But that easing can only happen if Australians continue to follow the rules.
“The reason we have stability in the numbers, and the reason we’ve been successful in suppressing the virus, is because the vast majority of Victorians are doing the right thing. Frustrating, very difficult, no one is enjoying it, but people are following the rules and it is working, making a big difference,” Mr Andrews said this morning.
“That gives us options down the track that would not be available to us without this, the very low case numbers. Options that are not available to many cities, states or countries right across the world, where the virus has got away from them.
“If we stick together, we will get to the other side, and faster. Let’s keep this performance going. That gives us options. We can properly, in a cautious way, examine those in the weeks and months ahead. Then we can potentially make changes.”
Mr Andrews said National Cabinet will discuss the “prerequisites” for loosening restrictions when it meets tomorrow.
RELATED: Follow more coronavirus news
There are more than 6600 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Australia, with 2963 in New South Wales, 1329 in Victoria, 1019 in Queensland, 435 in South Australia, 545 in Western Australia, 195 in Tasmania, 103 in the Australian Capital Territory and 28 in the Northern Territory.
The death toll stands at 72. The latest victim is a 94-year-old resident from the Anglicare Newmarch House nursing home in western Sydney.
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Tasmanian health authorities say there was an error in the coronavirus figures reported to the media last night. Two cases have been removed from the state's tally, bringing it down to 195.
I find myself looking forward to the police media units' press releases each day, mainly because they detail all the dumb things people are getting fined for.
Victoria police say they have issued 91 fines in the last 24 hours.
Among those cases – five people who were sitting in a vehicle drinking together, 16 people who were having a party at someone's house, and my personal favourite, a 20-year-old man from Mildura who was caught breaching the rules five times in five hours.
That last guy was arrested and charged. He'll appear at Mildura Magistrates Court on July 15.
Queensland’s online education portal has crashed on the first day of term two, leaving parents and students unable to access remote learning.
As we mentioned earlier, about 100,000 students were expected to return to school in person today. Those are mainly the children of essential workers. Everyone else is meant to be learning remotely.
The Queensland Education Department has acknowledged a "temporary disruption" to the website.
"We apologise for this short term interruption as we adapt to the learning at home model. Please remain patient as we work through it. Thank you,” the department has tweeted several times.
Earlier, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was not aware of the crash. She said Queenslanders were living through an unprecedented period and her government was doing its best to facilitate remote learning for all students.
“We are providing everything we possibly can to ensure our children are still getting educated,” she told 4BC radio.
“Let’s see how the next few weeks ago.”
– with AAP
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsHigh demand on some DoE web servers has seen a temporary disruption to the learning@home website this morning. Every effort is being made to restore services. The Department is working with IT partners to resolve this issue urgently. We apologise for this short term interruption.
— Queensland Department of Education (@QLDEducation) April 19, 2020
Later in that media briefing from Victoria, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton revealed modelling developed by the Peter Doherty Institute, Monash University and the state Health Department, which shows what could have happened without social distancing.
"It's theoretical. It's not a prediction. It uses assumptions, based on the experience of countries overseas as well as data from Australia, to inform what might have occurred," he said.
"We saw this modelling and we changed the future two months ago by virtue of what we saw. We changed the assumptions in the modelling by virtue of the measures that have been in place for weeks, at different levels."
The modelling shows Victoria would have peaked at 58,000 infections per day. The state would have needed 10,000 intensive care beds and 7000 ventilators. And deaths would have peaked at 650 per day, with as many as 36,000 people dying in total.
Instead, Victoria has recorded just 1329 infections so far, with 15 deaths.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says National Cabinet will consider the "prerequisites" for relaxing coronavirus restrictions when it meets tomorrow.
Earlier this morning he announced there'd been just one new case in the state over the last 24 hours.
"The stability in those numbers gives us options," Mr Andrews said at a press conference a short time ago.
"The reason we have stability in the numbers, and the reason we've been successful in suppressing the virus, is because the vast majority of Victorians are doing the right thing. Frustrating, very difficult, no one is enjoying it, but people are following the rules and it is working, making a big difference.
"That gives us options down the track that would not be available to us without this, the very low case numbers. Options that are not available to many cities, states or countries right across the world, where the virus has got away from them.
"These numbers are not an invitation for us to roll back all of the rules. They are simply a validation that this strategy is working.
"We will have options, if we continue to see this sort of performance. Those options won't be available to us if people think this is over, 'The numbers are low, stable, I can go back to something approaching normal.' No. All that will do is take off the table a number of important options in the future.
"There will be a time to have a proper discussion about the rules for the future. National Cabinet tomorrow will have a discussion about some of the prerequisites for relaxing any of the rules. That means you have to have the right amount of testing being done, the contact tracing."
All those words boil down to a pretty simple message – keep following the rules now, and then we might be able to relax them.
"If we stick together, we will get to the other side, and faster. Let's keep this performance going. That gives us options. We can properly, in a cautious way, examine those in the weeks and months ahead. Then we can potentially make changes," he said.
Mr Andrews did stress that things like cafes and bars remain unlikely to reopen any time soon.
Sydney's Randwick Council has reopened some of the city's beaches to allow people to exercise in a slight easing of social distancing restrictions.
