact tracing operation under way, there would be an element of human error. About 100 people received the wrong information, he says.
Andrews says the contact tracing team is a “big, big team”, “bigger than ever before” and includes support from the commonwealth and interstate.
Just as New South Wales is having to make contact with thousands of people from one night at one pub, we’re having to contact thousands and thousands of people each and every day. Our team is big, it’s growing further as cases grow.
Updated
Sutton is asked if people in lower socioeconomic communities are more vulnerable to the virus.
He says yes, because they are less likely to have sick leave:
We know that pandemics can really shine a light on social inequality and economic inequality. People who have more insecure work and are really obliged to come to work, obviously, more likely to turn up with mild symptoms. So it is, it is a challenge.
There is a $1,500 hardship payment available to people who do not have sick leave. Andrews said he has not got up-to-date figures on the number of people who have applied for that payment, beyond “hundreds”. But he said:
There’s a number of people who have to make that very difficult choice between what is good for public health and the survival of their own family from an economic point of view. They look at their bank balance and they can’t say no to a shift, they can’t say no to the boss, and they’ll go to work even if they have mild symptoms, perhaps worse than that.
In order to avoid anyone having to make that choice, in order to ensure that everyone can put public health first, if you don’t have sick pay, if you don’t have another opportunity, another avenue to have your income guaranteed during a period of illness ... That’s why we have put that payment in.
Updated
On the public housing towers, Brett Sutton says authorities are trying to “roll in a public health model of response in all the other towers”.
That is a focus on prevention, so hand hygiene, providing alcohol-based hand sanitiser, deep cleaning, and ensuring that high-touch surfaces are cleaned.
Why was this not happening before? Good question.
Sutton:
The real key element is making sure we engage with those communities within those towers, allow them to test wherever they want to, with the mildest of symptoms, and support them in their isolation and the quarantine of their close contacts.
There has been much more intensive in-reach in some of the towers in Carlton, for example, where testing has gone door to door to check in with community members to see if anyone wants to be tested and for a couple of towers that’s included symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals.
Because when you have significant numbers in a closed setting, then asymptomatic testing can be appropriate to pick up further cases. That tends not to be the case in general drive-through and community testing. But in very concentrated outbreaks, board testing of symptomatic and asymptomatic testing can be useful.
Updated
The purpose of the press conference today was to talk about mental health support, targeted at younger people who are struggling with the impact of the pandemic. That includes providing an online platform for Orygen youth mental health services.
The mental health minister, Martin Foley, said:
We know that doing the right thing and following the rules and staying apart and following the social distancing guidelines is the right thing to do to drive the curve of infections back down.
But we know it also comes at a cost, sometimes, of mental health and wellbeing.
The Origin online platform is “not an app”, Foley says, it’s “a real-world provision of services that meet the needs of mildly or acutely unwell young people to get the support they need in a safe and indeed sometimes quicker way than any other measure”.
The platform will be rolled out in Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs, and will particularly be made available to young people living in the public housing towers.
Updated
Al-Tarqwa college now linked to 144 cases
Brett Sutton says Victoria is now recording “four or five new outbreaks every day”.
He runs through the cases linked to the clusters.
Most significant of them is the outbreak linked to the Al-Tarqwa college, which is now linked to 144 cases.
Other clusters are:
- LaManna supermarket in Essendon – six cases.
- Somerville meats – 12 cases.
- A Footscray construction firm – eight cases.
- Menarock Life aged care home in Essendon – 26 cases, both staff and residents.
- Glendale aged care in Werribee – 13 cases.
- Japara Central Park aged care home in Windsor – two cases.
Sutton says it is “not surprising” to see aged care homes represented in the outbreaks.
The vast majority have involved one or sometimes two staff. And no residents. That’s a measure of staff identifying themselves as soon as they become unwell and very extensive testing of residents in lockdown. They’re critically vulnerable and we need to manage them as closely as we possibly can.
Updated
Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, says he is not feeling complacent about the reduction in numbers today:
It’s great it’s lower than our peak. But it may not be our peak yet. So I would like to see a week of decreasing numbers before I come and say I have greater confidence about the direction we’re going in.
As a reflection of the actions that people took a week or two ago, it’s probably a good sign this is exactly what happens when people are following the stay-at-home directions. Isolating and testing appropriately, and minimising their contact with others. This is exactly what we’ll see as people do the right thing and it will continue to drive down if those behaviours are sustained.
