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As it happened: Victoria records five new COVID-19 cases as Melbourne lockdown restrictions eased; NSW records no new cases as Australian death toll jumps to 875

Updated September 28, 2020 — 9:20pm,first published September 28, 2020 — 7:03am

Summary

Childcare centres can reopen and the curfew has been scrapped under eased restrictions in Melbourne this morning. However, there are also new mask rules coming into force, with Victorians now required to wear a fitted mask covering the nose and mouth.
Victoria has recorded just five new coronavirus cases today, its lowest figure since June 12. There were 16 new coronavirus cases recorded in Victoria yesterday, 15 of which were linked to known clusters.
NSW has recorded no new coronavirus cases for a second consecutive day.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has told local media it is "possible" her country will have a travel bubble with Australia by Christmas, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison made similar comments in a television appearance.
There have been 32.9 million coronavirus cases worldwide since the start of the pandemic, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. The global death toll has passed 996,000.

Pinned post from 9.20pm on Sep 28, 2020

Thanks for following along

Thanks for following along today, we're wrapping up the blog for now. We will continue to blog the pandemic on Tuesday. Here are some of the day's big stories:

NSW has recorded no new cases for the second day in a row and Victoria has recorded five new cases, down from 16 yesterday.
Melbourne's curfew has been lifted today and a number of other restrictions around schools and universities, workplaces, shopping and weddings have also been eased. You can find a full list of what's changed here.
On its final day, Victoria's hotel quarantine inquiry has heard that no special measures were put in place to address the risk of putting positive cases in one 'hot hotel', the Rydges on Swanston, insufficient regard was given to the safety of hotel quarantine workers and that the failures of the state's quarantine system to contain COVID-19 led to 768 deaths and more than 18,000 infections.
Both Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern have said a "travel bubble" with New Zealand and parts of Australia may be possible by Christmas.

We'll be back tomorrow morning.

Pinned post from 5.47pm on Sep 28, 2020

Go to latest

Positive COVID-19 samples found in wastewater in Sydney's east and Blue Mountains

Positive results of COVID-19 have been found in wastewater samples in Bondi, Malabar and Winmalee, under a new sewage testing program being undertaken by NSW Health and Sydney Water.

The samples, which are not infectious, could help health authorities find undetected cases or clusters, Sydney Water’s General Manager Customer, Strategy and Engagement, Maryanne Graham said.

"[We're conducting] an epidemiological test that really just shows if there are any molecular fragments of the virus in the wastewater," Ms Graham told 2GB on Monday.

"That tells us it has basically been shed ... through the shower, washing hands or going to the toilet.

"It's a terrific way to identify where there may have been undetected cases and where cases are persisting and ... where there may be a cluster forming."

Ms Graham said Sydney Water will take advice from NSW Health on whether further testing of positive samples is necessary.

She said the program will become especially useful if clinical testing numbers fall.

"NSW Health can use that to help inform potentially where they might want to pick up more testing of local residents, find out whether or not current controls are working well," Ms Graham said.

Sydney Water laboratories are currently testing raw sewage from plants in Bondi, Malabar, North Head, Cronulla, St Marys, Quakers Hill, Rouse Hill, Penrith, Shellharbour and Winmalee.

Testing began about two weeks ago.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said: “This is a program that will show us where COVID-19 has been. For instance, we would expect to see viral fragments in Sydney sewage where we have consistently had cases in the community or in hotel quarantine.

“However, if we continue to have very few active cases, there is scope for this testing to provide early warning in places without known or recent cases."

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9.13pm on Sep 28, 2020

Today's COVID-19 cases by state and territory

Here are the latest case numbers across Australia - NSW has recorded zero cases for the second day in a row and Victoria has recorded five new cases, down from 16 yesterday.

9.06pm on Sep 28, 2020

Australia and COVID-19: Four lessons to learn from Europe's summer

By Michael Gebicki

How could they mess up so badly?

In Spain, troops have been deployed to enforce a tough new coronavirus lockdown in parts of Madrid. In England pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues must now close at 10pm as the coronavirus alert is raised to its second-highest level. Travellers returning to the UK from a holiday in France or Spain must self-quarantine for two weeks. Munich's Oktoberfest, the world's biggest beer festival, has been canned this year.

People crowd onto the beach at Brighton, England.AP

In June, Europe was on a trajectory to have coronavirus under control. Authorities breathed a sigh of relief, lockdown rules were relaxed, people travelled to their favourite summer holiday spots – and the number of coronavirus infections skyrocketed.

Travellers bear much of the blame for the soaring number of infections in Europe. That doesn't mean we should all stay on the couch, but we need to look at what Europe has done wrong this summer – and what it has done right. Because the answers to these questions should help shape our own behaviour as summer approaches.

