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Punk gigs with table service? Bands face bizarre return to live music
By Robert Moran
For a snapshot of the bizarre moment live music faces as coronavirus restrictions ease, consider this: on Friday, Sydney punk veterans the Hard-Ons played to an audience of 50 politely seated, socially-distanced diners at Chippendale's The Lansdowne.
For a band that's performed mostly to slamdancing teens and ageing pogo-ers across its near 40-year history, it was an amusing prospect.
"We haven't played to a seated crowd since the early '80s and that was when we were a high school band playing to our parents' friends," bass player Ray Ahn laughs. "But it doesn't matter, we just want to play."
Punk legends the Hard-Ons (from left) Murray Ruse, Ray Ahn, Peter Black and Keish de Silva.Credit: Supplied
The slow easing of coronavirus restrictions for venues such as pubs, clubs and small bars has created an odd, if necessary, landscape for live entertainment. In NSW, in order to host live gigs venues need to adhere to the "one person per four square metre rule" and all patrons have to be seated, with any food and alcohol provided via table service.
Similarly, social media lit up this week after it was announced that reopened nightclubs in Queensland would require patrons to remain seated and refrain from dancing.
"I hope no one hurts themselves toe tappin'," quipped one Twitter user.
British PM's father defends trip to Greece despite COVID-19 advisory
London: The father of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday defended his decision to fly to Greece even though at that time the government advice was for UK nationals to avoid all but essential international travel.
Greek government officials confirmed on Thursday that Stanley Johnson had arrived, likely via Bulgaria, in the northern region of Pelion, where he has a holiday home.
Johnson told reporters he was on a business trip.
"I don't know what the reaction of the British public (has been), I came here to have a quiet time to organise the house," he said in comments to local reporters carried by Sky News, referring to measures to make the property COVID-19 secure for lettings.
"I've just got one week to get everything organised. I've got a whole lot of instructions about how to make the place COVID-proof," he said, noting he planned to return to the UK on July 10.
Reuters
WHO reports record daily increase in global coronavirus cases, up more than 212,000
The World Health Organisation reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases on Saturday, with the total rising by 212,326 in 24 hours.
The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil and India, according to a daily report. The previous WHO record for new cases was 189,077 on June 28. Deaths remained steady at about 5,000 a day.
Global coronavirus cases exceeded 11 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease that has killed more than half a million people in seven months.
The WHO said it was discontinuing its trials of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and combination HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 after they failed to reduce mortality.
"These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalised COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care. Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect," the WHO said in a statement, referring to large multi-country trials that the agency is leading.
Reuters
Dancing, lap dances and police patrols as Brisbane’s venues reopen
By Jocelyn Garcia
Queensland’s reopened venues have been warned to do the right thing after police were forced to remind Brisbane nightclubs and strip clubs about social distancing rules on Friday night.
Officers were seen making multiple checks in Fortitude Valley and warning both strip clubs and nightclubs that dancing was not allowed, but some warnings were ignored.
Queensland Health will ensure enforcement measures are being taken.Credit:Michael Rayner
Brisbane Times is aware of lap dances happening in at least one strip club, and dancing taking place in several nightclubs.
A police spokesman said no fines were issued and no data was available on patrols or warnings.
The industry COVID-safe plan for Queensland hotels, clubs, nightclubs and adult entertainment for stage three prohibits physical contact between patrons and staff providing adult entertainment.
Opinion: COVIDSafe app helps stop the spread - our research proves it
By Danielle Currie and Michael Frommer
With an effective COVID-19 vaccine possibly still more than a year away, it’s no surprise to see enormous interest in ways of treating the disease or limiting its spread. We certainly cannot afford to write off prematurely approaches that evidence suggests offer large potential benefits. The Australian COVIDSafe app is a good example.
Launched on April 26, the app rapidly became the fastest-downloaded app in Australian history, with 5.7 million of us having it on our phones three weeks after launch. Since then, uptake has slowed amid doubts over its effectiveness.
