Summary
- The global death toll from coronavirus has passed 250,000. 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. Another carer at the aged care facility has tested positive, as a NSW Health investigation continues
- 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. Next week, legislation protecting the data it collects will be debated in Parliament
- Three Qantas flights will this week rescue more than 500 Australians stranded in India by coronavirus travel restrictions but hundreds more remain in limbo
As Ruby Princess inquiry gets underway, Carnival announces August return
The owner of the Ruby Princess ship says it plans to gradually resume cruising in North America in August, nearly five months after it halted operations because of the coronavirus.
But operations from Australian markets will be on hold through until at least August 31 and a planned sailing from Honolulu to Brisbane on October 6 has already been cancelled.
Miami-based Carnival Cruise Line is the largest brand owned by Carnival Corporation, which also owns Princess Cruises.
Princess Cruises' ship Princess Ruby has been linked to more than 20 coronavirus deaths and 600 infections across Australia after 2700 passengers were allowed to disembark in Sydney in March.
A Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess has continued this morning.
In his opening remarks, the inquiry's commissioner, barrister Bret Walker SC, said the fact that coronavirus could spread so easily on cruise ships "could have surprised nobody" given how contagious the virus is.
"These ships are very large stock they have the capacity to carry thousands of passengers and crew," he said.
"On these cruises, in close proximity to each other, people eat together, drink together, danced together and watch entertainment together. Outbreaks of gastroenteritis and influenza are not uncommon."
Mr Walker went on to say it seemed likely people in the commission had become infected with COVID-19 in the community after coming into contact with someone who contracted the disease on the ship.
with AAP
Official who compared COVID-19 to colonisation did not breach code of conduct
By Paul Sakkal
Victoria's deputy chief health officer has deleted Twitter from her work phone and been counselled on the potential for social media use to undermine community trust in the public service.
Annaliese van Diemen last week wrote a tweet comparing the consequences of James Cook's voyage to Australia to the pandemic, prompting calls for her sacking from the state Liberal opposition.
A Liberal backbencher referred her tweet to the public service watchdog, the Victorian Public Service Commission, who today detailed its investigation into the matter.
The secretary of the Department of Health, Kym Peake, found that Dr van Diemen did not breach the department's code of conduct which stipulates employees must not do anything to "adversely affect their standing as a public official or ... bring their public sector employer or the public sector into disrepute".
Ms Peake said Dr van Diemen, who wrote the tweet on her day off, was spoken to about the risks of social media use, and said the incident prompted a review of the department's social media guidelines.
"[Ms Peake] has advised that she is satisfied that Dr van Diemen is now aware of the potential risks of private social media commentary ... The risks of private use of social media when working in the public sector, and in particular when occupying a role that involves high profile public communication, have been discussed with Dr van Diemen," said the letter from the VPSC.
"In addition, Ms Peake has advised the Commission that Dr van Diemen recognises the risk of diverting attention from the critical public health messages to the community and has subsequently removed her Twitter account from her phone."
Treasurer Tim Pallas, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said he was not aware if Dr van Diemen had been counselled and said the controversy over her tweet was a distraction "not worthy of any great comment or scrutiny".
Coles axes vulnerable shopping hour as stock returns to normal
By Dominic Powell
Coles will extend the trading hours at 200 stores to help busy customers get an early morning shop in as stock levels return almost to normal across the country.
From Friday onwards, the supermarket will open doors at 6am at selected stores for all shoppers, replacing its early morning "community hour" for elderly and disadvantaged customers.
Chief operations officer Matt Swindells the change was due to stock levels in store returning to almost normal levels, reducing the need for the exclusive shopping hour.
“With supply almost back to normal for essential groceries, Coles is reopening this hour to all customers again as well as opening earlier where we can, to make shopping more convenient for everyone in the community,” he said.
The new early opening hours would be rolled out wherever state regulations allow, Mr Swindells said.
What's on the agenda at the (trans-)national cabinet today?
The national cabinet will meet twice this week to discuss the easing of coronavirus-related restrictions as the virus is brought under control in Australia.
