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Summary
- The global death toll from coronavirus has passed 343,000. There are more than 5.3 million known cases of infection but more than 2.1 million people have recovered, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally
- In Australia, the death toll stands at 102 and there have been a total of 7106 cases. The ACT, South Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania have not reported a new case for more than a week
- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has defended his most powerful adviser, Dominic Cummings, insisting he will remain in his role despite allegations he breached Britain's lockdown laws
- The Morrison government is being urged to overhaul its JobKeeper program to focus on jobs in the tourism and recreation sectors when the wage subsidy scheme ends as questions grow over how Treasury overestimated its cost by $60 billion. However, the Treasurer and Finance Minister have both said no major changes are planned
- Children in NSW and Queensland will return to school full-time today, after more than two months of remote learning. The ACT and Tasmania will begin a part-time return to classrooms today, with Victoria following suit tomorrow
Latest updates
'I think being back will help': Year 12s glad for classroom return
By Natassia Chrysanthos
It took one hour and 20 minutes by bus, train and light rail for year 12 student Ozan Akarsu to arrive at Sydney Boys High School from his home in Rydalmere on Monday morning.
But the 17-year-old was excitedly greeting friends on the final walk to school, as he and thousands of students arrived on-site after almost nine weeks of remote learning.
Sydney Boys High School students Sean Montalbo and Ozan Akarsu return to school after the coronavirus lockdown.Credit:Rhett Wyman
He and classmate Sean Montalbo said their public transport journeys had “way more” than the stipulated numbers of people on-board.
“It was pretty packed, it’s kind of hard to actively social distance,” Ozan said. “But it was mostly dominated by school students.”
The students were not concerned about the risk of coronavirus transmission in returning to school and public transport, and were mostly glad to be back in routine ahead of exams in three weeks’ time.
Sydney Boys High School students Joshua Lau, Nirosh Prabaharan, Dawon Kim and Doowon Kim return to school after the coronavirus lockdown. Credit:Rhett Wyman
“At this point I’m just looking forward to finishing year 12,” he said.
“I’m really stressed at the moment, I think being back will help.”
Sean said seeing friends would help all their mental health during a stressful period.
“I’ve missed human interaction, that’s the biggest thing,” he said.
'Catalytic impact': end of hardship measures could trigger collapse
By Matt Wade
Hardship assistance given to mortgage holders who have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic has bolstered consumer spending, but the withdrawal of private-sector support to households threatens to hit the economy later this year.
A real-time spending tracker shows discretionary purchases by borrowers who have deferred mortgage repayments during the pandemic have been little different from those who have not deferred payments.
Earlier this month, the Australian Banking Association said 429,900 mortgages had been deferred, totalling $153.5 billion. Hundreds of thousands of households are also receiving relief from rental payments and bills from utilities such as phone and electricity.
Americans celebrate holiday weekend as 100,000 death toll looms
Americans have sunbathed on beaches, fished from boats and strolled on boardwalks during the holiday weekend but people wearing masks has been a constant reminder the world is still battling the coronavirus pandemic.
The Memorial Day weekend that signals the start of the US summer is usually a time when cemeteries across the nation fill with American flags and ceremonies to remember those who died in US wars. This year the holiday week is when the US death from COVID-19 is expected to exceed 100,000.
The New York Times filled its entire front page with the names and selected details of 1,000 victims on Sunday to try to capture the humanity of the lives lost.
"We were trying to capture that personal toll," Marc Lacey, the newspaper's national editor, told Reuters. "We were trying to humanise these numbers which keep growing and have reached such unfathomable heights that they're really hard to grasp any more ... This is about everyday people. It's about a death toll, reaching a number that's really just jaw-dropping."
Reuters
ANZ to move one third of employees back to offices
By Rachel Eddie
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott says the bank is planning to have about one-third of employees in their office buildings at any one time as the lockdowns start to loosen.
"We want people back in the office," he told radio station 3AW.
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott says the bank is planning to have about one-third of employees in their office buildings at any one time as the lockdowns start to loosen.Credit:Peter Braig
Mr Elliott said the focus was on how to do that safely, including staggering work hours.
About 90 of the bank's branches are closed around the country, out of 560, largely because customers are staying home.
Employees from those branches have been redeployed to handle hardship calls for customers needing loan deferrals.
