Summary
- Premier Gladys Berejiklian has moved to address complacency towards coronavirus in Sydney, telling businesses they face significant penalties and harsher rules if restaurants and cafes continue to flout COVID-19 protocols.
- A new mother caught up in a coronavirus scare says delays and conflicting advice from Victoria's contact-tracing system left her terrified she could have unknowingly exposed maternity ward staff, parents and newborn children to COVID-19.
- Reopening the border to NSW on November 1 is "still not out of the question", but Queensland's deputy premier says a review by the state's Chief Health Officer would have the final say.
- The World Health Organisation has reported a record one-day increase in global coronavirus cases on Thursday, with infections rising by 338,779 in 24 hours.
Latest updates
Watch live: Treasurer Josh Frydenberg
It's been a big budget week for federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. He is due to face the media shortly:
Opposition calls for Andrews to resign over hotel quarantine debacle
Victoria's shadow attorney-general Edward O'Donohue has called for Premier Daniel Andrews to resign and a Royal Commission into the hotel quarantine program in the wake of former Health Minister Jenny Mikakos' bombshell response this morning.
As we reported a short time ago, Ms Mikakos said the Premier's evidence about private security in Victoria's hotel quarantine program should be "treated with caution" stating it was "implausible" to suggest that no one made the decision to use private security in the failed quarantine program.
"If he had any respect for the notion of responsible government, he would resign. If he had any respect for long-suffering Victorians, he should resign," Mr O'Donohue told 3AW's Neil Mitchell a few minutes after the story broke.
"I think what it shows is we have a government that is at war with itself. We have everyone in the Andrews government, or those who used to be in the Andrews government running for cover and trying to point the finger elsewhere, which simply shows the government isn't focused on Victorians, it's focused on itself."
He said the development showed there was a need for a Royal Commission into the saga, as there was "no appetite" to reopen the inquiry.
"It's clear this process of the hotel quarantine inquiry simply hasn't answered the fundamental question of who is responsible for this disaster that has cost 800 Victorian lives," he said.
"The inquiry doesn't have a remit to look at all the other issues that flow out of... the hotel quarantine issue as well, such as contact tracing and a range of other failures of this government."
One new mystery case confirmed in Victoria
By Craig Butt
One additional mystery case among people who have tested positive for coronavirus in recent days has been confirmed in Victoria overnight, analysis of health department data shows.
For metropolitan Melbourne to move to its third step of reopening on October 19, there have to be five or fewer cases where the infection source cannot be traced over the fortnight from October 3 and October 16. (The slight lag is because of the time it takes for the health department to carry out an investigation into how someone contracted COVID-19).
Today's new mystery case brings that total over that reference period up to four:
Essentially, that means that over the next 11 days there can only be one new mystery case confirmed statewide if Melbourne is to meet its reopening target on October 19.
But earlier this week, Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said he wouldn’t rule out Melbourne moving to step three if there were more than five mystery cases recorded over the reference period, depending on when the cases were confirmed.
"If all five of those cases were in the first week of that fortnight and the seven to nine days prior to the 19th that had no mystery cases, that’s a positive obviously."
I should mention the health department has not officially stated there was one new mystery case, but based on today's numbers I am confident enough to call it that there was a new one. For transparency, here is my reasoning for why there is a new mystery case. (You can stop reading here if before 10am on a Friday is not the ideal time for numbers talk)
The total number of mystery cases went from 14 on 22/9 to 5/10 to 12 on 23/9 to 6/10, a net decrease of two:
Now that we have moved one day further up the line, September 22 has dropped out of the reference window, and on that day there were three mystery cases confirmed.
If there were no new mystery cases confirmed in the past 24 hours, that would have made the 23/9-6/10 total 11. There is a net difference of two because of one new mystery case from the past few days being added to the total.
In addition, the only COVID-19 cases for which the source is still being investigated are people who tested positive from October 3 onwards, so I am confident the new mystery case falls within the reference period.
Let Qld cancer patient quarantine at home, says Wayne Swan
By Jocelyn Garcia
Former Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan is calling on the Queensland government to allow a brain cancer patient who had an operation in New South Wales to quarantine in his own home instead of at a medical hotel.
