Live: Minister on the defensive over coronavirus nursing home deaths

Forty-eight active cases in disability facility settings

In aged care settings, there’s a total of 1,412 active cases.

“And in terms of aged care shifts that have been worked by hospital staff, to whom we are so, so grateful, we’re now up to 3062 shifts that have been worked,” Mr Andrews said.

“That’s a massive, massive effort in terms of people who would normally be working in a very different environment.

“They’ve gone into aged care homes, they have provided the very best of care, helped to stabilise those environments when many of them could not have been described in those terms, they’ve done a mighty job and we’re very, very proud of them and grateful to them and I will continue to update you as those numbers grow.”

Regional Victorian numbers are in ‘a much better position than a few weeks ago’

There are 3,308 active cases across the state, Premier Daniel Andrews said.

“Those numbers continue to fall, which is good news.

“There are now 198 active cases in regional local government areas under stage three.

“To give you an example, across a number of key regional communities that we’ve been speaking about, the greater Geelong area has 71 active cases, greater Bendigo, 16, and Ballarat has six active cases.

“That’s a much better position than a few weeks ago. Those numbers are falling. But there should be no sense of complacency in those communities or any community.” 

Twenty-two of 23 new deaths from aged care in Victoria

There are now 18,714 aggregate cases in the community; 485 Victorians have now lost their life to the virus in the state. 

They include:

• one male in his 60s
• one female and four males in their 70s
• six females and three males in their 80s
• five females and three males in their 90s

There are 532 Victorians in hospital, 29 of those are receiving intensive care and 11 of the 29 are on a ventilator. 

There are 4,151 cases with an unknown source.

NSW confirms nine new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is up now

Bit of perspective on Victoria’s numbers

The current 14-day average for infections is a little more than 200.

Before that the 14-day average was more than 400.

But, on the seven-day average, deaths in Victoria have never been higher.

We’re still seeing more than 15 people dying a day on average.

There are still more than 1,100 active infections among aged care residents.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews set to speak at 11:00am

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has just stepped up

 

        

He thanked Australians for their efforts in regards to COVID-19 and said Victoria has “turned the corner”. 

“This has been a very difficult time, a very frustrating time, a very anxious time. And Australians have just kept their determination up, their positivity, wherever they can.”

     
“And I want to thank tell, just simply thank them and ask them to continue to demonstrate the goodwill and the good faith they have, despite the frustrations and the limitations and the anxieties that they have to cope with every day.”

     
“But that said, Victoria has turned the corner and we will continue to invest our efforts in assisting them to ensure that we can continue to get this outbreak under control and return life in Melbourne and across Victoria, to as normal as you can in a COVID-safe world.”

You can follow along with his press conference by watching the ABC News channel live stream embedded at the top of the blog. 

Can I leave my house to take a driving lesson in Melbourne?

‘We can’t say definitively that those two cases are linked’

      
Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young says gene sequencing has provided no definitive answer on whether the strain identified with one of the women who returned from Melbourne is linked to one of the first identified cases at the Brisbane youth detention centre. 

 “Although they match almost perfectly, there is only one very small change, one nucleotide change between the two which suggests they are linked. The only problem is that particular virus strain has shown very little mutation so although that is almost an exact match, we have also found other cases elsewhere that had that exact same match, there hasn’t been any change in the virus so we can’t say definitively that those two cases are linked but we can’t say they are not. That’s where we will have to leave that one.”

Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said eight people were refused entry to Queensland by air

 

 

 

He said 73 flights entered the state carrying 3170 passengers in the last 24 hours.

Another 188 people were turned around at road borders.

Deputy Commissioner Gollschewski said 269 people were directed to quarantine.

One on-the-spot fine has been issued to a person on the Lady Pamela yacht. There is still an investigation underway around that vessel.

Queensland Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Martin is speaking now

He said the Wacol trainer had a sore throat, isolated himself and took himself off for testing.

“We’ve taken the very cautious step to move to stage 4 which is extreme isolation for the prisons from Capricornia … to the south-east corner,” he said. 

“All of the prisons will be locked down and the staff will wear PPE.

“Our protocols are well-developed and well-practiced…and I’m confident we’re doing everything to test the recruits and other workers.

“Any reports this trainer had worked at correctional centres over the course of his infection, is untrue.”

Brisbane Youth Detention Centre young people test negative

All the young people have been tested and all are negative, but Queensland Health is still awaiting a few results from staff at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre.

The Wacol Corrections Academy trainer who tested positive overnight is from Forest Lake — he trained 14 recruits and 11 colleagues.

“All of those people have been tested, are in quarantine and self isolation, and we are hoping to prioritise those tests as well,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

The person who tested positive while in quarantine was a Cairns resident who had returned from Papua New Guinea.

Two new Queensland cases overnight

One was in hotel quarantine.

Another was a trainer for corrective services.

Over the last 24 hours there have been 19,780 tests.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is speaking now

You can follow her press conference via our live stream at the top of the page, or on the ABC Brisbane Facebook page here.