COVID Latest: Soccer Team Fined $123,000 For Putting Sex Dolls In Empty Stadium Crowd
Friday: 5 million cases; NSW v QLD border biff; China's coal warning; TikTok influencer houses in quarantine
Morning! It’s Friday, May 22. 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.
If you haven’t already, please sign up above ^^ to get this every day in your emails (and tell your friends).
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.
As discussed previously, I’m also in the job market, so…
Latest Australian stats: as of 9pm Thursday, Australia has 7081 reported cases of COVID-19 (that’s +6 since the day before), with 6472 reported as ‘recovered’; there have been 100 deaths; and more than 1,137,684 tests have been done, according to the latest federal Department of Health stats. Full global stats breakdown below.
5 CORONAVIRUS THINGS
NSW vs QLD in the battle of the border
We don’t have State of Origin or any footy back just yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a good old fashioned stoush between the Blues and the Maroons. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and her QLD counterpart Annastacia Palaszczuk are biffing over the border between the states — Gladys wants it opened, Annastacia says it’s staying shut (link).
“We're not going to be lectured to by a state that has the highest numbers in Australia," Palaszczuk said yesterday, adding “I hope they get their community transmission under control because that means we will be able to open up sooner.”
QLD’s chief health officer Jeannette Young said the border wouldn’t open until at least July — so none of those interstate holidays just yet, NSWelshmen.
In other border news, some states with low or zero cases may talk about ‘bubbles’ allowing travel between. South Australia, for instance, has kept its new cases to zero for some time now, but their borders aren’t opening yet, despite calls for a bubble with the ACT — also with zero cases (link).
FC Seoul cops huge fine over sex doll ‘crowd’
South Korea’s football league has been continuing through the pandemic (one of few competitions worldwide to keep playing) and they’ve been trying to figure out how to deal with the empty stadiums. FC Seoul hit headlines this week for placing several dozen sex dolls in the vacant seats, dressing them in team merchandise. Some of the dolls brandished ads for a sex shop (link).
Now, the league has fined the team 1 million won (more than AUD$123,000), saying the incident “deeply humiliated and hurt women fans, and damaged the integrity of the league.” FC Seoul apologised but claimed they didn’t realise the dolls were sex dolls.
China pulling back on Aussie coal imports
COVID-based tensions between Canberra and Beijing continue to simmer, with a report that Chinese power companies are starting to ignore Australian coal. Thermal coal is “Australia's second top commodity export”, according to this Sydney Morning Herald article, and the Chinese government has reportedly told state-owned power plants to stop buying it. This comes after the Chinese government slapped huge tariffs on Australian barley, and banned beef imports from Aussie abbatoirs — said to be in retaliation for Australia pushing for an international inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak, which Beijing has opposed (more on that here).
TikTok influencer houses in lockdown
There’s a fascinating and light read about Tik Tok creators and influencers in lockdown in the New York Times (link). Many of these social media stars gather and live together in mansions, collaborating and creating videos. Some of these places are massive palaces in LA, but with coronavirus lockdowns, the young stars are figuring out how to do their job without leaving the house. It’s an interesting spotlight, even if you don’t know or care what Tik Tok is, just to see how these teenagers are living thanks to making videos on their phones.
Today’s stats:
The latest stats from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (as of 8.30am AEST Friday) report 5,076,846 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. There have been 331,137 deaths.
The United States has 1,575,064 confirmed cases, with Russia next but far behind on 317,554, then Brazil (291,579). The U.S. has the most deaths (94,591), then the United Kingdom (36,124) and Italy third on 32,486.
In Australia, the latest federal stats (as of 9pm Thursday) show 7081 cases, 6472 people recovered, 100 deaths, and 1,137,684 tests.
The latest Australian graph:
5 NON-CORONAVIRUS THINGS
This might be my last piece for 10 daily — a Melbourne neo-Nazi group, which joked of using Tinder to "to recruit fighters for the coming race war", is spreading material around Sydney. It comes amid warnings of far-right groups getting more active in response to COVID. NSW Police said they were "aware of several active far-right groups in NSW, some of which have become more organised and security-conscious than they were previously.” Twitter has now deleted the profile of the group in question. Check the story out here.
The 54-year-old driver of a car that crashed into a Sydney shop yesterday afternoon, injuring 14 people, has been released from police custody (link).
Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen is said to be “livid” at how Michael Jordan portrayed him in Netflix smash hit doco ‘The Last Dance’ (link).
167 Target stores will be closed, or converted into Kmarts, under a major restructure (link).
There’s now talk of how international cricket could restart, with a “blockbuster” 2021 summer of Indian Premier League, Ashes and Twenty20 world cup potentially in the offing (link).
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