Summary
- The number of cases around the globe has passed 9 million with a worldwide death toll now over 490,000.
- Victoria continues to grapple with how to trace and slow ongoing new cases in several different suburbs
- Australia has had over 7500 cases and 104 deaths.
- The states are divided on whether to make new arrivals take compulsory COVID-19 tests
- UK looks to make up for botched start to pandemic
Wear face masks on public transport and while shopping, experts say
By Melissa Cunningham
Victorian authorities should strongly urge people to wear face masks on public transport and at other busy public spaces to slow the spread of coronavirus, experts say.
As Victoria grappled with its 10th consecutive day of double-digit rises in the number of infections, Burnet Institute epidemiologist Professor Michael Toole said new research had proven the case for masks.
“The effectiveness of masks reducing transmission is now really clear,” Professor Toole said.
“If you look at all coronavirus hotspots in Victoria, they are all in fairly low-income areas where I imagine many people would be using public transport, so I wonder, what to do we really have to lose by not mandating face masks?”
Professor Toole said a global review of the effectiveness of face masks published in The Lancet medical journal this month found wearing a face mask could reduce the risk of infection by 85 per cent, though the researchers noted there remained higher amount of uncertainty on mask wearing than physical distancing.
Latest updates
Watch: Treasurer Josh Frydenberg speaks to the media
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is scheduled to speak to the media in Melbourne at around midday AEST.
Penrith man among six new coronavirus cases in NSW
By Michaela Whitbourn
A Penrith man in his 70s is among six new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday.
The other five travellers are returned travellers in quarantine.
NSW Health said on Saturday all close contacts of the Penrith man had been contacted and the case was under investigation.
A record 23,733 tests were conducted in the period compared with 15,278 the previous day.
"There are currently 58 COVID-19 cases being treated by NSW Health, with none in intensive care. In NSW, 2,784 people are known to have recovered from COVID-19," the department said.
Amid reports that some returned travellers were refusing to take a coronavirus test on day 10 of their mandatory 14-day quarantine, NSW Health said less than 2 per cent of travellers had declined to do so.
Those who do will have their quarantine period extended by 10 days.
NSW Health said it "strongly discourages travel to and from areas of Melbourne with COVID-19 outbreaks until control of community transmission has been contained".
States divided on compulsory testing of international travellers
By Dana McCauley
State governments are divided on how to manage thousands of returned travellers refusing to undergo COVID-19 testing while in hotel quarantine.
Travellers entering NSW will face extra time in hotel quarantine if they refuse a COVID-19 test, after national cabinet agreed on stricter measures to stop thousands of people being released into the community while potentially carrying the deadly coronavirus.
A person receives a COVID-19 test at a Coronavirus pop-up testing facility in Broadmeadows.Credit:AAP
People who arrive on an international flight to Sydney will have an extra 10 days added to their 14-day quarantine if they will not agree to be tested, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard told the Sydney Morning Herald on Friday.
But the Victorian government will not make testing compulsory, despite revelations on Friday that 30 per cent of returned international travellers - 5400 people - had refused to be tested in Melbourne's quarantine hotels, two of which have sparked COVID-19 outbreaks.
Crisis talks: Why combating future pandemics needs a collective mind shift today
By Greg Callaghan
Is COVID-19 the worst catastrophe of our lifetime? Don’t bet on it, says Italian physicist and author Paolo Giordano, who warns that without social and political change, other diseases are likely to put coronavirus in the shade.
Paolo Giordano: "It’s easy to point the finger than accept the deep complexity of nature and how our relentless and pervasive disruption of its processes is leading to major health consequences."Credit:Ilaria Magliocchetti Lombi/contrasto/Headpress
You were finishing your book, How Contagion Works – one of the first about the pandemic – as Italy was becoming the disease epicentre in Europe. How are things in Rome now restrictions are lifting?
