Sixth Newmarch House aged care resident dies from Covid-19 – as it happened
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Australians mark Gallipolli landing in driveway services under physical distancing rules as nationwide Covid-19 testing kicks off. This blog is now closed
Just recapping the major developments of the day again:
The death toll from Covid-19 in Australia now sits at 81, with the death on Saturday of an 83-year-old man who was a resident at Newmarch House aged care home and a 90-year-old man in Tasmania on Friday. It’s the sixth death at Newmarch House.
An aged care worker in the Blue Mountains is among 12 people to have tested positive to Covid-19 in NSW overnight, the highest daily total in seven days.
South Australia has recorded no new cases for the third day in a row and is preparing to start sentinel testing next week.
The Liberal party and the ALP are reportedly considering applying for the jobkeeper payment.
Beaches in eastern Sydney have been shut again, after attracting crowds.
The media mogul Kerry Stokes, who is also the chairman of the Australian War Memorial Council, flew to Canberra to participate in the only official Anzac Day ceremony to be held today as thousands of Australians and New Zealanders, including the New Zealand PM, marked the day by lighting a candle in their driveway.
You can read a more extensive summary here and follow the rolling global coverage here.
Aged care worker in NSW Blue Mountains tests positive
Just dipping back in to let you know that a woman who works at the Catholic Healthcare Bodington aged care home in Wentworth Falls, in the Blue Mountains, has tested positive to Covid-19, according to reports.
A quiet Anzac day as coronavirus numbers continue to fall
We will leave you here for the day. You can continue to follow our rolling global coverage of the coronavirus crisis here and read a summary of the day’s news in Australia here.
South Australia has recorded its third day in a row with no new cases despite expanded testing, the second time in a week they have reached that milestone. New South Wales recorded 12 new cases – its biggest daily increase since last Saturday – including four new cases at the Newmarch House aged care home.
Victoria recorded three new cases, including one more among inpatients at a private psychiatric facility. Fifteen people – nine staff members and five patients – have tested positive at the clinic. Tasmania recorded two new cases and the death of a 90-year-old man, bringing the national death toll to 80. Queensland also recorded two new cases, while Western Australia and the ACT both recorded one.
Anzac Day was celebrated quietly and privately, with people lighting a candle in their driveway and listening to the sound of a bugle or trumpet sounding the Last Post across their suburb. Scott Morrison led a small dawn service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, which was also attended by the media mogul Kerry Stokes.
#ANZAC2020 at Northern Beaches Hospital with medical staff who, while giving care to patients, reflected on the solemn significance of the contribution of men & women who served our nation. Dr Pincott, Dr Franks & Dr Morgan hold wreaths honouring veterans. @NSWHealth pic.twitter.com/HGmhsfjNYu
News Corp’s Samantha Maiden has reported that national officials for the Liberal and Labor parties are considering applying for the jobkeeper payment.
It follows that earlier report in the Age that the Victorian Liberal party is considering applying for the payment, despite concerns from some party officials that it will be a “bad look”.
Maiden writes that it is a “cheeky proposition for political parties to claim it because donations always nosedive after an election”.
The St Vincent de Paul Society has welcomed changes to the jobkeeper payment announced yesterday, to exclude government grants from revenue calculations.
Registered charities are eligible for the program, which pays out $1,500 per employee per fortnight to cover employee wages, if they have had a decline in turnover of 15% or more. Amendments announced on Friday mean that calculation will now exclude government grants, so that charities don’t miss out on support because they have, for example, received funding to support bushfire victims.
Here’s the St Vincent de Paul Society national council CEO, Toby O’Connor:
The St Vincent de Paul Society is one of many charities in Australia which has received government funding to help ameliorate the impact of the drought, bushfires and Covid-19.
The government’s announcement addresses any unintended consequence of the jobkeeper assistance package which would have required charities to include government grants which are distributed to Australians in need.
