Good morning, this is James Murray bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday, 18 March.
Coronavirus
A Covid-19 test that can deliver a result in 15 minutes, and was used by doctors fighting the disease in Wuhan, could relieve the pressure on Australian pathology services. The test is not yet available in Australia but the federal health department says it sees “merit” in procuring it. There will soon be even more demand for testing kits as the government has advised travelling Australians to return home as countries around the world start to close their borders. The new travel advice triggered speculation that the Morrison government could be about to impose a lockdown. But officials told Guardian Australia that was not in contemplation. Meanwhile, the leading virologist Dr Ian Mackay has said Australia must rapidly expand its testing regime. “If we don’t test, we don’t find,” he says. From Sunday, everyone entering Australia will be required to go into self-isolation. If that affects you, here’s what you need to do. New global travel restrictions have led to airlines reducing their flights. Qantas and Jetstar are offering affected passengers credits after they grounded 90% of their international flights and 60% of their domestic flights.
More details are emerging about the federal government’s stimulus package. Some 15,000 welfare recipients who are forced to use a cashless debit card for their welfare payments will not receive a $750 stimulus payment as cash.
School closures are not yet being recommended but many independent schools across the country are shutting anyway. Scott Morrison has warned that closures could be “a very negative thing” as children could possibly spread the virus more widely and frontline health workers might have to remain home.
An EU-wide travel ban is imminent as France joined Italy and Spain in introducing stringent lockdown measures. “We have to be honest with our citizens: this is a serious crisis, a long crisis and a difficult crisis,” warned Charles Michel, the president of the European council. Jon Henley talks to Parisians, and asks how they are coping with life under lockdown. He writes that it seems like August in Paris, the month in which the city usually shuts down while many of its inhabitants travel south for their summer holiday. In Ireland, the health minister, Simon Harris, has said banks should help struggling taxpayers because taxpayers bailed them out during the country’s 2010 financial crisis. Meanwhile, there was good news for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman incarcerated in Iran for five years. She has been temporarily released as Covid-19 has started to enter Iran’s prison system.
In the US, Donald Trump has called for politics to be kept out of the country’s response to Covid-19 while simultaneously lashing out at Democrats criticising his administration. Trump took to Twitter to attack the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, saying: “Cuomo wants ‘all states to be treated the same.’ But all states aren’t the same. Some are being hit hard by the Chinese Virus, some are being hit practically not at all.” The Harvard Medical School instructor Adam Gaffney says Trump sees the pandemic chiefly as a threat to the market and wealthy people’s interests. “A fictional film about a US president mismanaging the response to a dangerous pandemic would never depict its lead character anywhere near as selfish and bumbling as Donald Trump,” he writes. After a period of decline, markets overnight were up as the effects of economic stimulus packages began to be felt. There are of course, still substantial worries about what coronavirus will do to the global economy in the long term. The economist Hans-Wermer Sinn argues that the most pressing need is for governments and banks to relax borrowing rules so as many companies as possible can avoid bankruptcy. According to the economist Marchel Alexandrovich, ground zero for that approach will be Europe’s canary in the coalmine, Italy.
Australia
Thousands of Australian doctors have urged the government to ramp up its response to the coronavirus. In a letter written to the health minister, Greg Hunt, doctors say they are “dismayed at the disconnect between the actions being taken within the medical community and the recommendation for actions being passed on to the general population”.
The Law Council wants to suspend the controversial family law inquiry after One Nation livestreamed hearings. Lawyers are concerned the inquiry is being used for political purposes and undermines the domestic violence claims made by women.
The world
The social media app TikTok is under fire after the Intercept revealed it tried to filter out videos from “ugly, poor or disabled users”. Users with an “abnormal body shape (not limited to: dwarf, acromegaly)” or who have “ugly facial looks or facial deformities” should be removed, one document says
A New Zealand-based Samoan chief has been found guilty of of human trafficking and using 13 of his countrymen as slaves over a 25-year period. Joseph Auga Matamata’s offending involved 13 Samoans from three villages on the island of Upolu.
A businessmen allied with Vladimir Putin will sue the US for $50bn in damages after prosecutors dropped charges of meddling in the 2016 elections. Yevgeny Prigozhin is often dubbed “Putin’s chef” as his restaurants have hosted the Kremlin leader.
Recommended reads
With more and more people going into self-isolation and a potential lockdown around the corner it’s time for something to lift the spirits. If the best Covid-19 memes and tweets aren’t enough to get you through, you may find the words of Lea Waters soothing as she gives advice on how to stay positive in these anxious times. You may well have a lot of spare time on your hands soon, so a podcast binge could well be in order. Or maybe helping others will help you to find peace: here’s five easy-to-reheat dishes to make for your neighbours.
And if all that fails, we can all find inspiration in the tale of Wellington the penguin. With Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium closed to the public, Wellington was given the opportunity to explore. The video of the 30-year-old rockhopper penguin checking out his wider surroundings was posted on Sunday and quickly spread online.
Listen
The arts world is in crisis due to the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak. Guardian Australia’s Full Story podcast looks at how event cancellations are causing potentially irreversible damage to the Australian industry. Our culture editor, Steph Harmon, examines the complex web of jobs supported by the performing arts – and why it could all unravel without government support.
Sport
Euro 2020 will be postponed for a year due to the coronavirus. The international soccer tournament was due to be held from 12 June to 12 July.
Media roundup
A poll in the West Australian claims Western Australians overwhelmingly want to shut the country’s borders due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The Age says the deficit could balloon to $100bn as the risk of a recession grows. And the Courier-Mail reports flagging private-sector investment in Queensland is putting $50bn worth of infrastructure projects and 6,600 jobs at risk.
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