This may sound selfish, but Rome has never been more beautiful than it is now. At this time of year, the city is normally packed with tourists; it’s really nice being able to stroll through quiet, almost empty streets. But cities like Rome, Florence and Venice would die without tourists, so I’m hoping a more sustainable tourism industry can be managed in the future.
You have a PhD in theoretical particle physics; you’re also a novelist and non-fiction writer. What insights does your background in physics give you about the scale of the medical and social crisis that is COVID-19?
A lot about COVID is to do with assembling data and interpreting numbers correctly. But maths is more the science of relations than numbers; it’s why behaviour that doesn’t surprise scientists can shock everyone else. This is why a sudden, exponential increase in the number of COVID-19 cases is reported as an “explosion” and “dramatic” in the media, when nature – and in this case, infectious disease – doesn’t behave in a linear fashion. The increase in the number of infected, if a lockdown isn’t put immediately and firmly in place, can be vertigo-inducing.
Students call for shorter classes, less work in post-COVID classrooms
By Anna Prytz
Reduced workloads, more flexible class times and shorter school days are being suggested as students ask for a greater say in their education following coronavirus lockdown.
Catholic Ladies' College in Eltham has already adjusted bell times, workload and assessment schedules after students relayed the benefits they'd felt while learning remotely.
Catholic Ladies College students Evangeline Hurrel and Kirra Johnston.Credit:Justin McManus
"The new bell times came out of girls needing time to get up and move and take a stretch break," Georgia Heffernan, one of the school's deputy principals, said.
"So we've maintained it; the school system is so fast and your day goes from bell to bell, it's really about slowing down, giving them that little extra time between classes.
"Our girls have really appreciated it."
Judo Bank's Joseph Healy warns on 'zombie firms'
By Clancy Yeates
Judo Bank co-founder Joseph Healy has warned small and medium businesses are taking on $25 billion in unproductive debt to survive the pandemic, leaving some operators vulnerable to future collapse while others become "zombie" firms.
As banks keep thousands of businesses on life support during the recession by extending cheap credit, Mr Healy said the increase in liabilities, including rent that is owed to landlords, will have serious long-term economic impacts.
Joseph Healy (left) with his fellow Judo Bank co-founder and David Hornery. Credit:Cole Bennetts
Mr Healy, a former head of business banking at National Australia Bank, said the unplanned extra borrowing will reduce some firms to "zombie" companies - those that only survive because credit is so cheap.
“Definitely it will create zombie firms but there are also firms that are not quite zombies, but surviving simply to pay debt and not able to really grow,” Mr Healy said.
He made the warning as business-focused Judo revealed new analysis it has produced on a predicted increase in "economic debt" accrued in the pandemic - including new loans, deferred interest payments and deferred rent and other payments.
'Very confusing': Health experts split over face masks on planes
By Josh Dye
Public health experts are divided on whether plane passengers should wear face masks on board, with all three Australian airlines adopting a different policy on the matter.
Qantas and Virgin are increasing flight schedules as thousands of passengers take to the skies ahead of the school holidays. Both airlines supply passengers with optional masks, while Regional Express forces passengers to wear them. Australian government health advice remains that masks are optional.
After months of warnings to remain physically distanced from strangers, the spectre of full flights results can be a confronting contradiction. Despite restaurants, trains and workplaces adhering to the four-square-metre rule, commercial flights remain full as airlines fill middle seats to ensure flying remains financially viable.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing says cabin air gets circulated and cleaned every two to three minutes. Air enters the cabin above each passenger and flows down vertically before evacuating the plane via ducts at passengers' feet.
The air entering the cabin is a mixture of fresh outside air and recycled air. High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters clean the recycled air, with Boeing claiming 99.9 per cent of bacteria and viruses are removed.
Victoria's tourist hotspots to check visitors' temperatures over holidays
By Michael Fowler
Regional tourism operators will check the temperatures of guests on arrival and turn away anyone showing coronavirus symptoms as they plead for Melburnians to act responsibly amid the city's spike in COVID-19 cases.