A bit more on that two-week testing blitz that has been conducted in South Australia.
Between 16 April and 30 April, all South Australians with any symptoms of Covid-19 are eligible to be tested. SA is the first state in the country to introduce such a broad testing regime, although all other jurisdictions have now followed suit.
The next stage of the testing is currently being designed.
Steven Marshall says his state has “plenty of testing reagent” and will be looking at doing targeted testing as well as potentially sentinel or surveillance testing in SA.
He also promoted the coronavirus tracing app, which is expected to be released some time next week.
We will be very keen to promote it. I certainly will be downloading it.
The South Australian premier, Steven Marshall, says his government received a letter from the AFL yesterday, canvassing the possibility of establishing an “AFL hub” in the state.
The AFL is feeling out every footy-playing state as a potential hub to host the game, on the assumption that if the season is to resume all players and teams will have to be located in the same place to minimise the risk of infection and get around border restrictions. Unsurprisingly, the Sydney Swans want the AFL to choose NSW.
Marshall says he would love to host the AFL in Adelaide, but he’s awaiting health advice from the AHPPC, which will come in the national cabinet meeting on Friday.
He says:
We will do what we are advised to by the health authorities ... if the risk is acceptable then I would be very keen to see AFL. I would be very keen to see the FFA. I would be keen to see a lot of sport back here in SA. But we don’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot at the last point. We have done really well in SA, we have to stay the course.
South Australian AFL fans are really, really, really into their footy so this would go down very well in Adelaide, with the bonus of being the bitterest pill to Melbourne.
The AFL has said it will make an announcement about the resumption of the season this week.
A reporter at the press conference in Adelaide asks Cusack if he is concerned that if South Australia continues to report no new cases people will begin to relax their adherence to social distancing laws.
Cusack says that’s just “an expression of human nature”, but if you explain the reason behind public health orders people are more likely to comply.
He says:
I think if people understand why they are being asked to behave in a certain way or why they are being asked to comply with certain directions then I think it’s much easier for them to do so. I think what we see from other countries, where perhaps that messaging has been less clear is where we perhaps see less compliance and, unfortunately, the very serious effects that the virus can have in those communities.
South Australia records no new coronavirus cases for third day in a row
South Australia has recorded no new coronavirus cases for the third day in a row. This is the state’s second three-day streak – it also recorded no new cases for three days over last weekend, before recording three cases midweek.
The state’s deputy chief medical officer, Mike Cusack, says there are currently 32 active cases in SA, including four people in hospital. Two people – a 68-year-old man and a 75-year-old man – are in intensive care in the Royal Adelaide hospital and are in a “critical condition”, Cusack says.
The state is currently undertaking a testing “blitz”, which is due to finish on Thursday. It has conducted 51,000 tests since February.
Cusack says the state will now start doing targeted testing, including testing groups of asymptomatic people, to ensure there is no undetected spread in the community.
Coogee beach in Sydney was closed at 9am today. This photo, of the scenes that disappointed the NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, was apparently snapped at 9.11am.
State of Origin could go ahead if rugby fans self-isolate for 14 days before game, says ARLC chief
The chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission has floated the possibility of having rugby fans download an app and “self-isolate” for 14 days if they want to go to the State of Origin.
Peter V’landys made the comments to Triple M radio this morning, saying he was looking at ways to hold the event with a safer or smaller crowd.
The ARLC has already announced that a three-game Origin series will be held at the end of the year, but the exact details are yet to be determined.
Today V’landys floated a number of possibilities, including holding the games in a way that “rewards health workers”.
“We may not have the crowds of a normal State of Origin, but a limited crowd with social distancing, and there’s a few ideas we have in rewarding the emergency workers,” he said.
“There’s another one where we put people on an app and if you’re a really hardcore supporter and you can stay at home for 14 days and isolate yourself and we track you on the app, you can go to the game.
“There’s a few things we can do in that period of time.”
