This was published 5 years ago

As the day unfolded: Scott Morrison to focus on kickstarting Australian economy as COVID-19 suppressed, COVIDSafe downloads to top 5 million as nation's death toll stands at 97

Sarah Keoghan, Mary Ward and Matt Bungard

Updated May 5, 2020 — 10:11pm,first published May 5, 2020 — 12:00am

Summary

The global death toll from coronavirus is more than 251,000 people. There have been 3.5 million confirmed cases and more than 1.1 million people have recovered, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally
The Australian death toll stands at 97 after another death at Newmarch House in Sydney's west on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government will begin easing restrictions on Friday. He said attention is now on getting Australians back to work
The COVIDSafe app has now been downloaded nearly 5 million times. Next week, legislation protecting the data it collects will be debated in Parliament
At the Ruby Princess inquiry, a senior NSW Health official said if the department had its time again it would have handled the situation differently. Meanwhile, the owner of the ship says it plans to gradually resume cruising in August

10.11pm on May 5, 2020

We're wrapping up the blog for the night

By Sarah Keoghan

Thanks for joining me. I'll be back on decks at 2pm tomorrow.

Here's what you may have missed from today:

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will begin easing restrictions on Friday after national cabinet met today, with attention now turning to the Australian economy
Five million Australians have now downloaded the COVIDSafe app
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy said hot-desking at work would need to be done differently, with staggered start times and finish times to be encouraged. He also said small-room meetings and handshakes within workplaces would likely be off the cards for a while
Bill Gates has donated $10 million to an Australian trial of a vaccine
Another resident died of COVID-19 at Anglicare's Newmarch House near Penrith, pushing the national toll to 97. It is the 16th death at the aged care facility
The Reserve Bank has held official interest rates at 0.25 per cent
The global death toll passed 250,000 this morning
Almost one million jobs have disappeared from Australia since the advent of tough social distancing measures aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus, data has revealed
Rabbitohs star Latrell Mitchell and Roosters coach Trent Robinson were both cleared of COVID-19 this morning after undergoing tests
The Opera House Trust will likely take over Carriageworks after it went into voluntary administration on Monday

We will be continuing our coverage of the pandemic overnight and into Wednesday in a new blog, which you can read here.

Sarah Keoghan signing off.

9.51pm on May 5, 2020

Pictured: Skateboarders take advantage of the quiet streets of Sydney

As we wind down the blog for the evening, take a look at these great shots from Herald photograph Janie Barrett.

It seems skaters are taking advantage of the quiet street of Sydney while they still can.

Skateboarders take advantage of a quiet Martin Place in Sydney's CBD during lunchtime. Janie Barrett

Most people are working from home during the coronavirus pandemic. Janie Barrett

9.33pm on May 5, 2020

Fresh details revealed about Cedar Meats coronavirus outbreak

By Aisha Dow

Health authorities revealed fresh details on the Cedar Meats coronavirus cluster on Tuesday night, including a timeline of the outbreak.

They say that the first case was identified more than a month ago, on April 2, however, the infected person said they had not been at work, so the Brooklyn abattoir was not considered an exposure site.

Cedar Meats in Brooklyn has closed its doors for extensive cleaning, while its staff remain isolated.Simon Schluter

The second and third cases were not diagnosed until more than three weeks later, one of them worker who attended Sunshine Hospital with a severed finger, before they were showing any symptoms.

These cases led to the beginning of contact tracing and a move to rapidly scale back work at the west Melbourne business.

Further cases were identified on April 29, prompting the department to advise the meatworks to test all staff and the facility to be temporarily closed for infection control.

There are now 45 positive coronavirus cases associated with the facility, 42 of them workers and three close contacts, a Victorian government spokesperson said.

“Full contact tracing is undertaken for all positive tests at the facility to ensure close contacts are isolated and tested as necessary,” they said.

9.17pm on May 5, 2020

Hong Kong to relax social distancing measures, gyms, cinemas and beauty salons to reopen

Hong Kong on Tuesday said it would relax some of its social distancing measures, allowing certain businesses such as gyms, cinemas and beauty salons to reopen and doubling the number of individuals allowed at public gatherings to a maximum of eight.

Businesses must continue to observe social distancing measures, said Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam in a press conference.

People wearing protective masks stand along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront in Hong Kong. Bloomberg

Schools will resume from May 27, with students in the more senior grades at secondary schools returning to schools first, while some younger pupils will follow suit in June.

Lam said Hong Kong's social-distancing measures will remain in place for two more weeks, until May 21.

All Hong Kong residents will receive a locally-developed reusable mask, and each household will also receive a packet of 10 disposable masks. Schools, and homes for the disabled and vulnerable populations will also receive face masks from the government.

