Summary
- Melbourne's stage four lockdown has taken full effect this morning, with non-essential retail stores shut and permits required to travel to work and access childcare.
- Victoria recorded 725 new cases on Wednesday, the highest daily case total of the pandemic. It was also Australia's deadliest day of the pandemic, with 15 Victorians dying with the virus including a man in his 30s.
- Two new cases have been confirmed in NSW's Newcastle area, prompting the closure of a school and health alerts for several venues, including a Newcastle Jets game. From Friday, NSW will require all people arriving from Victoria to spend 14 days in hotel quarantine, Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced on Wednesday.
- Queensland has declared its borders closed to all NSW and ACT residents from Saturday, as teams race to prepare new border passes. The state recorded no new cases today, but the source of a case recorded yesterday is still unknown.
- The CSIRO has opened Australia's first accredited surgical face mask testing facility in Melbourne today. Previously, medical-grade masks had to be sent overseas to be accredited.
Latest updates
WATCH: Queensland Police gives a coronavirus update
One in five new Victorian cases aged 80 or older
By Craig Butt
Almost one in five of Victoria's new coronavirus cases on Wednesday were aged in their 80s or above, state health department data shows.
The Department of Health and Human Services data shows that of the record 725 new COVID-19 cases recorded in the state on Wednesday, 140 of them were people aged 80 or above.
As of Wednesday afternoon there were 1435 active coronavirus cases in Victoria linked to aged care facilities, which make up about a fifth of the state's known active cases.
This 1435 total includes both staff and residents.
Attendees at three Newcastle pubs told to self-isolate after man in 20s tests positive
Attendees at three pubs in Newcastle have been directed to immediately self-isolate after it was confirmed a man in his 20s who later tested positive for COVID-19 had attended last week.
Hunter New England Local Health District is urging anyone who attended the following venues at the specified times to immediately self-isolate and seek testing:
- The Bennett Hotel at Hamilton on Friday between 5.30pm and 10pm
- The Greenroof at Hamilton on Friday between 10pm and midnight
- Hopsmith Sports Bar, Wests New Lambton on Sunday from 5pm to 7.30pm
The Bennett Hotel and The Greenroof both posted on Facebook that staff at their venues are in self-isolation and are being tested today.
Other locations attended by the man include the Queens Wharf Hotel between 9.30pm and 11pm on Saturday, The Sydney Junction Hotel between midnight and 1.30am on Saturday and McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday, during the Newcastle Jets game. People who attended these three venues do not need to self-isolate but should monitor for symptoms.
The case is a close contact of the teenager who attended St Pius X High School, causing that school to close today, Hunter New England Health said.
No new cases recorded in Queensland overnight from more than 25,000 tests
By Matt Dennien
Queensland has recorded no new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours from more than 25,000 tests, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed.
However the total number of active cases in the state has increased by one to a total of 12.
Health authorities have now carried out 620,412 tests in Queensland, with the total tally of confirmed cases at 1088.
It comes just hours after Deputy Premier and Health Minister Steven Miles said “mystery” still surrounded the most recent case recorded on Wednesday in a 68-year-old woman from Ipswich, west of Brisbane.
With no “obvious links” to others and a subsequent negative result, Mr Miles said a further serology test was hoped to clear the air on Thursday as the stakes of an as-yet unsourced case could be “very high”.
Join us for our Lockdown 2.0 live event at 1pm
Join us today as The Age's Science Reporter, Liam Mannix, Chief Reporter, Chip Le Grand, and Senior Reporter, Jewel Topsfield, explore the impact of lockdown 2.0 and what it means for Victorians.
The discussion will be streamed live at this link today from 1-1.45pm and is exclusive to subscribers. This discussion will also be available to watch on-demand on the page after the event.
Got a question? Submit it through the above link ahead of the discussion or share them during the talk. And don't forget to vote for the questions you want answered by our journalists.
Senior reporters Chip Le Grand, Jewel Topsfield and Liam Mannix.Credit:The Age
When will Victoria's daily coronavirus numbers start to come down?
By Craig Butt
Victoria has recorded its highest single-day increase in new coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic. It’s a pretty striking fact, and one that is starting to get a bit repetitive.
Wednesday's announcement of 725 new cases was the ninth time since early July that Victoria had recorded its largest daily increase so far. But why do the daily records keep breaking, and how constructive is it to focus on the single-day total?
This graph shows the number of new cases each day in Victoria going back to June 1. The red line is the seven-day average, which helps to adjust for day-to-day variations.
But to look at why the numbers keep going up, we have to focus on the R value, or the reproductive factor, which is a measure of how an infectious disease is spreading. That graph is below. When it gets below one, that is when numbers will really start to fall.
Florida tops 500,000 virus cases as testing resumes after storm
In more news from the US, the state Florida has passed the 500,000 case mark: that is more than 10 per cent of the US case total. Florida has a population of 21 million.
A long line of cars waited outside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Wednesday morning for a coronavirus testing site to reopen after being temporarily closed because of Tropical Storm Isaias.
