This morning's press conferences
Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews will be giving the state's daily coronavirus update at 10.45am today. It will be his first one of these press conferences since Friday, when he said he was stepping away from the podium for a while after racking up 120 consecutive days giving the daily update.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian and the state's Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant will be giving a coronavirus update at 11am today.
As always, I will post the video feeds of these press conferences in the blog closer to the time.
Latest updates
What mobility data shows about travel patterns of people in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane
New mobility data shows how more people have been moving about in Melbourne since last week, when restrictions eased allowing shops and hospitality venues to reopen.
Both of these graphs are from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet's daily coronavirus data report. This one is based on Apple Maps navigation searches, which is a good indicator of whether people are driving to destinations they don't visit very often.
In Sydney and Brisbane, people have been as active on Apple Maps since the middle of the year as they were in typical pre-pandemic times, but Melburnians have been far less likely to be using their phone as a GPS navigation aid:
Credit:Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
But since movement restrictions have eased in Melbourne, from five kilometres to 25, there has been an increase in mobility, albeit still at 20 per cent below the pre-pandemic baseline.
You can also see an uptick in public transport use in Melbourne as of last weekend. Keep in mind that both of these graphs show the seven-day average, which means the line smooths over day-to-day variations.
Credit:Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
This morning's press conferences
Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews will be giving the state's daily coronavirus update at 10.45am today. It will be his first one of these press conferences since Friday, when he said he was stepping away from the podium for a while after racking up 120 consecutive days giving the daily update.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian and the state's Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant will be giving a coronavirus update at 11am today.
As always, I will post the video feeds of these press conferences in the blog closer to the time.
Victoria's fifth day in a row of no new cases
By Craig Butt and Jamie Brown
Victoria has recorded its fifth day in a row of new coronavirus cases.
The only other time the state recorded so many consecutive days of zero cases was back in February, when there were three weeks of zero cases, a run that was broken when the state's fifth coronavirus case was confirmed on February 22. (I remember the state's fourth case because I reported on it at the time).
You can see all the days when there were no new cases confirmed in Victoria on the calendar below:
Many people have started calling these days of zero new cases 'donut days' or 'doughnut days'.
But there has been some discussion lately on whether the correct spelling of the fried dough confections - are they 'donuts' or 'doughnuts'.
None other than Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton waded into the debate last night, tweeting his support for 'doughnut'. His reasoning:
Professor Sutton has frequently taken to Twitter to talk about epidemiological matters throughout the pandemic, but this is probably the first time he has chimed in on etymological ones.
Victoria records no new coronavirus cases for fifth day in a row
Victoria has recorded no new coronavirus cases for the fifth day in a row.
The state's 14-day case average has fallen to 1.7.
There have been two mystery cases over the previous fortnight, meaning there has been no net change since yesterday.
'Not heading for elimination': Victorians warned against complacency
By Melissa Cunningham and Paul Sakkal
Despite four straight days of no new COVID-19 cases from Saturday to Tuesday, Victoria is not aiming to eradicate the virus – a move backed by a leading infectious diseases expert who says elimination is unrealistic and could lull people into a false sense of security.
The state's testing chief, Jeroen Weimar, told reporters on Tuesday that despite consecutive days without new infections, Victoria was "not heading for elimination and no one should think we are on top of this”.
Commander of testing and community engagement Jeroen Weimar on Tuesday.Credit:Simon Schluter
Mr Weimar said Victoria was opting for a strategy known as "aggressive suppression", which aims to stop community transmission while accepting that new cases will emerge and outbreaks will remain a risk.
This strategy's success depends on early detection and quarantining of new cases and stopping chains of transmission.
“It’s our job to be really vigilant," he said. "But ... we can’t now get into a mindset that says, 'well, it’s probably over'."
Spending climbs back to pre-pandemic levels despite cuts to JobKeeper, JobSeeker
By Matt Wade
Spending by Australian consumers strengthened last month despite reductions in emergency income support measures introduced at the onset of the pandemic, including the JobKeeper wage subsidy.
There were fears that cuts to JobKeeper and the coronavirus supplement for JobSeeker recipients made in late September would take a toll on the economy. But a national spending tracker shows consumer demand has been resilient, despite the lower level of government income support for households.
