Category Archives: Victoria

Coronavirus live update Australia: Victoria reports 12 deaths and 216 new Covid cases as NSW records seven cases

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Scott Morrison says vaccine will be ‘as mandatory as you can possibly make’. Follow today’s news live

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    • The ABC has announced the 2020 Boyer Lectures to be delivered by the philanthropist and business leader Andrew Forrest will be delayed due to ongoing Covid-19 travel restrictions and border closures.

    The four-part lecture series – Rebooting Australia: How ethical entrepreneurs can help shape a better future – was scheduled to be broadcast on ABC Radio National from 28 November.

    The Crown Resorts casino empire controlled by the billionaire James Packer received more than $110m in jobkeeper payments from the Australian government, propping up the group’s profit.

    Crown’s full-year results, filed today with the ASX, show the $111.3m the group received to pay both working and stood-down employees was almost two-thirds of its profit before tax of $153m.

    This was close to a quarter of the profit before tax the previous year – no surprise, as Crown’s gaming floors largely shut down during the first wave of the pandemic. Crown hasn’t paid a dividend.

    Related: The 'dividendkeeper' shuffle: how jobkeeper payments are flowing to shareholders

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    Hotel quarantine linked to 99% of Victoria’s Covid cases, inquiry told

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    Dr Charles Alpren confirms more than 90% of cases since the end of May are linked to Rydges and almost all the others to Stamford Plaza

    The vast majority of the cases of Covid-19 in Victoria can be traced back to a single family that returned to Australia in mid-May who were kept in hotel quarantine at the Rydges Hotel, an inquiry has heard.

    The Australian Defence Force has also confirmed that an offer of personnel for hotel quarantine was specifically made to all states and territories.

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    Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry to examine genomic testing in hunt for ‘patient zero’

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    Security companies and return travellers may also be called to give evidence at judicial inquiry this week

  • Melbourne’s stage 4 restrictions; Victoria stage 3 restrictions
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    • The judicial inquiry into Victoria’s hotel quarantine program will on Monday examine evidence from the Melbourne health institute whose genomic testing could shed more light on the source and spread of the state’s second wave.

    The inquiry, called by the Victorian government after “unacceptable infection control breaches in hotel quarantine” and chaired by Jennifer Coate, confirmed on Sunday it had added an extra two days of hearings to its schedule for the week.

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    Coronavirus live news: new French cases surpass 3,000 for second day; Italy hits record cases since May

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    Italy closes all discos; Spain takes new measures as infections soar; New Zealand adds 13 infections to total

    The UK government has said that in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Sunday, there were a further 1,040 lab-confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Overall, a total of 318,484 cases have been confirmed in the UK.

    As of Sunday, 41,366 people have died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19. This was up by five from the day before.

    Ireland’s health chiefs will meet on Monday to decide if further restrictions are needed to slow a sharp increase in the spread of coronavirus that the government and officials have described as deeply concerning.

    Ireland has reopened its economy at a slower pace than most EU countries but that has not prevented a jump in cases over the last two weeks that led to the first localised reimposition of some restrictions last week.

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    Victoria records 279 new Covid cases and 16 deaths as NSW reports five cases and one death

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    Daniel Andrews expresses ‘cautious optimism’ but declines to say whether restrictions may be eased after six-week lockdown

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    • Shorten lashes out at profit-driven aged care and Morrison government over Covid failings

    Victoria recorded another 16 coronavirus deaths on Sunday as well as 279 new cases, as the premier Daniel Andrews expressed “cautious optimism” that the state’s harsh stage four restrictions were finally bringing the crisis under control.

    “These numbers are heading in the right direction,” Andrews said. “They speak to a strategy that is working. At the same time, no one day necessarily guarantees the outcome – that is a long hard slog.”

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    Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records 14 deaths and 372 new Covid cases as NSW awaits Ruby Princess report

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    Agriculture minister calls for federal approach to border rules; NSW on alert over community transmission. Follow the latest news and updates

    This came through late yesterday from NSW Health:

    NSW Health is advising of a new public health alert for Liverpool Hospital and Dooleys Lidcombe Catholic Club.

