Australia records highest daily one-day total since start of coronavirus pandemic – as it happened

We’ll leave it there for now. Thanks for reading. Before we go, let’s recap some of the main events of the day.

• Australia experienced its worst day of new cases since the pandemic begun, driven by 532 new infections recorded in Victoria.
• There were also six new deaths in Victoria, five of which were linked to the aged care sector, which has more than 500 active cases.
• A baby at the neonatal intensive care unit at the Royal Children’s hospital has also tested positive, with four cases linked to the ward.
• Victorian premier Daniel Andrews suggested key industries may need to close in response to the worsening crisis.
• NSW recorded 17 new cases.
• The NSW court of appeal upheld an earlier court decision that ruled a Black Lives Matter protest planned for Sydney tomorrow was “unauthorised”.
• The Northern Territory closed its borders to greater Sydney residents.

We’ll see you tomorrow. Stay safe, look out for each other and, if you’re in Victoria, wear a mask.

The Apollo, a Greek restaurant in Potts Point, has been forced to close after a staff member tested positive to Covid-19. It is the fourth restaurant in two days to close in Sydney.

In a statement on Monday night, NSW Health said it was contacting people who had visited the eatery between 23-25 July and asking them to quarantine for 14 days.

“Any diners who develop symptoms should be tested,” the statement read. “NSW Health is also asking all people who live in or have visited the Potts Point area in the past two weeks to get tested if they have any symptoms of Covid-19.”

Another Potts Point restaurant, Thai Rock, is also closed after a diner tested positive last week. NSW Health said today there were now two cases linked to the eatery and anyone who dined there between 15-25 July should get a test and self-isolate, regardless of symptoms.

NSW Health said it is also contacting staff and patrons who attended two further venues in Mt Pritchard recently and asking them to get a Covid-19. The venues are Mounties and Pritchard’s Hotel. A person who attended both venues has since tested positive.

Staying in Melbourne, this Melbourne private school has been criticised after students were told they had to wear masks that also matched the school’s uniform.

VicHealth chief executive Dr Sandro Demaio made some interesting comments earlier on the ABC:

This is really one of the tough things about this virus – it will take at least two weeks to see whether we’ve made a clear difference from any major new measure we put in place.

We probably won’t see those cases come down to single digits, some experts are saying, [for] many, many weeks.

The delay between taking measures and then seeing those hospitalisation numbers come down, that could take between two and even eight weeks.

Then finally the death rates coming down, based on other countries ... that could even take two or two-and-a-half months to start to come down.

Channel Seven is reporting that 20 to 30 people have been evacuated from St Basil’s aged care home in Fawkner.

There are 84 cases linked to the home in Melbourne’s north.

You might remember this stoush over toilet paper in a Woolworths store in March.

The cash-strapped Northern Territory government will spend $20m on extra police officers to protect its borders as part of its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The chief minister, Michael Gunner, said 66 frontline officers would join the force along with 30 Aboriginal liaison officers and 10 Aboriginal community officers.

An extra 25 support staff would also be employed to provide administrative and welfare assistance to officers, AAP reported.

The Northern Territory had planned to open its borders to the entire nation on 17 July, removing the need for travellers to go into quarantine

However, Melbourne’s second wave and coronavirus outbreaks in Sydney have led to all of Victoria being declared a hotspot indefinitely and greater Sydney for at least another month, meaning travellers from there must go into supervised quarantine, costing them $2,500 if they show up.

Having to protect the NT’s borders through quarantine supervision and compliance checks as well as fulfil normal policing duties is stretching the force’s resources.

The Australian federal police have been helping but 70 of 102 officers deployed to the territory are due to leave this week.

The NSW police minister, David Elliott, is pleased by the court of appeal’s decision on the Black Lives Matter protest planned for tomorrow.

In a statement, he said:

I welcome the court of appeal’s decision to uphold the supreme court’s verdict on the authorisation of a protest planned for Tuesday 28 July.

The NSW government urges both the organisers and anyone thinking of attending to stay away, abide by the law and seriously consider the consequences of their potential actions. A pandemic is no time to attend a mass gathering, no matter how honourable the cause.

The state is at a critical point in the fight against this pandemic. We must all work together with police and health authorities to save lives and keep the community safe.

Dozens of people with disability have raised concerns with a royal commission about their experiences during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability will hold a public hearing next month focused on the pandemic’s impact.

It has received 73 submissions specifically about Covid-19 and its associated restrictions, AAP reports.

They are among 1,141 submissions the royal commission has received so far from people with disability and their family members, as well as advocates and support workers.

