Coronavirus Latest: Cruise Ships Are Restarting ASAP, Because Why Not
Tuesday: Huge fines, jail time for breaching tracing app privacy; $4b a week to fight virus;
Morning! It’s Tuesday, May 5. Here’s today’s ‘5+5: coronavirus edition’.
Each day I’m bringing you 5 things to know about the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak + 5 non-corona things to start your day off.
If you haven’t already, please sign up above ^^ to get this every day in your emails.
You can email me at joshb2@protonmail.com if you have tips, feedback, ideas or want to chat
You can also find me on Twitter at @joshbutler; on Facebook; or on Instagram
Wash your hands and sneeze into your elbow. Practise physical distancing - at least 1.5 metres of separation. “Stay the fuck at home”.
Latest Australian stats: as of 9pm Monday, Australia has 6825 reported cases of COVID-19, with 5859 reported as ‘recovered’; there have been 95 deaths; and more than 650,000 tests have been done, according to the latest federal Department of Health stats. Full global stats breakdown below.
5 CORONAVIRUS THINGS
Phone app protections revealed
Up to five years jail or a $63,000 fine face those misusing or wrongly accessing data collected by the COVIDSafe tracing app, according to draft legislation released by the federal government overnight (link). Less than five million people have the app so far, a lot less than the government wants, and this new legislation — to be introduced into parliament next week — is hoped to persuade more to get on board. Under the laws, “it is a criminal offence to collect, use or disclose COVIDSafe app data for a purpose that is not related to contact tracing” and also illegal to transfer the data outside Australia, or to decrypt it, with “a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment or $63,000” (The Age story here).
The government has been more blunt and blatant about the need to get the app in recent days, explicitly linking increased rates of use to the extension of more regular freedoms. It comes as it’s revealed that the contact tracing part of the app… still doesn’t work because it’s still “being finalised”? (ABC story here).
Corona cost: $4 billion a week
“For every extra week current restrictions remain in place, the economy will take a $4 billion hit from a combination of reduced workforce participation, production and consumption,” the Sydney Morning Herald reports, quoting from a speech that treasurer Josh Frydenberg is to deliver today.
The federal government seems keen to get states to wind back some of the lockdown rules and get businesses working again, with Friday the D-Day when national cabinet meets to discuss the road map forward. It’s expected that some rules may be slowly wound back, with discussion now turning to how to avoid knock-on effects from economic downturn — poverty, unemployment, mental health — with the virus spread (for now) seemingly contained. The SMH reports “the June quarter is expected to show the economy contracting by a record 10 per cent or about $50 billion.”
It comes as The Guardian reported Innes Willox, chief executive of the powerful and influential Australian Industry Group, will call today for Australia to address coronavirus and climate change recovery jointly. “The need is urgent. Covid-19 and climate are bigger than any economic challenge we’ve faced in the last century,” he will say in a speech.
Italy eases “world’s longest lockdown”
Italy — at one stage having the world’s highest death toll — is now easing its lockdowns slightly. The formerly strict stay-home orders have been relaxed to be near on-par with what Australia is experiencing. Parks will open, restaurants can open to do takeaway, and people can visit relatives (Bloomberg story here).
It’s been around two months since any of those things were allowed, and some of the social media reaction has been pure.
Italy currently has the third-highest number of confirmed cases (211,938) and second-highest deaths (29,079) from COVID.
Cruise ships plan restart
As most nations worldwide begin to get a handle on the outbreak, the cruise ship industry —described by some as “floating petri dishes” — is planning its reopening. The Carnival cruise line flagged plans to restart from August 1, a week after the United States is scheduled to lift a ban on the industry (CNBC story here). Eight ships are planned to sail around the U.S., but CNBC reports “the company said all other North American and Australian cruises will be canceled through Aug. 31.”
By the by, the NSW inquiry into the Ruby Princess — a cruise operated by Princess — continues today in Sydney (Daily Tele story here).
Today’s stats:
The latest stats from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (as of 8.30am AEST Tuesday) report 3,578,301 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. There have been 251,059 deaths.
The United States has 755,533 confirmed cases, with Spain next but far behind on 218,011, then Italy (211,938). The U.S. has the most deaths (68,689), then Italy (29,079) and the United Kingdom third on 28,734.
In Australia, the latest federal stats (as of 9pm Monday) show 6825 cases, 5859 people recovered, 95 deaths, and 650,214 tests.
The latest Australian graph:
5 NON-CORONAVIRUS THINGS
The American presidential election is still going on — and there’s a LOT going on with Joe Biden. The presumptive (but not yet official) Democratic nominee has been hit with allegations of sexual assault from the 1990s, levelled by a former staff member (link). Biden has vehemently denied the claims, and called for records from that time to be made public to support his version of the story. However, linked with criticisms over Biden’s strength and energy as a candidate (the man is 77, a full four years older than Donald Trump), questions have been raised over whether he’ll even end up as the Democratic challenger. In some quarters, a last-minute replacement ticket of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has even been raised… (link)
Kiwi filmmaker Taika Waititi — ‘Thor: Ragnarok’, ‘Jojo Rabbit’, ‘Hunt For The Wilderpeople’ — will direct a new Star Wars movie (link).
Nicolas Cage will play ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic in a TV series adaptation of the wildly popular Netflix doco show (link).
Aussie musician Amy Shark has apologised for, and deleted, an 'inappropriate' TikTok video after being slammed online (link).
The NRL has allowed players to begin training, ahead of the season’s planned resumption on May 28. The league will also ensure a series of temperature checks to mitigate corona risk, among a long list of safety measures (link).
IMPORTANT EVERY DAY
You “must” stay home at all times unless to shop for essential supplies; get medical care; exercise alone or with one other person; or work and education (more info here).
be hygienic; wash your hands properly, at least 30 seconds with soap and water, multiple times a day (here’s how you need to do it, plus a handy Dr Karl video tutorial); sneeze and cough into your elbows.
Listen to only official information from the World Health Organisation and legitimate health bodies — Don’t share dodgy stuff on Facebook. If it looks too good (or bad) to be true, it often is.
World Health Organisation latest statistics here
Australian government latest statistics here
Signing off - stay safe, be healthy, look after yourself and others
Josh