Summary
- There have been 10.3 million cases of coronavirus recorded worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. More than 500,000 people have died.
- Ten Melbourne postcodes will return to lockdown restrictions from midnight tonight after Victoria recorded 64 new coronavirus cases yesterday. There will be only four reasons residents in those suburbs can leave their homes and police will establish border checkpoints to screen residents entering and leaving.
- International flights carrying 300 passengers destined for Melbourne's troubled hotel quarantine will be diverted away from Victoria as the state tries to stem its coronavirus outbreak.
- Restrictions have eased in NSW today, with patron caps for venues replaced with the four square metre rule and community sport allowed to resume. Public transport capacity in the state has also been doubled.
- Queensland will reopen its borders to every state bar Victoria on July 10. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has criticised Prime Minister Scott Morrison for pushing for the move despite Liberal premiers in Tasmania and South Australia having similar policies.
Latest updates
Australia makes European Union's 'safe travel' list, but US left out
The European Union wants Australian tourists to start travelling again after creating its first "safe list" of 14 countries from which the bloc will allow non-essential travel in the aftermath of the global pandemic.
A resident wears a protective mask near the Eiffel Tower.Credit:AP
Travellers from the "safe list" countries will potentially be able to go to Europe and then travel freely throughout the Schengen area, which includes 22 EU countries, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
The 14 countries are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.
The list will be reviewed every two weeks to add some countries and remove others. It is only a recommendation to EU members, who can still impose some travel restrictions. The idea at least is that they should not open up to other countries.
Russia, Brazil and Turkey, along with the United States, are among countries whose containment of the virus is considered worse than the EU average, and so will have to wait at least two weeks for approval.
'May be useful' to rethink mask use: Deputy CMO
By Mary Ward
Australia's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has said it "may be useful" for Victorian health authorities to rethink mask use as part of its management of coronavirus outbreaks in certain Melbourne suburbs.
Frank Andacic of Pasticceria Podova in Fawkner, one of the suburbs that will return to lockdown, wears a mask.Credit:Justin McManus
"We have been very clear that masks are not the 100 per cent answer that some people want to make them," Professor Kelly told ABC News Breakfast this morning.
"But they can, in certain circumstances, be part of the solution. And one of those circumstances is a large community-based outbreak."
He said Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton was "working through" possible mask use with his team and expected he would be "making announcements in relation to that at an appropriate time".
Professor Kelly said the shutdowns in place in 10 Melbourne postcodes are in line with Australia's expected response to outbreaks, citing the effective use of shutdowns in regional north-west Tasmania as indicative of the approach's success.
"It's been in our plan all along," he said.
"We hoped we wouldn't have do it, but here we are and [it is] a very proportionate and appropriate response being made by the Victorian authorities as announced yesterday."
He added that it was "very good news" there had been some asymptomatic cases detected through door-to-door tests in Melbourne's hotspot areas.
"Very few people are sick enough to go to hospital," he said, noting Australia only has one coronavirus patient in ICU.
"These are mainly mild cases. But the crucial point there is that mild cases are infectious."
Locking out Victorians is not 'controversial': Palaszczuk
By Mary Ward
Premier Palaszczuk has denied that her decision to reopen Queensland borders to the entire country bar Victoria is controversial, saying the policy has public support.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced Queensland will open up to all states except Victoria from July 10.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
"I don't think it is controversial, I think it is the tough measures that we had to take," Ms Palaszczuk said on ABC News Breakfast this morning.
"We want people to enjoy coming to Queensland. We want them to spend money in our economy, the easing of stage 3 restrictions in Queensland is worth about $500 million a month ... but there has been an incredible spike of cases in Victoria."
Queensland will reopen its borders on July 10, but travel from Victoria will remain restricted. Anyone who travels from Victoria, including Queensland residents, would be prevented from entering the state unless they quarantined at a hotel at their own expense.
Ms Palaszczuk said Queensland was sending its deputy chief health officer as well as 30 nurses to Victoria to assist with managing the outbreaks, which have placed 10 Melbourne postcodes in lockdown from 11.59pm tonight.
Asked about a now-deleted tweet sent by the Queensland Labor account yesterday which claimed "if it was up to [Queensland Liberal leader] Deb [Frecklington] QLD would now be flooded with Victorians", Ms Palaszcsuk said she was unaware of the tweet but it was "unfortunate if that went out".
Yesterday, the Premier criticised Prime Minister Scott Morrison for singling out her border policies when Liberal premiers in South Australia and Tasmania had similar strategies.
Queensland coronavirus case update
By Matt Dennien
Queensland has continued its days-long streak without a new COVID-19 case, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed.
In an update posted to social media, Ms Palaszczuk said two of the state’s 1067 confirmed cases remain active.
Almost 6000 tests were carried out across the state on Tuesday.
The news takes the string of days without a new case in the state to five, after an Australian Defence Force staff member returned on Friday after contracting the virus in Papua New Guinea.
That case ended an eight-day stretch without a new case and marked just the ninth since the second stage of eased restrictions came into effect on June 1.