Coogee, Maroubra and Clovelly beaches in Sydney’s southeast are available for select activities from today, including sand jogging, walking, swimming and surfing.
The catch? You can't sunbathe or sit on the sand.
The 1.5-metre social distancing rule must also be maintained for beachgoers, and groups are still limited to two people.
The beaches were closed last month because too many people were disobeying the rules.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has revealed there were no new cases of the virus recorded anywhere in the state over the last 24 hours.
"Today I'm very pleased to report that we have zero cases. Zero cases. This is an absolutely tremendous effort," she said.
"If we can keep this up over the coming weeks, I'm sure that that's going to mean that we will be able to make some changes and ease some of those restrictions on the population.
"So thank you, Queensland, for the enormous effort that you are doing. This is tremendous news, but we want to see this over a period of weeks.
"I just, I'm overjoyed today that we have seen this result."
Ms Palaszczuk also commented on the news that NSW is trying to lure Virgin Australia into moving its headquarters.
"Let me make it very clear. Queensland wants to keep Virgin's headquarters in Queensland, and the thousands of jobs that it supports," she said.
"We believe there should be a second national carrier, and we all know how important Virgin is for our regions, and how it is important for our tourism, especially for recovery into the future."
About 100,000 students – the children of essential workers, mostly – are expected to return to school in Queensland today.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese was asked about that on 2SM radio this morning, and used it to segue into a nice bit of praise for teachers.
"The feedback I've had from people not just in my electorate, but around the country, is teachers continue to engage with their students online, continue to provide that support," Mr Albanese said.
"One of the things I hope comes out of this experience is that people have had a bit of a chance to slow down, to think about what's really important.
"I think at this time, some of the things that we've taken for granted in terms of the work that people do, like cleaners, has been shown to be so valuable. And I don't think we value them enough, whether they be cleaners, or teachers, or childcare workers, the people who drive the buses – all these people who've continued to front up to work, to really make a difference."
On a different subject, Mr Albanese said he "would certainly have privacy concerns" if the government's proposed tracing app were made mandatory.
"I very strongly, as soon as the proposal was floated, I indicated to the government our opposition to any mandating," he said.
"We need to make sure that protections are put in place. Because if they're not, people won't take up the app. It's as simple as that. So I think the government is working on those reassurances."
A flight from India, bringing Australians who were stranded overseas home, has landed in Adelaide with 374 passengers on board.
Once they clear customs, the passengers will be taken by bus to the Pullman Hotel, where they will spend two weeks in quarantine.
The Advertiser reports no one on board has displayed symptoms of the virus.
“We can’t leave Australians stranded," Premier Steven Marshall said over the weekend.
“These are Australian citizens who have been caught up and stranded with the COVID-19 pandemic, and for the most part, have found it difficult to get home.”
A second repatriation flight will arrive in Adelaide tomorrow.
Meanwhile, for the second day in a row, South Australia has recorded no new coronavirus cases.
The state's Health Minister Stephen Wade struck a similar tone to every other politician in the country, cautioning people not to get complacent.
"We can be very encouraged by the progress made thus far, but now is not the time for complacency," Mr Wade said.
There have been six new cases of the virus in New South Wales in the last 24 hours, and one death.
The victim is a 94-year-old man from the Anglicare Newmarch House aged care facility, which has a cluster of 41 infections – 27 residents and 14 members of staff.
There are now 22 people in intensive care across the state, 15 of whom require ventilators.
"The fact we only had six cases identified is very positive," Premier Gladys Berejiklian said at a press conference just now.
"Everybody has been doing really well in the main, in terms of respecting the restrictions, and we ask for that to continue. We are pleased with the trends and remaining consistently low is our challenge.
"Maintaining the low (rate) is really important, as is making sure we reduce the community transmission. That is what can cause a flare-up. That is why we have to stay vigilant.
"When you stop trying hard, it can spread very quickly, and that is the last thing we want."
Ms Berejiklian announced a further $140 million in support for primary industries, such as forestry and agriculture.
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant asked residents of Blacktown, Canada Bay, Cumberland, Goulburn, Mulawarie, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith, Randwick, Ryde, Waverley and Woollahra to get tested if they have a fever, cough, sore throat or runny nose.
The focus there is on areas where NSW Health thinks there might be more widespread community transmission that hasn't been picked up.
"What has prompted us to nominate those areas is that we have a weekly review of cases where we haven't got identified sources, and this allows us to focus on those target areas," said Dr Chant.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiigFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9saWZlc3R5bGUvaGVhbHRoL2hlYWx0aC1wcm9ibGVtcy9jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy1hdXN0cmFsaWEtbGl2ZS11cGRhdGVzL2xpdmUtY292ZXJhZ2UvMmVkZDExYjIxNmY5NGU0NGI0YWM0YjhiNzEwYmU0MGHSAY4BaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubmV3cy5jb20uYXUvbGlmZXN0eWxlL2hlYWx0aC9oZWFsdGgtcHJvYmxlbXMvY29yb25hdmlydXMtYXVzdHJhbGlhLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy9saXZlLWNvdmVyYWdlLzJlZGQxMWIyMTZmOTRlNDRiNGFjNGI4YjcxMGJlNDBhL2FtcA?oc=5
2020-04-20 00:41:00Z
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