Updated
Andrews also warned people that police will be out in force, issuing fines to anyone breaching the stage three orders. As we mentioned earlier, police have issued fines worth more than $200,000.
Updated
The number of people in hospital with coronavirus in Victoria has risen to 72. Of those, 17 are receiving intensive care.
The number of active cases in the state now stands at 1,612.
It’s not just an illness of the frail and aged ... this has taken the life of otherwise healthy people of all ages groups. Daniel Andrews:
The notion this is simply something that will be tragic if you’re very ill already, and very old, that is simply not right. This can have catastrophic outcomes, tragic outcomes, for people who are otherwise healthy and people in any age group.
On that basis, we all have a part to play to make sure we’re just relying on our doctors and nurses, we need to acknowledge this is a clever enemy. So many people have this and have very moderate symptoms, it’s so wildly infectious, we’ve all got to play our part. That’s how we’ll get to the other side of this, that’s how we’ll defeat the virus.
Updated
Daniel Andrews is urging everyone with symptoms to get tested. To date, Victoria has conducted more than 1.1m coronavirus tests, and the premier says it has one of the highest per capita testing rates in the world:
If you have symptoms, even mild symptoms, come forward, get tested.
Updated
Of those new cases, 25 are linked to known outbreaks, one is in hotel quarantine and 151 are still under investigation.
Updated
Victoria records 177 new coronavirus cases
Daniel Andrews says Victoria has recorded 177 new cases of coronavirus since yesterday. It brings the state total to 3,967.
More than 22,000 people were tested yesterday.
Updated
Daniel Andrews should step up any moment now but, before he does, a run through the coronavirus numbers so far today.
Queensland has recorded one new case, in hotel quarantine.
NSW has recorded 14 new cases, four in hotel quarantine and 10 locally acquired cases. It brings the number of cases connected to the Crossroads Hotel cluster – which was first reported on Friday – to 13. There are hundreds of potential close contacts for the Crossroads cluster so that’s a bit of a worry.
Updated
Victoria’s housing minister, Richard Wynne, says the state will conduct more on-site coronavirus testing of Melbourne’s high rise public housing units over the next few days, and provide face masks to residents.
Public housing residents have been asking for easy access to testing.
We’ll have onsite testing at all public housing high-rises over the coming days, and plenty of face masks for all households to help residents do their shopping or go to work and school safely.
— Richard Wynne (@rwynnemp) July 13, 2020
Updated
The inquest into the death in custody of Gumbaynggirr and Gomeroi man Tane Chatfield begins today.
Lots of support at the NSW Coroner’s Court for the family of Tane Chatfield. An inquest into his 2017 death in a Tamworth prison cell begins today, and will run all week @abcnews @abcsydney @ABCIndigenous pic.twitter.com/EzsmtgnZOO
— Kathleen Calderwood (@kt_calderwood) July 13, 2020
A guard working at a makeshift immigation detention centre at Melbourne’s Mantra Bell City hotel in Preston has tested positive for Covid-19.
The third floor of the hotel is being used as a detention centre for about 65 refugees and asylum seekers brought to Australia under the repealed medevac laws.
The Department of Home Affairs told Guardian Australia that the guard had tested positive on 8 July after developing symptoms the day before. He had not worked at the hotel since 4 July and had minimal contact with other staff or detainees.
Australian Border Force staff informed the men of the diagnosis late on Sunday night.
A refugee present told Guardian Australia that “tension was high” at the meeting, and that the men expressed their fears of contracting the coronavirus. Men had seen workers with protective gear cleaning the hotel earlier that morning.
Mantra hotel!!!#COVID19 pic.twitter.com/mDTK5eq67a
— Farhad Bandesh Art (@FarhadBandesh) July 12, 2020
The department said the risk of infection to detainees and other staff was considered low, and that the hotel had undergone deep cleaning.
The diagnosis marks the second time a guard at a hotel detention centre has tested positive for Covid-19, after a Brisbane worker was diagnosed in March.
The refugees held at the Mantra were told on Sunday night that the guard was employed by MSS Security, two refugees present said.
The makeshift detention centres at the Mantra hotel and Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point Central are mainly run by Serco, but refugees at both hotels say that staff from MSS are also present.
