Summary
- The global death toll from coronavirus is more than 256,000 people. There have been 3.65 million confirmed cases and almost 1.2 million people have recovered, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally
- The Australian death toll stands at 97 after another death at Newmarch House in Sydney's west on Tuesday
- Scott Morrison has written to G20 leaders to ramp up his calls for an independent review into the origins of the coronavirus
- The COVIDSafe app has now been downloaded nearly 5 million times. Next week, legislation protecting the data it collects will be debated in Parliament
- Almost one million jobs have disappeared from Australia since the advent of tough social distancing measures aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus, data has revealed
Myer to start reopening stores on Friday
Department store Myer will open the doors to five of its Queensland stores in a trial it hopes could lead to openings in other states.
The retail giant closed all of its stores and stood down about 10,000 staff without pay on March 29 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Its online services remained open.
Stores at Chermside, Carindale, North Lakes, Townsville and Toowoomba will open from Friday.
Cleaning in store will be increased, while hand sanitiser, faces masks and gloves will be available to staff, sneeze guards installed at registers and social distancing signposted.
However, beauty appointments, intimate apparel, suit and shoe fittings will remain suspended.
"Our priority continues to be the health and wellbeing of our customers and team members and to assist and support governments in limiting the spread of COVID-19," a Myer spokesperson said.
AAP
Welfare queue 'longer than necessary' because of JobKeeper restrictions: Labor
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said unemployment queues are "longer than necessary" because of restrictions on JobKeeper eligibility.
Addressing the media this morning, Mr Chalmers accused federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg of "refusing to include deserving workers" in the wage subsidy scheme, the first payments of which will be received by employers this week.
Casuals who have not been with the one employer for a 12-month period are ineligible for the $1500 (pre-tax) fortnightly payment, as are temporary visa holders.
"JobKeeper has the capacity to do remarkable things for millions of Australian workers but too many of them have been left out and left behind by the government's decision to exclude casuals and other workers," Mr Chalmers said, adding that he believed poor communication had lead to confusion about the scheme.
Roughly 4.7 million Australians will begin to receive JobKeeper payments this week, lower than the six million the federal government initially budgeted for.
Victorian restrictions to be eased after national cabinet: health chief
By Paul Sakkal
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer says there will definitely be some easing of restrictions following a national cabinet meeting on Friday, adding he is considering the case to reopen schools.
Dr Brett Sutton said the state’s testing blitz showed the rate of community transmission was very low, and he is therefore comfortable lifting some of the stricter measures.
“There’ll be some easing, I have no doubt,” he said.
“Exactly what and how much and the timing will be determined.”
Dr Sutton, who has maintained a policy to not reopen schools until term three, said he was “always thinking about schools” and reviewing his advice to government on when to reopen them to the broader student cohort, not just children of essential workers.
He said he would not preempt the findings of the state's two-week testing blitz, which he said would inform his thinking on schools.
Mr Sutton also said fines would likely still be in place when some of the lockdown restrictions are eased, but they would focus on wanton acts of disobedience rather than petty misdemeanours.
Illawarra GP tests positive with no known source
A GP in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven area is among NSW's nine new cases announced this morning.
The 52-year-old woman did not work while infectious, and investigations are underway.
She is one of five new cases reported in NSW today which do not have a known source.
In Victoria, six of the 17 new cases announced this morning also remain under investigation.
Questioning of official at Ruby Princess inquiry was 'out of line': PM
By Max Koslowski
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said the Ruby Princess inquiry commissioner overstepped by aggressively questioning a NSW Health official over the cruise ship docking that has been linked to more than 650 COVID-19 cases and 21 deaths.
Mr Morrison said commissioner Bret Walker SC got the balance wrong after his line of questioning reduced senior epidemiologist Kelly-Anne Ressler to tears.
“I found that a bit out of line,” the Prime Minister said on 2GB this morning.
“And I think to see her reduced to that under the aggressive line of questioning, you’ve got to get the balance right on this one and I hope Mr Walker would reflect on that.”
