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Victoria records 12 new cases and one death
Victoria has recorded 12 new cases of coronavirus and one death in the past day.
The state’s 14-day rolling average is now 10.4, up from 10.3 on Monday.
Tuesday’s figures come after 14, 12 and 15 cases in the last three days.
Trump tests negative for COVID-19: White House physician
US President Donald Trump has tested negative for COVID-19 and he is not infectious to others, the White House physician has said.
In a memo released by the White House, Dr Sean Conley said Trump had tested negative on consecutive days using an Abbott Laboratories BinaxNOW antigen card.
He said the negative tests and other clinical and laboratory data "indicate a lack of detectable viral replication."
- Reuters
More than 19,000 COVID-19 fines in Victoria issued but only 845 paid
By Erin Pearson
The state has issued more than $27.8 million in coronavirus-related fines since the start of the pandemic, but only 845 of the more than 19,000 penalty notices have been paid.
New data from Fines Victoria shows 1424 of the 19,324 COVID-19 fines issued up until August 24 have been withdrawn or cancelled.
Coronavirus breaches were the 20th most common crime in the year to June, out of 114 distinct offence categories that police track.Credit:Justin McManus
The data also shows 18 per cent of fines issued have reached a "notice of final demand" stage. A further 3455 have been registered with Fines Victoria for enforcement.
Of those fined, 1638 people have signed up for payment plans to help them manage the impost.
Read more about the most recent fines data here.
$7m push for Australians to 'Holiday Here This Year'
By Paul Sakkal
The federal government is urging Australians to book road trips and interstate travel as part of a $7 million tourism campaign to “Holiday Here This Year”.
The advertising campaign, fronted by comedian Hamish Blake and his author partner Zoë Foster Blake, will launch across the country today.
Hamish Blake and Zoe Foster Blake are the new faces of Tourism Australia's Holiday Here campaign.
Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said the campaign will be targeted to areas of the country that are able to travel without restrictions.
“This campaign is targeted in terms of spending to reflect the reality that not all parts of Australia can travel at present,” he said on ABC’s Radio National.
“But across the rest of the country there are borders open to different jurisdictions and so we do want people to start planning, booking and undertaking holidays because one in 13 Australian jobs depend on our tourism industry.
“We will step into the Victorian market when they are ready and able to do so, and we hope that is as soon as possible.”
Mr Birmingham said the tourism industry, a key employer, would be crucial to the country’s economic recovery.
“Australians have shown enormous enthusiasm already to leave big cities, hop in their cars and undertake road trips within just a few hours of those homes,” he said.
“What we now want them to think about during the summer holiday and beyond is booking a real holiday where they take a week or two, hop on a plane, support the jobs of people in airlines, hotels, hire car operators and our tour operators.”
Today's main stories
Here is a wrap of the stories making headlines today.
Andrews to face fresh scrutiny as Parliament resumes
By Sumeyya Ilanbey
The Andrews government will face fresh scrutiny over the bungling of the hotel quarantine program and its two major scalps - Health Minister Jenny Mikakos and the head of the public service Chris Eccles - when Parliament resumes today.
The Opposition will this week move a motion of "no confidence" in Premier Daniel Andrews, but it is unlikely to garner any support in the Legislative Assembly where Labor has a 55-38 majority.
The Andrews government has been plunged into crisis following the explosive testimonies of senior cabinet ministers and top public servants at the hotel quarantine inquiry, that has so far been unable to establish who made the fateful decision to hire private security to guard returned travellers.
The bungling of the hotel scheme has led to a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, infecting almost 20,000 people and killing more than 750.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos last month resigned after the Premier gave evidence he held her “accountable” for the hotel quarantine program, directly contradicting her statement that the scheme was “shared accountability”.
Department of Premier and Cabinet Secretary Chris Eccles resigned on Monday following his access to phone records that revealed he called then-Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton in a key six-minute window that could hold the answer to who made the decision to use private security.
Mr Eccles maintains neither he nor his department made the decision hire guards for the hotels scheme.
Victorian retailers should open at current case numbers, says industry chief
By Paul Sakkal
The Victorian director of one of the nation’s peak industry associations says Victoria’s retail sector should be allowed to reopen after Premier Daniel Andrews acknowledged daily case numbers may not drop any lower.
On Monday, Mr Andrews said the daily case average of about 10 may be “as good as it gets” and the state could enact more significant easing of restrictions despite the slightly higher risk of a surge in cases once rules are relaxed.
