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Concerned Queensland parents told to seek testing after two further school links discovered
By Matt Denien
Two further schools have been pulled into the contact tracing net for Queensland’s three latest community cases of COVID-19, with precautions also stretching to State Parliament.
Families at Calamvale Community College, in Brisbane’s south, were advised on Thursday that two family members of one of the cases had attended the school last week.
In the letter, executive principal Lisa Starmer said neither of the children would attend their grade 1 and five classes for 14 days but there was "no information" they had also tested positive.
Ms Starmer said concerned parents with children in the classes, or older children in grade 12 who may have had contact with the woman outside of school, should seek testing for them as a precaution.
Greenbank State School, also on the south side, alerted their community that one of the women attended the school hall on Sunday, with the hall cleaned "thoroughly" on Monday morning as part of their standard COVID Safe operations.
Both schools said health authorities had so far advised that no further action needed to be taken, with both remaining open.
It comes as staff at State Parliament were told to take leave and get tested if they had contact with three tour groups of students from Chatswood Hills State School, the site of the after-school care centre one of the women worked at, who attended the site on Wednesday.
Though considered a remote possibility that any of the estimated 90 school students had been infected, a deep clean of any area the groups may have visited was also carried out on Wednesday night.
Half-way point for today's blog
Afternoon folks, Rachael Dexter here taking over the blog for the rest of today. It's been a big day, and we're expecting plenty more news. Specifically awaiting those detailed outbreak figures from the Victorian Chief Health Officer some time this afternoon to give us a bit more context in today's extraordinary number in that state.
As always, happy to recieve your news tips - you can reach me on email here or you can find me on Twitter as well.
The next major press conference for the day will be at 3.30pm with the federal Deputy Chuef Medical Officer Paul Kelly.
NSW Premier resists calls to make masks mandatory on public transport
By Matt Bungard
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that she would continue to listen to “evolving” health advice while remaining non-committal on the state opposition’s call to make face masks mandatory on public transport.
“It’s important for elected officials to take the health advice – we can’t just make stuff up on the run,” she said on 2GB.
“If you cannot guarantee that you or people around you are going to be socially distancing, you should wear a mask.”
Ms Berejiklian said the health response had always been in line with the level of risk.
“I’m incredibly proud of all our experts and their advice, touch wood, to date, has served NSW very well.”
Victorian Opposition Leader calls on Premier to seek more federal assistance to manage coronavirus
By Michael Fowler
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien called on Premier Daniel Andrews to seek more federal assistance in managing the state’s coronavirus tally, saying the daily numbers showed the Premier’s best efforts were not working.
Victoria recorded 723 coronavirus cases on Thursday - its largest single-day total buy a margin of almost 200 - and 13 deaths from the virus.
Mr Andrews said earlier today that state and federal politicians and health experts are regularly liaising and flagged a phone call with Prime Minister Scott Morrison tonight.
Mr O’Brien, however, said Victoria needed more explicit strategic assistance from federal experts as soon as possible.
“I do think today’s numbers show that this is getting away from us here and we do need help," the Opposition Leader said.
"We do need the help of experts from the federal government to assist us here, not just in terms of boots on the ground with contact tracing and testing, but we need strategic direction from the federal government.
“I think the Premier and Professor Brett Sutton have done their best, but these numbers indicate that their best is not getting this virus under control”.
The Opposition Leader suggested Professor Brendan Murphy, the former federal Chief Medical Officer who became Australia’s top health bureaucrat as the secretary of the Department of Health earlier this month, should be sent to focus solely on Victoria.
“I think this is the day where the Premier does need to pick up the phone to the Prime Minister and say ‘please send your assistance, send your support’. Send Professor Murphy, send whoever it takes, because we must get through this,” Mr O’Brien said.
“This is a fight we cannot afford to lose, and we need help to win it.”
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she doesn't begrudge Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk over border closure
By Matt Bungard
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has refused to be drawn into criticising her Queensland counterpart Annastacia Palaszczuk on the topic of border closures.
Queensland has closed its borders to people from Greater Sydney due to coronavirus transmission fears, labelling 31 local government areas COVID-19 hotspots.
“I’ll never begrudge a premier for taking a decision in relation to how they’re going to keep their citizens safe,” Ms Berejiklian said on 2GB on Thursday afternoon.
She said that it was still important for the states to continue to work together, even with closed borders.
