Nation records 16 Covid deaths; 25% of assessed Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley properties uninhabitable after floods – as it happened

‘This event is not over’, Dominic Perrottet says of east coast floods; 25% of assessed Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley properties uninhabitable; mental health support package announced as PM defends pace of flood relief; weather warning for Victoria; 16 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Thinking of all those emergency crews and volunteers who must be exhausted.

With Japanese encephalitis outbreaks in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, health authorities are urging people to protect themselves against mosquitos over the long weekend.

Mosquitoes can be active throughout the day, but the peak period is often around the late afternoon and into the evening as well as around dawn and dusk. People should wear long, loose fitting clothes and use repellents containing picaridin or DEET on exposed skin. Mosquito numbers can be reduced by getting rid of stagnant water around the home or campsites.”

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China battles worst Covid outbreak for two years as cases double in 24 hours

Nearly 3,400 cases were reported on Sunday, forcing shutdowns for millions of people and closure of schools in Shanghai

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China reported nearly 3,400 daily Covid-19 cases on Sunday, double the previous day, forcing lockdowns on virus hotspots as the country contends with its gravest outbreak in two years.

A nationwide surge in cases has seen authorities close schools in Shanghai and lock down several north-eastern cities, as almost 19 provinces battle clusters of the Omicron and Delta variants.

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Australia’s unemployment rate could hit 4% even as cost of living pressures grow

Economy bounces back from Omicron wave, but economists expect east coast floods to be reflected in March jobs figures

The unemployment rate could hit 4% when the latest labour force figures are released this week, as the economy recovers from the impact of the Omicron variant.

The jobless rate touched 4% in February 2008 and again in August of that year under Kevin Rudd’s Labor government, but has never been lower according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures stretching back to 1978.

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Covid made parents ‘more relaxed’ about unauthorised holidays – Ofsted

Chief inspector tells leaders the pandemic has ‘fractured the social contract between parents and schools’

The Covid pandemic has made families “more relaxed” about their children staying home or going on unauthorised holidays, fracturing the social contract between parents and schools in England, according to the head of Ofsted.

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, said she was concerned about the high level of absences among pupils, telling the Association of School and College Leaders annual conference: “Some parents have health concerns for themselves or family members and wait in hope for a highly unlikely zero-Covid future.

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Morrison plays down fresh Covid restrictions as experts say boosters best way to tackle subvariant

NSW health minister also ‘not at all keen’ to reintroduce masks and curbs on movement as reportedly recommended by officials

States should not rush to reintroduce Covid-19 restrictions in response to a predicted surge in cases in coming weeks, health experts say, insisting that raising booster coverage of older Australians will be far more effective against the new BA.2 subvariant than masks and curbs on movement.

The advice against tougher Covid rules comes after the Sydney Morning Herald reported NSW Health had recommended a return to an indoor mask mandate, working from home and density limits, as well as bans on singing and dancing, as cases in the state are expected to double.

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Scott Morrison says Covid close contact isolation rule ‘redundant’, more mobile homes on way to NSW flood victims – as it happened

Prime minister says old rules ‘starving businesses of staff’; as Victoria records 6,075 new Covid cases and 11 deaths, NSW 12,850 cases and four deaths, Queensland 4,029 cases and six deaths, ACT 704 cases, Tasmania 1,130 cases and WA 4,300 cases. This blog is now closed

In the meantime, Anthony Albanese was in Brisbane earlier this morning, slamming the government’s response to the floods in northern NSW and south-eastern Queensland.

Albanese said the PM was “here for the photo op” and then “disappeared”, saying he had refused to hear the concerns of locals.

This prime minister, once again, was here for the photo op and the headline and then disappeared. What we need is leadership on climate change in the immediate sense.

The prime minister, having done a visit where he refused to make people around Lismore and around the northern rivers, refused to hear their concerns. Then came to Brisbane, got out a mop on an already cleaned floor.

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Live news update: Australia bans imports of Russian oil, petroleum, gas and coal

Australia follows lead of US and UK with latest Russia sanctions; ‘We want tradies to come to Queensland,’ premier says; helicopter crashes in NSW Snowy Mountains; Japanese encephalitis outbreak grows to 15; nation records at least 30 Covid deaths, seven in New Zealand. Follow all the day’s news live

Labor leader Anthony Albanese is speaking to ABC News breakfast now from Lismore. He has been asked about the death of Labor senator Kimberley Kitching.

It was an enormous shock, James. I was visiting a family in Ballina yesterday, who have lost everything and I got an urgent message and then I took a call and it is something that was just totally unexpected. Kimberley was just 52 years of age. She was just beginning her political career. It was her first term serving in the Senate.

