A significant spike in cases and state lockdowns are signals that life has changed. It’s all now on the health system
Anyone watching events on Sunday will know the coronavirus story is now moving so fast it is hard to keep on top of what’s happening.
So let’s keep this simple. Let’s be very clear what happened.
Continue reading...German chancellor in self-isolation after her doctor tests positive for coronavirus; reports say 360 more people have died in Italy; first two cases in Gaza. Follow the latest updates
UK residents have been told that “essential travel” does not include visits to second homes, camp sites, caravan parks, whether for isolation purposes or holidays and that they should remain in their primary residence.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport updated its guidance to avoid non-essential travel in the UK, saying: “This guidance is for people planning to visit second homes or holiday premises during the coronavirus pandemic.
During the coronavirus pandemic, people should avoid travelling unless it is essential. This means you should avoid visiting holiday or second homes.
Find out more: https://t.co/3JrFy1IQwH
#COVID19 pic.twitter.com/EtUt5QcBzN
The Welsh government has warned that people will face a tough crackdown if they refuse to self-isolate and continue with non-essential travel during the outbreak.
First Minister Mark Drakeford said it is important members of the public follow the official advice to prevent further deaths.
Continue reading...Tax-free withdrawals will be capped at $10,000 this financial year and will allow those struggling to pay rent, meet mortgage repayments and buy food
• What Australia’s $189bn coronavirus economic rescue package means for you
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Australians who are laid off as a result of the coronavirus outbreak will be allowed to pull money out of their superannuation, Scott Morrison announced on Sunday.
Withdrawals will be capped at $10,000 this financial year, and a further $10,000 next financial year, and will be tax-free, the prime minister and his treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, said.
Continue reading...Authorities say lifeguards will now be directed to close any beach where headcount reaches more than 500
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Australian authorities closed Bondi beach and removed hundreds of people from other popular Sydney beaches on Saturday, citing the “irresponsible behaviour” of large crowds that had gathered in clear defiance of public health warnings.
Images of a packed Bondi on Friday – when temperatures in parts of Sydney exceeded 35C – were criticised internationally as governments in Australia announced stricter regulations to encourage social distancing and restrict the spread of the coronavirus.
Continue reading...In one week, Australia intensified its approach to tackling the coronavirus. The government announced travel bans and restrictions on social gatherings, while the reserve bank and government introduced new financial policy in the face of major economic disruptions
Continue reading...Walls have been raised and societies quarantined as people enter a new reality
It should not have come as a surprise. Life had already been upended in China. Iran and Italy have been reeling for a month. And yet it still felt sudden, this week, when walls were raised across the world, entire societies were quarantined and billions of people realised they had crossed a dividing line: from life before coronavirus to after.
After weeks of governments prevaricating over whether to ban mass gatherings, close businesses or seal borders, restrictions came in a flurry. “We are at war,” announced the French president, Emmanuel Macron. But without adequate weapons to fight the virus, let alone enough hospital beds or ventilators, this was the week the world beat a tactical retreat.
Continue reading...Authorities fear that passengers from Ruby Princess might be unaware Covid-19 cases were onboard and be ‘wandering around’ city
About 2,700 passengers who disembarked a cruise ship in Sydney have been told to self-isolate after three people who were onboard tested positive for Covid-19.
Confirming the news on Friday, the NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, said the doctor onboard had conducted 13 tests on the Ruby Princess, which had completed a relatively short cruise around the Pacific to New Zealand.
Continue reading...Jobseekers can now request appointments be carried out over the phone or online, while Centrelink debt recovery continues despite Covid-19
Welfare recipients will have their mutual obligations relaxed during the coronavirus crisis, but the government has stopped short of heeding calls from Labor, the Greens and social service groups to suspend them entirely.
Facing growing pressure to ease the burden amid a looming economic downturn and increasingly strict social-distancing guidelines, the employment minister, Michaelia Cash, said on Friday the government had adopted a range of measures aimed at making the system more flexible during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Continue reading...US says vaccine is 12 months away, Hubei reports no new cases and cases in Peru rise 61% in single day
Competition laws will be temporarily relaxed to allow supermarkets to collaborate in feeding the UK.
Retailers will be able to pool staff, share data on stock levels, and share distribution depots and delivery vans as supermarkets face intense demand, the government confirmed.
Donald Trump sowed fresh confusion about the US government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic by claiming that a therapeutic drug will be available “almost immediately” – only to be contradicted by officials.
In a rambling performance at Thursday’s White House press conference, the president asserted that chloroquine, used to combat malaria, had been approved and would be made available by prescription.
They’re doing great with the vaccines but there’s still a long process, but the therapies are something we can move on much faster potentially. And the treatments that will be able to reduce the severity or duration of the symptoms – make people better.
Chloroquine, or hydroxychloroquine, this is a common malaria drug. It’s also a drug used for strong arthritis … It’s been around for a long time, so we know if things don’t go as planned it’s not going to kill anybody … It’s shown very, very encouraging early results, and we’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately.
Pres. Trump touts chloroquine, an old malaria drug, that doctors say may help treat novel coronavirus, claims it will be available "almost immediately."
Read more about chloroquine: https://t.co/cYt0fxdlfB pic.twitter.com/9oPsMSD3HV
A summary of major developments in the coronavirus outbreak across Australia
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Key Australian developments in the global coronavirus outbreak on Thursday include:
Continue reading...New South Wales chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant addresses a misconception around paracetamol and the coronavirus crisis. With pharmacies and stores running low on supplies of the painkiller due to hoarding, Chant explained paracetamol only treats symptoms of Covid-19, not the virus itself
Actor and producer Jing Wang acquitted of sexually assaulting woman at the Shangri-La hotel in 2018
A Chinese movie star and producer have been found not guilty of raping a woman inside a Sydney hotel room, ending the near two-year legal saga.