    Peter Dutton had some things to say about the border closure between NSW and Queensland on the Nine network today:

    When you get a premier like Annastacia Palaszczuk making announcements about border closures when Gladys Berejiklian is doing a press conference and she is caught out, the question is asked of her and she knows nothing about it, she hadn’t been contacted by Queensland, well you would imagine she would be a bit miffed. I think it is childish. There is a growing mood here in Queensland at the moment, I have got to say, Ally, of people who say if the doctors are saying close the borders or put in place this regime, fair enough, but there is a lot of politics being played in Queensland at the moment by the state government here in relation to this issue. You see brochures now going out into letterboxes in marginal seats and what not, and Annastacia Palaszczuk is walking a fine line here. People will be cynical if they think these decisions are being made for political reasons and her break down in the relationship with the New South Wales premier, particularly for those people who live in the Tweed or on the Gold Coast, is negatively impacting on those lives and businesses and it is unacceptable.

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    Victoria takes control of three more aged care homes as 278 new Covid cases recorded

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    Premier Daniel Andrews reports eight more deaths and the lowest number of new coronavirus cases for more than two weeks

    Victoria’s aged care crisis continues, with the department of health taking control of three more aged care homes due to Covid-19 outbreaks, as the state’s premier raises the hardship payments available to those who must forgo income in order to isolate after testing.

    Victoria recorded 278 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, the lowest number for more than two weeks, with the number of total actives cases also dipping.

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    Canberra residents stuck at NSW-Victoria border given four days to travel home to ACT

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    New South Wales relents on decision to prevent Canberrans transiting through the state after six-day standoff

    Canberrans stuck at the Victorian border have been given four days to return home, after New South Wales relented on its decision to prevent them transiting through the state.

    The New South Wales health minister Brad Hazzard said a resolution had been reached on Wednesday, and that drivers must take a direct route and only travel between 9am and 3pm.

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    Australia’s state by state coronavirus lockdown rules and restrictions explained

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    What are the restrictions within Victoria and the border closures with NSW and Queensland? How far can I travel, and how many people can I have over at my house? Untangle Australia’s Covid-19 laws and guidelines with our guide

    Australians had been slowly emerging from Covid-19 lockdowns since the federal government announced a three-stage plan in May to ease restrictions across the country, but from 8 July the Melbourne metropolitan area and Mitchell shire immediately to the north returned to a stage three lockdown for six weeks.

    After consistently high case numbers despite the lockdown, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, announced further restrictions for the state. From 2 August, metropolitan Melbourne entered a six-week stage four lockdown, while a stage three lockdown took effect across regional Victoria and Mitchell shire from 6 August.

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    From the wreck of the pandemic we can salvage and resurrect an inner life | Nyadol Nyuon

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    Covid gives us an opportunity to weigh up what truly belongs and what can be left back in the life before the plague

    • This is part of a series of essays by Australian writers responding to the challenges of 2020

    In early March I flew to New Zealand through the busy Tullamarine airport. I returned to a country in lockdown. I had been to speak at the New Zealand festival of the arts held in Wellington. Life was normal. We moved freely: going out for drinks, eating at various restaurants, hugging friends and shaking hands. We even went to a club to dance. It was packed as sweaty, dancing bodies pumped into each other. We casually spoke about the spread of the coronavirus as it began to emerge as a potentially serious public health issue but the consequences and impact of the disease felt distant. It was still happening far away. It was not yet an issue to worry about or to change one’s plans to accommodate. At that time, such a reaction would have appeared exaggerated. The events that followed over the next few days were unimaginable.

    At the festival, I had presented to a full room of a few hundred people; 24 hours later, that felt like a bygone era. By the time I landed in Melbourne, restrictions were in place and large gatherings had been banned. I went home and began my 14 days of isolation. It was difficult to keep up with the pace of change. In Victoria, events progressed to a state of emergency. Back in New Zealand, the country went into a nationwide lockdown. The world became a different place within weeks.

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    Coronavirus Australia: Victoria reports 466 new cases and 12 deaths, including second man in his 30s

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    Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says number of mystery Covid-19 cases has risen by 130 as nine new infections announced in NSW

    A man in his 30s and six aged care residents are among 12 new Victorian Covid-19 deaths that have taken Australia’s coronavirus death toll to 278.

    On Saturday, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, announced a further 466 cases of coronavirus in the state. Andrews said the number of cases attributed to no known source had risen by 130 to 2,584.

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    Families at Melbourne nursing home say staff testing was delayed after coronavirus case

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    Staff at Estia’s Keilor Downs aged care home were tested four days after the company was told a worker had tested positive to Covid-19

    Private sector aged care giant Estia is battling a third Covid-19 outbreak in Melbourne after two staff members and a resident tested positive at a facility in Keilor Downs.

    The ASX-listed Estia is one of Australia’s largest providers and has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic in Melbourne, with two of its Victorian sites linked to 238 cases and both among the five largest aged care outbreaks in the state.

