We will close the blog for this evening. Thank you for your company and contributions.
A summary follows of Australia’s Covid-19 situation on the evening of Good Friday 2020.
This long weekend, stay home, stay well, save lives.
Australia’s new infection rate continues to slow
The commonwealth deputy chief health officer, Paul Kelly, says that “the curve is definitely decreasing”, the result of the border closures of a little over a fortnight ago and the social distancing measures enacted.
I would really urge caution there. Most of the cases we’ve seen so far have and still remain related to overseas travel and so our local epidemic is very early. There’s only a couple of thousand of those 6,000 cases are actual local transmission.
A total of 6,203 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Australia, and there have been 54 deaths. New South Wales remains the state hardest hit, and Sydney in particular.
NSW minister resigns after fine for breaching public health order
Don Harwin, the NSW arts minister, was fined $1,000 for breaching the state’s coronavirus public health order. It emerged on Thursday that Harwin had been living at his million-dollar Central Coast holiday home, which is more than an hour’s drive from his east Sydney primary residence. The premier, Gladys Berejiklian, accepted his resignation.
State governments are taking a hard line against people looking to travel over the Easter holidays, with police patrolling routes to popular getaways, and employing helicopters and number plate technology to catch those breaching social distancing laws by travelling.
Queensland highlights ‘Covid-19 hot spots’ in NSW
Authorities in Queensland have stepped up border measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the sunshine state. The state’s chief medical officer posted a list of “Covid-19 hot spots” in NSW. Anyone who returns to the state from those locations will be forced to quarantine for 14 days. It marks the first time Australians have been required to quarantine for travelling from a specific part of the country.
Evans, a television host and paleo diet enthusiast who has previously promoted anti-vaccination ideas, was selling the BioCharger NG Subtle Energy Platform – dismissed by the Australian Medical Association as a “fancy light machine” – for $14,990 on his website.
Evans’ ad said the machine was a “subtle energy revitalisation platform”.
Covid-19 has so far infected more than 1.6 million people globally and killed 95,000. It has ground economies to a halt all over the world and has the potential to force hundreds of millions into poverty.
There is no evidence that it can be treated or cured by coloured lights.
Hard-pressed GPs face rent reduction requests from pathology giants
NSW premier accepts minister's resignation over Covid-19 breach
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has accepted the resignation of her arts minister, Don Harwin, after he was fined $1,000 for staying at his Central Coast holiday home, breaching a Covid-19 public health order.
While Harwin maintained he had sought, and followed, official advice on whether he was allowed to relocate to his holiday home, he accepted the controversy surrounding his move – as the government was urging people to stay home over Easter – was a “distraction”.
Berejiklian accepted Harwin’s resignation, issuing a statement:
During this health crisis my government has asked the community to make greater sacrifices than all of us have ever had to make before.
These sacrifices are saving lives, and I am proud of the people of NSW for continuing to uphold the law in the interest of public health.
Late last night I was advised minister Don Harwin had been fined $1,000 for breaching a public health order.
The police, who have been tasked by my government with enforcing these health orders, came to the conclusion that minister Harwin breached the order.
Whilst minister Harwin has served the people of NSW well, and he continues to assure me that he did not break the rules, the orders in place apply equally to everybody.
Accordingly, minister Harwin has appropriately resigned from cabinet.
Internationally now ... aerial footage shows a mass grave being dug on New York’s Hart Island to deal with the surge in deaths caused by the coronavirus.
A warning: this video contains sensitive material.
Aerial video shows mass grave on New York City's Hart Island amid coronavirus surge
As New York deals with a mounting coronavirus death toll and dwindling morgue space, the city has shortened the length of time it will hold unclaimed remains before they are buried in its public cemetery on Hart Island.
Aerial video captured workers digging graves on the island, a one-mile, limited-access strip near the Bronx.
Normally, about 25 bodies a week are interred on the island, mostly for people whose families can’t afford a funeral, or who go unclaimed by relatives.
Operations have now increased from one day a week to five days a week, with around 24 burials each day.
NSW arts minister Don Harwin resigns over Covid-19 social distancing breach
NSW arts minister Don Harwin has resigned from the government after he was fined $1,000 by police for staying at his Central Coast holiday home, breaching a Covid-19 public health order.