MSS Security is one of the private security companies that have come under fire for their handling of hotel quarantine in Melbourne. MSS was responsible for guarding people at the Stamford Plaza in Melbourne’s CBD, where 42 people were infected. MSS also provided security guards at the public housing towers placed under a hard lockdown in Melbourne last week.
The Department of Home Affairs did not respond to Guardian Australia’s questions about the arrangement with MSS. Guardian Australia has requested comment from MSS Security.
For months, immigration detainees have expressed fears that they are not able to socially distance inside detention and that they are vulnerable to guards and other employees bringing the virus to them.
The government has ignored calls from infectious diseases experts to release detainees to reduce the risk of an outbreak.
The acting immigration minister, Alan Tudge, told Insiders host David Speers on Sunday morning the government planned to keep the men in the hotels until they were able to be resettled in the US or chose to return to Nauru or Papua New Guinea or their home countries.
Updated
Josh Frydenberg was also asked about the Covidsafe app, which has been considerably less effective than promised in helping with contact tracing.
He still wants people to download it:
The more people that take up the app the better because it does give our health authorities the ability to respond to this virus and it’s just part of adapting the new technologies to the challenges that we face.
But the reality ... is that we need to adopt a whole series of processes, systems, mechanisms to deal with the rise incases. We’ve seen mistakes in quarantine in Victoria. There’s a judicial inquiry to follow that up. We have got to see improvements in testing and tracing.
The national cabinet discussed these very issues last Friday and it’s all about learning from mistakes, ensuring that they are not repeated and that as a country we are much better placed to deal with the inevitable increase in cases that we will see.
Updated
Frydenberg said the second phase of the jobkeeper and jobseeker programs would be “governed by the same principles that have defined our economic measures to date”:
Namely that our support will be targeted, it will be temporary, it will be designed based on existing systems and it will also be demand driven.
So it is fair to say in Victoria, with the lockdown, which is going to be harsh on businesses and households, that our announcements on the 23rd will take into account the Victorian circumstances and that Victorians, like those in the other parts of the country who are hurting through Covid, will continue to benefit from the government’s support.
We’ve gone for a national approach as opposed to state-specific approaches and that continues to be the pathway that we have set and we will follow on.
Updated
Josh Frydenberg has been talking to reporters in Melbourne, repeating his new line that Australia is “one country with two stages” and his earlier comment: “We always knew that there was this threat of a second wave.”
It’s not a positive press conference:
Events in Victoria are very serious and people need to follow the medical advice. There are some very tough days ahead but the federal government stands with every single Victorian in helping them get through this difficult period.
We’ve funded some 28 respiratory clinics which have undertaken more than 55,000 tests. We have more than 260 Australian defence force personnel deployed to Victoria to assist with the health tasks, the logistics, the planning that is required. There will be more defence force personnel on their way to Victoria to assist. We have more than 800 commonwealth officials who are also working inVictoria on the various health tasks and community engagement tasks with their Victorian counterparts.
It’s important that we stay strong in the days and the weeks ahead. We always knew the pathway to the economic recovery would be tough. We always knew that there was this threat of a second wave of cases, as we’ve seen around the rest of the world, but by working together we will get through this. Victorians will get through this and they will do so with the support of their federal government.
Frydenberg says 1.2 million people have already put in their tax return to get the tax cut.
Updated
That is quite a lot of fines.
#BREAKING: Victoria Police has issued $219, 700 worth of fines in past 24 hours for #COVID19 lockdown breaches. These include to 30+ people at "gatherings" across Melbourne's CBD @theheraldsun
— Aneeka Simonis (@AneekaSimonis) July 13, 2020
NSW records 14 new cases of coronavirus, eight connected to the Crossroads hotel cluster
New South Wales has recorded 14 new cases of coronavirus in the 24-hours to 8pm last night.
Eight of the new cases are connected to the Crossroads Hotel cluster. They include five people who had attended the hotel and three of their close contacts.
Four of those cases had already been reported to the media so the number of cases connected to the cluster has increased to 13.
Only four of the new cases were returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
Two cases were in NSW residents who picked up the virus in Victoria and have been self-isolating since returning to NSW.
NSW Health confirmed that a number of ADF members were in self-isolation after attending the Crossroads Hotel but so far none have tested positive.
Updated
The Victorian health department has apologised for sending text messages that wrongly informed some people that their 14-day isolation period had ended, before the 14 days were up.