Read the full story here.

9.00pm on Sep 28, 2020

Swimmers lap up reopening of outdoor pools

By Emma Anvari

Hardy Melburnians are dusting off their goggles and donning their bathers as outdoor public pools reopen for the first time in months.

The easing of restrictions on outdoor pools, as well as outdoor exercise for up to two people with a trainer, came into effect on Monday – along with the lifting of the citywide curfew – under step two of the Andrews government's road map for emerging from lockdown.

Gavin Moore savoured his first swim in months at Fitzroy Pool on Monday. Chris Hopkins

How COVID-19 has revived long lunches

In the midst of the pandemic, suburban restaurants are booming.

Mosman fine-dining restaurant Ormeggio at The Spit is fully booked for lunch on several days during the week and is planning to open for all-day dining to cope with the demand.

Ormeggio at The Spit is fully booked for lunch several days a week as more people dine out while working from home.Renee Nowytarger

"We've been at The Spit for 11 years and we've never had a winter like this," Ormeggio's co-owner Anna Pavoni said.

"We're doing better than we were at this time last year, we're finding our weekdays are almost as busy as our weekends because people are working from home and keen to come out to lunch or they're able to make a six o'clock dinner because they're not commuting."

Lunchtime bookings have more than doubled in parts of Sydney's north and east and increased significantly in other areas following NSW's COVID-19 lockdown.

Read the story here.

8.25pm on Sep 28, 2020

Cascade of errors follow hotel quarantine's original sin

By Michael Bachelard

Tony Neal, the counsel assisting the hotel quarantine inquiry, wanted us all to be clear: the 25 days of hearings into the botched program and 290,000 pages of evidence did not show us an example of "bad faith or corruption" in Victoria's governance.

On the contrary, everyone had done their best, he said.

But that was almost the only good thing he and his two junior barristers had to say all day. Rarely can there have been such a measured but comprehensive demolition of public policy in this state than was contained in the final submissions of counsel assisting the inquiry on Monday.

The headline is the sheer level of death and illness this program undoubtedly caused. Behind that, virtually every decision made by a public servant contributed to a cascade of errors and unnecessary risks.

Trimming, plucking, waxing would 'lift morale'

By Mathew Dunckley

The Australian Industry Group has called on the Victorian government to allow more beauty industry businesses to open to provide a "much-needed morale boost" to the community.

"People are wanting to be plucked, waxed, lasered, threaded and coiffured. It's a rite of passage for some and would make them feel so much better about themselves," Tim Piper the Victorian Head of the national employer association Ai Group said today.

"There are additional measures that hairdressers and beauty therapists can take to safeguard themselves and their clients. Mask and hand hygiene, temperature checks and having complete client records are all actions that hairdressers and therapists have adopted previously."

Mr Piper said Melburnians prided themselves on their fashion sense.

"Reports of people looking like 'cave men' or their hair looking like 'birds nests' are people reacting to their body image and attitude about themselves," he said.

"Opening these small businesses would also help to re-energise the economy and get things moving again."

8.08pm on Sep 28, 2020

'Felt like a small child": Melburnians react to lifting of curfew

By Carolyn Webb

The public’s reaction to Melbourne’s 9pm to 5am curfew being lifted has ranged from the excited to the indifferent.

While some revelled in the chance to walk the dog late at night, others said they couldn’t yet visit friends or travel outside a 5km radius of their house, so they didn’t feel anything had changed.

South Melbourne IT worker and night owl Bruce Freshwater said he felt ‘‘very happy’’ that he could resume his pre-curfew routine of cycling 30km in multiple laps of Albert Park Lake after 10pm, three or four times per week.

Mr Freshwater, 47, who has been working from home since March said after his gym and pool at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre closed, he took up cycling, going out for an hour from as late at 10pm.

‘‘It’s quiet, there’s no one around, no dogs, no children, no crowds to worry about.’’ It felt like ‘‘clinging on to normality’’ and a coping strategy. He would often then go shopping at 11pm.

‘‘And suddenly the curfew came along and I was forced to exercise at the same time as everybody else, starting at 6.30pm or 7pm.

‘‘Which seemed nuts to me because there were more people about, more crowds, it was less safe to exercise during the day than it was at night when it was quiet.’’

He said most people didn’t seem bothered about the curfew, ‘‘but to me it’s been the most irritating aspect of Stage Four. I’m very pleased to see the back of it.’’

‘‘Part of me felt like a small child being told I had to be in bed by a certain time of night, I think.’’

While some Age readers are happy they can again walk the dog or go to the convenience store when they please, many said the curfew’s lifting would make no difference to their lives.

