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The NSW and Victorian Governments will proceed to a more comprehensive shutdown of non-essential services over the next 48 hours in attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Key points:
- The shutdowns in Victoria and NSW will not effect supermarkets, pharmacies and banks
- Victoria will bring forward school holidays to begin on Tuesday
- The Government will also consider locking down COVID-19 "red zones", as has been done in Wuhan and parts of Europe
Supermarkets, petrol stations, pharmacies, convenience stores, freight and logistics, and home delivery will be among the many services that will remain open.
Schools in both states will also be open on Monday, but in Victoria school holidays will be brought forward to start on Tuesday.
Both Victoria and NSW were planning to push for lockdowns at tonight's National Cabinet meeting, but NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews made clear that their states would be pursuing these more drastic measures.
Mr Andrews said the step was necessary or "our hospitals will be overwhelmed, and more Victorians will die".
Ms Berejiklian said she would "update NSW tomorrow morning about the impacts and our plans following the National Cabinet".
Neither statement gave examples of which services would be considered non-essential, but previous Federal Government advice pertaining to "non-essential indoor gatherings" included restaurants, pubs, cafes, cinemas, weddings and funerals.
NSW has moved past 500 confirmed cases of coronavirus, reaching 533 as of 8:00pm on Saturday, while the Victorian tally now sits at 296.
Mr Andrews said "the decision whether to re-open schools after the Term 1 holidays will ... be determined following advice from the chief health officer".
Mr Andrews's office said it would not be commenting or clarifying further until the National Cabinet meeting this evening.
Earlier on Sunday, both Western Australia and South Australia announced they were closing their borders as of Tuesday, requiring any travellers to go into self-isolation for two weeks. Tasmania and the Northern Territory already have such restrictions in place.
Coronavirus 'red zones' could face lockdown
Political leaders will also consider urgent and draconian powers allowing authorities to shut down so-called COVID-19 "red zones", meaning state police officers would prevent residents from travelling to less infected suburbs or areas.
At the National Cabinet meeting the Prime Minister, premiers and chief ministers will discuss how to best implement emergency restrictions like those adopted in parts of Europe and in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
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"We had scheduled our next meeting to focus on the issue of further and stronger measures to deal with local outbreaks within state jurisdictions," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
"We are bringing forward consideration of those matters to a meeting this evening."
The dramatic national approach would likely be assisted by the federal departments of Health and Home Affairs, and was flagged earlier this month by Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter who warned the Commonwealth may need to use unprecedented quarantine laws to restrict the movement of people.
Over the weekend health authorities were dismayed by numerous examples of crowds ignoring guidelines on social distancing, instead cramming into popular locations such as Bondi Beach.
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"What happened at Bondi Beach yesterday was not OK and served as a message to federal and state leaders that too many Australians are not taking these issues seriously enough," Mr Morrison said.
The country's rate of new confirmed coronavirus cases is now growing at 20-25 per cent a day, with some projections showing between 1 or 2 million Australians could be infected by the end of April.
If those numbers were reached, tens of thousands of people would be dead based on the mortality rate recorded by China earlier this year.
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Topics: infectious-diseases-other, respiratory-diseases, covid-19, australia, vic, nsw
First posted