Summary
- The global death toll from coronavirus has passed 247,000. There have been 3.5 million cases but 1.1 million recoveries, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally
- The Australian death toll stands at 96 after a death at Newmarch House in Sydney's west on Monday
- Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will join Australia's national cabinet meeting today to discuss COVID-19
- The COVIDSafe app has now been downloaded over 4.5 million times
- Three Qantas flights will this week rescue more than 500 Australians stranded in India by coronavirus travel restrictions but hundreds more remain in limbo
Leaked Trump administration figures project 3000 COVID-19 deaths a day in the US
By Matthew Knott
Washington: The Trump administration is privately projecting that up to 3000 people will soon die each day from COVID-19 - a significant increase on current figures - even as the US President urges states to quickly re-open their economies.
The leaked projections from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emerged as Donald Trump acknowledged that the total US death toll could reach 100,000 - far higher than the estimates he has cited in recent weeks.
Donald Trump, speaking at a Fox News town hall at the Lincoln Memorial, said up to 100,000 people could die from the coronavirus in the US. Credit:AP
More than a dozen US states moved to ease strict restrictions on commercial and social activity on Monday (Tuesday AEST), joining large states like Texas and Georgia that recently re-opened significant portions of their economies.
The CDC, according to a presentation obtained by The New York Times, forecasts that the US will be recording 200,000 new cases each day by the end of May - a massive increase from 25,000 cases currently.
"There remains a large number of counties whose burden continues to grow or are in an elevated incidence plateau, including in the Great Lakes region, parts of the Southeast, Northeast, and around southern California," the CDC analysis says.
Plane carrying coronavirus aid crashes in southern Somalia
A plane carrying aid supplies for use in the fight against the coronavirus crashed in Somalia's southern Bay region on Monday, killing seven people on board, a security official and the state-run news agency said.
State-run Somalia News Agency said the plane belonged to African Express Airways and was ferrying supplies for use in the fight against the novel coronavirus. It said there were six crew members on board.
"An African (Express) Airways plane from Mogadishu flew to Baidoa and then continued its flight to Bardale town where it crashed," the news agency said on its website.
"The plane crashed near Bardale airport. It was carrying medicine to prevent COVID-19. It is not clear why it crashed."
Reuters
Inquiry resumes into Ruby Princess debacle
The Ruby Princess inquiry will hear from five new witnesses, as NSW recorded just one new positive COVID-19 case.
The Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess will commence its third round on Tuesday to help uncover the grave missteps of the ill-fated cruise ship that has been linked to more than 20 coronavirus deaths and 600 infections across Australia.
The first two sittings included witness testimonies from the cruise ship's doctor Ilse Von Watzdorf and the hotel manager on board, Charles Verwall.
The hearings will run on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
A male resident at Newmarch House aged care died on Monday, taking the facility's total to 15 and the NSW death toll to 45.
A daily testing regime has been established for staff at the western Sydney nursing home to manage what is Australia's second deadliest outbreak after the Ruby Princess.
AAP
Australian investors facing $26b hit as blue chips slash dividends
By Clancy Yeates
The dividend boom that has underpinned 90 per cent of sharemarket returns over the past decade is over with moves by the nation's largest companies to slash shareholder payouts poised to deliver a $26 billion hit to Australian investors.
Westpac, which has 610,000 retail shareholders, became the latest big company to suspend its dividend yesterday as NRMA owner Insurance Australia Group warned it was unlikely to pay a dividend to its 650,000 shareholders in September.
Westpac was the latest big financial institution to suspend a decision on its dividend on Monday. Credit:
Dividend payments in Australia totalled $80 billion last financial year, research from UBS recently found. Dividends and franking credits accounted for 87 per cent of returns from the ASX 200 index over the past decade.
Plato Investment Management has predicted a fall of nearly 30 per cent in dividends this year, which would reduce payouts to millions of Australian retail investors and super funds by $26 billion. But after recent moves from banks the plunge in payments could end up being even bigger.
"The risks are pointed to the downside," Plato managing director Don Hamson said on Monday.
Record US Treasury borrowing expected in coronavirus fight
The US Treasury will announce just how much new debt, expected to hit a record amount, it must issue to finance the budget-stretching stimulus measures aimed at combating the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
With nearly $US3 trillion ($4.68 trillion) approved by Congress to aid businesses, workers, hospitals, and state and local governments, as well as for other virus-related measures, the Treasury will have to issue new securities to pay for it all.
"Even before the pandemic there was going to be some increased funding needs going forward. But now all things are out the window," said Mike Lorizio, senior fixed income trader at Manulife Investment Management in Boston.
The Treasury will announce borrowing projections at 5am AEST.
Analysts at Jefferies expect second-quarter borrowing needs to be revised up to $1.99 trillion, exceeding the most the Treasury ever borrowed for a full fiscal year: just under $1.8 trillion in 2009 due to the financial crisis.
Another $1 trillion in borrowing would be on tap for the third quarter based on Congressional Budget Office cost estimates, according to a JEF Economics report.
Lorizio said issuance should be in an "easily manageable size that can be digested by the market, with room to grow."
"Regular and predictable is what the Treasury wants to be. They don't want to disrupt the market," he added.
Reuters
After retesting samples, French hospital discovers COVID-19 case from December
Paris: A French hospital that retested old samples from pneumonia patients discovered that it treated a man who had COVID-19 as early as December 27, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.