As revealed yesterday, there is a special guest at today's meeting: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Australian PM Scott Morrison and New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen/Getty Images
With New Zealand coming out of its full lockdown last week, it seems the "trans-Tasman bubble" is set to be top of the agenda today.
A plan to resume flights between Australia and New Zealand will be discussed, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age's chief political correspondent David Crowe reports, with the option of opening travel with Pacific Islands afterwards.
Key figures in the Morrison government reportedly regard New Zealand as "family" and want to reach the agreement. However, it is unlikely to come before border controls and travel restrictions are eased between Australian states and territories.
Speaking about the national cabinet on ABC television this morning, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk stressed that the decision to reopen domestic state borders was a matter for the states and territories who had closed them.
New Zealand is Australia’s top destination for international flights, accounting for 17 per cent of the passengers coming in and out of the country last year according to the Department of Infrastructure.
Ms Ardern is also likely to want to pick Australia's brain about the COVIDSafe app, as New Zealand plans to release their own contact tracing app soon.
After today's talks, the national cabinet will meet again on Friday.
Djokovic may have broken Spanish lockdown with return to court
World No.1 Novak Djokovic may have broken confinement rules in Spain by going back to a tennis court on Monday.
Djokovic posted a video on Instagram showing him exchanging shots with another man at a tennis club in the coastal city of Marbella, where the Serb has reportedly stayed.
Spain on Monday loosened some of the lockdown measures that had been in place since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic, allowing professional athletes to return to practice, the Associated Press reports.
But sports facilities are supposed to remain closed at least until next week in most parts of the country, with the exception of training centres for teams in professional leagues in sports such as soccer.
Tracing app downloads approach five million
More than 4.9 million Australians have downloaded the COVIDSafe app, a figure approaching half the federal government's 10 million goal.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian again asked residents of her state to download the contract tracing app this morning.
"I'm someone who is very careful, I've got a lot of important people who are contacts in my phone who I wouldn't want to share with anybody, but I am very comfortable with the COVIDSafe app," she said, saying countries who have conquered the virus around the world have good contact tracing procedures.
Text messages were sent out to Australians asking them to please download the app, which uses Bluetooth technology to keep track of interactions of more than 15 minutes with other people, yesterday but concerns have abounded.
The app reportedly doesn't work on internationally purchased iPhones, and has the potential to interfere with medical devices which use Bluetooth. The federal government has also promised to release the source code for the app, although this has not yet occurred.
17 new cases in Victoria
Victoria has recorded 17 new cases of coronavirus overnight, after reporting 22 new cases on Monday morning.
The spike is largely due to an outbreak at an abattoir in Melbourne: 11 of today's cases are linked to the facility, which already had 34 cases.
Another one of the cases is in mandatory hotel quarantine, two came through drive-through testing clinics and three of the cases are under investigation, Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said this morning.
with Rachel Eddie
WATCH: Ruby Princess inquiry opening remarks
The Ruby Princess inquiry has kicked off again today, with three sessions scheduled for this week. Watch the inquiry's opening address, live.
WATCH: Victorian Treasurer announces more relief measures
Qantas staff stood down until at least end of June
By Patrick Hatch
Qantas has secured another $550 million in debt to see it through the coronavirus shutdown and will extend its widespread flight cancellations due to there being no clear sign of when travel restrictions will ease.
The fresh debt funding, secured against three Boeing 787s it owns, come on top of $1 billion raised in March and gives Qantas sufficient liquidity to survive through to December 2021 even under current trading conditions, the airline said on Tuesday.
Qantas says it was extending domestic and trans-Tasman cancellations through to the end of June and other international fights through to the end of July.Credit:Jason South
Qantas is currently flying the equivalent of about 5 per cent of its pre-pandemic domestic capacity and 1 per cent of its international capacity. The company said on Monday it was extending domestic and trans-Tasman flight cancellations through to the end of June and other international fights through to the end of July.
The company said around 25,000 of its 30,000 staff would remain stood-down until at least until the end of June.
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2020-05-05 00:33:00Z
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