As governments around Australia were urging their citizens to stay home over Easter, Harwin was spotted earlier in the week at his Pearl Beach house, more than an hour’s drive from his east Sydney primary residence.
Harwin maintained he sought formal advice that his living arrangements complied with the direction for people to stay at home, and that he acted in accordance with those orders.
But he says the controversy over his getaway was a “distraction” for the government at a critical time.
He has offered his resignation to the premier.
His statement in full:
Today I have offered my resignation to the premier as a minister in her government.
There is nothing more important than the work of the government in fighting the coronavirus crisis.
I will not allow my circumstances to be a distraction from that work and I very much regret that my residential arrangements have become an issue during this time.
At all times I have sought to act in accordance with public health orders and I sought advice that my living arrangements complied with those orders.
I remain confident that I have acted in accordance with those orders.
I know however that perception is just as important during these times.
The premier and her team are doing an outstanding job during the biggest crisis our state and nation have faced during our lifetimes.
It is absolutely vital they should be able to focus entirely on the health and economic issues facing our community.
And while the focus has been on Sydney, the NSW government is seeking to roll out rapid testing for Covid-19 in regional areas to reduce waiting times. So far, 70% of tests in NSW have been in Sydney, which has identified clusters in the capital. But if you don’t test, you don’t find …
Again, our beloved friends at AAP:
Regional NSW towns will soon have access to rapid coronavirus testing, meaning samples won’t have to be sent to Sydney for analysis.
Broken Hill health workers will over Easter repurpose a machine used to rapidly test flu samples so it can detect the novel coronavirus.
It should be operational by Monday and more regional areas will follow as specific hardware is imported.
“That is really important, particularly for the more distant sites,” the NSW chief health officer, Kerry Chant, said on Friday.
“Having that point-of-care testing, or testing that comes back in about an hour, is very useful because it gives us more rapid identification of cases.”
St Vincent’s hospital is already using its repurposed GeneXpert machine in its emergency department and will also begin trialling another molecular test in the coming days.
Of the 137,000 people tested for coronavirus in NSW since January, 70% have been in Sydney or on the Central Coast.
Just 322 people in far western NSW have been tested while northern NSW and the Murrumbidgee are the two regions were there have been fewer than one test per 1,000 residents.
Those three regions account for 100 positive cases.
Chant defended the current turnaround time for testing – which can see results for Sydney-based cases returned within 24 hours.
“The issue for rural and remote areas is the time it takes for specimens to come down to Sydney,” she said.
“As we get more [novel coronavirus] cartridges for our GeneXperts, we will be looking at deploying this test across various sites.
“We’ll have a mind to supporting rural and regional communities so we can give them access to the testing that is much more prompt in the metropolitan area.”
NSW is the state with the most Covid-19 infections in the country.
(It should be noted that, by international standards, Australia and NZ have very low numbers of cases, low rates of community transmission, and low death rates. See here from Eleanor Ainge Roy in Dunedin and some other reporter:
But there is an interesting breakdown of cases in NSW, provided by NSW Health.
In the 24 hours to 8pm Thursday, an additional 49 cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed in NSW.
The total number of cases is 2,822
Deaths: 22
Cases tested and excluded: 134,619
Total people tested: 137,441
A total of 543 of NSW’s cases - nearly one-fifth - have originated from a cruise ship (in particular the Ruby Princess, which was controversially allowed to dock at Circular Quay in March).
Of NSW’s 2,822 cases;
Overseas acquired: 1,677
Locally acquired (contact of confirmed case and/or known cluster): 682
Locally acquired (contact not identified): 427
Under investigation: 36
The largest number of infections, by age group, is among people aged 20 to 29, with 611 confirmed cases.
A group of 18 Queensland drivers has been hit with fines for disobeying coronavirus regulations after police stopped a noisy burnout gathering.
Officers were called to an industrial area in Loganholme, south of Brisbane, where they cordoned off a street about 11pm on Thursday.
More than 10 vehicles were intercepted and 18 infringement notices of $1,334 issued for failing to comply with a Covid-19 direction, police said on Friday.
It seems the burn-outs were fine – if needless, noisy and self-defeating (they’re your tyres after all) – you just can’t do burn-outs in a group. I’m reminded of that age-old philosophical question: if you do a massive burn-out, but none of your mates are around to watch, have you really burnt out at all?