"I'm a cancer survivor, I feel about it very personally I must say," the national president of the ALP said on Nine's Today on Friday.
"I absolutely understand what that is like. It should be taken up very directly with the Queensland government – I'm happy to do it myself as well."
Wayne Swan said the issue needed to be taken up directly with the Queensland government.Credit:
Gary Ralph travelled to Sydney with his wife, Wendy Child, for an operation, but despite a letter from his doctor suggesting he should recover at home, Queensland Health denied him an exemption.
They are in quarantine for two weeks in Brisbane.
Ms Child told Today on Friday she and her husband were suffering mentally over the distressing position they were in.
“The Queensland government, all of Australia, has been banging on for months, maybe even years, about mental health,” she said. “The Queensland government has affected mine and Gary's mental health greatly.
New Box Hill hospital outbreak at three cases
By Rachael Dexter
Six of Thursday's 11 new cases in Victoria were linked to known outbreaks, including a single new case at an emerging outbreak at Box Hill hospital, which now includes two staff members and one patient.
The Department of Health and Human Services said contact tracing was under way with cleaning, testing and quarantining all taking place.
Of the remaining 10 cases on Thursday, three were linked to the Frankston family outbreak, one is linked to the Oddfellows Cafe in Kilmore and another was linked to a "complex case", according to the DHHS.
The other five cases remained under investigation by Thursday afternoon.
Of Thursday's new cases three were in Frankston, two in Hobsons Bay and single cases in Boroondara, Brimbank, Melton, Port Phillip, Mildura and Mitchell.
The single case in Mildura was thought to be a false positive, according to Professor Cheng, but further testing was taking place late on Thursday.
Mikakos tells hotel quarantine inquiry to treat Premier's evidence 'with caution'
By Tammy Mills
In breaking news, former Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos says Premier Daniel Andrews' evidence about private security in Victoria's hotel quarantine program should be "treated with caution" in a stinging rebuke to the state's inquiry.
In her just-published extraordinary response to the inquiry's closing submissions last week, Ms Mikakos said it was "implausible" to suggest that no one made the decision to use private security in the failed quarantine program.
Jenny Mikakos, while still Health Minister, gave evidence at the hotel quarantine inquiry. She resigned two days later.
Lawyers for the inquiry submitted last week that the decision to use private security to guard returned travellers in Melbourne's quarantine hotels "[was] not really a decision at all" but a "creeping assumption" among top bureaucrats that was not questioned by anyone.
"With respect, such a submission has insufficient regard to the realities of governmental operation and decision-making," Ms Mikakos' submission reads.
"It is respectfully submitted that the Board ought to treat with caution the Premier's evidence where he sought to explain the reference to the use of private security in the hotel quarantine program."
Queensland border closure 'could go on for years': Hazzard
By Mary Ward
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has again criticised Queensland's border closure, saying, without a change in the rules, the issue "could go on for years".
Under Queensland's road map to recovery, the state has said it will not reopen to NSW or Victoria, respectively, until the states record 28 days without a "mystery" case ie. a case not linked to a known cluster.
However, in news which surprised the NSW government this week, these cases must be classified as such within 48 hours of being recorded.
Speaking on Today, the Health Minister repeated his comments from Thursday that the border closure is "cruel".
"It's not evidence-based ... she wants to look tough for Queensland residents," he said, adding: "If she keeps this up and we don't have a vaccine ... this could go on for years. This is a silly game you shouldn't be playing. She's playing with people's lives."
Mr Hazzard said he understood the need to be cautious, but "based on criteria she's plucked from nowhere", Ms Palaszczuk's state could still be closed to parts of the country in five years time.
"NSW is driving the economy for the country at the moment by opening up its economy and keeping a balance," he said.
"What I'm saying to Premier Palaszczuk is: please, please, please think about this ... Look at what we need in the long-term and make it work for all of us."
A Friday morning maths lesson on rolling averages
Nothing like a Friday morning for a little maths lesson (clearly, homeschooling a prep and grade one didn't do a lot for my understanding of averages!)
Each day, Victoria's Department of Health and Human Services releases the number of new COVID-19 infections, the number of people who have lost their lives and then, in a separate section, gives us a rolling 14-day average for metropolitan Melbourne and another one for regional Victoria.