The department told AAP, in a statement, that:
This was an inadvertent data entry error and we apologise for any confusion.
The department is issuing multiple automated messages at different times of the day to thousands of people who may be at different stages of their isolation periods.
The text message was sent on Sunday morning. The department urged anyone who received an inconsistent text about their quarantine requirements to call the coronavirus helpline on 1800 675 398.
Josh Frydenberg will give a press conference shortly.
Updated
Let’s look to our nearest neighbour for a minute. Indonesia has more than 74,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 3,535 deaths, although both those figures are expected to be vastly underestimated because the country has some of the lowest testing rates in the world.
Updated
I’ve received an email requesting that I clarify this post about people in the Melbourne lockdown area not being able to travel for exercise.
To be clear: people within the greater Melbourne lockdown area can still travel throughout that area to exercise, and people in the Mitchell shire can travel throughout the Mitchell shire. But it’s requested that people keep travel to a minimum and exercise locally.
Apologies for any confusion caused.
Updated
An important notice for people living in 33 Alfred Street, the one public housing tower that is still under hard lockdown. You may have seen the shocking images at the weekend of residents — who are supposed to be allowed out to exercise — being confined to a small area surrounded by temporary fencing.
Do you have a complaint about your situation at 33 Alfred Street, North Melbourne?
— Victorian Ombudsman (@VicOmbudsman) July 12, 2020
Contact the Victorian Ombudsman on 9613 6222 (weekdays, 10am-4pm), via an interpreter on 131 450 or email complaints@ombudsman.vic.gov.au.
We’re independent from government and may be able to help. pic.twitter.com/cKLMsGubAF
Updated
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, will give a press conference at 11am.
We love a morning press conference; the really bad announcements seem to come in the afternoon.
Updated
A staff member at a hotel housing asylum seekers in Melbourne has tested positive to Covid-19. I mentioned this at the beginning of the blog, but here are some more details from AAP:
The Department of Home Affairs confirmed the staff member at the Mantra Hotel in Preston tested positive for the virus on July 8.
They had not worked at any detention facility since July 4 and did not have any symptoms until several days after the shift, Home Affairs said in a statement on Monday.
The worker is now in self-isolation.
Since no detainees or staff have been identified as a close contact of the person, the Department of Health and Human Services has classified the risk of further infection low.
No other staff or detainees have shown symptoms or tested positive to COVID-19.
The hotel has undergone a deep clean.
According to reports from refugee advocates, the asylum seekers in the hotel were not informed of the infection until last night.
Updated
Twelve people in isolation at ADF base in Wagga after visiting Crossroads Hotel
The Australian defence force says the Wagga airforce base has not been locked down but 12 people are in isolation after visiting the Crossroads Hotel in Sydney.
A spokesperson has confirmed that the group attended the pub, which is now associated with at least nine Covid-19 cases:
The members visited the establishment the day before they were to deploy on tasks related to Operation COVID-19 Assist ...
The Defence members will be in medical isolation for 14 days in line with the directions of New South Wales Health for anyone who attended the hotel between 03 and 10 Jul 2020.
Tests are still pending and there are no confirmed cases at the base:
As a further precautionary measure, the remainder of the contingent sent from Sydney have been directed to self-isolate as Defence consults with New South Wales Health.
There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the contingent and the base has not been locked down.
Defence will take all measures to ensure it does not compromise the health of its personnel, agencies they are supporting or the public.
Updated
Ray Hadley finishes the interview by urging Scott Morrison to take a day off, “take the phone off and just absolutely relax” for 24 hours. He commiserates with the PM for a “minority of people blowing up” about him attending the football at the weekend.
Morrison:
Well, I appreciate that, Ray, but there’s a lot going on at the moment.
He repeats that he is going on a not-holiday this week, which is apparently where his family takes a holiday and he is not doing as many press conferences but is still working.
Just because I’m not in front of the cameras doesn’t mean I’m not on the job.
And on that Sharks v Panthers match:
The game wasn’t that great to watch but you have got to be loyal to your team.
Indeed.
Updated
Scott Morrison was also asked about Hong Kong. He said the visa extension would mean that people from Hong Kong who were already in Australia would be able to stay longer, allowing them to monitor the situation from afar:
Hopefully things will not deteriorate in Hong Kong. Hopefully they won’t ... but if the situation was to deteriorate those people will be here in Australia ... If you are here in Australia when something goes terribly in your home country then you can immediately apply for a humanitarian visa.