Mr Elliott said those staff could be brought back to branches if that's where the demand is.
"It really depends on our customer activity."
What should we call the greatest economic crisis in history?
Sydney's public transport use at a quarter of normal levels
By Tom Rabe
Sydney CBD commuters look to have heeded the governments warnings about travelling on public transport, with some of the city’s busiest stations appearing to operate at relatively low capacity on Monday morning.
While students filled up parts of Bondi Junction station, there was little crowding at Town Hall and Wynyard.
Commuters at St James station in Sydney this morning.Credit:Kate Geraghty
The number of commuters on public transport across the state was down almost 75 per cent on Monday morning compared to this time last year, according to the government.
The city’s new light rail appeared to be running at extremely low capacity while buses arriving at Wynyard Station on York Street weren’t overcrowded.
While physical distancing at city stations appeared to be adhered to, real-time transport data website Anytrip estimated close to 200 buses across Sydney were running past capacity.
Much of the crowding was concentrated in Sydney’s south-west, according to the website.
Two new cases in Victoria
By Rachel Eddie
Two people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Victoria overnight, the state's government has revealed.
Both of the patients are returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
A total of 432,000 people have been tested in the state since January.
Planning Minister Richard Wynne is providing an update at the moment. We'll have more news from that press conference shortly.
Earlier, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth said there were just three new coronavirus cases recorded across the country overnight.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the two extra cases means there are now 1605 patients in Victoria.
Health authorities have identified 180 cases as being community transmission, with no known source of infection, with no change since yesterday's numbers.
Eight people are in hospital in Victoria, including three in ICU.
A total of 1520 people have recovered.
Health authorities are still pushing for more people to be tested, after almost 432,000 tests around the state.
"Our message: even if you have mild symptoms, get tested," Ms Mikakos said.
UK reviews Huawei decision after flagging foreign investment rules
By Latika Bourke
The UK has launched a new review into using Huawei in Britain's 5G networks, ahead of a Tory revolt over Prime Minister Boris Johnson's green-light for the China-based vendor.
Johnson's review comes just days after the Prime Minister flagged tougher foreign investment rules in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which began in Wuhan, China.
A spokesperson for the UK government said: "the security and resilience of our networks is of paramount importance."
"Following the US announcement of additional sanctions against Huawei, the National Cyber Security Centre is looking carefully at any impact they could have to the UK's networks," the spokesman said.
'Data cleanse' sees Queensland case total drop by five
By Lydia Lynch
There were no new cases of COVID-19 detected in Queensland overnight.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the state’s total had actually been revised down by five cases overnight, following data cleansing.
Queensland has recorded 1056 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the end of January.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was “very happy” with the state’s ability to keep infection rates low while restrictions continue to ease.
Australia's state borders should open before trans-Tasman bubble: NZ PM
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she expects to see Australian state borders re-open before the establishment of a trans-Tasman bubble.
On Monday, this masthead reported that NSW and Victoria may be open to the trans-Tasman bubble before other states due to internal border regimes.
However, Ms Ardern has scotched that idea, saying "it matters" whether New Zealanders are able to move around Australia freely.
"The states haven't opened up to each other yet," she told Radio New Zealand.
"Obviously I would expect to see some of those issues resolved before we'd see them necessarily opening up to New Zealand and you can understand why.
"People want to be able to travel internally in Australia before they'd expect to be able to come across the ditch."
Speaking later on 1News, she softened her language, saying the "most likely sequencing" is state borders opening up first.
"I imagine they'll want to see those issues resolved around their domestic border, most likely first, that's my expectation," she said.
Four Australian states and the Northern Territory have slapped restrictions on movement into their jurisdictions.
Western Australia has shut its borders, with only select exemptions available for would-be visitors.
South Australia and Tasmania requires travellers to quarantine, while Northern Territory requires arrivals to undertake and pay for their own quarantine.
Arrivals to Queensland need a 'Queensland Entry Pass'.
While those border controls may take some time to relax, Ms Ardern said work on the trans-Tasman bubble was continuing at a bureaucratic level.
"We have officials working on the practicalities of what on the ground, what managing the border, a trans-Tasman bubble would look like and how it would work in practice," she said.
Ms Ardern also confirmed the trans-Tasman safe zone would need to be established before growing it to include neighbouring Pacific nations that have interest.
AAP
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2020-05-25 00:21:00Z
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