No time yet for the Daniel Andrews press conference
By Roy Ward
We are still waiting to hear what time today's press conference and COVID-19 update will be but we will let you know as soon as we can.
As always, we plan to bring you an uninterrupted live stream of the press conference on this blog.
Latest updates
Opinion: 'Drop the spin': How DHHS tried to stop hotel quarantine reporting
By Chloe Booker
I don’t agree the now former health minister Jenny Mikakos was thrown under a bus. She was the minister in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services.
On June 11, two days before The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald ran the first story on hotel quarantine's failings, DHHS’s top spinner rang to say we were off track and that publishing would be a mistake.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos resigned on Saturday.Credit:Joe Armao
She got the head of Unified Security, Nigel Coppick, to tell us the same. How spectacularly wrong she was.
Queensland wastewater provides an early-warning system for COVID-19
By Stuart Layt
Trips to the toilet are creating an early-warning system that could be a key to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic in Queensland.
Monitoring has been rolled out in 13 communities across the state to detect traces of coronavirus in wastewater. The program uses the same theory as the national wastewater monitoring program for illicit drugs – sewage doesn’t lie.
Wastewater testing is emerging as a key early-warning system for future COVID-19 outbreaks.Credit:University of Queensland
The program has already raised the alarm twice, as the state eases restrictions and steps closer to reopening its borders.
Internally, Queensland has reopened after passing the benchmark of 14 days with no community transmission from the most recent cluster linked to the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre.
The state is set to expand its "border bubble" with NSW, adding more postcodes and council areas south of the Tweed to the list of areas NSW residents can visit without quarantining, and vice versa for Queensland residents from 1am on October 1.
Victoria records 16 new cases, two deaths for Sunday
Victoria has seen a slight increase in new cases and deaths in the 24 hours to Sunday morning.
Victoria recorded 16 new cases and two deaths, up from 12 new cases and one death on Saturday.
The 14-day rolling average is now 22.1.
Man tells police mask was 'too heavy'
By Ashleigh McMillan
A man wandering the streets of Stonnington while not wearing a mask refused to stop for Victoria Police before claiming the mask was just ‘too heavy’ to carry.
The man, who told police he had 40 masks in his car, was one of just 152 people who were fined by Victoria Police for breaking the Chief Health Officers restrictions in the 24 hours up to 8am Sunday.
There were 55 people fined for breaching Melbourne’s 9pm-5am curfew, and 17 people fined for failing to wear a face covering.
Just under 17,000 vehicles were stopped at police checkpoints, with 20 people fined.
According to a police spokeswoman, one woman was sprung at a fast food outlet in Horsham outside her restricted area after “multiple calls to the police assistance line” dobbing her in for visiting the area every two weeks.
No time yet for the Daniel Andrews press conference
By Roy Ward
We are still waiting to hear what time today's press conference and COVID-19 update will be but we will let you know as soon as we can.
As always, we plan to bring you an uninterrupted live stream of the press conference on this blog.
Locals want COVID-normal to include turning golf course into parkland
By Elsie Lange and Clay Lucas
When coronavirus forced golf clubs across Melbourne to shut for a second time in July, something unusual started happening in Northcote: locals living near their public course began cutting open the high wire fence surrounding the rolling 24-hectare site.
The fence would be repaired swiftly and, just as quickly, someone would cut it open again. In would go locals who weren’t golfers, many exploring the green landscape for the first time.
Darebin councillor Trent McCarthy on Northcote golf course, which is being used as a popular park while golf is banned.Credit:Jason South
“I kept saying to [the] council, ‘This is ridiculous’,” says Darebin councillor Trent McCarthy.
“Instead of us just repairing the fence, can’t we just make it safe?”
And so that’s what happened.
Now, while golf is banned by Premier Daniel Andrews, hundreds of residents whose homes surround the golf course swamp it on sunny days.
It isn’t the only golf course that has been opened to the community; councils across Melbourne have allowed those seeking socially distanced outdoor solace close to home to wander them.
Revealed: The secret to beating the government's overseas travel ban
By Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Australians applying to leave the country are increasingly planning to stay overseas for more than three months to improve their chances of getting permission from the federal government.
