COVID Latest: Lockdown Rules Relaxed Further, Pubs And Restaurants Open To More Patrons
Monday: housing stimulus package; hundreds of drug treatments being trialled.
Hello! It’s Monday, June 1. Here’s today’s ‘5+5: coronavirus edition’.
Each day I’m bringing you 5 things to know about COVID-19 + 5 non-corona things too.
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You can email me at joshbutler.journalist@protonmail.com for tips, 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. Remember physical distancing - at least 1.5 metres of separation.
Latest Australian stats: as of 9pm Sunday, Australia has 7195 reported cases of COVID-19 (that’s +12 since the day before), with 6614 reported as ‘recovered’; there have been 103 deaths; and more than 1.45 million tests have been done, according to the latest federal Department of Health stats. Full global stats breakdown below.
1 QUICK THING
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5 CORONAVIRUS THINGS
Billions for construction and renovation ‘rescue’ package
Thought the government was done with serving out big piles of cash for corona recovery? You thought wrong! The Australian reports today (link) that the federal government will dole out another few billion bucks in a package to benefit the construction sector, giving grants for homebuyers and owners to purchase or renovate properties. No firm details yet on how much is available per person, but “cash grants” to buy or do up homes are on the table. More details are to be released soon, after the scheme gets signed off by the states too.
Lockdown rules relax more
From today, pubs and restaurants can open to 50 people in NSW (link). You’ll still have to do physical distancing, you can’t have huge groups, and it’s still table service (i.e. no ordering shots at the bar just yet) but it’s slowly getting back to a bit of normal. In Victoria, it’s 20 people for now. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was stoked, cracking a pint of Furphy before 11.30am today (ambitious).
Despite being allowed to open back up to 10 people in recent weeks, many venues remained shut voluntarily, deciding that it didn’t add up for them financially to open to such limited numbers — considering costs like staff, electricity, security and other bills are fixed, no matter if they have 1 guest or 100. With numbers now well above 10, more venues will be opening back up now that they can make a little more money.
200 COVID drug options being researched
The ABC has this interesting article looking at the wide range of treatments being trialled for coronavirus — several hundred in more than 1000 trials worldwide. You’ve heard a lot about hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir, but there’s a lot more going on.
Warnings over superannuation scams
The federal government allowed people to access $10k from their super accounts if they needed help through the COVID crisis, but alarms have been raised over scams fleecing Aussies out of thousands. Warnings are being issued about criminals calling people on the phone, asking for super details, and pilfering their accounts (link). It’s been going on for a while, but people are still getting tricked.
Today’s stats:
The latest stats from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (as of 11.30am AEST Monday) report 6,165,181 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. There have been 371,995 deaths.
The United States has 1,789,364 confirmed cases, with Brazil next but far behind on 514,849, then Russia (405,843). The U.S. has the most deaths (104,357), then the United Kingdom (38,571) and Italy third on 33,415.
In Australia, the latest federal stats (as of 9pm Sunday) show 7195 cases, 6614 people recovered, 103 deaths, and 1.454 million tests.
The latest Australian graph:
5 NON-CORONAVIRUS THINGS
U.S. President Donald Trump was rushed to a White House secure bunker, as protests over George Floyd raged in Washington D.C (link).
The protests are fast consuming huge parts of the United States, with dozens of cities quickly enforcing night-time curfews as demonstrations, fighting and rioting spread (link). Hundreds of people have been arrested, countless people shot with rubber bullets or pepper spray, many more have been injured, and several have died. This image of a protester, however, has gone viral (link).
Closer to home, The Guardian reports that the family of Aboriginal man David Dungay, who died while being restrained by prison guards in 2015, were “traumatised anew by footage” of Floyd’s death (link). Dungay’s family are calling for a new investigation into his death, and possible charges against those involved.
Labor shadow minister (and former leader) Bill Shorten accused the government of “mafia” tactics over the Centrelink robodebt scheme, which the government has admitted does not have a legal basis. Hundreds of thousands of debts, totalling $721 million, will now be refunded to some of Australia’s most vulnerable people (link).
Google has rejected calls to pay news organisations for the news content it uses (link). This idea had been raised as a possible way to stem the bleeding from news outlets, which are cutting staff as advertising dollars move from traditional outlets to social media and search engines like Facebook and Google.
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.
Signing off — stay safe, be healthy, look after yourself and others.
Josh