Good morning, this is James Murray bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 28 April.
Top stories
Australian trials into the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 are continuing, despite a study patients in the US finding no benefit from the drug. In fact, patients treated with it alone had a higher mortality rate. The thinktank Per Capita has released a report showing that privately run employment service agencies are set for a windfall of up to $210m as hundreds of thousands lose their jobs. The federal government will deliver a progress report to parliament on 12 May outlining Covid-19’s hit to the economy . And a Guardian Essential Poll has found that 70% of voters approve of the government’s response to the crisis. More than half said they were concerned about the security of personal information collected by the Covidsafe tracing app but 41% were confident the government would protect any data. More than 2 million people have downloaded the app.
Donald Trump’s rollercoaster White House coronavirus briefings are back on. The president cancelled them after being ridiculed for suggesting that disinfectant could cure Covid-19. A major meat producer has warned that the US food supply chain is on the verge of breaking. In a full-page ad in major newspapers, the Arkansas-based company cautioned “there will be limited supply of [their] products” until they can reopen closed facilities. More than a dozen children in the UK have fallen ill with a new and potentially fatal combination of symptoms apparently linked to Covid-19, including a sore stomach and heart problems. NHS bosses are so concerned that they have written to doctors alerting them to the emergence of these cases and asked them to urgently refer any children with similar symptoms to hospital. And the World Health Organization has warned of a knock-on effect for diseases such as polio, measles, cholera, human papillomavirus, yellow fever and meningitis as the pandemic has meant 13m people have missed out on vaccines.
The climate crisis will create an insurance market that will be unaffordable for the people who need it most, a consumer group has warned. In a submission to the royal commission into natural disasters, the Consumer Action Law Centre says increasing damage from extreme weather events will leave customers exploited and makes the case for an insurance price monitor, standard definitions of key terms such as “fire” and a modernised regime of what “standard cover” means so policies can be easily understood and compared. “Insurance promises to offer peace of mind, but with … [the] woeful responses to financial hardship by the insurance industry we’re concerned that home insurance still isn’t working for many people,” says Gerard Brody, the centre’s chief executive.
Australia
An Australian company that falsely claimed its coronavirus testing kits had been approved by medical regulators is now under investigation. Promedical Equipment usually sells cryogenic treatment and erectile dysfunction machines.
The energy minister, Angus Taylor, is under renewed pressure over his attack on the City of Sydney lord mayor, Clover Moore, for travel-related emissions. NSW police have found no evidence the false document Taylor’s office used to attack Moore ever existed on the council’s website.
The Victorian government has cleared the release of the George Pell royal commission findings. The attorney general, Jill Hennessy, has advised that blacked-out sections from the institutional child abuse royal commission no longer need to be redacted.
Good news for the orange-bellied parrot. The endangered bird has seen its numbers soar from low 20s to more than 100. In 2013, just three adult females remained in the wild, now a much larger group will leave Tasmania to fly north for the winter.
The world
A group of German doctors have posed naked in a protest highlighting a lack of personal protective equipment. Calling their protest Blanke Bedenken, or Naked Qualms, members of the group said calls for help over several months had gone unheeded.
A Russian aid shipment sent to Italy in late March has raised questions about the Kremlin’s motives. The aid gesture, accompanied by the message “From Russia with love”, has been branded by observers as propaganda.
2020 is on course to be the hottest year since records began, according to meteorologists. There is a 50% to 75% chance that temperatures will beat the record set four years ago.
Recommended reads
Grahame Best is a fixture of the Sydney theatre scene. Known as “standing ovation man”, he sees more than 100 shows a year and gives each one a standing ovation. Best now keeps a light burning 24/7 in his Wollongong home, a gesture of solidarity with the now darkened auditoriums that are doing likewise, observing the old custom that requires a lamp to be left lit on the stage when a theatre is empty. In an interview with Elissa Blake, Best reveals he is struggling during lockdown. “My mind has gone black,” he says. “[My wife] Doris tells me she’s noticed a big change. I’m bored. I’m lonely. I miss it so much. Theatre is a tonic for my brain!”
The economics professors Chris Edmond and Richard Holden consider the case for a return to normal life in Australia before a Covid-19 vaccine is found. “Several prominent commentators have responded to [a decrease in Covid-19 infections] by arguing for a rapid end to social distancing,” they write. “According to this view, Australia has over-reacted to the crisis and is paying insufficient attention to the costs of the downturn, both narrowly economic and in terms of broader wellbeing.” But this approach is “a dangerous idea”, they warn. The pair argue that not only is it immoral to risk the health of the population due to the economic cost of quarantine, but say the best chance for an economic recovery “involves comprehensively beating the pandemic, eradication or something close to it”.
Listen
The Covidsafe app has been downloaded by 2 million Australians since Sunday but there are still many worried about tracking. Guardian Australia’s technology reporter, Josh Taylor, examines the Covidsafe app and updates us on whether the government has addressed community concern about privacy.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
With a very real chance that there will be no international cricket next summer, organisers’ thoughts are turning to what will replace it. Four blockbuster Test matches against India are at risk, with New Zealand a possible replacement, but Adam Collins has a different idea: pitching the young against the already-established in an Australia-only series.
Media roundup
ABC News reports on the risk to confidential Australian government information posed by its use of Amazon’s servers. Amazon may not be able to protect data from US subpoenas including data gathered by the Covid-19 tracing app. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the NSW government is considering buying up unsold apartments and fast-tracking construction as part of a $500m coronavirus stimulus plan. And the West Australian has an exclusive on the mining company BHP, which wants to increase its shipping capacity in Port Hedland in a move that could boost Australia’s export income by $5bn.
Coming up
Bondi beach will reopen for swimming only.
Queensland will introduce a new online form to make it easier to dob on people who break coronavirus restrictions.
Tasmania will announce an independent investigation into the north-west Covid-19 outbreak.
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