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    Coronavirus live update Australia: Victoria reports 11 deaths and 450 new Covid cases, with 11 in NSW – latest news

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    Australian Defence Force personnel to doorknock close contacts of confirmed cases in Victoria as Western Australia delays easing of restrictions. Follow live

    McGowan describes the WA border case as “our war” with Clive Palmer.

    He says that WA is disappointed that the Commonwealth did not support their submission to have a fresh trial.

    McGowan also announces that the national cabinet today agreed on “a code of practice for the regular testing of interstate freight drivers”.

    He says that new arrangements will come into place next week which means “any truck driver entering WA will have to show evidence of having received a negative Covid-19 test result in the past seven days”.

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    Coalition tweaks jobkeeper scheme again amid Covid second wave in Victoria

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    Ahead of Friday’s national cabinet meeting, the expenditure review committee signs off on changes that will cost $15.6bn

    The Morrison government has tweaked the eligibility requirements for the jobkeeper wage subsidy only three weeks after cutting the payment in an attempt to save businesses and jobs at risk because of the deteriorating outlook in Victoria.

    Ahead of Friday’s national cabinet meeting, and after new Treasury analysis underscored the hit to the national economy from the second wave of coronavirus infections in Victoria, the expenditure review committee of cabinet signed off on the jobkeeper overhaul late on Thursday.

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    Coronavirus Australia live update: Melbourne’s hard lockdown prompts economic fears – latest news

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    Economists say stage-four restrictions will take a heavy toll, while business groups are urging changes to the permit system and the Andrews government is under pressure to answer questions about hotel quarantine failures. Follow live

    People are still trying to get into South Australia:

    (via AAP)

    Queensland has reported no new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.

    Authorities are still trying to work out how a woman in West Moreton (Ipswich) contracted the virus. She was diagnosed yesterday.

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    NSW Health yet to decide if some border residents need to hotel quarantine on return from Victoria

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    Authorities are also unable to say if non-Sydney residents will have to quarantine in the state capital

    Health authorities in New South Wales are unable to say if residents of border areas returning from beyond the Victoria border zone will have to quarantine at hotels when they cross over, admitting that the details of a health order for mandatory hotel quarantine announced hours earlier by the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, have not yet been finalised.

    NSW Health also said it had not yet been decided if non-Sydney residents returning from Victoria would have to quarantine at hotels in the state capital as part of the measures the NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, said were influenced by Victoria’s rising Covid-19 numbers, which reached a record of 725 new cases on Wednesday.

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    Victoria records Australia’s worst day of Covid-19 with 15 deaths and 725 new cases

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    Premier Daniel Andrews confirms a man in his 30s is the youngest person to die from coronavirus in Australia

    Wednesday marked Victoria’s most devastating day of Covid-19 cases and deaths, with a man in his 30s among 15 people who died overnight including many from aged care, and 725 new cases of the virus identified.

    Three men and a woman in their 70s, three women and a man in their 80s, and a woman in her 90s were among the deaths. Twelve deaths were linked to outbreaks in aged care.

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    This pandemic exposes the source of true fear – our utter powerlessness | Melanie Cheng

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    We’ve all experienced tragedy but usually there is comfort in the wider world carrying on. With Covid, the jig is up

    • This is part of a series of essays by Australian writers responding to the challenges of 2020

    As a teenager, I loved feeling scared. Horror films were my go-to. The Exorcist, Poltergeist, The Omen, even the slightly sillier ones like Friday the 13th. In my youth I mistook that manufactured titillation for real fear, but now I know better. Now I know true fear is not exhilarating. True fear cannot be easily soothed by a quick cuddle from Mum. True fear is intense, exhausting, merciless. True fear is an invisible pathogen that threatens to strip you of everything you love.

    “Would you prefer to get your results on a less ominous day?” I joked as I booked patients in for their appointments on Friday the 13th of March, Some laughed and others hesitated but most seemed to eventually suppress any niggling superstition.

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    Victorian builders could lose $450m daily under Melbourne stage 4 Covid-19 lockdown

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    Work levels from big construction sites to trade businesses set to be pummelled amid predictions new curbs will ‘knock wind out of’ state

    Victorian builders say they will take a hit to revenue totalling up to $456m a day from sweeping new restrictions on construction in the state, forcing some companies to close their doors entirely.

    Under tough restrictions announced on Monday that are designed to slow the spread of the state’s coronavirus outbreak, the number of workers on large building sites such as apartment complexes and office towers is to be reduced to a quarter of the normal number.

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