COVIDSafe can make a difference in case numbers.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
It is true that the app has been little used by authorities so far and has detected few cases. This is in fact a good thing and shows how well Australia has weathered the COVID-19 storm. The app has not detected many cases because, until recently, there have been few cases to detect and most of those have been in hotel quarantine, where the only possible contacts are easily found by traditional methods.
Social distancing and testing for the virus – the main control measures that the app was designed to complement – have been working well. We should not let this obscure the substantial benefits that the use of a well-functioning app can bring if we experience a more widespread outbreak.
Spain's Catalonia locks down 200,000 people after new outbreaks
Madrid: Spain's north-eastern region of Catalonia enforced a new lockdown on more than 200,000 people on Saturday, after several new outbreaks of the coronavirus were detected.
Residents in Segria, which includes the city of Lleida, will not be able to leave the area from 12pm (local time) on Saturday, but will not be confined to their homes as was the case in Spain's original strict lockdown in March.
Health workers in Spain prepare to treat coronavirus patients.Credit:David Ramos
"We have decided to confine Segria due to data that confirm too significant a growth in the number of COVID-19 infections," Catalan regional president Quim Torra said.
'Beautiful to have a pint': England's pubs, restaurants and hairdressers reopen
By Ben Dangerfield and Natalie Thomas
London: People relished their first pub drinks in more than three months, went to restaurants and finally got haircuts on Saturday as England took its biggest steps yet towards resumption of normal life after the coronavirus lockdown.
Some pubs started serving from 6am, sparking worries of over-indulgence on what the media dubbed a "Super Saturday" of restrictions being eased. Some hairdressers were reported to have opened at the stroke of midnight.
England has reopened pubs, restaurants and hairdressers in what the media has dubbed as "Super Saturday".Credit:Getty Images
"It's beautiful just to get back and have a pint," said Jim Martin, a 56-year old carpenter enjoying a drink at The Holland Tringham pub in south London, part of the JD Wetherspoon chain. It opened at 8am and was about three quarters full by 11.20am.
Julie Scott, a 43-year-old teacher, was there with her family for drinks and food.
"I think it's just where everyone gets to socialise and catch up with people that they haven't seen ... it's nice to just get together," she said.
Thousands of public housing tenants under hard lockdown as COVID-19 spreads
By David Estcourt and Clay Lucas
Thousands of public housing residents will be locked in their homes for five days, and two more suburbs in Melbourne's inner-north were added to the city’s list of "hotspots", after Victoria recorded 108 new coronavirus cases on Saturday.
Nine public housing estates in Flemington and North Melbourne were placed in a "hard lockdown" from 4pm on Saturday, with 500 police stationed across every floor of the towers, as more than 23 cases were identified stretching across a dozen households.
The hard lockdown – the most severe restriction imposed so far, which will deprive some of Victoria’s most disadvantaged people of their freedom – will mean all occupants in the towers will be banned from leaving their apartments for at least five days.
The Flemington public housing towers.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui
"There will be no one going in other than residents returning home, and no one will be allowed out," Premier Daniel Andrews said. "I don’t for a moment underestimate how challenging and how traumatic in some respects that will be for those 3000 residents."
From midnight on Saturday, the suburbs of Flemington, Kensington and North Melbourne were added to 36 others where stage three coronavirus restrictions have been reapplied.
This means residents can only leave their home for four reasons: food or essential supplies; medical care or caregiving; exercise; or for work or study.
Good morning all!
By Roy Ward
G'day everyone! It's Roy Ward and I'll be leading today's COVID-19 live blog.
We had a huge day of developments on Saturday following Victoria's decision to add Flemington and North Melbourne to stage three restrictions and to put a 'hard lockdown' on nine public housing towers in the area.
That will again be the focus today as will the latest case tally from the state after 108 new cases were reported on Saturday.
I'll be here until this evening so please keep following along and, as always, please leave a comment on the blog or shoot me a tweet at @rpjward on Twitter.
Enjoy the day to come.
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2020-07-04 22:36:00Z
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