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Coronavirus Australia live updates: Scott Morrison about to give a Covid-19 update – latest news Coronavirus Australia live updates: Scott Morrison gives Covid-19 update – latest news
(32 minutes later)
Sydney aged care home reports 13th coronavirus-related death as three more residents test positive. Follow liveSydney aged care home reports 13th coronavirus-related death as three more residents test positive. Follow live
What about the NFL?
Morrison says that’s a matter for state jurisdictions to clear or not clear any particular sporting codes. But the health advice to the states will be consistent and provided by the AHPPC.
So, each state should be saying the same thing to each code.
In relation to the New Zealand Warriors being given permission to travel, Morrison says “no amount of reporting” will change that outcome. It has been received and is being considered.
Will employers be requiring people to download the app, or will the government require businesses to require employees to download the app, before restrictions are lifted?
Morrison says it cannot be required under law “but we are encouraging it”.
Morrison was also asked about the strained relationship with China.
To questions. I think Morrison just suggested he will try out Barre class, which is a joke that has run the length of this lockdown period and proved that we truly are starved for information.
The question was asking for an indication of the kind of restrictions that might be lifted. Morrison says he won’t predict what national cabinet will decide. He says it will also be a matter of figuring out what mitigation measures can be introduced.
Murphy is outlining the plan to ensure enough testing is done to detect any possible second wave of coronavirus. Australia will do cohort testing, identifying particular groups and testing asymptomatic people to ensure the virus isn’t undetected. Those cohorts include aged care workers, healthcare workers and hospital patients. (If they consent, of course.)
Says Murphy:
He says that the case data shows that most people who transmit the virus do still have symptoms, so anyone with any symptoms should get tested.
Murphy says case numbers in Australia are now so low “that we can examine each case, each cluster, and get really detailed epidemiological information on what’s happening”.
Murphy shows a slide using data given to the government from Apple and Google, showing how many people are on the roads. It has fallen substantially, showing people are obeying stay at home orders.
A quip:
Murphy says Australia has beaten the modelling in terms of the number of new cases of Covid-19 reported.
There are now only two states on the graph showing the effective reproduction number. Last week the ACT and NT had dropped off the graph, because their case numbers were so low.
Brendan Murphy is going through the requirements that need to be in place before restrictions can be eased.
Australia now has enough testing kits and a secure supply line. We have enough masks and a good supply line, and the supply line for other PPE is being restored.
The public health workforce needed to be ready to respond to an outbreak. Murphy says Australia has excelled in that space.
Murphy says that the requirement for improved contact tracing was almost there, “accept for the app uptake”.
Australia currently has 6,765 cases of Covid-19.
The chief health officer, Brendan Murphy, says we are “still consistently getting less than 20 new cases per day over recent days”.
There have been 93 deaths.
More than 570,000 tests have been done.
Scott Morrison says Australia is expecting a 30% fall in overseas immigration in the 2019-20 year, on 2018-19 figures. In 2020-21, the forecast is for an 85% fall on 2018-19 figures.
The aged care minister, Richard Colbeck, says all the major aged care providers, including Anglicare and BaptistCare, signed up to the new aged care code last night.
It sets out rules and rights for people visiting their loved ones at the end of their life, and people who are used to receiving regular visitation as part of their care, such as dementia patients.
Colbeck says “only 23 residential aged care homes” have had an outbreak of Covid-19 in Australia. (Weird use of “only”.)
Fifteen of those residential aged care centres have now cleared the infection and in eight it is ongoing. Colbeck says most centres had only two or three residents with an infection.
Among those who have now been declared Covid-free are Dorothy Henderson Lodge, the first aged care home to have an outbreak. At least six residents of that aged care facility died after testing positive to Covid-19.
The aged care industry code has been agreed to by the major establishments in the aged care industry in Australia, and also interest groups in the sector.
Morrison says the government is also making a one-off payment of $205m into the aged care sector to help it respond to the coronavirus and comply with the new industry code.
National cabinet agreed to a set of principles for sport and recreation, which will be released today, and also approved the aged care code.
Morrison says there are now 3.5m downloads “and there needs to be millions more”.
The app is voluntary, and the government has said it will not make individual participation in activities contingent on having the app on your phone. But it appears that our collective ability to get on with our lives will be tied to the app.