Weekly spending across the economy has returned to what was normal before the pandemic. Credit:Glenn Hunt
The tracker developed by analytics firm AlphaBeta, a part of Accenture, and credit bureau illion shows average spending per person returned to pre-pandemic levels for the first time in almost three months after strong gains in the fortnight ending October 25.
The last time spending was consistently above the pre-pandemic norm was in July when purchasing was artificially inflated by special stimulus payments and an influx of cash due to superannuation withdrawals.
The spending tracker shows food delivery remains the strongest spending category across Australia, with purchases 289 per cent higher than the pre-pandemic norm in the week ending October 25:
Other spending categories doing especially well include online gambling (weekly spending 94 per cent higher than pre-pandemic) and furniture and office (+68 per cent).
Spending at cafes, which fell sharply in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak, was 10 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels in the week ending October 25.
However, spending in some categories remains way below the pre-pandemic levels including public transport (-52 per cent), pubs and venues (-32 per cent), travel (-27 per cent) and road tolls (-22 per cent).
Thousands flock to popular Melbourne beach, many maskless, as hot weather hits
By Rachael Dexter and Erin Pearson
Thousands of people crowded onto Melbourne's popular St Kilda Beach on Tuesday – many without face masks – as Melbourne marked its first official public holiday since the lifting of coronavirus restrictions and the hottest Cup Day since 1969.
Health Minister Martin Foley pleaded with Melburnians to follow COVID-19 rules, saying those who flouted them risked undoing everyone's hard work to contain the state's second wave.
Thousands of people on St Kilda Beach.Credit:Jason South
"Now is not the time for complacency," he said on Tuesday night. "We all need to follow the directions that will ensure we can keep making steps towards COVID normal."
Mr Foley urged people to carry spare masks to the beach so they could swap coverings if one became wet.
"We've done such an incredible job as a state and sacrificed so much to get here, which is why we need to remain vigilant – not risk undoing it all," he said.
"Victorians who flout the rules are not only putting themselves at risk but their loved ones and our entire community."
Crowds were building throughout the day at St Kilda as many embraced temperatures topping 30 degrees for the first time after months of COVID-19 restrictions, which temporarily outlawed sunbathing.
Port Phillip Council called in private security to help local law officers monitor social distancing and other restrictions.
European countries tighten restrictions as COVID-19 hospitalisations rise
Coronavirus cases hit new daily highs this week in Russia, as European countries battle rapidly increasing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.
Nations reintroduced restrictions to get ahead of a virus that has caused more than 1.2 million deaths around the globe, over 270,000 of them in Europe, according to Johns Hopkins University, and is straining health care systems.
New measures took effect Tuesday in Austria, Greece and Sweden, following a partial shutdown imposed in Germany Monday and tighter rules in Italy, France, Kosovo and Croatia. England faces a near-total lockdown from Thursday, although schools and universities will stay open.
Infections spiked in Russia, where authorities reported 18.648 new cases Tuesday. It was the fifth straight day of more than 18,000 confirmed cases, compared to the country's daily record of over 11,000 in the spring.
Russia has the world’s fourth-highest reported coronavirus caseload with over 1.6 million people confirmed infected, including more than 28,000 who died in the pandemic.
The country lifted most virus-related restrictions this summer, and Russian officials say the health care system can cope. However, alarming reports have surfaced of overwhelmed hospitals, drug shortages and inundated medical workers.
Sweden, where the government skipped the lockdowns other nations adopted for a much-debated approach that kept much of society open, set new nationwide limits on restaurants and cafes, ordering them to serve only seated customers and with a maximum of eight per table. The Scandinavian country announced local restrictions in three more counties that include Sweden’s largest cities.
“We are going in the wrong direction. The situation is very serious,” Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said. “Now, every citizen needs to take responsibility. We know how dangerous this is.”
AP
Good morning
Good morning and welcome to today's coronavirus blog. My name is Craig Butt and I will be keeping track of all the latest COVID-19 news and updates for the next few hours.
As always, send me an email or leave a comment in the blog if you have something to share.
I like to start the blog with a brainteaser, so here is today's one:
It was quite a hectic day on the blog yesterday with the RBA cutting interest rates to a record low of 0.1 per cent, so I forgot to post the answer to yesterday's puzzle. Here it is, in case you have been left wondering:
Unlike yesterday, I'll make sure I resolve the answer to today's brainteaser in the comments so you don't have to wait until Thursday for the solution!
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https://news.google.com/__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?oc=5
2020-11-03 19:57:00Z
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