The Victorian government says it will provide 4800 thermometers to councils across the Great Ocean Road, Alps and High Country regions, while COVID-19 testing clinics will be set up at Lorne, Apollo Bay, Falls Creek, Mount Hotham and Mount Buller.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has his temperature checked before touring the Royal Melbourne Hospital on Thursday.Credit:AAP
The government has encouraged businesses to turn back any visitors displaying coronavirus symptoms and to contact guests 24 hours before arrival to ask them to complete a self-assessment for symptoms.
Tourism Minister Martin Pakula backed Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton's advice that only Victorians who are unwell should avoid travelling within the state, even if they live in one of Melbourne's six local government areas identified as coronavirus "hotspots".
"Victorians are looking forward to a well-earned break and tourism operators need every bit of support we can provide to them, but public health has to remain our top priority," Mr Pakula said.
Aussie NBA player Ryan Broekhoff joins Ben Simmons in Philly
Australian sharpshooter Ryan Broekhoff is joining Ben Simmons and Brett Brown at the Philadelphia 76ers for their run at the NBA championship.
The 76ers needed to bolster their three-point shooting before the season resumes next month in Orlando.
Broekhoff has been in free agent limbo since the Dallas Mavericks waived him in February and the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown the season.
Rallying for relief: Mavericks guard Ryan Broekhoff, left, Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons (25) and former 76ers forward Jonah Bolden, right, encourage fans to donate to an Australian bushfire charity fund, prior to their NBA game in Dallas in January.Credit:AP
The Melbourne-born forward was one of the best pure shooters on the free agent market ahead of the season re-start.
Brown, coach of the 76ers and Australian men's Olympics team, is no stranger to the outside threat Broekhoff presents to opposition teams.
The inconsistent 76ers have missed the three-point shooting JJ Redick, who joined the New Orleans Pelicans last year, provided in past seasons.
The NBA announced its schedule and many other details around its season resumption in a hub at Disney World in Orlando.
Finally, play will resume in a season that started with political strife between the NBA and China in October, the deaths of David Stern and Kobe Bryant in January, a pandemic breaking out in March and racial issues surrounding police brutality and other forms of inequality dividing the country once again during much of the league’s shutdown.
“There’s no question this season and frankly this year has been one which none of us will soon forget,” NBPA executive director Michele Roberts said.
“Obviously, the virus came at us hard without any prior warning and then we were faced with the prospect of losing the season.”
But with a plan for strict medical protocols agreed upon, the league and its players believe it is safe to resume.
Players will start arriving at the Disney complex on July 7, will be tested daily once they get there, and could be away from their families for more than three months. Families aren’t expected to be permitted on-site at Disney until the start of the second round of the playoffs, set to begin in late August or early September.
“Everyone is making some type of sacrifice,” Miami Heat forward Andre Iguodala said.
“A lot of people in America don’t have jobs right now, and we have the opportunity to be a beacon of light, not just for that one particular thing but the social injustices. We’re going to shed light on that, people being away from their families, understanding that sacrifice ... the greater good of everything that our players stand for, including the game of basketball.”
AAP, AP
What life during COVID-19 has looked like, according to kids
By Sophie Aubrey
From the carefully selected demure colours to the blank facial expression, 14-year-old Juliette Bourne sees more than just her face staring back at her when she looks at her self-portrait. To her, the work is a reflection of the strange time that has been COVID-19.
“To someone viewing the artwork, they might think it’s just a portrait that doesn’t show much… but with my process that I took, it reflects a lot of my life in quarantine.”
Juliette Bourne, 14, with her lockdown self-portrait.Credit:Simon Schluter
The keen artist says she deliberately took a photo of herself that felt more monotone and picked simple colours for the oil painting, which involved five layers over 10 hours.
“I wanted all the pieces to go together and not be too extravagant, which relates back to quarantine being nothing to be excited for.”
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2020-06-27 01:45:00Z
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