“Because this virus is so contagious and so virulent, an infection can suddenly become a huge ripple, and that’s why all of us need to be careful.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the economic impacts of the pandemic
By Mary Ward
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has spoken on how he envisages Australia's economy will recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
"What you do do is you just keep people in jobs, you look for every opportunity to [be COVIDSafe] and you put every other effort you can into finding a vaccine and making sure that when that vaccine is found, there is a global commitment that as soon as it is found it is shared," he told reporters in Canberra today.
Mr Morrison said one day Australia would be able to reopen its borders internationally, saying the goal of the suppression strategy was zero community transmission, not zero cases.
Asked about Australians draining their superannuation accounts under new rules introduced during the pandemic, the Prime Minister said he wasn't going to "give people lectures about how they should spend their money".
He said it was not a new policy for people who are facing hardship to be able to access their superannuation and his advice was that people were largely using the extra liquidity to pay off debts and put themselves in a better financial position long-term.
"Superannuation doesn't belong to the superannuation fund managers, it belongs to the superannuation fund members," he said. "It is their money and there are legitimate and appropriate rules to enable people in this time of hardship to access their own money, to do with it what they believe is best for them."
Victorian Opposition Leader: Andrews 'disingenuous' over Chief Health Officer absence today
By Michael Fowler
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said he suspected Premier Daniel Andrews was being disingenuous when he told reporters Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton was on a scheduled day off today.
The Age revealed today that the Andrews government was informed multiple times that Professor Sutton’s public health unit was the worst resourced in the country before the coronavirus pandemic.
Professor Sutton, who has attended almost every daily press conference in the last fortnight, was absent on Thursday as Victoria recorded 723 new cases and 13 deaths with the Premier saying the Chief Health Officer was on a “well-earned break”.
Professor Sutton’s deputy, Annaliese van Diemen, who has regularly filled in for the Chief Health Officer was also absent.
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien.Credit:Darrian Traynor
Mr O’Brien said Professor Sutton had a responsibility to answer questions about the public health unit and Victoria’s case numbers today.
“It’s very disappointing. Brett Sutton has been a trooper through this, but this was a day where he needed to answer questions about why his team was so under-resourced coming into this pandemic,” the Opposition Leader said.
“What impact has that under-resourcing had on Victoria’s ability to tackle this pandemic? And he wasn’t there today.
“For the Premier to say that he [Professor Sutton] had other things to do, I think was a bit disingenuous.”
Victoria had a public health staff to population ratio of 1 to 231,600, compared to NSW’s rate of 1 to 114,303 and Queensland’s 1 to 52,708.
While the state government said its contact tracing team has been expanded to about 2100 people, Mr O’Brien said Victoria started “behind the eight ball” because of the under-resourcing.
“We started off with one arm tied behind our back, because we were the only state that went into this pandemic with a public health unit that was massively under-resourced, and we’ve been paying the price for that every day since.”
No particular flaw is the cause of Australia's second wave: PM
By Mary Ward
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has given an emphatic answer to a question about what has not gone right in Melbourne's lockdown. Here it is in full:
"I would suggest to you a different way to look at this: the reason that we're having problems is because there is a coronavirus, and sometimes I think we lose sight of this.
"The coronavirus finds its way into the nooks and crannies of our community and once it gets there, it takes hold. I mean, this is not unique to Australia. I was on a call last night with [Israeli Prime Minister] Bibi Netanyahu. They have 1900 cases a day. And the number of cases in Austria has doubled to 100 a day, and there are many countries now experiencing further waves, Australia is with this Victorian wave.
"I have highlighted, I think, on so many occasions now, that the way we get on top of it is ensuring that our testing and our tracing and our outbreak containment works effectively.
"Now, on some days, the virus wins. Other days, we beat it. But I think we've got to be careful not to slip into some idea that there is some golden immunity that Australia has in relation to this virus."
The Prime Minister went on to say Australia was "doing better than most and many" and that every country was dealing with the virus the best they can.
Federal government 'seriously pursuing' paid pandemic leave
By Mary Ward
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declined to answer questions about a possible paid pandemic leave scheme to assist people required to miss work while self-isolating, however he says the policy is being considered seriously.
"We're still working those discussions through as part of the process that the Minister for Industrial Relations is engaged in," Mr Morrison said.
"It is best those discussions are held there. We're conscious of the issues and seriously pursuing them."
Watch live: Press conference with Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese
A press conference with Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese is due to start shortly.
You can watch it live below:
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2020-07-30 05:03:00Z
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