Coronavirus updates LIVE: Global COVID-19 cases surpass 6.7 million as Australian death toll stands at 102 - The Sydney Morning Herald

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Summary

• The NSW Supreme Court ruled that Saturday's Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney should not go ahead, although large crowds may ignore the order. There are also rallies planned for Queensland. 
• Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton urged Victorians not to attend a rally planned for Melbourne on Saturday. Organisers urged protesters to take face masks and hand sanitiser, and said community safety was paramount.
• Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt warned the rallies could endanger the lives of Indigenous people if coronavirus was taken back to remote communities. Indigenous health leader Pat Turner rejected this, saying to protesters the pandemic wasn’t a reason to stop people exercising their political rights.
• Queensland restaurants, cafes, pubs and clubs can now open to more than 20 customers if they have an approved COVID plan. 
• The global death toll from coronavirus has passed 393,709 and there are more than 6.7 million known cases of infection, according to Johns Hopkins University 

Latest updates

The big takeaway: food wins from the pandemic

By Jill Dupleix and Dani Valent

Oysters delivered to your door, online tutorials from the world’s top chefs, happy hour whenever you choose.

Illustrations by Simon Letch.Credit:Illustrations by Simon Letch.

The pandemic has been catastrophic for our hospitality sector, but for some players – and many of us – there have been bite-sized upsides to the lockdown.

Read more here. 

Photos of the week

As restrictions begin to ease around the country, the award-winning Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Financial Review photographers have documented the change.

Check out the full gallery and follow their works on Twitter @photosSMH and @theage_photo. 

Owner and Director of Flow Athletic, Benjamin Lucas, is preparing to re-open June 13 when coronavirus restrictions are eased. Credit:Rhett Wyman

Artist Ramesh Nithiyendran talks about how the arts sector has been hit by COVID-19.Credit:Kate Geraghty

The director of The Art Gallery of NSW Michael Brand, opening the doors after three months of closure due to the COVID-19 lockdown.Credit:James Brickwood

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Brazil threatens to pull out of WHO

President Jair Bolsonaro threatened to pull Brazil out of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday unless it stops being a "partisan political organisation."

In comments to journalists broadcast on CNN Brasil, Bolsonaro also said hydroxychloroquine "is back" after "sham" studies regarding its efficacy were retracted.

Bolsonaro has touted the drug as a treatment for the novel coronavirus despite a lack of scientific evidence about its effectiveness.

Reuters

China advises public to avoid travel to Australia

China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism has advised the public to avoid travelling to Australia, citing racial discrimination and violence against Chinese people in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.

"There has been an alarming increase recently in acts of racial discrimination and violence against Chinese and Asians in Australia, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," the ministry said in a statement on Friday evening.

It did not give any specific examples of such discrimination or violence.

Asians of various backgrounds have said they have been harassed since the outbreak of the coronavirus, including in the United States.

China issued a warning to tourists travelling to the US earlier this year after some said they were mistreated in connection with the outbreak.

Read more here. 

Reuters

From degustation to delivering lasagnes: how Ben Shewry crash-tackled a crisis

By Michael Harry

Ben Shewry’s 43rd birthday was the worst day of his life. It was March 15, a Sunday, and the COVID-19 pandemic was tightening its grip on the nation. If the widespread rumours were true, the chef’s agenda-setting restaurant, Attica, would be forced to close its doors to customers within days.

The staff room of Attica 2.0 has gone from hosting the world’s most devoted foodies to delivering lasagnes, selling elaborate cakes and any number of other wild new schemes Ben Shewry can think of.Credit:Kristoffer Paulsen

The fine diner, which sits alongside a coin laundromat and a kosher caterer on a quaintly untrendy shopping strip in Melbourne’s south-east, had spent more than a decade winning accolades for its wildly inventive food, from three hats in The Good Food Guide to a spot on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

The mandatory $310-a-person tasting menu traversed a landscape of native Australian ingredients – a deliciously familiar Vegemite scroll spiked with miso and black garlic; a possum sausage sandwich; crocodile ribs – and bookings for the 62-head venue were routinely snapped up three months in advance.

But now the lights were going out.

Read more here. 

Australia could be poised for boom in Hollywood production, says Ausfilm boss

Australia could be poised for a boom in foreign film production, with Ausfilm boss Kate Marks saying the agency has "over $900 million worth of real enquiries out there at the moment" from 18 Hollywood-backed features and TV series looking to shoot here.

Ms Marks says the agency has only a narrow window in which to convert at least some of those enquiries into firm commitments, but to do so it needs an urgent top-up to the Location Incentive fund established in 2018 and set to run until 2023, with all but $18 million of its $140 million already allocated.

Ausfilm CEO Kate Marks at Fox Studios in Sydney.Credit:Edwina Pickles

"The location fund has been really successful, but once it runs out the projects run out," she says.

The Morrison government is expected to make an announcement on assistance to the screen industry soon, though what is in it is being closely guarded.

Read more here. 

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'This is not how science works': setback in COVID-19 treatment search

By Kate Aubusson

Trump calls for US shift in virus strategy

US President Donald Trump has called for a shift in strategy against the coronavirus pandemic to focus resources on protecting "high-risk populations" as he pushes for a total end to stay-at-home orders in states throughout the country.

"The best strategy to ensure the health of our people moving forward is to focus our resources on protecting high-risk populations, like the elderly and those in nursing homes, while allowing younger and healthy Americans to get back to work immediately," Trump said in remarks at the White House Rose Garden on Friday.

More than 108,000 people have died and more than 1.8 million have been sickened in the United States in the pandemic.

Reuters

Today's front pages

The front page of The Sydney Morning Herald.

Here's what's on the front pages of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age today.

• Australia's top universities are gearing up for the sector's biggest overhaul in decades, with the risks posed to research by plunging overseas student income driving them to consider industry-wide reforms such as mergers and specialist universities, write Jordon Baker and Anna Patty. It comes as NSW agreed to guarantee $750 million in loans to help the state's universities recover from the COVID crisis, but said they would be conditional on universities making their operations more sustainable.

• Sydney Aboriginal leaders say nothing will stop them marching in a Black Lives Matter protest despite it being deemed unlawful by the courts after a last-minute move by police to block the rally over fears of coronavirus transmission.

• 

  The Age's front page on Saturday.

  Organisers of an anti-racism rally that could see 20,000 protesters gather in Melbourne's CBD on Saturday have defied authorities' pleas for them to call it off, slamming a NSW court decision refusing permission for a similar protest in Sydney as "appalling", report Tom Cowie, Simone Fox Koob and Dana McCauley. Police have warned organisers of the Black Lives Matter rally they could each face individual fines of more than $1600 for breaching coronavirus restrictions on gatherings of large groups if they proceed with Saturday's protest.

Happy campers: Outdoor industry heats up as Victorians plan winter escapes

By Lisa Favazzo

Operators across the outdoor adventure and camping industry are taking a deep sigh of relief as COVID-19 restrictions ease.

It's going to be frosty this Queen's Birthday long weekend, but that won't stop nature lovers from escaping the city after months stuck inside.

Peter Signorini and wife Margaret with their son Matt preparing for a bike trip this long weekend.Credit:Eddie Jim

Avid outdoorsman and Melbourne Bicycle Touring Club committee member Peter Signorini will be braving the elements this weekend.

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices," he said.

Read more here. 

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2020-06-05 23:45:00Z
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