In case you missed this earlier, it’s very good. Do try this at home.
Stay home. Save Lives. Take the Bins Out*.
Hundreds of thousands of people are enjoying 'Bin isolation outing', where Australians post videos of themselves taking out the wheelie bin, because leaving the house is a rare treat these days https://t.co/Qc79ANQmGupic.twitter.com/Pyd9AArnED
The Western Australia minister for health and deputy premier Roger Cook has reported seven new cases of Covid-19 in the state, as well as four new cases linked to the cruise ship Artania. The 11 new cases are in people aged between 25 and 78, and bring the state’s total to 506.
The total number of cases linked to cruise ships is 191, more than one-third of the total.
Six people have died in WA.
Also in Western Australia, several hundred passengers who had been on board the Vasco da Gama cruise ship are due to end their quarantine today. The West Australian passengers have been held on Rottnest Island, they will be ferried back to Perth this afternoon.
But hundreds of others from the east coast and other parts of Australia are coming out of quarantine, today and in coming days, without a way home because of mass cancellation of flights across the country.
Cook said the state government would continue to accommodate those passengers, while finding a way to get them home.
The state government is aware that there are limited flights available for people returning home following their 14-day isolation in Western Australia. The department of health is liaising with other agencies and airlines to determine viable solutions to get these people home as soon as practicable.
While flights are being arranged to transport people home, they will continue to be accommodated by the state. We want to reassure people who have been in isolation that we will be working to make the transition home as smooth as possible so they can return to their homes and families as quickly as they can.
We understand those in isolation and quarantine have enjoyed difficulty and stress and appreciate the sacrifice they and their family and friends are making to keep our communities safe.
The state’s deputy chief health officer Robin Lawrence said those who had completed their quarantine, but who were still waiting to fly home, would be allowed out of their hotels.
For the passengers from the Vasco da Gama, that would be in a few hours.
As of 4:30pm they will have some increased freedom to move around the local area and the city as long as they maintain social distancing, as required.
We are very grateful for their patience and consideration during the 14 days they have been undertaking quarantine.
For all other future passengers, we will be in contact to work out where they have come from and how they can get home and we thank them for their patience in keeping the state of Western Australia, themselves and their families safe this time.
Queensland’s chief medical officer has posted a list of “Covid-19 hot spots” in NSW and ordered anyone returning to the state from those locations to quarantine for 14 days.
It has been one week since Queensland closed its border to New South Wales for the first time since the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1919. Police have been enforcing the “hard closure” at three checkpoints between the towns of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads on either side of the border.
The gates have also been shut on the state’s two other shared borders between the Northern Territory and South Australia.
Queensland residents are exempt from the ban, but from Saturday those returning home from a list of designated inter-state “Covid-19 hot spots” will be forced to undergo two weeks quarantine.
Good afternoon, Ben Doherty here, my thanks to my colleagues for their work today. And thank you for your company this afternoon. Please feel free to get in touch via twitter @BenDohertyCorro or email ben.doherty@theguardian.com .
Social distancing, how important is it? This, from the Ohio department of health in the US, is excellent.
Cusack says at this stage there is no case to close the state’s beaches. Marshall is asked about photographs local media published apparently showing groups of people.
Marshall says: “I have spent time down at the beach myself today and I can tell you that there were a lot of people enjoying their time but the most important thing is we are trying to guard against large numbers of people congregating in close vicinity, but not people walking the dog, going for a jog.
“We do not want to see reporters, with all due respect, or members of the public try to separate people. They could be people of the same family, people living together.”
Michael Cusack, the SA Health executive director of medical service, says that the state has recorded seven new cases overnight. There are 428 in the state.
The cases range in age from 23 to a person in their 80s.
He says:
“At this point in time there is no link we have found between any of the cases in schools or any residential aged care facility, and importantly there are no additional cases where we think that there has been local transmission. In terms of good news, the number of people that are known to have recovered has increased ...”
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, will address the children of Australia in a special broadcast on the ABC, the network has announced.
The ABC says in a statement that Morrison will answer questions from children on the Monday bulletin of its flagship children’s news program, Behind The News.
An ABC statement said the broadcast would include questions such as:
“My question is, what’s your advice to the population who have lost their jobs as their workplaces have shut down?”
“How long do you think it will take to find a cure for the coronavirus?”
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