The consistently low numbers have given us more “options” for easing social distancing restrictions than most other countries, according to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. 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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Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has been speaking at a media conference in Canberra. Asked whether he feels pressure to ease the coronavirus restrictions for economic reasons, he said medical advice would continue to dictate policy.
"Just a few weeks ago we were seeing an increase in the number of coronavirus cases here in Australia of more than 20 per cent a day. That has been brought down to well below 2 per cent," Mr Frydenberg said.
"When it comes to unemployment, there is no doubt we will see higher unemployment here as a result of the economic impact of the virus.
"The ABS (Bureau of Statistics) released its March numbers and they saw only a minor uptick from 5.1 to 5.2 per cent in unemployment. That was a reflection of the timing of when the ABS took that data. We expect that number, according to Treasury, to reach up to 10 per cent at its peak. But it would have been 15 per cent, but for the Jobkeeper package.
"We are doing everything we can to keep that formal connection between employer and employee. The Jobkeeper package does that, but we are also conscious that unemployment is on the rise and that is a function of the economic climate we find ourselves in."
Labor has urged the federal government to offer Virgin Australia a lifeline and help save the jobs of the airline's 16,000 workers.
"We know that having two strong airlines in Australia serves our economy well. The Morrison government needs to urgently extend a lifeline to Virgin Australia so that it can survive this crisis," said Catherine King, the party's transport and infrastructure spokeswoman.
"As we start to come out of this crisis, the economy is going to need a strong two-airline policy to ensure we are still able to connect people, not just between our cities and our regions but, again, to the world.
"I cannot understand why Scott Morrison is being so intransigent on this issue. The jobs of 16,000 people rely on this government stepping up, extending either a guaranteed line of credit or taking an equity stake in this airline to make sure that it can survive."
Let's quickly take stock.
We have yet to hear the latest figures from South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory or the ACT. But we have heard from the three largest states, and the news is overwhelmingly positive.
There have been six new cases of the virus in New South Wales in the last 24 hours, just one new case in Victoria, and none at all in Queensland. With a majority of the country reporting, then (in terms of population), that's a national increase of just seven cases.
This at a time when the global tally of cases has ticked past 2.4 million, with a death toll of over 165,000.
A rather bitter fight is brewing between Queensland and New South Wales over the latter's attempt to – in the words of the former – "steal" Virgin Australia.
The NSW government has suggested it could help the company, which is struggling financially, if it moves its headquarters from Queensland to Sydney. North of the border, they're not happy.
RELATED: Virgin Australia offered a lifeline
Queensland's State Development Minister Cameron Dick has released a scathing statement this morning.
"At a time when their jobs hang in the balance, the 1200 Queensland families who depend on those head office jobs should not have to face the threat of being forced to move to Sydney," Mr Dick said.
"At a time of crisis, we should not get into a bidding war, but if it comes down to it, other states need to know that our government will stop at nothing to win it.
"I call on state and territory governments to guarantee that they will not seek to dismember our second national carrier and they will not undermine Queensland efforts to preserve the livelihoods of the 1200 families who rely on head office jobs.
“New South Wales might want to bring a pea shooter to the fight; we will bring a bazooka and we’re not afraid to use it."
Quite the metaphor there.
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.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiigFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9saWZlc3R5bGUvaGVhbHRoL2hlYWx0aC1wcm9ibGVtcy9jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy1hdXN0cmFsaWEtbGl2ZS11cGRhdGVzL2xpdmUtY292ZXJhZ2UvMmVkZDExYjIxNmY5NGU0NGI0YWM0YjhiNzEwYmU0MGHSAY4BaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubmV3cy5jb20uYXUvbGlmZXN0eWxlL2hlYWx0aC9oZWFsdGgtcHJvYmxlbXMvY29yb25hdmlydXMtYXVzdHJhbGlhLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy9saXZlLWNvdmVyYWdlLzJlZGQxMWIyMTZmOTRlNDRiNGFjNGI4YjcxMGJlNDBhL2FtcA?oc=5
2020-04-20 02:40:19Z
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