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'The clock is ticking': Wodonga Mayor waits for news on permits
Residents of Albury and Wodonga will have access to permits so they can move across the towns when the NSW-Victoria border closes tomorrow.
But while NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said she is "hoping" the permit system will be in place today, the Service NSW website page from which people are supposed to download their permit is yet to display any additional information.
Wodonga Mayor Annie Speedie told Benjamin Preiss authorities had confirmed the permit system would be set up but it remained unclear how it would operate.
“We have no detail,” she said. “The clock is ticking. People need to access their workplaces tomorrow.”
Earlier today, Albury Mayor Kevin Mack said he was expecting police would just be checking licenses as the permit system is put into place.
Do you support the NSW-Victoria border closure?
From 12.01am tomorrow, no Victorian resident will be allowed to enter NSW without a permit. Let us know your thoughts on this once-in-a-century move.
Coles supermarket repurposed to pack deliveries for locked-down towers
By Dominic Powell
A Coles supermarket in Melbourne’s north has been repurposed as a pop-up fulfilment centre to pick and pack deliveries for the residents of the locked-down Flemington and North Melbourne towers.
Coles’ store on Waterfield Street, Coburg, will be used to complete the orders.
The location is just metres away from a separate Coles store on Sydney Road, so locals will be able to keep shopping nearby.
The note accompanying Coles deliveries to Melbourne's locked-down towers.
The supermarket announced yesterday it was working with the Victorian government to deliver groceries to the tower residents, with chief operating officer Matt Swindells saying the company had donated 1000 boxes of essential grocery items and 1000 boxes of fresh food.
The company has also donated seven pallets of personal care items such as toiletries, nappies and infant formula.One box can feed a family for three days, with Coles offering halal, gluten-free and vegan options in order to cater to different individual and cultural needs for residents in the towers.
“Clearly toilet paper is the same for everybody, but we think it's important if you're an individual in one of those apartments you can be catered to as an individual,” Mr Swindells said.
“It’s not one size fits all.”
Mr Swindells said the supermarket was confident it would be able to meet the challenge of helping feed the 3000-plus tower residents even if panic buying returns to heightened levels.
“It’s a large and complex logistical problem to solve, but the actual volume of food in the context of overall Victoria is manageable,” he said.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro addresses the media
Enforcing the NSW-Victoria border closure: what we know
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller and Minister for Police David Elliott are due to address the media with at 12.30pm, with questions sure to be asked about the details of their state's plan to ban Victorians entering from midnight.
The plan will involve hundreds of officers, ADF assistance and drones. Here is what we have learnt about the border closure this morning.
- Between 350 and 500 ADF personnel will be deployed to help NSW Police manage the operation.
- Permits will be available through the Service NSW website, regardless of whether the applicant is from NSW. Premier Gladys Berejiklian told the ABC there has been significant work overnight to establish the permit system and she hopes it will be live today.
- No roadblocks have been created at Albury-Wodonga, Albury Mayor David Mack told 2GB.
- Cr Mack then told the ABC he believes police will be lenient on locals in the border town for the first few days of the border closure, checking licenses instead of requiring a permit as the system kicks into gear.
- The XPT service between Sydney and Melbourne will stop when the border closes, and other interstate public transport services are under review.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro will also address the media in a few minutes' time.
Nearly all supermarket restrictions lifted as panic buying subsides
By Dominic Powell
Coles and Woolworths have now removed almost all buying restrictions from items across stores nationwide after seeing a slow-down in panic buying over the last few days.
A spokesperson for Coles confirmed from today, limits would be removed on all products in its stores. Woolworths will retain its two-pack-per-person limit on toilet paper for the time being.
Coles has lifted all purchasing restrictions once more.Credit:Louie Douvis
Both supermarkets were forced to swiftly reimpose a two-pack per person limit on a number of items in-store following Victoria’s spike in COVID-19 cases and a number of infections at their distribution centres.
“We thank customers for their patience and understanding while the limits were in place to help us manage increased demand in stores and temporary delays in our Victorian supply chain,” the Coles spokesperson said.
“We ask that customers continue to buy only what they need and observe all safety and physical distancing measures in our stores.”
Side effect of common health supplement causes coronavirus concerns
By Stuart Layt
A side effect experienced by some users of a popular herbal supplement is causing people to believe they have contracted COVID-19.
ArmaForce is a supplement touted as having benefits for colds and flus, which lists the plant extract andrographis, as well as echinacea and olive leaf among its active ingredients.
Andrographis has a known side effect that affects the sense of taste, with a small number of people losing their sense of taste altogether while taking supplements which contain it.
This is a problem not just for its own sake, but also because loss of taste is also listed by Australian health authorities as one of the possible symptoms of COVID-19.
Plan to bring foreign students back to Queensland almost final
By Lydia Lynch
A plan to bring international students back to Queensland is almost finalised as the University of Queensland urges the state government to make it known that Chinese students are welcome.
More than 1000 foreign students will be allowed into South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory this month as part of two pilot programs, endorsed by the federal government, and work is almost finished on a similar arrangement in Queensland.
UQ vice-chancellor Peter Hoj believes it is "critical" to allow some international students back into Queensland to help the economy.Credit:Glenn Hunt
Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan said the programs could only go ahead if interstate borders were open and face-to-face learning was restarted.
A UQ spokeswoman said the university would contribute $2000 per student to help cover the cost of flights and hotel quarantine with students to foot the remaining bill. The university is offering both on-campus learning and online study for semester two.
Doctors 'bullied' by hospital administration for asking to wear masks
By Dana McCauley
Doctors working in major Sydney and Melbourne hospitals fear an escalation of coronavirus outbreaks spread by healthcare workers, accusing hospital administrators of "bullying" those who demand protective masks - including on COVID-19 wards.
Three doctors who spoke to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs said nurses, physicians and ward orderlies were being forced to work in unsafe conditions, with contaminated bins "overflowing" and access to masks restricted.
Healthcare workers fear being infected with COVID-19 due to restrictions on who can access protective equipment. Credit:Jon Super
Hundreds of healthcare workers are among the 8586 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia to date, including 88 in NSW and 216 in Victoria, where recent infections have been detected in nurses and other workers at the Northern Hospital, the Alfred, the Epworth and the Royal Melbourne.
"None of us signed up for these jobs in order to die on the frontline. We're not soldiers," one doctor said. "I feel like its getting to the point where a healthcare worker is going to have to die before they change the policy."
Brazil's Bolsonaro tested again for coronavirus
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday that he had undergone another test for the novel coronavirus, after local media reported he had symptoms associated with the COVID-19 respiratory disease that it causes.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, known for playing down the pandemic, said on Monday that he had undergone another test for the novel coronavirus.Credit:Getty
Bolsonaro told supporters outside the presidential palace that he had just visited the hospital and been tested for the virus, adding that an exam had shown his lungs "clean".
CNN Brasil and newspaper Estado de S.Paulo reported that he had symptoms of the disease. The president's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brazil is behind only the US in terms of the severity of its coronavirus outbreak. The South American nation has recorded 1.6 million cases since the start of the pandemic, and more than 65,000 deaths.
with Reuters
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2020-07-07 00:22:00Z
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