Summary
- A man in his 80s has died of coronavirus in Victoria. His death takes the statewide toll to 20 and the nationwide toll to 103.
- A total of 20 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Victoria, marking the eighth straight day of double-digit increases. Ten new cases have been confirmed in New South Wales, all of them in returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
- Victoria's state government has announced it will be publishing a list of the Melbourne suburbs that are coronavirus hotspots.
- NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has reiterated her advice for people to "rethink any travel to Melbourne whatsoever", although she says it is unlikely her state will close its borders.
- Tennis world number one Novak Djokovic and his wife have tested positive for coronavirus.
Summary of today's main coronavirus news updates
It's about midday and the blog has been live for four hours, so now seems like a good time to summarise the key updates from this morning:
- A man in his 80s has died of coronavirus in Victoria, bringing the state's death toll from the virus to 20. Nationwide there have been 103 deaths from coronavirus since the start of the outbreak.
- A total of 30 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed nationwide today: 20 in Victoria and 10 in New South Wales.
- Of the 20 new cases in Victoria, seven are linked to known outbreaks, one is an overseas traveller in hotel quarantine, nine were detected through routine testing (which means the source of the infection is not yet apparent) and three are currently under investigation.
- All 10 of the new cases in New South Wales are returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
- No new coronavirus cases have been recorded in Queensland for the seventh day in a row.
- This afternoon, Victoria's Health Department will be publishing a list of Melbourne suburbs that have experienced an increase in coronavirus cases in recent days. Six local government areas - Hume, Brimbank, Moreland, Darebin, Casey and Cardinia - have been identified as coronavirus hotspots.
- NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has reiterated her advice for people to "rethink any travel to Melbourne whatsoever", although she says it is unlikely her state will close its borders.
- Health Minister Greg Hunt has said he believes large anti-racism protests held in Australian cities two weeks ago led to a relaxation of community attitudes towards social distancing, which is to blame for the recent spike in cases.
- Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said this morning that so far the COVIDSafe app had not identified anyone that contact tracers hadn’t already uncovered through the manual process.
- Tennis world number one Novak Djokovic and his wife have tested positive for coronavirus.
Latest updates
COVIDSafe app hasn’t assisted Victoria yet
By Ben Grubb and Michael Fowler
It’s been almost two months since the federal government released its COVIDSafe contact-tracing app. Likened to “sunscreen” by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the app cost $2 million to make and has attracted more than 6 million downloads.
So how is it fairing in identifying potential contacts of those confirmed to have been infected with coronavirus?
Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said this morning that so far the app had not identified anyone who contact tracers hadn’t already uncovered through the manual process.
“We haven’t had cases that have already been identified through our routine picking up the phone contact tracing,” Professor Sutton said, noting that there had been 30 cases out of Victoria’s 1884 coronavirus cases where the app’s data had been downloaded by contact tracers.
“But as we go to a more movement of people and, you know, an opening up and a lessening of restrictions, the app will be more and more important.”
Professor Sutton attributed not needing the app in cases so far to people’s good memory in identifying close contacts.
“Our contact tracers go through a really thorough process,” he said. “In a sense it’s encouraging that people who are identifying their contacts can remember everyone that they have been in contact with for 15 minutes or more.
“I think it’s also a sign that almost all of the close contacts, if not all of the close contacts, are those people who are known in the network of cases - people who are the household contacts, the extended family contacts, close friends.
“So they know their contact details, they know their names. It’s not about walking past someone or standing in line with someone who you haven’t had an existing relationship with.”
Protests led to a relaxation of attitudes: Health Minister Greg Hunt
By Mary Ward
Health Minister Greg Hunt has said he believes large anti-racism protests held in Australian cities two weeks ago led to a relaxation of community attitudes towards social distancing, which is to blame for the recent spike in cases.
Melbourne recorded another 20 cases today, 19 of which were locally acquired.
"Many Australians have said, 'Gosh, if it's okay for 10,000 people to congregate and huddled together, surely it would be okay for 10 in my family,'" Mr Hunt said.
"And the message is it was never okay for that protests to have gone ahead, not because of the subject matter – noble, powerful, important – but because of the fact that two and a half weeks later, we have had an outbreak in Victoria."
Protesters at the Black Lives Matter rally in Melbourne on June 6.Credit:Chris Hopkins
There have been four coronavirus cases diagnosed in people who attended the Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne, although none are understood to have contracted the virus at the protest.
Instead, the Andrews government has been attributing the spike in Melbourne cases to large family gatherings.
Asked if the federal government had failed to adequately communicate coronavirus safety information to families who do not speak English, Mr Hunt denied such a suggestion.
He said federal government consultants had been involved with more than 4000 consultations with migrant communities "in different shapes and forms", produced fact sheets in 63 languages which had attracted more than 850,000 page views on their website.
"Every day, on every front we are working harder. We're encouraging the Victorian government to do more on the ground [and] we're offering our support, but ... we have been a world leader."
Melbourne's quarantine hotels to get more health workers as new virus cases emerge
By Clay Lucas and Chloe Booker
Hotels quarantining returned travellers in Melbourne will be allocated more healthcare workers after a series of coronavirus infections among security guards and hotel staff.
