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NationalCoronavirus pandemic

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As the day unfolded: Australian death toll jumps to 21 as COVID-19 cases surpass 850,000 worldwide

Sarah Keoghan, Mary Ward and Latika Bourke
Updated ,first published

Summary

  • Australia's death toll stands at 21 after the death of a person at Orange Base Hospital on Wednesday. There have been 4860 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in Australia.
  • Deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly says it’s impossible to defeat the coronavirus without a vaccine, which could take 18 months to develop. He also is urging Australians, particularly aged over 65, to get their flu vaccine as soon as possible.  
  • More than 60 wharfies have been stood down for refusing to unload cargo from a fully laden ship from China carrying toilet paper, surgical masks and tinned food due to fears they could catch coronavirus.
  • NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has urged her state's local businesses to "re-tool" and make medical supplies such as face masks and hand sanitiser in light of global shortages.
  • Minutes of the Reserve Bank’s meeting reveal fears that the economic fallout from the virus pandemic will last over a year. However, the meeting ruled out negative interest rates as a strategy to address the downturn.

We're closing the blog for the night

By Sarah Keoghan

That's a wrap on Wednesday's coronavirus coverage, thank you for reading.

Here's what you need to know from today:

  • Australia's death toll stands at 21 after the death of a person at Orange Base Hospital on Wednesday. There have now been 4860 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in Australia.
  • Deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly said it’s impossible to defeat the coronavirus without a vaccine, which could take 18 months to develop. He also is urging Australians, particularly aged over 65, to get their flu vaccine as soon as possible.

In photos: How coronavirus has changed Sydney

By

As we all stayed home this week, photographers from The Sydney Morning Herald were out documenting how drastically life in Sydney had been altered after strict restrictions were put in place this week.

Louise Kennerley captured this image of a worker cleaning the railings at the Sydney Opera House at the usually bustling forecourt.

Railings being cleaned at the Sydney Opera House Forecourt. Louise Kennerley

View our gallery here. 

Peter Mac Cancer Centre staffer tests positive to COVID-19

By Rachel Eddie

A staff member at Melbourne's Peter Mac Cancer Centre has tested positive to the coronavirus, Nine News reports.

Close to 12 nurses have been sent home for isolation.

Peter Mac centres were already been doing temperature checks and screening patients, visitors, couriers and contractors.

The worker is in isolation at home and is doing well.

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"Our primary focus is on the health and wellbeing of our patients and staff and we are working closely with the Department of Health and Human Services to rigorously follow all the relevant protocols to reduce any possible risk of further infection," a spokesman said.

"These protocols require people who have been in close contact with a person who tests positive to COVID-19 to self-isolate for 14 days.

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Langer's sympathy for old enemy as virus hits England head on

By Chris Barrett

They are bitter rivals with Australia on the ground but Justin Langer says he feels great sympathy for English cricket as it faces the disastrous prospect of having its whole season wiped out by the shutdown of sport.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has announced a £61 million ($124m) relief package to "keep the lights on" and tackle what its chief executive, Tom Harrison, labels the biggest challenge it has faced in its history.

Cricket Australia is also examining what impact coronavirus might have on its own season, including a potential postponement of the Twenty20 World Cup and the worst-case scenario of a home Test series against India being abandoned, but it at least has time on its side.

Justin Langer says Cricket Australia is looking at every scenario.Getty

English cricket, by contrast, has been hit head on by the global health crisis, just like Australia's winter football codes, and faces enormous financial losses across the board, from its head office at Lord's to cash-strapped counties.

Read more here. 

Pharmacists copping 'unacceptable' abuse on coronavirus frontlines

By Melissa Cunningham and Aisha Dow

A pharmacist has been punched in the face while trying to stop a woman from hoarding tissues, while others have had stock thrown at them and received death threats as tensions flare over limits on medication amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In one distressing incident being investigated by police, a pharmacy assistant in the Victorian seaside town of Torquay needed part of her ear glued back together after she was assaulted last week by a customer claiming to have coronavirus.