Yves Cohen, head of resuscitation at the Avicenne and Jean Verdier hospitals in the northern suburbs of Paris, told BFM TV that scientists had retested samples from 24 patients treated in December and January who tested negative for the flu.
"Of the 24, we had one who was positive for COVID-19 on December 27," he told the news channel on Sunday.
The samples had all initially been collected to detect flu using PCR tests, the same genetic screening process that can also be used to detect the presence of the novel coronavirus in patients infected at the time the sample is collected.
Each sample was retested several times to ensure there were no errors, he added. Neither Cohen nor his team were immediately available for comment on Monday.
Reuters
GE to slash 13,000 jobs in aviation amid air travel plunge
General Electric will cut about 13,000 jobs from its jet-engine operation, in the latest sign of the devastating impact of the coronavirus outbreak on global air travel.
The reductions, going well beyond cuts announced in March, will include "voluntary and involuntary actions" affecting about 25 per cent of GE Aviation's workers worldwide, the company said Monday in a statement. The total includes a previously announced move to cut about 2600 positions in the US.
"The deep contraction of commercial aviation is unprecedented, affecting every customer worldwide," GE Aviation Chief Executive Officer David Joyce said in the statement.
"We have responded with difficult cost-cutting actions over the last two months. Unfortunately, more is required."
The job cuts, coming after GE last week reported deep financial strains in its jet-engine manufacturing division, underscore the severe impact of the pandemic on aviation and the broader economy. Planemakers Boeing and Airbus, along with airlines worldwide, have launched desperate efforts to preserve and raise cash as demand has fallen sharply.
The global airline industry is expected to reach only 60 per cent of its typical traffic by year-end, Alexandre de Juniac, CEO of the International Air Transport Association, said Monday on a French business news TV program. The trade group in mid-April estimated that the industry would lose $US314 billion ($490 billion) in ticket sales this year. In the U.S. alone, air traffic is less than 10 per cent what it was a year ago.
Bloomberg
New Australian study to investigate COVID-19 links with heart disease
By Rachel Clun
A nationwide study will investigate whether cardiovascular disease patients are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 infection.
Leading cardiologist Professor Ravinay Bhindi said early data from China and Europe suggested patients who had cardiac disease did quite badly when exposed to coronavirus.
Professor Bhindi said the study would arm medical practitioners and patients with more information about heart disease and COVID-19.Credit:Louie Douvis
But there has been no comprehensive study to confirm this. So Professor Bhindi has launched an Australian study to find out more about the risks faced by cardiac patients.
"We really need to be able to think, which members of our society are susceptible?" he said.
More than 20 hospitals around the country have agreed to take part, and Professor Bhindi hopes to involve more than 800 patients in the study.
Stamp duty, payroll tax in the firing line as states prepare for reform
By Shane Wright and Noel Towell
The states are preparing for sweeping tax reform including payroll and stamp duty relief as they attempt to grow their economies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that threatens to leave hundreds of thousands of Australians out of work.
The Victorian Labor government is set to reveal within weeks its vision of tax change with pressure coming from one of the nation's top tax experts to hold a post-coronavirus tax summit that would act as a blueprint to grow the post-pandemic economy.
Experts believe cutting stamp duties could reduce house construction costs and enable people to move to more suitable homes more easily.Credit:Virginia Star
Victoria would join with NSW in leading the states to find ways to lift economic growth while overhauling a string of taxes critics argue are inefficient and complex.
The federal government and the states have been told by Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe they need to embrace reforms to get the economy growing fast enough to help drive down an unemployment rate expected to reach 10 per cent by June.
On Monday, the ANZ's closely watched measure of job advertisements showed a record 53 per cent collapse in ads through April. The previous record one-month drop was 11 per cent fall recorded in January 2009.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet at the weekend said there was no better time to rid the states of inefficient taxes such as stamp duty and payroll taxes.
In Victoria, Treasurer Tim Pallas is working on a package with reforms to the state's two biggest revenue earners, payroll tax and stamp duty, under active consideration as part of a wider potential reform package.
France rejects Amazon's request for unemployment schemes at six sites
The French government has rejected a request by Amazon to tap a state partial unemployment scheme for employees at its six warehouses in the country, a spokeswoman for the labour ministry said on Monday.
The e-commerce giant has shut its six French warehouses, which employ about 10,000 people on permanent and interim contracts, since April 16 after court rulings ordered it to limit deliveries to a list of essential goods during the coronavirus pandemic or face fines.
The French government has rejected the shopping giant's request for relief. Credit:AP
Amazon extended the closure of all six sites until Tuesday and is slated to give an update on the current situation soon.
The group has said the latest French court ruling, which restricts deliveries to IT products, health items, food and pet food could lead to penalties of up to €1 billion ($1.7 billion) per week, compelling it to shut down the sites.
Unions have brushed off Amazon's arguments, saying the company was playing hardball with them by taking an all-or-nothing approach that impedes the start of proper negotiations.
The legal standoff followed a complaint filed by hardline union SUD, which said Amazon did not do enough to protect employees from COVID-19 contagion.
"We're in contact with the authorities to keep them informed of the situation at our sites (following the ruling)," Amazon said in a statement.
"In this context, we've also requested the use of the partial activity system, as other companies have been able to benefit from it," it said. A spokeswoman also confirmed the request was rejected.
Reuters
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2020-05-04 18:34:00Z
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