Mr Morrison said public servants should receive more praise for their hard work during the coronavirus period, and that the Australians public should allow more room for honest mistakes.
“[Public servants] have been working day and night for months and months and months,” he said.
“They’re not perfect, they’re not going to get it right every single time.
"I thank her for the great job she’s been trying to do."
Ms Ressler broke down amid Mr Walker’s questioning at the inquiry yesterday, saying: “We did what we could. And if we could do it again, it would be very different. It was not our intent. Myself and my colleagues in the public health unit are working very hard on this."
JB Hi-Fi one of few retail winners in lockdown
By Dominic Powell
Electronics and hardware giant JB Hi-Fi has ended the third quarter of its financial year with a bumper sales result thanks to an unprecedented number of Australians working from home.
JB Hi-Fi told investors on Wednesday comparable sales at its Australian stores for the three months through March climbed 11.3 per cent, one of its highest-ever comparable growth figures for a single quarter.
JB Hi-Fi has reported a bumper sales result for the third quarter of the financial year.Credit:Justin McManus
Launceston hospital worker among new Tasmanian cases
A healthcare worker at Launceston General Hospital is among two new cases recorded overnight in Tasmania.
Addressing the media this morning, Tasmanian Health Minister Sarah Courtney said the worker had not been at work for almost a fortnight and a potential close contact who also worked at the hospital was being tested.
The other positive case was recorded in the state's north-west region, which has come out of lockdown this week after an outbreak of the virus accounting for two-thirds of Tasmania's cases was brought under control.
"We had said before that it wasn't going to be unexpected if we got further cases and, while it is always hopeful that we won't, we'll need to be mindful that this disease does exist in Tasmania," Ms Courtney said this morning.
The Tasmanian Parliament will be sitting today and tomorrow to pass legislation regarding commercial tenants and landlords in line with the code agreed upon by national cabinet.
On Friday, Premier Peter Gutwein will be announcing a "road map" for the state to ease restrictions.
Victoria to pay JobKeeper-style payment to laid-off public servants
By Paul Sakkal
The Victorian government will provide a $1500 JobKeeper-style payment to public service casual workers who lost their job due to the pandemic.
Treasurer Tim Pallas announced an “urgent” industrial relations taskforce had been convened by the government to support regular casual and contract workers who had lost their jobs and to redeploy workers into sections of the public service, like healthcare, where demand was high.
The $1500 payment will be provided to about 3000 laid-off workers, many of whom worked in public sector agencies in the sporting and cultural sectors.
The payments will be backdated from April 27 and extend until September.
Workers, including swimming instructors and museum staff, would not need to be an Australian citizen to qualify.
Council workers will not be eligible and Mr Pallas said councils would be judged by their constituents on how council workers were treated during the pandemic.
The industrial relations taskforce, involving unions and government, will work to quickly redeploy workers into areas of the public service seeking surge capacity.
No new cases in Queensland, only 52 have the virus
By Lydia Lynch
There were no new cases of COVID-19 detected in Queensland overnight after 2457 tests were conducted.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said just 52 cases in the state are “active”: there have been 1043 people infected since January and 985 of those have since recovered.
There are nine people in Queensland hospitals, four of those are in intensive care.
All of the hospitalised COVID-19 patients are on the Gold Coast or in Brisbane.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said more restrictions will be lifted in the state if numbers stay low.
17 more cases in Victoria
By Paul Sakkal
A further 17 cases were confirmed in Victoria over the past 24 hours, including two cases of community transmission, with four additional cases linked to the Cedar Meats cluster.
Seven of the new cases are returned travellers in mandatory isolation and six remain under investigation.
No new deaths occurred and eight people are being treated in hospital, six of whom are in intensive care.
The four new cases linked to the western suburbs meatworks take the total number linked to the cluster to 49.
About 162,000 tests have been completed in the state, 10,000 more than yesterday.
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2020-05-06 00:42:00Z
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