COVID Latest: Biggest Ever Daily Spike In Virus Cases. It's Not Over Yet
TUESDAY: Childcare funding wound back; anti-vaxxers roasted on Twitter
Morning! It’s Tuesday, June 9. Here is today’s ‘5+5: coronavirus edition’ — 5 things to know about COVID-19 today, + 5 non-corona things as well.
Latest AU stats: as of 9pm Monday, Australia has 7265 reported cases of COVID-19 (that’s +5 since the day before), with 6706 reported as ‘recovered’, and 102 deaths, according to the latest federal Department of Health stats. More stats below.
5 CORONAVIRUS THINGS
Another record day for new cases
In Australia, our cases are definitely on the descent. In New Zealand, there’s literally zero cases left. Around the world, the story is very different — with Monday marking the largest ever number of new daily virus cases yet (link). More than 136,000 new cases were confirmed by the World Health Organisation, with director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying it was “the most in a single day so far”, and that “more than 100,000 cases have been reported on nine of the past 10 days”. That’s around a million new cases in less than a fortnight.
It’s being led by huge spikes in new cases in Brazil, with more than 30,000 diagnoses there alone on Monday. Other nations in Central and South America are also confirming many thousands per day, with the USA still logging more than 28,000 on Monday. Globally, we’ve just ticked over 7 million cases, with the USA to hit 2 million alone in the next day or so (currently at 1.956 million). More stats below.
JobKeeper cut for childcare sector
The federal government is trimming the JobKeeper wage subsidy already, paring back support for the early education sector as schools move back to greater capacity and parents return to work (link). As part of the rapid early COVID response, the Morrison government essentially made childcare free for parents, extending wage subsidies for teachers to cover the costs parents would have had to shell out for. But just three months in, that arrangement is changing again, with JobKeeper to be withdrawn and a new child care subsidy to be provided again. It’s a bit of a shell game, with the government still to be providing some $700 million under the new package, but now parents will be paying for care again.
Education minister Dan Tehan said workers may be getting paid “a tiny bit less” than before, and there are criticisms some parents may not be able to afford childcare again, forcing them to stay home instead of returning to work (link). Tehan also defended PM Morrison’s claims that JobKeeper would remain until September — even as the payment is already being wound back.
Settle in for a long read
Staying on politics, take the time to check out this lengthy one in the Sydney Morrning Herald about how federal and state governments rapidly rolled out their corona rescue packages. There’s a lot of inside info on how politicians worked together amid the chaos.
Anti-vaxxer bus tour roasted
QLD Health has no time for anti-vaxxers right now.
Check out this Courier-Mail article for more on the anti-vax bus tour. QLD health minister Steven Miles said he is “appalled by this concept” of the bus, saying “vaccination is safe and it’s effective — it is the single biggest and best public health intervention in a century.”
“Promoting and publicising this kind of rubbish puts kids’ lives at risk,” he said
Today’s stats:
The latest stats from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (as of 9.30am AEST Tuesday) report 7,085,894 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. There have been 405,168 deaths.
The United States has 1,956,499 confirmed cases; Brazil is next on 691,758, then Russia (476,043). The U.S. has the most deaths (110,932), then the United Kingdom (40,680) and Brazil third on 36,455.
In Australia, the latest federal stats (as of 9pm Monday) show 7265 cases, 6706 people recovered, and 102 deaths.
The latest Australian graph:
5 NON-CORONAVIRUS THINGS
Everyone is sharing this monologue from Indigenous actor Meyne Wyatt which was broadcast on Q&A last night, after an episode heavily focusing on racism and the Black Lives Matter protests (link).
It comes as an Australian National University study found that three-quarters of Aussies held a racial bias against Indigenous people. The study, looking at 11,000 people since 2009, found that “no matter their age, gender, job, religion, education level or income - the majority of people on average held an unconscious negative view” (link).
A 14-year-old boy with autism is still missing in Victorian bush, after being separated from his parents near Mount Disappointment yesterday. Temperatures in the area dropped to near freezing overnight. (link).
U.S. authorities are still negotiating with Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, to have him provide “information” in their investigation into Jeffrey Epstein (link).
British tea companies are suddenly the new social media battleground in the Black Lives Matter conversation:
IMPORTANT EVERY DAY
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.
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Signing off — stay safe, be healthy, look after yourself and others.
Josh