A bag left in a corridor at the Rydges on Swanston marked "infectious waste".
It follows outbreaks at two hotels – the Stamford Plaza in Little Collins Street and the Rydges on Swanston in Carlton.
One security guard who worked at the Rydges hotel, Sebastian Porter, said he had not been properly briefed on hygiene protocols when first asked to work at the site.
The security firm that employed him disputed his claims, but Mr Porter's concerns mirror those raised by another guard who worked at the hotel, Andrew Buntine, who said last week that hygiene protocols were not clear and some staff were poorly briefed.
Victoria the exception to Australia's 'stable state': Health Minister Greg Hunt
Health Minister Greg Hunt has said Australia is "as well prepared as any nation in the world" to continue to stop the spread of coronavirus, although Melburnians must be diligent in light of Victoria's recent spike in cases.
"We are facing a challenge here in Melbourne," he told reporters on Wednesday.
"Whilst in seven states and territories we have largely achieved a very stable state, at the moment, there is a spike."
Health Minister Greg HuntCredit:Alex Ellinghausen
Mr Hunt warned the cases "could spike further", encouraging all Australians to come forward for testing, maintain social distancing and download the COVIDSafe app.
Ten new cases in NSW, all in hotel quarantine
By Mary Ward
New South Wales has recorded 10 new coronavirus cases overnight, all in overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
The total number of cases recorded in NSW since the start of the pandemic is now 3159, after one previously confirmed case was excluded following further testing.
There have been 2771 recoveries in the state.
Nationwide there have been 30 new cases recorded today, 20 in Victoria and 10 in New South Wales. Queensland has recorded its seventh straight day of no new cases.
Victoria's Chief Health Officer urges caution on holiday plans
By Rachael Dexter
Victoria's Chief Health Officer has again tried to clarify confusion about whether people from Melbourne's current coronavirus hotspots are allowed to travel to go on holidays outside of their area.
There has been contradictory messaging coming from the state and federal governments this week after the country's principal health committee released guidelines on Sunday night strongly advising anyone from six affected areas from travelling out of those municipalities for unnecessary reasons.
National Chief Heath Medical Officer Brendan Murphy and Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt have on numerous occasions said Melburnians in Hume, Casey, Brimbank, Moreland, Cardinia and Darebin should not travel to country Victoria areas or interstate.
But the Victorian government's messaging has been somewhat softer, with Professor Brett Sutton again re-iterating in this morning that travel was okay as long as people are symptom-free and cautious.
"Going out of town is okay, again I would emphasise if you're unwell you shouldn't be going anywhere, you should be at home getting your test, getting a result," he said.
"But especially for families who want to leave Melbourne, that's okay. It is less of a risk if they are going from a residential setting in Melbourne to a holiday home as a family."
"But if you're mixing with people you don't normally see, multiple families, multiple groups of friends, that's something I think people need to reconsider," he said.
"You can have very mild symptoms, you can have kids who are asymptomatic or others who are not symptomatic who can still transmit."
Professor Sutton did urge those who haven't yet made plans or made down-payments on accommodation to "reflect" on their holiday plans.
"If they're meeting with multiple new friends, new acquaintances then they should reflect on that and they should think about alternative plans and it might just be going away with family."
As yet there are no legally enforceable restrictions on anyone from Victoria travelling.
Watch live: Press conference with Health Minister Greg Hunt
A press conference with Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt is about to get underway at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne to talk about the federal government's investment in medical research.
The event has concluded so I have removed the video.
'Absolutely no need' for panic buying: Victorian Chief Health Officer
By Rachael Dexter
Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has urged people to remain calm and not to begin panic buying again, after reports over the past day that some areas have seen a high demand in items such as toilet paper.
"There's absolutely no need for it," he said.
"We've got a small and steady, but very concerning, number of cases over the last week, so people can go about their shopping as per normal."
Infection rate in Victoria expected to lower over coming days: state's Chief Health Officer
By Rachael Dexter
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos revealed on radio this morning that this week the state's reproduction number for coronavirus infections was at 2.5 - similar to during the peak in March. That means an infected person is passing on the virus to 2.5 more people on average.
But Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says he expects the state’s reproduction number to go down over the coming days.
“The reproduction number... is something we want to keep below one,” Professor Sutton said.
Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton.Credit:Getty Images
“When it's below one, one case on average transmits to fewer than one case and numbers continue to drop over time and we can get to zero. When it's at two, it means that the active cases that we have are doubling with each generation."
"We have seen the community transmission numbers go from single figures to above 10. So it's no surprise that the - that the [reproduction number] is at two or above," he said.
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2020-06-24 02:01:00Z
CBMimQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zbWguY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXVwZGF0ZXMtbGl2ZS1ub3Zhay1kam9rb3ZpYy10ZXN0cy1wb3NpdGl2ZS1mb3ItY292aWQtMTktd29ybGR3aWRlLWNhc2VzLXBhc3MtOS0xLW1pbGxpb24tMjAyMDA2MjQtcDU1NWowLmh0bWzSAQA
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