Morrison says national cabinet has brought forward its decision on whether the baseline restrictions should be lifted to next Friday 8 May.
National cabinet will meet twice next week to work through the detail.
Morrison says Australia has now met 11 of the 15 conditions set by the AHPPC for lifting restrictions. One of those conditions is downloading the CovidSAFE app.
Morrison says that 1.5 million Australians are now on jobseeker and 900,000 claims have been processed in six weeks.Morrison says that 1.5 million Australians are now on jobseeker and 900,000 claims have been processed in six weeks.
Scott Morrison says Australia has had “some real success on the health front” in dealing with Covid-19. There are about 1,000 active cases in Australia at the moment.Scott Morrison says Australia has had “some real success on the health front” in dealing with Covid-19. There are about 1,000 active cases in Australia at the moment.
But the coronavirus is “not the only curve we need to flatten”. He says we need to restart the economy, and get businesses open.But the coronavirus is “not the only curve we need to flatten”. He says we need to restart the economy, and get businesses open.
The prime minister has just started speaking in Canberra, joined by the ministers for aged care and sport.The prime minister has just started speaking in Canberra, joined by the ministers for aged care and sport.
The national cabinet meeting was due to discuss a possible code of conduct for aged care homes responding to coronavirus, linked in part to the situation at Newmarch House in western Sydney.
The meeting will also have considered advice from the AHPPC on reopening sport and recreation activities.
Scott Morrison’s office has just issued an alert saying he will address the media at 2pm following the national cabinet meeting today.
We understand national cabinet has been discussing the possible easing of baseline restrictions, and the meeting ran longer than usual, so this could be quite an interesting update.
The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, is due to give an update at 2pm Perth time today, which is 4pm on the east coast.
So, working backwards, we can expect an update from the prime minister on today’s national cabinet meeting some time between now and 4pm.
I’m going to leave you for the day. Thanks for reading. Calla Wahlquist will take over from here.
A teenage girl has been charged after allegedly spitting in a Sydney railway station staffer’s face and saying “I have Covid” before the man and his co-worker were allegedly punched by her friend.
The 17-year-old girl tried to enter the Blacktown station on 23 April while smoking a cigarette before a male staffer approached to say smoking wasn’t allowed, NSW police said in a statement on Friday, according to AAP.
She allegedly spat on the 56-year-old man’s face and said: “I have Covid.”
A 16-year-old teenage boy, who is known to the girl, then ran over and coughed and spat in the staff member’s face, police said.
A 53-year-old female Sydney Trains employee intervened and was allegedly punched in the head.
The two teenagers then fled the scene, police said.
They were arrested at a home in Pendle Hill on Thursday and the girl was charged with smoking in a public area and not complying with a Covid-19 direction on spitting and coughing.
The boy was charged with two counts of common assault and not complying with the Covid-19 direction on spitting and coughing.
They were both granted bail to appear at a children’s court on 14 July.
Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson has issued a statement while national cabinet is on.
She said:
Jackson said a “nationally consistent approach to this challenge is vital”.
Ratings agency S&P has downgraded stricken airline Virgin to D, the lowest grade possible, after the company’s administrators got payments on its planes frozen for a month and applied for protection from its US creditors.
As Guardian Australia reported, the administrators – partners at Deloitte – have asked a court in the US to protect them from claims there by American creditors owed billions of dollars and prevent four planes that are being repaired in Nashville from being seized. D – for default – is the lowest credit rating S&P can hand out.
The agency said in a note:
As Guardian Australia has reported, unsecured lenders who took a punt on Virgin in return for high interest rates are likely to take a hefty haircut. Estimates of what they’ll get vary from a pessimistic 7c in the dollar to a rather optimistic 65c.
Well done, Canberra.
Taiwan has been widely praised for its response to Covid-19 but is locked out of World Health Organisation discussions about the pandemic.
Australia’s decision to support the island being granted observer status comes amid an already strained relationship with China over the Morrison government’s call for an inquiry into the cause of the virus.
The government is yet to announce the Warriors have been granted an exemption, although clearly someone is briefing that it is going to happen.
No doubt it will raise eyebrows among others who have been denied entry.