He said the government could then do what it did after the Tiananmen Square massacre, and convert those humanitarian visas to permanent residency.
Updated
Scott Morrison has been talking to 2GB about the Victorian outbreak. He said he had offered further Australian defence force assistance on Saturday, which Victoria accepted.
He said it would take some time to see the lockdown have an impact on daily coronavirus numbers:
We would be expecting some elevated case numbers for some time yet.
Morrison said 4.5 million people will be able to access tax cuts when they file their 2019-20 returns. Almost 1 million people had filed their returns by Friday to access the payment.
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Queensland has recorded one new coronavirus case in the past 24 hours, in a returned traveller in hotel quarantine. The person had travelled from the US.
The health minister, Steven Miles, said police had stopped Victorians at the border, and no Victorians would be allowed to enter Queensland.
He said police were now also asking people to declare if they had been at Sydney’s Crossroads Hotel between 3 and 10 July:
There is a large number of people who have been through that hotel on those dates where there are now confirmed cases of staff and patients being infected when they have been in that hotel in that time ... this is a large contact tracing exercise.
Annastacia Palaszczuk was also asked about a case in which a group of Victorians travelling in a van tried to get across the border.
Unfortunately, not at this time, Victorians cannot come to Queensland. We saw some people trying to get in, in a van, it’s not on. And you’ll be caught. And you’ll be fined. So those young people now have hefty fines they now have to pay.
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Clinical trials begin today on the University of Queensland's Covid-19 vaccine
The clinical trial will begin today on a coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Queensland.
It will be tested on 120 volunteers, who were among 4,000 who put their hand up to be involved in the program.
Prof Paul Young said the phase one study would be assessing the safety of the vaccine and immune responses. Participants will get two doses, four weeks apart. The first early data will be available in September.
Those 120 volunteers will be monitored for 12 months but if the early results are promising the trial will be moved on to the next phase later this year.
Young said it was amazing to get to that stage just five months after selecting the lead vaccine candidate: “It feels like three years, but it was only five months.”
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, thanked the volunteers and said it was “great news for Queensland and Australia”:
What is really important is it can be manufactured here. That’s always been the missing piece in Australia. We’ve always had to get overseas companies to do that production. It can be manufactured here, locally, and distributed globally. So that is another win for Queensland and Australia.
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This Planet Fitness gym in Casula has closed after a worker tested positive to Covid-19. The gym is across the road from the Crossroads hotel.
It is also very purple.
This is the queue for the pop-up testing outside the Crossroads Hotel this morning.
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If any in Melbourne do need cheering up, please take comfort in the fact that you are not in Bondi.
Police reportedly shut down a number of parties in the former coronavirus hotspot on Saturday night after photos and videos on social media showed people were breaking social distancing rules.
Is there anything worse than being crowded into a room with people from Bondi? No, there is not.
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In case you were wondering (you should not have been wondering, it’s been quite clear): if you live in an area of Victoria subject to stage three lockdown measures you cannot travel to another area (that is, an area that is not subject to the lockdown) for the purpose of exercise.
Yes, I know that hiking or cycling in the countryside is considerably more fun. I too would prefer to be Not Here. But if you’re in greater Melbourne, you’ve got to stay in greater Melbourne. If you’re in the Mitchell shire, you have got to stay there.
There are limited work/study/caregiving/essential shopping (and I do mean actually essential) reasons for leaving your area. Exercise ain’t one.
From the Vic Health CEO, Dr Sandro Demaio:
I’m hearing more questions on whether we can leave Melbourne or drive across the region to exercise. Mentions of “loopholes”.
— Dr Sandro Demaio (@SandroDemaio) July 12, 2020
1. NO you can’t leave Melbourne for exercise.
2. You’re being asked to stay near home to exercise. We’re lucky to have that.
3. Really?!#COVID19Vic
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Childcare centres will be able to charge parents fees again from today.
There is an additional federal relief payment for greater Melbourne and the Mitchell shire, to allow centres in areas under lockdown to waive fees to parents if children aren’t attending childcare, but for everyone else it’s a return to the old subsidy model. Childcare workers will not be eligible for jobkeeper after 20 July.
There are more details from Paul Karp here:
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This is the queue for the pop-up testing clinic at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula, in south-western Sydney.