“People have shared their experiences of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation across a range of settings including the health and medical system, in schools, in group homes and other accommodation,” the commission said on Monday.

The commission has also had almost 400 requests for a private session, conducted in a confidential setting with a commissioner.

The Australian Meat Industry Council’s chief executive, Patrick Hutchison, has issued a statement claiming there is an “over-emphasis of cases being linked to the Australian meat industry”.

He said:

This is a public health issue and a community transmitted virus, not a meat industry or food safety issue.

There has been an over-emphasis of cases being linked to the Australian meat industry, yet the virus is being transmitted in the community, not generated from within any particular industry.

The Australian meat industry has extremely controlled measures in place and should not be viewed through the same lens as meat industries in other countries.

The actual percentage of staff that make up the total amount of cases within a ‘cluster’ linked to a meat processing facility is small relative to total community transmissions, in some cases less than 3%, across our red meat and smallgoods members.

Further, there is a negligible amount reported in our independent retail butcher chain.

Meat industry-related outbreaks in Victoria include:

• 95 cases linked to Somerville Retail Services in Tottenham.
• 71 cases linked to JBS in Brooklyn.
• 69 cases linked to Bertocchi Smallgoods in Thomastown.
• 47 cases linked to Australian Lamb Company in Colac.
• 8 cases linked to Diamond Valley Pork in Laverton North.
• 6 cases linked to Don KR Castlemaine.

The statement from Hutchinson is in response to comments from Daniel Andrews suggesting specific industries may need to be shut down.

The health minister, Greg Hunt, has issued a statement on the death of the RACGP president, Harry Nespolon:

On behalf of the Australian government, I extend my deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Dr Harry Nespolon, who passed away on Sunday night.

As president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners for the past two years, Dr Nespolon worked very closely with myself and the government.

He was a passionate but also reasoned advocate for GPs and, above all, for their patients – the Australian people.

His tenure as president coincided with a period of reform and then, of emergency – both the bushfire emergency and more recently the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Throughout these challenges, and his own personal battle with cancer over the past nine months, he remained tireless, eloquent and cogent in his leadership and drive for positive change.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, he played a crucial role working with the government to devise general practice elements of the comprehensive $2.4bn health package.

These included dozens of new telehealth measures under Medicare and incentives for GPs to keep their practices open for patients who required face to face consultations.

These measures allowed Australians to continue receiving vital health care, while keeping doctors and patients safe. They were a critical element in Australia’s very successful national response to the coronavirus threat.

Dr Nespolon will long be remembered by all who knew him for his intellect, passion, dedication and professionalism.

Above all, Harry was partner to Lindy, and a father to two beautiful young girls. They should be immensely proud of him. He will be irreplaceable.

His passing is a great loss to the RACGP, to general practice and to all Australians.

27 Jul 202002.52 EDT

Melissa Davey

Some more information about the baby, two parents and health worker associated with the neonatal intensive care unit at the Royal Children’s Hospital [RCH] infected with the virus.

The hospital tells me that the hospital has not allowed any visitors on site since March apart from the family and carers of children. Any parent, guardian or staff member entering the hospital undergoes health screening and temperature checking before being allowed access. In a statement a hospital spokeswoman said:

Under the government’s visitor restrictions, parents/guardians are not considered visitors. Even so, we have insisted that only one parent/guardian is allowed with their child at any time. While this has caused upset for many families, there is no intention to strengthen this any further as this would mean our patients would not ever see their parents – this is not an outcome anyone would want.

We are working closely with the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure contact tracing is completed and all individuals supported throughout the process.

There are currently 17 RCH staff, seven patients and three parents identified as close contacts, all of whom are undertaking the mandatory self-quarantine requirements. As the RCH has sufficient numbers of trained intensive care staff, patient care for our most vulnerable patients will not be compromised. All parents on Butterfly ward [in the neonatal intensive care unit] were notified of the positive cases as they came to light.

The Australian share market has edged higher as investors await direction from Wall Street ahead of a busy week of economic data, although surging gold prices have boosted miners of the precious metal.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index gained 20.2 points, or 0.34%, at 6,044.2 points, while the All Ordinaries index was up 21.6 points, or 0.35%, at 6,169.6.

AAP reports that the Australian dollar was trading higher after weakness in the US greenback against major currencies, buying 71.32 US cents, up from 70.94 US cents at Friday’s close.

These Melburnians are offering their neighbours free masks from their front lawn.

View image in fullscreen

View image in fullscreen