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NSW considers road checkpoints to keep hotspot residents out
By Mary Ward
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said she is considering road checkpoints and extra screening at Sydney Airport to keep Melburnians from hotspot areas out of her state.
“It’s important to make sure that people from those hot spots understand that they are not welcome in New South Wales until that community transmission is reduced,” the Premier told Sunrise this morning.
From today, Melbourne residents living in one of the city's 10 locked down postcodes face fines of up to $11,000 and up to six months jail if they enter NSW, the same penalties which apply if a person from NSW breaches a public health order.
Police begin day one of postcode lockdown enforcement in hotspot suburbs around Melbourne.Credit:Chris Hopkins
The Premier said health officials were inspecting at Sydney Airport "as we speak", suggesting officials could be checking incoming Melburnians' home addresses on IDs.
However, Ms Berejiklian again stressed there were no plans to close the state border entirely.
“It would be unfair to impose a ban on travel for regions that haven’t had a case," she said.
Melbourne's 'hot' hotel still guarded by private security despite outbreaks
By Clay Lucas
A "hot" hotel that is home to dozens of returned travellers with a coronavirus infection remains under the guard of private security contractors, despite Premier Daniel Andrews ordering an inquiry into bungled practices by private guards at quarantine hotels.
The government has identified errors made by private security firms that it hired, whose employees had responsibility for guarding returned overseas travellers at hotels, as a key reason for the current rise in coronavirus cases across Melbourne.
The CBD hotel, which The Age is choosing not to name because there have been no uncontrolled outbreaks there and to protect the privacy of patients staying there, is housing returned travellers who fly into Australia from overseas.
Last week there were more than 50 patients recovering from coronavirus in the hotel, with healthcare workers from Alfred Health tending to their needs.
Health charities struggle to cope under shadow of COVID
By Rachel Clun
Health charities are struggling with the pressures added by the coronavirus pandemic, a new report has found.
The report by the International Centre for Community-Driven Research (CCDR) has found that these organisations had been faced with huge surges in calls for help but were also struggling for money after community fundraisers were put on hold by the national lockdown.
Chief executive of Cystic Fibrosis Australia, Nettie Burke, said that, amid cancelling major fundraisers, charities were loath to ask the community for assistance at a time when many were struggling.
"The demand for our services and support has increased by nearly 80 per cent while our income has reduced by nearly 70 per cent, so they're frightening numbers," she said.
Health Minister Greg Hunt confident on gradual state border reopening
By Mary Ward
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has said he is confident that progressive border reopening can occur alongside local outbreak containment, as some states consider reopening their states to everyone but Victorians in light of a recent increase in coronavirus cases.
"What we're trying to do is make sure that Australians get their lives back – get access to their families back – but at the same time, we keep each other safe, which is why we have this model of rapid testing, rapid tracing [and] local containment where there are outbreaks," Mr Hunt told ABC television this morning.
Health Minister Greg Hunt.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Queensland will be open to all Australians bar those in Victoria from July 10, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced this week. Meanwhile, South Australia will delay reopening to Victoria as it considers allowing visitors from NSW and the ACT.
The Health Minister said he was confident that Victoria could get a handle on its outbreaks through its current door-to-door testing method and he does not believe compulsory testing is the answer.
Mr Hunt said the Victorian government was "reasonably concerned" about "creating a backlash and resistance" to testing if it was mandatory.
"What we want to do is encourage as many people as possible to seek out the tests or, if approached, to take the tests," he said.
Asked about reports in News Corp publications this morning that private security firms employed to police hotel quarantine have been rorting contracts, Mr Hunt said, "if [the allegations] are correct, then Victoria should throw the book at them".
"I'm not here to judge or be critical because, as a country, we're in the position we're in because the Commonwealth, the states and the public have all worked together ... but there have been clear failures and they need to be investigated, which Victoria is doing."
Lockdowns begin in 10 Melbourne postcodes
By Rachael Dexter
Lockdown restrictions have now come into effect in 10 Melbourne postcodes that have been identified as coronavirus hotspots.
Stay-at-home orders are in place for people who live in postcodes 3012, 3021, 3022, 3038, 3042, 3046, 3047, 3055, 3060, 3064, who the Victorian state government has said should only leave home to provide care, to work or study, to get exercise or to buy groceries.
Residents of Broadmeadows (situated in the 3047 postcode) are getting their first taste of enforcement, with Victoria Police setting up a booze bus-style roadblock on Camp Road.
Police are randomly selecting vehicles to pull over and be questioned by one of four officers, and those stopped are being asked to show their licences.
Police Minister Lisa Neville said on Wednesday that residents stopped would be asked where they are going and their reason for travel.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison pushes for end to virus border wars
By Chip Le Grand
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will use Friday's national cabinet meeting to call for an end to the virus border wars that have turned Victoria into a pariah state and put at risk the nation's economic recovery from the pandemic.
Queensland and South Australia's decision to remain closed to all Victorians in response to a spike of COVID-19 cases in some Melbourne suburbs has alarmed the business community and tourism operators who fear it will establish a damaging pattern for future local outbreaks.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison with his "roadmap'' for pandemic recovery.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The decision of both states to maintain a hard border closure is in contrast to the more targeted approach of NSW, which on Wednesday announced heavy penalties including jail for anyone caught travelling to and from NSW and Melbourne's hotspot suburbs, while keeping its southern border open to other Victorians.
Premier Daniel Andrews vowed to press Victoria's case in private discussions with his South Australian counterpart Steven Marshall and Queensland's Annastacia Palaszczuk, who has elevated border security to a campaign issue before October's state election.
'Completely unacceptable': Health Minister reacts to report quarantine hotel security firms rorted contracts
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has reacted to allegations from News Corp publications this morning that private security firms responsible for policing quarantine hotels have been rorting contracts.
The reports claim some security guards had also slept with people detained in quarantine.
"If those statements are true, that would be completely and utterly unacceptable," Mr Hunt told the Seven Network.
Mr Hunt said he supported the Victorian government's move to establish an inquiry into the functioning of hotel quarantine in the state.
He said hotel quarantine systems had brought in 60,000 Australians, overwhelmingly safely.
Good morning and welcome to today's coronavirus blog
Good morning and welcome to today's coronavirus blog. Craig Butt here, back on the blog again after a break yesterday (the stew was delicious, by the way, for everyone who commented on it on Tuesday).
I'll be keeping track of all the coronavirus-related news and updates today, on a day when people in 10 Melbourne postcodes identified as virus hotspots will be waking up to tighter restrictions.
As always, feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment in the blog if you've got something to share.
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2020-07-01 22:00:00Z
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