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Infections soar in France, UK, Italy
The French health ministry reported 4711 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, a new post-lockdown record and a level last seen during the height of the epidemic in France.
During lockdown, France saw a peak of 7578 infections per day on March 31, but since then, there have been only a few days with the number of new infections per day rising above 4500.
The infection rate has been soaring in the past few days, but the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 has been relatively stable and the numbers of new deaths per day have also been stable in the low double digits. Twelve new deaths were reported on Thursday.
French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the escalating coronavirus crisis with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday as Europe struggles with a resurgence of the disease that threatens its recovery.
Britain recorded 1182 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the second-highest daily total since June 21, and Italy reported 845 new infections, marking the highest daily increase since May, when the government eased its rigid lockdown measures.
NSW sports ban needed to keep HSC risk-free: Education Minister
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell has said she "feels for" children whose school sport has been cancelled in light of new schools restrictions in the state, but she made decisions based on health advice and an attempt to ensure a disruption-free HSC.
"We're only weeks away from the HSC, and we need to make sure we mitigate the risk of having exams disrupted," she told Ben Fordham on 2GB this morning.
On Monday, the NSW government announced new restrictions for state schools, which included advice against sport being played between year levels and at a zone or regional level.
As a result, a number of non-government school organisations have also stopped their competitions, including the prestigious GPS schoolboy sporting association.
"It's one of the horrible side-effects of living through a pandemic in your senior years of school; it's really, really difficult," Ms Mitchell added.
NSW Deputy Premier says border communities have 'become a human shield'
In light of today's national cabinet agenda, we are expecting a lot of commentary on borders this morning.
Fresh from his tour of NSW's border communities, Deputy Premier John Barilaro told Sky News this morning he believed these communities had become a "human shield to protest the rest".
“Border communities can’t sustain much more of this closure," he told hold Peter Stefanovic, stressing that some of the restrictions on the NSW-Victoria border – which is policed by NSW – need to be lifted "immediately".
A schism is emerging in the opinions of Mr Barilaro and Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who yesterday said she was more likely to introduce "tweaks" to her border controls than remove them.
Turning his attention to NSW's northern border – which is managed by Queensland Police, who have implemented a hard road closure – Mr Barilaro criticised Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for putting political ambition above the welfare of regional residents.
“The Queensland government and Premier are working to an election timetable, not a timetable to support those communities," he said, calling for her to reopen her border.
What's on the agenda at today's national cabinet?
National cabinet will have its fortnightly meeting this morning. Here is what the Prime Minister and state and territory leaders will be discussing.
Borders – both international and interstate – are set to be a big topic today.
Victoria's aged care crisis is also on the agenda, with plans to develop a national response to outbreaks.
Mental health trends will be presented, and the state and territory leaders will receive their first update on Australia's vaccine strategy since the federal government signed a statement of intent to produce an Oxford University-developed vaccine if successful this week.
The group will also receive economic updates from Treasury and the RBA.
Children locked in rooms as detention centre awaits hundreds of COVID tests
By Lydia Lynch
Contact tracers are compiling a list of places a COVID-positive woman visited as more than 100 children at a Brisbane youth detention centre remain locked in their rooms awaiting coronavirus test results.
A supervisor at the centre, a 77-year-old Ipswich woman, tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday night, triggering a massive health response, with authorities now working to discover how she contracted it.
Genomic testing was under way on Friday to determine if there was any link between the woman and a small outbreak in Ipswich and Logan last month.
If authorities are unable to find out how the woman caught the virus, it will mark Queensland's first case of community transmission in a month.
Agriculture ministers push for loosened border restrictions
By Lucy Rickard
Speaking of the Victoria-NSW border, NSW Agriculture minister Adam Marshall has told Nine’s Today show that he is “bloody frustrated” by the issues agricultural workers are encountering at state borders.
“If there’s one industry in a COVID-19 environment that has to be able to operate without restriction without limitation it’s got to be agriculture,” he said.
“If it’s not that, then what? We’re supposed to import everything?”
On Tuesday, it was announced that new exemptions would allow critical agricultural employees to pass across the border for work, although it is limited to a distance of 100 kilometres north of the border.
Mr Marshall said while this was a step forward, “it doesn’t fix all the problems”.
“I’m not going to be happy until we have the free flow of agricultural produce and agricultural workers across all state borders,” he said.
Mr Marshall and his Victorian counterpart Jaclyn Symes are pushing to put a national agricultural code on the agenda at today’s national cabinet meeting, that would allow free movement of agricultural produce and agricultural workers across all borders.
“[It’s] just like we’ve done at a national level for the freight industry so even during COVID it can travel across state borders without restrictions. It just needs to happen,” he said.
NSW loses $73 million a week from Victorian border closure
By Alexandra Smith
NSW is losing $73 million a week as a result of the Victorian border closure, with interstate tourism grinding to a halt after already being significantly impacted by the summer bushfires.
Figures provided from the NSW Treasurer's office show lost tourism dollars are having a major impact on the economy, with regional areas likely to suffer disproportionately from border closures.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro says the Victorian border should open before Christmas. Credit:Kate Geraghty
Before coronavirus, Victoria represented $3.8 billion- or 16 per cent - of the $23.7 billion spent annually by overnight visitors in NSW. This amounts to an economic cost, in lost tourism dollars, of about $73 million per week.
The hit to the regions is likely to be worse, with data from Destination NSW showing that 54 per cent of domestic tourism spend within the Murray region is from Victorians.
Regional Victoria celebrates active case drop
By Rachael Dexter
Locals in Victoria's Colac-Otway local government area are celebrating a huge drop in active coronavirus cases in their shire.
Two weeks ago there were 92 active cases in the area - many stemming from an outbreak at the Colac lamb abattoir. As of yesterday there are now only 15 active cases in the shire.
Liberal Victorian member for Polwarth Richard Riordan has told Melbourne radio station 3AW this morning the shire's success has come from a mammoth effort from locals and weekly meetings between business and local government.
He said from the beginning of the pandemic Colac locals had made specific ad campaigns for their own community which encouraged people to be tested and follow COVID-19 restrictions.
A video campaign called "Keep Colac Safe" featuring local business owners, school captains, nurses and business owners, which Mr Riordan said contributed to a "lack of shame" about getting tested.
"We had all the networks together, we had all the businesses meeting really regularly so everyone had the same approach to treating their staff and looking after everybody so there was no shame about being tested, no problems with staying home. It really worked well and it just shows that the whole town really wanted to keep everybody safe."
Today's front pages
Here's what is making news on the front pages of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age today.
New restrictions on South Australian border
South Australia has introduced its strictest set of restrictions on its Victorian border today, with residents not allowed to travel for healthcare or other essential services.
Under the hard border closure, which came into force this morning, only year 11 and 12 students travelling for school and people with property on both sides of the border are allowed to cross into South Australia.
On Wednesday, an exemption was granted for all residents of the border community of Lindsay Point due to its isolated location and the comparable travel time for residents to get to their nearest Victorian regional centre.
At his press conference yesterday, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he would be pushing for a permit system with additional categories of travel at today's national cabinet.
"We're doing everything we can to try and make the fact that others have closed their borders to us as workable as possible," he said.
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2020-08-20 20:55:00Z
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