Lines of cars wait to be checked in at a COVID-19 testing site outside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Credit:AP
Florida reported 225 new deaths Wednesday, bringing its seven-day average of daily reported deaths to a high of 185, behind Texas with 197. Florida’s rate is approaching a quarter of that seen in New York at its peak in mid-April.
The Florida Department of Health reported 5409 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.
Viral obit blames Trump and Texas governor for man's COVID-19 death
Much of David W. Nagy's obituary, which ran in his local paper in Jefferson, Texas, on July 30, recounted his painful death from the novel coronavirus at age 79 and named his surviving family members.
But midway down, the tone shifted to offer a pointed message for President Trump and Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
The obituary for David W. Nagy in Texas blames Donald Trump's response to the pandemic for his death.
"Family members believe David's death was needless," his wife, Stacey Nagy, wrote. "They blame his death and the deaths of all the other innocent people, on Trump, Abbott and all the politicians who did not take this pandemic seriously and were more concerned with their popularity and votes than lives."
The coronavirus death toll in the US has passed 157,000, the highest in the world.
Pulling out of the US Open 'an easy decision': Kyrgios
By Lucy Rickard
Nick Kyrgios has spoken to the Today show this morning about his decision to pull out of the US Open later this month. He also hit back at players who attempted to justify their off-court behaviour by drawing parallels to his on-court antics, saying “putting lives at risk is not comparable”.
“It was an easy decision for me to pull out of the US Open,” he said.
“I don't think at the moment it is the correct time to go ahead with sport in my opinion but obviously with safety issues it wasn't too hard of a decision for me to stay home during this time and I'm continually training but also just staying home with my family and friends, making sure everyone is safe.”
Kyrgios said he wasn’t surprised when other big names, including Rafael Nadal, pulled out of the US Open.
“I wasn't too surprised … I was kind of the first hurdle to fall … I knew a lot of players were going to. I don't think the US Open will be happy seeing some of the biggest names in the sport not put their health at risk and go there and play. I wasn't necessarily surprised by Rafa's decision. I think he is more eyeing the French Open and if I was to play I'd definitely probably rather go to Europe at this time of the year for sure with everything going on.
“It is a very slim chance I'll play in Europe. Almost slim to none to be honest. I think I'm going to use this time to stay home. I'm going to respect everyone that's really tried to do no wrong during this time.
“I'm not taking a shot at any of the players who have acted in the right manner and going about it and they're going to go there. It's a risk sport so they're going to go there and hopefully follow all the safety rules and hopefully the bubble is a success like we see the NBA going ahead at the moment.
“Obviously some of the previous players, their behaviour throughout this time I don't think has been great at all especially coming from some of our leaders of the sport at the top of our game supposed to be... setting an example for the rest of the tour. Them coming to me about behaviour on the court shows their intellectual level to be honest. Putting lives at risk is not comparable.”
Kyrgios didn’t say exactly who he was referring to - however he didn’t hold back on social media in June when fellow tennis star Alexander Zverev was caught flouting a self-imposed isolation period after the ill-fated Novak Djokovic-led Adria tour.
Then last month, Kyrgious took aim at Djokovic, Dominic Thiem and Zverev, questioning whether they have the “intellectual level” to understand the problems he has with their behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Federal government in the dark on leaked 'modelling'
The federal government is yet to see modelling allegedly leaked from Victorian health authorities which claims the state's virus peak is weeks away, Health Minister Greg Hunt has said.
According to the modelling, which was published by The Australian, Victorian cases will peak at numbers of more than 1100 a day in August. DHHS has not confirmed its validity.
Mr Hunt told Today he and Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly had both not seen the figures, so he could not comment on them. However, he said Victoria's large numbers of cases were likely to continue for some time.
"These cases will not just suddenly disappear and anybody who says that I think will be doing a grave disservice to Victorians," he said. "We're going to have to go through the most difficult period in our history, I think, arguably the most difficult period because these restrictions are unprecedented."
Later speaking on ABC News Breakfast, Mr Hunt said there had been "considerable progress" on food supply chains made overnight, after the federal government expressed to the Victorian government that restrictions on the operation of warehouses under its new restrictions may be unworkable.
"I met yesterday with the Business Council of Australia, and the Treasurer had also met with them, and they had expressed the need for some variation in the rules put down by Victoria," he said.
"We've passed on those representations. What we have to do as a country is make sure that Australians are safe, but also that there is that continuity."
Most Viewed in National
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMilAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zbWguY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXVwZGF0ZXMtbGl2ZS1tZWxib3VybmUtc3RhZ2UtZm91ci1idXNpbmVzcy1zaHV0ZG93bi1iZWdpbnMtZGVhdGgtdG9sbC1zdGFuZHMtYXQtMjQ3LTIwMjAwODA2LXA1NWl6by5odG1s0gEA?oc=5
2020-08-06 00:00:00Z
52780970738247
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Coronavirus updates LIVE: Melbourne stage four business shutdown begins, Australian death toll stands at 247 - The Sydney Morning Herald"
Post a Comment