Pharmacist Fedele Cerra says staff have been left traumatised after receiving death threats over toilet paper and medicine shortages.Joe Armao

The customer, a woman in her 30s, threw a glass medicine bottle at the staff member from about 1.5 metres away after demanding medicine to clear her airways.

Pharmacy Guild's Victorian president Anthony Tassone said that while the majority were "understanding and appreciative" some individuals continue to "display rude, abusive and unacceptable behaviour".

Read more here. 

Wiley Park Girls HS shuts doors after staff member tests positive for COVID-19

By Sarah Keoghan

A high school in Sydney's south-west has been forced to close its doors for cleaning after a staff member returned a positive reading to COVID-19.

All staff and students from Wiley Park Girls High School have been asked to self-isolate in accordance with NSW Health guidelines.

Staff and students have been asked to self-isolate. Virginia Star

The school has advised parents that the school will not be operational on April 2, and will be in contact on Thursday regarding the return of classes.

Those who may have been in close contact with the positive staff member will be advised of the fact on Thursday.

"The school is working closely with NSW Health to assist them to conduct their contact tracing process," a notice from the school read.

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Flights loaded with medical equipment for Australia en route from China

By Caitlin Fitzsimmons

Flights loaded with medical equipment urgently needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic are set to depart China for Australia in the coming days, after a scramble to secure shipping and logistics.

The business community rallied after it was revealed on Sunday that Australia was losing access to urgently needed medical supplies because of restrictions on shipping and foreign governments paying high prices upfront.

Australia needs to shore up its medical supplies including personal protective equipment (PPE) to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.Mike Segar

Equinox Medical chief executive Philip Crealy said a number of companies - including logistics and freight specialists, airlines and management consultancies - had contacted him since Sunday to offer help.

He needed to ship more than 30 tonnes of hospital gowns, face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators and COVID-19 diagnostic tests destined for Australian hospitals and aged care homes.

Read more here.

Aus Gov provides updated coronavirus figures

By Sarah Keoghan

Over a quarter of a million tests have now been conducted for COVID-19 across Australia, as the number of cases reach 4860.

The Australia government released a fact sheet of their lastest figures on Wednesday afternoon, which stated 256,000 people have now been tested.

Over 100,000 tests have now been conducted across NSW.

The figures push Australia to a 1.9 per cent positive test rate.

As of 4pm on Wednesday, there were over 864,690 reported cases of COVID-19 and over 42,233 deaths worldwide.

There had also been 445,202 unique ABN registrations (companies, partnerships, trusts and individuals) made to the government's new JobKeeper program.

Private schools offer flexible fee plans to stop student 'exodus'

By Madeleine Heffernan and Adam Carey

Victorian private schools are urging cash-strapped families to negotiate payment plans for fees, although few have so far committed to retaining students whose families can no longer afford to pay.

Non-government schools − which teach 36 per cent of Victorian students − are privately reporting they have been inundated with families requesting school fee reductions or waivers.

Independent Schools Victoria chief executive Michelle Green said "many schools have been approached by parents who’ve lost their jobs and fear they will have to withdraw their children from the school, or who have sought a fee reduction".

Ms Green said some schools had the capacity to defer fees for term two, or offer flexible payment plans, and others had temporarily waived fees for families hit by sudden unemployment.

Read more here.

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Rozelle residents plead for Westconnex reprieve

By Matt Bungard

Residents of inner-west Sydney suburb Rozelle are asking the state government to alter the work schedule of the nearby Westconnex project, saying the constant noise while they are forced to work from home due to the current health crisis is too much to handle.

Residents held a meeting on Wednesday afternoon on video conferencing service Zoom, chaired by state MP Jamie Parker.

"New times means new methods," Mr Parker said. "This new technology ... actually worked really well."

Balmain MP Jamie Parker and residents discuss Westconnex issues in Rozelle via a meeting on Zoom.

The member for Balmain said that residents weren't under the illusion that roadworks could stop completely, but were hopeful that, with most people working from home at the moment, there would be more periods of respite.

Read more here. 

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