I appointed her to the frontbench and gave her additional responsibilities when I became the leader and Kimberley was someone who lit up a room when she was there. She was so full of life. She was a vivacious character and to lose her so young is just an enormous shock.

Essential workers who were lauded in the pandemic, like those in aged care, child care or supermarkets were already forking out up to three-quarters of their salary on rent. Unless we want a social disaster to follow this natural disaster we need to get serious about giving people on low and modest incomes a decent shot at getting and keeping a house. That means more social and affordable housing is urgently needed.

The problem with temporary housing is the lack of security and the poor quality. If people are in a temporary home but know they will have permanent housing soon, they are safe and warm through winter, and they can keep their job and kids can continue at their school, then they will most likely do well.

But if they are worried about how long they will have a roof over their head, and where they will live in the future, if they feel unsafe, or always have a cold because they can’t warm their home, or if the housing dislocates the family from the community they know, then their mental and physical health will suffer.

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Harry and Meghan add voices to fierce critique of west’s Covid vaccine policies

Pair join Gordon Brown and 126 others in attack on ‘self-defeating nationalism, pharmaceutical monopolies and inequality’

Prince Harry and Meghan, the actor Charlize Theron and the former British prime minister Gordon Brown are among 130 signatories to a letter lambasting wealthy countries’ approach to the Covid-19 pandemic, labelling it “immoral, entirely self-defeating and also an ethical, economic and epidemiological failure”.

In a strongly worded open letter published on Friday, the signatories warned “the pandemic is not over”, and said the failure to vaccinate the world was down to “self-defeating nationalism, pharmaceutical monopolies and inequality”.

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National tutoring scheme failing disadvantaged pupils, say MPs

Consultancy firm Randstad’s contract ‘must end’ unless it delivers learning missed during Covid

A national tutoring programme is failing to help the children who need it most, according to MPs, who say ministers should terminate their contract with the consultancy firm running the scheme unlessit “shapes up”.

A report by the education select committee gives a scathing account of the government’s £5bn national tutoring programme (NTP), which aims to help children in England catch up on learning missed during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021.

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Scottish Tory leader withdraws letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson

Long a critic of the PM, Douglas Ross cites Ukraine war and says now is no time for change of leadership

The Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, has withdrawn his letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson, citing the war in Ukraine and saying it was no time for a change of leadership.

Ross, who has been an outspoken critic of the prime minister, had criticised him over lockdown parties in Downing Street. Johnson, along with dozens of staff and officials, is under police investigation for the breaches.

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US conducting ‘legal review’ of possible Russian war crimes in Ukraine – as it happened

Maya Yang reports:

North Carolina Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn has been charged with driving with a revoked license for the second time.

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Johnson announces terms of reference for Covid inquiry

PM says bereaved will have voices heard at inquiry that will play key role in learning lessons from pandemic

Boris Johnson has promised bereaved families will have their voices heard, as he published wide-ranging terms of reference for the public inquiry into the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The prime minister bowed to pressure last year and announced the inquiry, which will be chaired by the retired judge Lady Hallett.

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Higher levels of PFAS exposure may increase chance of Covid, studies say

Four studies are first to support theory PFAS could hinder body’s ability to fight virus, but authors say more is research needed

Higher levels of exposure to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” may increase the likelihood of Covid-19 infection, more serious symptoms and death, a group of recent studies have found.

Public health advocates and researchers have feared since the coronavirus pandemic’s onset that PFAS, which are known to be immunotoxic, could hinder the body’s ability to fight Covid-19, and the four studies represent the first bit of research supporting the theory. However, the authors caution that more research is needed.

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Australia news live updates: Palaszczuk says too late for emergency declaration in Qld; Rio Tinto ditching Russia; 21 Covid deaths

Palaszczuk rejects Morrison’s move to declare national emergency in Queensland, where flood costs are ‘well into the billions’; Rio Tinto will terminate all contracts with Russian businesses; nation records at least 21 Covid deaths amid concerns over Omicron subvariant. Follow all the updates live

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is being questioned about his promises to keep the cost of living down as he chats to ABC News Breakfast:

Well, we have been making policies that have been driving down the cost of living, for example, around electricity prices which are down by 8% in the last two years.

They doubled under our political opponents, but what I was referring to last night is the international events in the Ukraine have seen a spike in oil prices, and that is flowing through with some people paying more than $2 a litre.

This high and increasing burden of skin cancer emphasises the need for continued investment in skin cancer education and prevention.

We know what needs to be done. Now is the time to do it so that one day Australia is no longer considered the skin cancer capital of the world.

