Positive Australian Covid-19 cases rise to 2,793 and states eye tighter restrictions – as it happened
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Tasmania tells tourists to go home and closes national parks; SA and Queensland to go pupil-free except for children of essential workers; childcare centres remain open. This blog is now closed
We will leave our Australian coverage there for the night. You can follow our rolling global coverage here, and read a summary of the main news in Australia here.
To recap:
A second man has died from Covid-19 in Western Australia, bringing the number of deaths from the disease in Australia to 13. The man was in his 70s and had been travelling on a cruise ship, although we understand it was not the Ruby Princess.
Three other people, all in their 70s, died of Covid-19 in Victoria in the past 24-hours.
A quarter of all coronavirus cases in WA are people who have been on cruise ships, the WA government says, as it refuses to let people from two waiting cruise ships to disembark in mainland WA.
One is the numbers of people returning from overseas are decreasing quite rapidly but there’s still several thousand people every day. It’s interesting that you would say that people were concerned about being held up for temperature tester. A few days ago we were being criticised for not testing enough at the airport ...
That’s one of the reasons why we’ve gone to the 14 days of self-isolation. That means staying at home, because the airports are not set up for this sort of thing. We’re testing where we can. We’re trying to identify people that are sick so they can be tested early.
But the general principle, if you’re returning from overseas, we’re assuming the whole of the world is worse off than Australia and for most of the world that is the case, and we’re asking people to isolate at home, to self-monitor and that will be checked, Leigh. All states and territories are really ramping up their checking and enforcement of that home quarantine.
The Northern Territory government issued this warning earlier today to residents of remote Indigenous communities about travel restrictions, which kick in at midnight.
It reads:
If you do not return to community by midnight tonight, you will not be able to go home for a long time.
Restrictions on travel to communities starts at midnight tonight, 11.59pm Thursday 26 March 2020.
This is to protect you and your community from the coronavirus. The safest place for you is in your community, homeland or outstation.
If you do not leave today you will have to self-quarantine (be alone, no contact with family) for 14 days. You will not be able to go back to community for a long time.
Tangentyere Council in Alice Springs was offering to pay for travel, buying bus tickets or petrol to help people get home.
The Shopping Centre Council of Australia has urged commercial landlords not to terminate retail leases for the non-payment of rent during the coronavirus crisis.
SCCA chairman Peter Allen said he had been told by the federal government that some shopping centre owners were not “engaging with the empathy that is required during these times”.
He said in a statement:
This is surprising, and if correct, very disappointing and frustrating to hear.
The SCCA asks members to ensure there are no lease terminations for non-payment of rent for small to medium-sized businesses as we work through this period.
It is vital that our industry, as a key part of the economy and our local communities, work collaboratively with government and our SME retailers to support their cashflow and jobs across the economy.
On the ABC’s 7.30 program, Australia’s deputy chief medical officer, professor Paul Kelly, said “millions of masks” were expected to arrive in Australia over the next few months.
“We’re expecting millions of masks to arrive in the country over coming months. We have already now had 8 million that we are putting through primary health networks to our general practitioners and also to our fever clinics.” Prof. Paul Kelly Deputy CMO #abc730#covid19australia
Kelly said the focus of the testing regime in Australia remained people who had returned from overseas, and known contacts of confirmed cases, who were asked to self-isolate and monitor themselves for any symptoms.
“If you’re sick, stay at home, minimising those number of interactions you have with other people, particularly close interactions. We’ve, so far, tried to do that voluntarily.” Prof. Paul Kelly Deputy CMO #abc730#coronavirusaustralia#covid19australia
Sam Page, the chief executive of Early Childhood Australia, says her sector is calling on the government to continue paying the childcare subsidy, at the rate of enrolment rates on 2 March, to tide over operators as parents no longer pay their contribution.
Page told Radio National:
Early childhood services understand that parents are confused and concerned and many are holding children back at home in the interim while we’re in the middle of this crisis ... The problem is that, legally, services can’t receive the childhood subsidy without also charging parents their contribution of the fee, unless they’re directed to close by health authorities...
Which means services are in the position of having families not attending but still being charged, so then they’re un-enrolling their children and withdrawing altogether from the service. The service receives no revenue and the educators and teachers are facing, we’re facing, nationwide job losses.
Casuals have already lost shifts, and permanent workers will be lost. Page said essential workers needed services to remain open, but others withdrawing their children were threatening their viability.
Page said the education department had promised work was going on behind the scenes to provide support, but noted that many centres had already closed, with more to close next week, if the government did not adopt the “quick fix” of continuing to pay the subsidy.
International flights are being cancelled by airlines across the globe – Qantas is set to stop all international flights by the end of the month – meaning those who disembark in Italy could be stranded there for weeks if repatriation flights cannot be organised.
Many of the Australians on board the Costa Victoria are elderly, and some have underlying health issues, putting them in the highest risk category for a severe infection.
The Australian embassy in Rome has told passengers it is working with Costa Cruises “with a view to enabling you to return home to Australia as quickly as possible”, but did not provide any detail on what was planned for the group.
Queensland parliament has reportedly been suspended until 28 April, due to the coronavirus.
Federal parliament and the Tasmanian state parliament have already suspended until August.
BREAKING: The Queensland government - through Labor Speaker Curtis Pitt - has cancelled parliament until April 28, due to coronavirus. The Chief Health Officer today said it was safe for MPs to sit. Story on @australian soon #qldpol#auspol#coronavirusauhttps://t.co/mE9PNx7lqE
The Western Australian Department of Health has confirmed that a man in his 70s died in a Perth hospital today after testing positive to Covid-19.
The department said:
A male in his 70s has passed away at Joondalup health campus after testing positive for Covid-19. The man was receiving care within an isolation room prior to his death. He was a cruise ship passenger.
Overnight, an additional 26 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed, bringing the state’s total to 231.
Adrian Kelly, the Real Estate Institute of Australia president, has lent support to a six-month ban on evictions being rolled out in New South Wales and other states and territories, telling Radio National that “everybody needs somewhere to live to ride this out”.
He said:
We’re 100% supportive of federal and state governments’ efforts in ensuring everyone has somewhere to live. Housing is a massive industry and an economic driver for this country. There are 3m rental properties in Australia and they house 8 million Australians. With all the job losses we’re seeing, we need to house all these people, many of who will be unable to pay the rent. We need to find a way to help tenants continue to pay their rent.
Asked if the commonwealth government should pay tenants’ rent, Kelly noted that both commonwealth and states had worked on ensuring there were no forced evictions and he expressed hope “they’ve found a way to fund it”. Kelly said that if landlords and real estate agents lost their income from rent, “everybody loses”.
He said:
If real estate agents and all their property owners are left spinning in the breeze, we’re going to have a disaster on our hands ...
If the property owner has to do the right thing and house all these unemployed people in their property, they’re going to need money for that ... They have their own families and their own children that need to be fed.
Meanwhile, attempts to collect unwell passengers from the cruise ship Artania, anchored off Fremantle, have hit some snags.
First attempt to medevac elderly passenger with non COVID-19 illness from the Artania failed when the ropes to the police boat broke in the surge. They’ll now try with a platform. @abcperth pic.twitter.com/55hV4fuiAD
A second man has died from the novel coronavirus in Western Australia, according to reports. This brings the number of deaths in Australia to 13. Four of those deaths, all of people in their 70s, were announced today. The WA Department of Health said it would release a statement shortly confirming the latest death.