Actor Yunxiang Gao and producer Jing Wang were on Thursday found not guilty of a raft of charges and cleared of sexually assaulting the woman inside the Shangri-La Hotel in the early hours of 27 March 2018.
Continue reading...Shops and cultural institutions are closing their doors, workers are being asked to stay at home, and self-employed and casual staff are losing their jobs across the country. Here’s what’s (not) happening in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane after Scott Morrison banned non-essential indoor gatherings of 100 or more people and declared a human biosecurity emergency
Continue reading...Thousands of travellers frantically trying to fly back to Australia after government warning over coronavirus pandemic
• Australia coronavirus live: NSW now has 307 confirmed cases, up 40 since yesterday
More than 170 Australians trapped in locked-down Peru have been advised by the government to find a commercial charter flight to get out of the country.
Some passengers have been able to get on chartered flights to the US, while others have been offered a dedicated charter flight from Lima to Sydney, but at a cost of more than $5,000.
Continue reading...Scheme will involve measures including counselling, funeral or memorial fund and redress payments
The Victorian government will put $10m into a stolen generations redress scheme that the premier, Daniel Andrews, says is a step to right history’s wrongs.
Announcing scheme with the premier, Victoria’s Aboriginal affairs minister, Gavin Jennings, said on Wednesday that Aboriginal families were historically “torn apart by parliaments like this one”.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison says massive step-up of the government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak likely to be in place for at least six months
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told Australians to “stop hoarding” as he announces sweeping new measures to try to slow the spread of coronavirus, including a ban on indoor gatherings of more than 100 people, a global do-not-travel order, and strict new rules for visiting aged care homes.
In a massive step-up of the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, Morrison announced that a national cabinet of state and federal leaders had agreed on Tuesday night to an indefinite new ban on indoor groups of 100 people or more, with exemptions for schools, public transport, universities, prisons, courts, supermarkets and worksites.
Continue reading...Belgium goes into lockdown; EU implements strictest travel ban in history; outbreak reaches every US state. Follow the latest updates
Breaking: Nicola Sturgeon announces schools and nurseries in Scotland will close to pupils at the end of the week.
The first minister said there will be further announcements to support low income students on free school meals as well as students who have exams.
A person has died from coronavirus in Burkina Faso, the first known death from the disease in sub-Saharan Africa, writes the Guardian’s international correspondent Michael Safi.
The country, where security has been deteriorating for months due to attacks by armed groups including some linked to Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, has emerged as a hotspot in Africa, with 27 confirmed cases and at least 200 more people suspected of having the disease.
Continue reading...England’s deputy chief medical officer does not rule out further curbs; Ohio primary polls ordered to close; France in lockdown; WHO urges widespread testing. Follow the latest updates
Iran has temporarily freed a total of 85,000 prisoners, including political prisoners, a spokesman for its judiciary said on Tuesday, adding that the prisons were responding to the threat of a coronavirus epidemic in jails.
“Some 50% of those released are security-related prisoners . Also in the jails we have taken precautionary measures to confront the outbreak,” the spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili.
The #Iranian government feels it is appropriate to release 80k+ prisoners due to #Covid_19 ,including murderers&drug dealers,but continuously refuse to release the innocent political prisoners,because they hold too much value as bargaining chips #freeanoosheh
On the island of Jamaica, political and social messages have long been spread through the dancehalls and music, and so it is with coronavirus.
Just days after the island’s first confirmed case, an educational single, New Hail, was released to teach listeners how to avoid spreading the virus.
Mi just ah think, we cyan a guh roun’ and touch touch people like we used to. Then me link wid one of my G dem - and you know da likkle supm deh weh we ah rub off big finga? Mi seh dah hail deh now, it haffi guh cut out. Because dis nuh good fi we health, right now. Right deh so now, di song pop inna mi head, like yow, we need fi hail wid we foot enuh.
It a affect yuh, and it nuh care ‘bout race, riches or gender. A nuh everything make fi gimmick and joke ‘bout. As an artiste, I’m all about the fun, but this is not a fun thing and me coulda never do a dance fi some people siddung and joke and laugh about. Yuh know how much street dance cancel over this thing, how many people livelihood affected? Yuh know how much a my show dem get cancel because no travelling nah gwaan?
Continue reading...New South Wales teachers union warns it is ‘impossible’ for schools to practise social distancing measures recommended by the government
Dozens of independent schools across Australia are going ahead with shutdowns as the New South Wales teachers union warns it is “impossible” for them to practise social distancing measures recommended by the government.
On Tuesday, Pymble Ladies College in Sydney joined dozens of private schools in Victoria when it announced it would move to online classes from Thursday.
Continue reading...Sharp losses recorded after US interest rate cut, as Bank of England hints at further support to combat turmoil
The FTSE 100 fell below 5,000 points on Monday and trading on Wall Street was suspended for the third time in a week as markets were gripped by mounting concerns over the threat of a global recession, despite a coordinated effort by central banks to protect growth and jobs.
In an escalation of the worst turmoil since the 2008 financial crisis, stock markets suffered further sharp losses on Monday despite dramatic action taken by the US central bank late on Sunday in an attempt to limit the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
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