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Niue becomes second Pacific island in a week to lose Covid-free status

World Health Organization says there are now just eight other countries that have not reported any cases of the virus

Niue has reported its first case of Covid-19, becoming the second island in the Pacific to lose its Covid-zero status within a week.

The Niuean government says the case arrived on a flight from New Zealand, with 26 other passengers on Monday. The travellers tested negative for the virus prior to departing.

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China builds new bridge to Hong Kong to rush in workers as Covid cases surge

The temporary bridge will aid work on a makeshift hospital as the city’s Covid death rate reaches world’s highest per 1m people

A temporary bridge linking Shenzhen and Hong Kong has been erected to help workers and materials from the mainland to enter the city as work began on a Covid-19 makeshift hospital to relieve pressure on the city’s overwhelmed medical system.

Almost 2,000 Chinese contractors from the China State Construction Engineering are in Hong Kong this week to build the makeshift facility near Hong Kong’s border with the mainland, which is expected to provide 1,000 more hospital beds and quarantine rooms for up to 10,000 people.

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Australia news live updates: residents in Sydney’s south-west ordered to evacuate; Queensland flood death toll hits 13

Thousands of people in Sydney’s south and south-west have been told to leave as flood warnings are in place for vast swathes of NSW, as Dominic Perrottet admits ‘better planning’ is required for future flood mitigation. Follow all the day’s news

Federal opposition frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has jumped on the radio right after the premier to talk about Labor’s proposed $77m package to improve consent education at school. (Hopefully with something better than that bizarre milkshake video from last year.)

Well, the national curriculum has just been strengthened in this area to say that all students should learn about respectful relationships while they’re at school ... This is making sure that we change the objective in the curriculum into real change in every classroom in Australia.

... If we can change that when they are young, we can change these shocking statistics across Australia where we see one in five Australian women experiencing sexual assault in her lifetime, one in three experiencing domestic violence.

Premier, can you guarantee people who lost their homes to these floods, that they will be able to rebuild where they are, or will some be forced to move to less flood-prone areas?

Well, Patricia, I’ll work through that because I mean, obviously this was an unpredicted, freak catastrophe. I mean, there’s a 14 and a half metre flood in Lismore!

But ultimately, in these times, we need to have frank assessments of the circumstances.

Again, I don’t mean to be rude, but you say “freak” – is it really a “freak” if we’re being told we’re going to have more of these events more frequently?

Should we be really describing it that way when we know that these events are going to be with us more often?

We’ve never seen a 14 and a half metre flood in Lismore, I’m sure you have that. There’s no doubt that we are seeing more of these events and we need to make sure that as we rebuild, we do so in such a way that ensures that we protect people’s lives and we have communities built in a way where we mitigate flood risk or fire risk.

... So as we get to that rebuilding phase, we’ll certainly look at better planning and more flood mitigation and fire mitigation as we move through.

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Florida to formally recommend against Covid vaccine for healthy children

  • Surgeon general announces policy after roundtable discussion
  • CDC recommends vaccine for everyone five years and older

The surgeon general of Florida, Dr Joseph Ladapo, said on Monday the state will formally recommend against Covid-19 vaccinations for healthy children.

Ladapo made the announcement at a roundtable event organized by the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, that featured doctors who have criticized coronavirus lockdowns and mandate policies.

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Covid can shrink brain and damage its tissue, finds research

Worst effect on region linked to smell, while infected people typically scored lower on mental skills test

The first major study to compare brain scans of people before and after they catch Covid has revealed shrinkage and tissue damage in regions linked to smell and mental capacities months after subjects tested positive.

It comes as the largest study to date of the genetics of Covid-19 identified 16 new genetic variants associated with severe illness, and named a number of existing drugs that could be repurposed to prevent patients from getting severely ill, some of which are already in clinical trials.

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Australia news live updates: weather warnings stretch from NSW mid-north coast to Victoria border; ‘rain bomb’ set to cost Queensland billions

Severe weather to affect coastal areas from Coffs Harbour to Bega; Queensland estimates ‘rain bomb’ will cost state more than $4bn; two NSW residents among Japanese encephalitis patients in Victoria; ADF defends NSW flood response; PM speaks on east coast floods, Ukraine crisis; nation records at least 32 Covid deaths with 23 in South Australia. Follow all the day’s news

As expected, AGL Energy has formally rejected the takeover bid by billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian asset manager Brookfield, posting an ASX statement this morning.

AGL, the country’s largest electricity generator, received a revised bid late on Friday, offering $8.25 a share, up from an initial unsolicited bid of $7.50 a share.

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