Hong Kong has seen no local transmissions of the coronavirus for 16 consecutive days, and its total COVID-19 cases stand at just over 1,000, with four reported deaths.

8.55pm on May 5, 2020

Editorial: Trans-Tasman travel 'bubble' must be handled with care

When Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, joined each other in Tuesday's meeting of our national cabinet, they would have been entitled to exchange cautious congratulations.

Few of us could have imagined weeks ago that the progress of COVID-19 through the two countries' populations would have been so effectively arrested, and many countries around the world would have paid handsomely to find themselves in the position we occupy now.

As optimism has grown, earlier comments by Ms Ardern's deputy, Winston Peters, about the possibility of a trans-Tasman "bubble" for holidaymakers have attracted wide attention.

Australians and New Zealanders have always been significant contributors to each other's visitor numbers; at a time of severe economic privation for the tourism industry and the airlines that serve it, they could become a lifeline.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined the national cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Getty

On Tuesday, Mr Morrison cautioned that the "safe travel zone" was still some time away and that it would not precede the easing of curbs on interstate travel.

As he put it, once Australians are able to travel from Melbourne to Cairns, it will be possible to consider them travelling to Auckland or Christchurch.

But while the Prime Minister is not alone in wanting to come out from "under the doona", any decision to visit our "family" across the ditch needs to come with the same restrictions attached that have made our response to the pandemic such a success so far.

Ms Ardern is right to say that 14-day quarantine at both ends of the trip would kill the proposal, but testing and movement protocols at airports will be essential. New Zealand is reportedly only days away from introducing its own COVID-19 contact-tracing app, which means any tourism in either direction could and perhaps should be made conditional on download.

Read the rest of the editorial here.

8.30pm on May 5, 2020

Australian cinemas target July restart, pin hopes on Christopher Nolan

By Karl Quinn

Cinemas in Australia are aiming to reopen in July, with exhibitors describing the scheduled worldwide release of Christopher Nolan's big-budget film Tenet as a "totem" guiding them towards re-emergence from the coronavirus shutdown.

The National Association of Cinema Operators, which represents the major chains, issued a statement late on Tuesday that said it was "enthusiastic about the prospect of reopening and is hopeful of conditions enabling it to do so in July".

However, the association said operators will not reopen until the government advises it is safe to do so, and are likely to do so with reduced seating capacity because of social distancing measures.

Wagga Wagga will facilitate Storm if Albury won't: Barilaro

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has seemingly reignited the Storm's hopes of training out at regional NSW.

View post on X

Well, it looks like the May 28 restart date is once again looking safe...for now.

8.00pm on May 5, 2020

New car sales plunge almost 50 per cent as COVID-19 crashes demand

By Darren Gray

Car dealers want government incentives for drivers to upgrade to new vehicles and vehicle taxes abolished or reformed, after new car sales plunged a record 48.5 per cent in April because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It was the biggest fall recorded in almost 30 years of tracking the sales, as COVID-19 rattled consumer confidence and social movement restrictions kept people indoors.

Brett Davies from Nunawading Toyota says many customers wore gloves and face masks in April.Joe Armao

April sales plummeted to 38,926 vehicles, down from 75,550 in April 2019, as sales of passenger cars, SUVs and light commercial vehicles went into reverse.

Video: NT Chief Health Officer's COVID-19 dance goes viral

On a bit of a lighter note, this video of the Northern Territory's Chief Health Officer Dr Hugh Heggie is doing the round on social media. Some great moves with a great message.

View post on X

7.33pm on May 5, 2020

Indonesia records its largest single day spike in cases

By James Massola

Indonesia has recorded its largest single-day rise in coronavirus cases, with the national government announcing 484 new infections on Tuesday.

The previous high was 436 new infections in a single day on April 24.

In total, the country has now reported 12,071 positive cases and 872 deaths. The death toll rise by eight more people on Tuesday.

A cleaner walks through the nearly empty Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia.Getty

Previously, the Health Department’s Achmad Yurianto and other officials from the country’s Covid-19 task force have suggested they are optimistic the country will have the outbreak under control by June or July, provided Indonesians obey social distancing and other regulations put in place to stop the spread of the disease.

But on Tuesday, Yurianto appeared to push back the target date for a return to “normal” life.

“We hope that in August we can already have a better life, a new normal meaning we already have a disciplined life, discipline in washing our hands, discipline in doing healthy lifestyle.”

After a slow start to rolling out testing across the country, Indonesia has now conducted 121,547 tests on 88,924 patients as labs across the country have set up testing facilities and the supply of the chemical reagents needed has improved.

Despite the recent increase in testing rates, Indonesia still lags far behind its near neighbours in Vietnam (261,004 tests), Malaysia, (154,212), Singapore (143,919) and the Philippines (126,154) – all of which have much smaller populations.