Bunnings, like other retail stores in Melbourne, is limited to click and collect services.Credit:Eddie Jim
But the Premier said rules for the retail sector are unlikely to change on Sunday when some social restrictions will be eased. The Australian Industry Group’s Tim Piper said shutting non-essential retail had helped to achieve the strategy of limiting movement and thereby suppressing the virus’ spread.
“But we’ve now reached the stage where we’re not getting any further,” he said.
“[Mr Andrews’ announcement on Monday] was very dispiriting for literally every business in Victoria because there was an expectation, a strong one, that we were going to be back on deck.
“We’d been given every indication over the last few weeks that was going to occur.”
Many businesses - including hairdressers which had installed perspex screens - had already implemented COVID-safe plans in anticipation of opening, Mr Piper said on ABC Radio National.
The industry chief floated the idea of businesses opening for a few days a week or at night-time only in order to minimise movement of people while stimulating a level of business activity.
Mr Piper said he had received calls from some small businesses who were concerned about their ability to pay bank debt that had already been deferred.
He said he was in regular contact with people in the Victorian government about its contact tracing system. He said he believed the program had improved but was not confident it was operating with the level of precision he believed NSW had demonstrated an ability to achieve by pinpointing time periods and exposure sites.
“If we had the right contact tracing, we may be able to deal with up to 10 cases every day,” he said.
Which COVID restrictions are likely to be eased next week?
By Tom Cowie, Craig Butt and Benjamin Preiss
It's official: Melbourne cannot reach its target to take the next step out of lockdown.
It had looked unlikely in the past week, as cases stubbornly refused to dip towards the number required, and it is now mathematically impossible to reach the goal by October 19.
But all is not lost. Premier Daniel Andrews has hinted some freedoms will be granted next Monday despite not hitting the step-three target of an average of five cases a day over 14 days.
At his daily briefing on Monday, he indicated any changes next week would be focused "broadly on the social space rather than economic easing".
Epidemiologists have offered suggestions about which rules it might still be safe to relax, including one that has frustrated many: the requirement to stay within five kilometres of home.
However, gatherings of up to five people from another household within a home may be ruled out for the near future, due to the risk of transmission posed by family clusters.
Read more about what epidemiologists have said here.
England keeps restaurants, schools and shops open under local lockdown plan
By Latika Bourke
London: England will keep its restaurants, schools, universities and shops open under new lockdown measures Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday as part of an overhaul of the nation's coronavirus response measures.
Addressing the House of Commons, Johnson said the new three-tier system would be imposed regionally and be based on local infection levels.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street to address Parliament on Monday.Credit:AP
It comes as English medical chiefs advise that the number of people being treated with COVID-19 in hospitals is now higher than it was in March before the country was put into a strict national lockdown.
And in an uncharacteristically gloomy warning, Johnson told MPs not to rely on a vaccine, saying that while there was a good chance one would be ready early next year, a vaccine "cannot be taken for granted".
"There are some very hopeful signs not least from the Oxford AstraZeneca trials that are being conducted," Johnson told Steve Baker, a Tory MP resisting stronger lockdown measures.
"But ... SARS took place 18 years ago [and] we still don't have a vaccine for SARS. We must be realistic about this – there is a good chance of a vaccine but it cannot be taken for granted."
Read more about the UK's three-tier lockdown system here.
City of 9 million to be tested as coronavirus reappears in China
Chinese health authorities will test all 9 million people in the eastern city of Qingdao for the coronavirus this week after nine cases linked to a hospital were found, the government announced Monday.
The announcement broke a two-month streak with no virus transmissions reported within China, though China has a practice of not reporting asymptomatic cases. The ruling Communist Party has lifted most curbs on travel and business but still monitors travelers and visitors to public buildings for signs of infection.
Authorities were investigating the source of the infections in eight patients at Qingdao’s Municipal Chest Hospital and one family member, the National Health Commission said.
“The whole city will be tested within five days,” it said on its social media account.
China, where the pandemic emerged in December, has reported 4,634 deaths and 85,578 cases, plus nine suspected cases that have yet to be confirmed.
The last reported virus transmissions within China were four patients found on Aug. 15 in the northwestern city of Urumqi in the Xinjiang region. All the cases reported since then were in travelers from outside the mainland.
The ruling party lifted measures in April that cut off most access to cities with a total of some 60 million people including Wuhan in central China.
Qingdao is a busy port with the headquarters of companies including Haier, a major appliance maker, and the Tsingtao brewery. The government gave no indication whether the latest cases had contacts with travel or trade.
Travelers arriving from abroad in China still are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
-AP
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2020-10-12 20:03:00Z
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