Coronavirus testing queues in Casula after nine cases linked to Crossroads Hotel outbreak. Anyone who either worked or visited the hotel from 3-10 July should isolate for 14 days even if they are not displaying any symptoms. https://t.co/182KLAIFp0 #7NEWS https://t.co/8H0LfdPLrh
— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) July 12, 2020
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Victoria announces review of sexual harassment in the courts
The Victorian government has announced a review into sexual harassment in the legal system.
The review is a joint initiative with the chief justice of the Victorian supreme court, Anne Ferguson, and will be conducted by the former Victorian human rights and equal opportunities commissioner, Dr Helen Szoke.
The review will look at issues of prevention and reporting of sexual harassment and better support for victims.
It will “identify ways to build a culture that calls out sexual harassment, and give workers and others across the justice system the confidence to speak up without fear of reprisal”, said a statement from the attorney general, Jill Hennessy.
Hennessy said:
A workplace that is not free from sexual harassment is an unsafe workplace – these reviews will identify the changes the justice and legal sectors need to make to improve workplace culture and enforce compliance.
I want to thank the women who have bravely stood up and shared their stories, as well as acknowledge the commitment from our heads of jurisdiction to ensuring their workplaces are safe, healthy and respectful.
Ferguson said:
Victoria’s courts and tribunal are united in our commitment to building a culture of respect across our workplaces– improper and unethical conduct will not be tolerated under any circumstances and we look forward to working with Dr Szoke’s review.
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John Ah Kit, a Jawoyn man and the first Aboriginal minister in the Northern Territory parliament, has died aged 69.
An extraordinary life. I encourage you to take the time to read Lorena Allam’s tribute, here:
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Kidd was also asked about the increasing number of healthcare workers who have tested positive to the virus in Melbourne.
There are 11 coronavirus cases linked to Brunswick private hospital, eight to the Alfred hospital and two to Box Hill hospital.
He says many of those cases “appear to have been transmitted through community transmission, so within households and outside of the healthcare settings”.
He adds that it is “essential” for anyone who works in healthcare to get tested and stay at home if they have symptoms, “no matter how mild”:
Look, people are obviously doing the very best that they can and we support our healthcare workers in Victoria who are providing essential services to the people there, but as I say, this is a highly infectious virus. Everybody needs to be doing their part.
On the return of year 11 and 12 students to school in Melbourne today, Kidd says that the message for those students is “ if we get infected then the risk is also there for our family members”.
Students who attend on-campus learning will be temperature checked as they enter school grounds; anyone with a temperature of more than 37.5C will be sent home.
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Anyone who attended Sydney's Crossroads Hotel from 3-10 July told to self-isolate
One of Australia’s deputy chief medical officers, Michael Kidd, has urged anyone who attended Sydney’s Crossroads Hotel in Casula between 3 and 10 July to self-isolate for 14 days.
Kidd said the number of cases linked to that outbreak has increased overnight – although he would not give the new numbers, saying that was a matter for NSW Health. He told ABC News Breakfast:
[It’s] very important that people adhere to the public health messages. Anyone who attended that hotel between the 3rd and the 10th July is being advised to isolate at home for 14 days and to arrange to get tested. It is very important that we act very vigorously in responding to this outbreak.
It is, Kidd says, worrying that people were moving around for seven days without being told to self-isolate. Particularly worrying is that the pub is frequented by truck drivers, moving freight along the east coast – including all the way into Queensland. He said:
Part of the concern is that this hotel is used by freight drivers who are transporting essential supplies across the country. So this is a really important issue for everyone across the country.
He adds that truck drivers “are not being tested” but should self-isolate.
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The Australian Capital Territory’s chief public health officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman, has told the Canberra Times she is nervous about the possibility of the virus spreading to the ACT from Melbourne.
Coleman said health officials “just don’t know” if the virus is already spreading in the territory. She adds:
It actually is OK if we get cases of people we know have been in Victoria and have been in quarantine, because we have limited their exposure to other people.
The ones that really worry me are the ones where we don’t know about them and they haven’t been self-isolating.
She urged people not to be unkind to those travelling from other areas, lest it push people “underground” and mean they are reluctant to get tested.
Even if there’s only a couple of people who [don’t come forward because they fear the backlash], and they become a case, and they transmit, then that would be a real sense of concern for our community, we could be seeing transmission and it would be too late by the time we know that’s occurring.