'Starting to see some stability' in coronavirus cases: Premier Andrews
By Rachel Dexter
Victoria’s coronavirus case data is beginning to stablise, but Premier Daniel Andrews has warned additional suburbs could be sent into lockdown on top of those named yesterday.
Mr Andrews is doing a media blitz this morning to explain the detail of the major step taken yesterday to lockdown 10 postcodes around Melbourne, sending them back to stage three restrictions.
Premier Daniel Andrews is doing a media blitz this morning after returning some suburbs to lockdown.Credit:Simon Schluter
“I think when we get the final data for today, I think we’re starting to see some stability,” he said on 3AW radio this morning.
“That’s what we need to keep seeing and then we need to see those daily case numbers driven down.”
Mr Andrews warned that if the spread took off again, he “couldn’t rule out” other suburbs being added to the list of lockdown areas.
“I just don’t want to do that,” he said.
“If people follow the rules… then that’s less likely than more likely.”
Addressing confusion about whether residents in lockdown postcodes could leave to shop or exercise outside of the area, the Premier said people should only leave “if they have to”.
“For instance it’s not an opportunity to go shoe shopping,” he said. “It’s about food, it’s about groceries - those household staples. Things that you need to be able to get through this lockdown.”
He asked Victorians to use “common sense”, and said while exercise outside of the lockdown postcodes was allowed, it was “not about spending the whole day away from home bushwalking”.
Mr Andrews said more than 20,000 tests were conducted yesterday in Victoria, with 1350 contact tracers racing to get on top of the potential close contacts of positive cases.
Victorians returning to lockdown are 'saving lives': Prime Minister Morrison
By Rachael Dexter
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told Victorians heading into postcode lockdown that they are “saving lives” and that the nation thanks them.
“For all of those living in those parts of Melbourne that are affected by these lockdowns, you're doing all other Australians a great service by patiently working through those - you're saving lives,” he said on Nine’s Today program this morning.
Hotel quarantine breaches at the Rydges in Carlton (pictured) and the Stamford Plaza in the CBD have been identified as sources of outbreaks. Credit:Penny Stephens
Mr Morrison took a forgiving tone when asked about Victoria’s management of hotel quarantine, which due to breaches, has caused a significant amount of case spread in Melbourne.
“That's an important opportunity for other states to learn the lessons,” he said.
“Let's not forget that it has been Victoria, Melbourne in particular, and Sydney that have been doing the heavy lifting when it has come to returning Australians from overseas.
“Both of those states have been running those quarantines, they've been paying for them themselves and that means their risks have been greater.”
The Prime Minister said it was no surprise there had been an increase in outbreaks in Victoria.
“Outbreaks are not surprising. We always said there would be some and no system is perfect. Australia is still far ahead of the rest of the world,” he said.
“The issue is not whether they occur but how you deal with them and we are dealing with it in concert with the Victorian government.”
Melbourne suburbs that will return to lockdown tonight
By Orietta Guerrera
Here are the list of Melbourne suburbs that will return to lockdown tonight.
They cover the ten postcodes: 3012, 3021, 3032, 3038, 3042, 3046, 3047, 3055, 3060, 3064.
From 11.59pm tonight residents in these suburbs will only be allowed to leave home for four reasons: work and study (if you can't do so from home), buying food and essential supplies, medical care, and exercise.
The suburbs will remain under stage three restrictions until at least July 29.
The postcodes each have at least five COVID-19 cases and an infection rate greater than 20 per 100,000 residents.
Restrictions ease in NSW
By Mary Ward
A suite of coronavirus restrictions have eased in NSW today, as the state moves into stage three of the national cabinet's plan for reopening the economy.
The 50-person cap on indoor venues – such as pubs, cafes, places of worship and function centres – has been scrapped and replaced with a four-square-metre rule. Functions need to be seated, so that wedding dance floor will have to wait.
A woman sits on her bus at Parramatta Station wearing a mask.Credit:Jessica Hromas
Cultural and sporting events at outdoor venues with a maximum capacity of 40,000 will be allowed to seat up to 25 per cent of their normal capacity.
Public transport capacity in the state has been nearly doubled, with additional "sit here" stickers placed on services across the network to allow 68 commuters on a Waratah train carriage and 23 on a bus.
Community sport is also allowed to recommence.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant will address the media regarding the eased restrictions as well as "new measures to combat COVID-19" at 10.15am today.
Good morning, and welcome to today's live coverage
By Orietta Guerrera
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I'm Orietta Guerrera and will be with you throughout the day.
More than 300,000 residents in Melbourne hotspots are preparing to return to lockdown after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews yesterday released a list of 10 postcodes that will have to abide by stage 3 restrictions from 11.59pm tonight.
Meanwhile, four international flights carrying 300 passengers destined for Melbourne's hotel quarantine will be diverted away from the state today as an inquiry gets underway into what went wrong with the program, which has seen several hotel security guards contract coronavirus and then spread it to their families.
It's a different story today in NSW, with an easing of some restrictions.
Thanks for joining me.
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2020-06-30 23:31:00Z
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