One anonymous contributor said: ‘‘It changes nothing, we still can’t leave the house for more than 2 hrs can’t visit friends or family nothing is open and my work is shut so it was a pointless rule in the first place, but it changes nothing.’’

7.48pm on Sep 28, 2020

Victorian party with jumping castle fined on 'especially bad' weekend

By Simone Fox Koob

A party on the Victorian Surf Coast where a group of adults hired a jumping castle was one of ten large gatherings busted for breaching coronavirus restrictions during an “especially bad” weekend for compliance.

Police busted ten parties on the weekend across the state, including in Hoppers Crossing, the CBD and the Casey area. They issued a total of 93 infringements at these gatherings.

“The ignorance and selfishness of placing others at risk, it’s unfathomable,” said Chief Commissioner of Police Shane Patton.

As restrictions in Victoria begin to ease, Mr Patton said police will be focused on handing out the increased $4957 fine for unlawful outdoor and indoor gatherings.

“The use of discretion will be used only in most extreme circumstances,” he said.

Members of the public who believe gatherings are taking place are being urged to call the police assistance line and their reports will be investigated.

With warmer weather forecast for the rest of the week, Mr Patton said police will be out enforcing the directions and inspecting populous places such as parks.

Five people from two households are now allowed to gather outside. Mr Patton said if they need to, police will be asking in a “polite” and “dignified” way to validate people’s addresses.

“It’s impossible to be totally prescriptive for every scenario … it requires a common sense approach. That’s the approach we will take,” he said.

7.13pm on Sep 28, 2020

Curfew 'one step too far', court told

By David Estcourt

Victoria’s coronavirus curfew is no more but lawyers for a restaurateur suing the state government have told the Supreme Court that the measure was “a step too far” that had ruined her business and restricted her freedoms.

Restaurant owner Michelle Loielo, an aspiring Liberal Party MP, filed a lawsuit on September 14 claiming the 9pm-5am curfew, yesterday ended by the Andrews government, was unreasonable, disproportionate and violated the human rights of millions of Victorians.

On Monday, it was uncertain whether the trial would go forward but Marcus Clarke QC, representing Ms Loielo, told the court they wanted to pursue their claim to have the curfew declared unlawful.

In his opening statement, Mr Clarke admitted to Supreme Court judge Tim Ginnane on Monday that the pandemic was a serious health crisis that required abrogation of some rights to contain, but that the curfew was not necessary alongside the restrictions already in place.

“These restrictions, on top of all the other restrictions, is one step too far,” Mr Clarke said.

Mr Clarke reiterated that Ms Loielo “cherishes her freedoms,” and that her freedom of movement, liberty and security, and to not be arbitrarily detained, was infringed by the curfew policy.

“Her contention is that the curfew has violated all of those rights … and that the government has acted excessively in seeking to curtail them.”

Mr Clarke said Associate Professor Michelle Giles, being sued in her capacity as the state's deputy public health commander, was acting under dictation of Premier Daniel Andrews when she extended the curfew, that the imposition of the measure was unreasonable, irrational and illogical.

Victoria’s Solicitor-General, Kristen Walker QC, rejected the notion that the decision was invalid, admitting that Victorian’s rights were impacted, but in the context of the pandemic were justified.

“The risk associated with COVID-19 is death, for certain people in the population,” Ms Walker said.

"The evidence will demonstrate that the defendant absolutely did not act at the direction or the behest of the Premier.”

Government briefings tabled in court on Monday also revealed more detail about the warning lawyers gave health officials that the curfew measure carried a real risk of unlawfully violating the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities.

The advice, provided to Associate Professor Giles, said that the directions were, on balance, likely to be compatible with human rights under the charter but made specific mention of the risks posed by the curfew.

“It is the Department’s view that these Directions are, on balance, likely to be compatible with human rights under the charter,” the advice reads, “in light of the exceptional circumstances in which they are being issued and the public health advice they are based on.”

“However, we note that this assessment is not without doubt; in particular, there is some risk of incompatibility with respect to the evening curfew.”

On Sunday, the Andrews government ended the curfew a month ahead of schedule.

Put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19, the curfew was initially in force between 8pm and 5am but was moved back to 9pm on September 14.

The government's decision to impose the curfew came into focus after Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton both said it was not their idea.

Lawyers for Ms Loielo have sought to cross examine Associate Professor Giles about what information she used to come to the conclusion that extending the curfew was necessary, and whether she acted under the dictation of Premier Daniel Andrews when she extended it.

The matter has been adjourned to Wednesday. In the interim parties are to make submissions about the impact of the ending of curfew to their case.