Each day, we then combine those figures to come up with the Victorian average. In an earlier post, we said that average was 9.8, because it looks like the DHHS have added an extra, unaccounted-for, case on their website.
But it's actually 9.9. And our data guru Craig Butt says that's because regardless of whether there were 138 or 139 cases in total over 14 days, that still equates to 138/14 = 9.857 or 139/14 = 9.9285, both of which round up to 9.9.
NSW 'still working on' link for mystery cases
By Mary Ward
NSW's contact tracers are still hoping to link a cluster of three cases to a known outbreak, Health Minister Brad Hazzard says.
The group of three cases – two employees of a Liverpool private health clinic and a household contact – were among eight local cases reported in the state on Thursday.
"I've spoken to Chief Health Officer [Kerry Chant] minutes ago to check whether they had managed to work it out [and], no, they're still working on it," Mr Hazzard told Today.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard.Credit:Kate Geraghty
The other five cases reported on Thursday were linked to each other, and connected by contact tracers to the Liverpool Hospital dialysis cluster.
Mr Hazzard said he was confident in NSW's contact tracing, and hopeful a link would be found for the other three cases.
"If it can be done, it will be done. We'll have to wait and see," he said, adding that he expected the state's new case figure would be lower today, although people would need to wait for the 11am announcement.
He said NSW residents should expect mystery cases to "pop up from time to time".
"At the end of the day, what we have to understand is we are in a one-in-100-year pandemic. We don't have a vaccine. We don't have a treatment. Contrary to what [US President Donald] Trump is saying, we don't."
In 25th Amendment bid, Pelosi mulls Trump's fitness to serve
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is questioning President Donald Trump's fitness to serve, announcing legislation on Thursday that would create a commission to allow Congress to intervene under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and remove the president from executive duties.
Just weeks before the November 3 election, Pelosi said Trump needs to disclose more about his health after his COVID-19 diagnosis. She raised the idea of invoking the 25th Amendment, which allows a president's Cabinet or Congress to intervene when a president is unable to conduct the duties of the office.
On Friday, she planned to roll out the legislation that would launch the commission for review.
The President responded swiftly via Twitter.
“Crazy Nancy is the one who should be under observation. They don’t call her Crazy for nothing!” the president said.
His opponents have discussed invoking the 25th Amendment for some time, but are raising it now, so close to Election Day, as questions swirl about the president's health. Trump says he "feels great" after being treated in hospital and is back at work in the White House. But his doctors have given mixed signals about his diagnosis and treatment. Trump plans to resume campaigning soon.
Congress is not in legislative session, and so any serious consideration of the measure, let alone votes in the House or Senate, is unlikely. But the bill serves as a political tool to stoke questions about Trump's health during the coronavirus pandemic.
The bill would create a commission as outlined under the 25th Amendment, which was passed by Congress and ratified in 1967 as way to ensure a continuity of power in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
It says the vice president and a majority of principal officers of the executive departments “or of such other body as Congress” may by law provide a declaration to Congress that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” At that point, the vice president would immediately assume the powers of acting president.
Pelosi's move came after she said earlier Thursday that she was "at the table" still ready to negotiate a coronavirus aid package. Trump had abruptly halted talks this week, leaving the economy reeling, his GOP allies scrambling and millions of Americans without additional support weeks before Election Day.
Pelosi said she told Trump's chief negotiator, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, she was willing to consider a measure to prop up the airline industry, which is facing widespread layoffs. But that aid, she said, must go alongside broader legislation that includes the kind of COVID testing, tracing and health practices that Democrats say are needed as part of a national strategy to “crush the virus.”
“Lives are at stake,” Pelosi said at the Capitol. “This is deadly serious.”
In a stunning admission, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday that he had stopped going to the White House two months ago because he disagreed with its coronavirus protocols. His last visit was on August 6.
"My impression was their approach to how to handle this was different from mine and what I insisted we do in the Senate, which is to wear a mask and practice social distancing," McConnell said at a campaign stop in northern Kentucky for his own re-election.
AP
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2020-10-08 22:48:00Z
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