The Australian Border Force commissioner's guidelines and operations directives, recently published for the first time, confirm that a person who "has a compelling reason and will remain overseas for at least three months" is likely to be approved for outbound travel.
Melanie Krauss is heading back to Germany where she grew up for a few months to take care of her father after an operation. Credit:Steven Siewert
Adam Byrnes, the principal lawyer at Visa & Citizenship Lawyers in Sydney, said he had long been advising clients that "the longer the duration of travel, the higher the chance of success". He found that within the past few weeks, Border Force had started demanding more evidence this was true.
Home Affairs data obtained by The Sun-Herald under freedom of information laws shows the proportion of exemptions given for personal business, including trips of three months and longer, gradually rose between March/April, when they accounted for 23 per cent of approvals, and August, when they accounted for the majority, 62 per cent.
Man charged for alleged attempt to take taxi to Albury
By Pallavi Singhal
A 26-year-old man has been charged after trying to take a taxi across the NSW-Victoria border to allegedly go shopping in Albury.
NSW Police stopped the taxi at a checkpoint on the Hume Highway at about 4.30pm on Saturday.
The man produced a permit that wasn't valid and police allege he said he wanted to go shopping in Albury.
He was arrested and taken to Albury Police Station, where he was charged with not complying with COVID-19 rules and breaching bail.
He was refused bail and is due to appear in a Wagga Wagga court today.
OPINION: Thank you, Queensland, we Victorians owe you one
By Jake Niall
Queensland, only a minority of you would know, or care, that the Saturday afternoon of this weekend was when the AFL grand final was supposed to be played.
Millions of Victorians would be holding sizeable gatherings, beginning around lunch time and stretching into the evening, watching the game together over a beer or glass of wine, yelling at the television, barracking for their team if it was participating, or barracking against the team they dislike.
Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.Credit:Staff photographer
But the virus has claimed that ritual. Further, there's no footy whatsoever this weekend in Melbourne, because the AFL has a pre-finals bye and local and junior footy have been closed down.
Victorians were once incredulous at the fact that, under Joh Bjelke-Petersen's rule, protesters could be arrested for simply congregating in your streets in the 1970s and '80s. "The day of the political street march is over," Joh decreed in 1977.
It couldn't happen in civilised Melbourne, we thought, aghast at Queensland's authoritarianism. Well, a more severe prohibition on gatherings has happened in our metropolis, for completely different reasons.
'This is not ideal': More COVID cases confirmed on vessel in Port Hedland
By Kate Hedley
Western Australia's Health Minister has confirmed seven further crew members from the bulk carrier anchored off Port Hedland have tested positive for COVID-19.
Two crew members on board the vessel that was due to dock earlier this week tested positive to COVID-19 late on Wednesday evening.
On Thursday Mr Cook said there was no reason for people in Port Hedland to be alarmed.
"This situation is very well in hand, any positive personnel are being isolated and they will continue to be isolated," he said.
A rapid response team was flown to the Pilbara town on Friday, with 12 crew members brought ashore and taken to a quarantine facility later that day.
On Saturday afternoon Mr Cook confirmed the current number of infected crew stood at nine.
None are being treated in hospital.
"This is not ideal," the Health Minister said.
Most Viewed in National
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMirQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zbWguY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy1hbmRyZXdzLXByZXBhcmVzLXRvLWVhc2Utc29tZS1yZXN0cmljdGlvbnMtZnJvbS10b25pZ2h0LWF1c3RyYWxpYW4tY292aWQtMTktZGVhdGgtdG9sbC1oaXRzLTg3MC0yMDIwMDkyNy1wNTV6bDcuaHRtbNIBrQFodHRwczovL2FtcC5zbWguY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy1hbmRyZXdzLXByZXBhcmVzLXRvLWVhc2Utc29tZS1yZXN0cmljdGlvbnMtZnJvbS10b25pZ2h0LWF1c3RyYWxpYW4tY292aWQtMTktZGVhdGgtdG9sbC1oaXRzLTg3MC0yMDIwMDkyNy1wNTV6bDcuaHRtbA?oc=5
2020-09-26 23:42:00Z
52781084973086
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Coronavirus LIVE updates: Andrews prepares to ease some restrictions from tonight, Australian COVID-19 death toll hits 870 - The Sydney Morning Herald"
Post a Comment