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Meanwhile, Labor’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Penny Wong, has been on radio talking about her essay in the Australian Foreign Affairs journal.
In it she argues that the pandemic has “reinforced a macho strain of nationalism”. You can read more here:
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Australians 'have to live with the pandemic', Josh Frydenberg says
Josh Frydenberg says Australia will experience a second wave.
We certainly have to live with the pandemic and that is going to mean a second wave of cases. It is going to mean spikes from time to time and it’s how we effectively manage those spikes that will determine the speed of our economic recovery.
There will be an update on Australia’s overall unemployment forecast on 23 July. As mentioned the official rate is now 7.1 and effective rate is 13.3. It is expected to rise.
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Frydenberg said he does not want to “dull any of the incentives to move between jobs” for people who are on jobseeker.
The RN Breakfast host, Frank Kelly, points out that there are not many jobs to move between.
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Josh Frydenberg says the lockdown in Victoria is “a setback” to Australia’s economic development. Which, yes.
He has been on Radio National talking about the coronavirus support payment. He says the first payment was spent by those aged over 65 but a third of those under 65 banked it. But he says:
The best economic support one can provide is to get the health consequences of this under control.
The treasurer says Australia is “better placed than any other country in the world” to recover from the virus. He is defending against the criticism of business groups who say the stop-start response to the virus – opening up then locking down again – is hampering the economic recovery.
Australia’s unemployment rate is now 7.1% but Frydenberg says the effective unemployment rate is closer to 13.3%.
New unemployment figures come out on Thursday.
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Good morning.
Josh Frydenberg has confirmed this morning that the Australian government will not offer a third coronavirus support payment. The second $750 payment will be automatically issued from today to people who are on an eligible pension or concession card, and are not already receiving the $550 fortnightly coronavirus payment. For example, people on the disability support payment and family tax benefit A or B. Some who got the first payment will not be eligible for the second one.
The treasurer was also asked, on ABC News Breakfast, what message he thought prime minister Scott Morrison was giving Australians by attending a football match this weekend. He said:
Well, again, that reflected the fact that New South Wales and Victoria are different stages. Good on him for being passionate about his country and about his footy. I’d love to go to watch the Storm or the Carlton football club. The reality is in New South Wales and Queensland you can go and watch the footy. It reflects the reality we’re in. I note even the opposition leader didn’t criticise the prime minister for doing that.
There are now nine cases connected to an outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula in south-west Sydney, including an 18-year-old bartender. Anyone who patronised the pub from 3 July to 10 July has been asked to self-isolate – that could be thousands of people.
Seven News is reporting that two people from the RAAF base in Wagga Wagga were among the pub attendees. They say the base has now been shut down.
BREAKING: A defence base in New South Wales has been put into lockdown after two members tested positive to coronavirus. It is understood the cases at the RAAF Base at Wagga Wagga are linked to the COVID-19 cluster at the Casula pub. https://t.co/yCZtGfYE5G #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/eZu9xNvjxD
— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) July 12, 2020
Victoria recorded 273 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, and the death of a man in his 70s. Some 237 cases are now linked to public housing blocks in Flemington and North Melbourne, and 28 people tested positive in public housing blocks in Carlton after residents lobbied for mobile testing.
In a worrying development, a guard at the Mantra Hotel where asylum seekers are held while they await necessary medical treatment has also tested positive.
We warned the Govt about the risk of COVID spreading in places of detention. The men should’ve been moved to community placement to minimise risk.They are my constituents, some my friends. This must not be an excuse to move them to more punitive detention #letthembreathe #auspol https://t.co/kL10mcY5wK
— Ged Kearney (@gedkearney) July 12, 2020
It’s the first day of term three today in Victoria but not for everyone. Students outside the lockdown in greater Melbourne and the Mitchell shire, as well as year 11 and 12 students and students who attend specialist schools within the lockdown area, will be back today. But students from prep to year 10 within the lockdown area have the next week off, and will return to remote learning next Monday.
Meanwhile, people living in the Melbourne and Mitchell shire lockdown area have begun wearing masks in public. From my own investigation (I went to the shops, also masked), mask uptake has been high. I sewed this mask at the weekend, it’s very fashion.
Let’s get on with the day. You can follow me on Twitter @callapilla or email me at calla.wahlquist@theguardian.com.
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