Coronavirus: WA to open border, as UK faces another ‘crippling’ lockdown

Australia continues to confidently emerge from COVID-19 lockdown as the UK is set to shutdown again, affecting the lives of tens of millions. The region, with 52 countries, is now the third most affected in the world after Latin America and the Caribbean with 11.2 million cases and Asia with 10.5 million. In terms of deaths, Europe has suffered 275,000 fatalities — behind Latin America and the Caribbean which have 275,000 but ahead of the United States and Canada with 239,000. It comes as the is on the brink of passing one million coronavirus cases just weeks after both Spain and France surpassed the sobering milestone. The news comes as Britain faces new nationwide restrictions from the end of next week. The Boris Johnson government is expected to make the announcement early next week, shying away from calling it a lockdown despite the fact clubs, pubs and restaurants will be shut for weeks in the lead-up to Christmas. It comes as the US shattered the daily coronavirus record, with almost 90,000 new infections reported on Thursday and close to 1000 deaths. America also approached a world-topping nine million cases and experts warned of death rates more than doubling by mid-January. France was under a new virus lockdown on Friday (local time), as the resurgent pandemic hit new heights in the United States just days before the presidential election. From midnight (10am AEDT), France’s 65 million people were largely confined to their homes, needing written statements to leave, in the latest drastic measure to curb a disease that has infected more than 44.5 million people worldwide and killed nearly 1.2 million. As lockdowns return, oil prices dropped on fears of a slowdown in demand but tech giants Facebook, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet reported strong quarterly earnings, reflecting the economic shifts caused by the global outbreak. And in the latest bleak warning, the UN’s biodiversity panel said future pandemics could be more frequent, deadly and economically damaging. The United States, where the coronavirus has overshadowed President Donald Trump’s November 3 re-election bid, announced 91,295 new cases in 24 hours, surging past the 90,000-mark for the first time to a total of almost nine million. President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the second wave “will probably be more difficult and deadly than the first” in a country that has already seen 36,000 deaths. But he insisted this lockdown would be less severe than measures imposed during the first wave in March-April. Europe is again the epicentre of the pandemic according to the World Health Organization. Nottingham became the latest of a swath of cities across central and northern England to enter the highest tier of local restrictions Friday, with the 2.4 million residents of Leeds set to follow next week. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has ordered a lighter round of shutdowns from Monday, closing bars, cafes and restaurants, as well as theatres, operas and cinemas. Spain’s parliament on Thursday approved a six-month extension of a state of emergency, which was declared on Sunday for an initial two weeks. Sweden, known for its light-touch approach, recorded its highest number of infections for the second day in a row, prompting a warning for people in the capital and the more densely populated south to avoid social interaction. Meanwhile in Victoria, embattled Premier Daniel Andrews will not face the media after 120 days of successive press conferences. Andrews, who has been under fire for Victoria’s disastrous response to the pandemic, will be replaced by Health Minister Martin Foley as the state records one new case and no deaths. WA’s SCRAPS HARD BORDER Meanwhile, Western Australia will scrap its hard border and replace it with a “controlled interstate border” from November 14, but travellers from Victoria and NSW will still need to quarantine. It comes as Qantas boss Alan Joyce joined a chorus of angry business leaders slamming Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk over the “ridiculous” decision to lock out millions of Sydney residents. Under the changes in WA, quarantine-free travel will be allowed from the very low risk jurisdictions of Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT. Airport arrivals must get a health screening and temperature test, and be prepared to take a COVID-19 test if necessary. Voluntary asymptotic testing will be available and people must have a G2G travel pass declaring they have no symptoms of coronavirus. A text message will also be sent to travellers as a reminder to get tested if they develop symptoms. Those arriving by land will be met at a checkpoint for a health screening and must have a G2G pass. They will also be referred for testing if required. Premier Mark McGowan made the announcement on Friday following a State Disaster Council meeting, which considered the latest advice from Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson. Mr McGowan said it had been almost seven months since WA had any community transmission of the virus. “We turned WA into an island within an island and it worked,” Mr McGowan told reporters. “We are now at the next step of our journey to safely transition from our hard border to a new controlled interstate border. “The time is right, the conditions are right.” Mr McGowan warned the controlled border could still be delayed if things changed in other states. “We are prepared to delay the introduction of the controlled border right up to the last minute,” he said. “I will have no hesitation to reintroduce the hard border if that’s what is needed to protect the health of West Australians. QUEENSLAND KEEPS SYDNEY OUT, LETS REGIONAL NSW IN Hundreds of thousands of NSW residents will be allowed to enter Queensland from Tuesday, however the state will remain shut to greater Sydney, Premier Palaszczuk announced. Victoria will remain closed to Queensland, that is a “strong border decision we have taken every step of the day”, Ms Palaszczuk said. The announcement came a one day before the Queensland election, in what is gearing up to be an extremely tight race between Ms Palaszczuk and Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington. It comes as the state recorded one new case, a returned overseas traveller in hotel quarantine. Queensland hospitality and tourism leaders said not one job had been created by the easing of border restrictions and that she had placed a “chokehold” on tourism. “Sydney is the biggest city in Australia and it probably has one of the best track records globally of managing a virus that is clearly going to be with us for a very long time,” Mr Joyce said. “Keeping the doors bolted to places that you can’t reasonably call hotspots makes no sense from a health perspective, and it’s doing a lot of social and economic damage as well. “Queensland may find that by the time it does open up to Sydney, people have made other plans.” Queensland Tourism Industry Council boss Daniel Gscwhind said shutting Sydney out was a body blow for tourist operators and many bookings would now be cancelled. He said many would suffer because the Christmas holiday season was almost doomed given the next decision on border reopenings was not until November 30. “This is certainly a blow to any travel plans for Christmas for interstate travel from NSW and the next decision, being November 30, that’s possibly the worst part of this,” Mr Gschwind said. “If we want to rescue the interstate Christmas season for tourism we will need more certainty before then, so that’s a severe blow for our industry.” He said all sectors of the tourism industry had played their role in containing coronavirus with no community transmission in recent months and that the government had failed to recognise their good work. “We have managed ourselves exceptionally well, we have good practices in place and we thought it would be recognition of that and recognition of no transmissions in Queensland,” Mr Gschwind said. “To have no easing of density restrictions is a chokehold on our industry.” Earlier, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the Queensland Premier she needed to play her part in getting the country moving again. Mr Morrison urged the state to open its border instead of being “stuck in neutral”. Ms Palaszczuk needed to “make decisions on the basis of health advice and be transparent about it”, Mr Morrison said. “It’s hard often to get a clear steer on what’s behind these decisions,” Mr Morrison told 2GB radio. “Australia is opening up again, we’ve committed to having Australia fully open by Christmas and we need to move towards that. “We can’t stay stuck in neutral. We’ve got to get going again.” Ms Palaszczuk has previously indicated she hoped the border closure could be eased from the start of November but has said the decision would be pushed back if health advice showed it wasn’t safe to go ahead. Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young has routinely said the trigger to reopening to NSW was for the state to record no new unlinked cases of community transmission for 28 days. VICTORIAN CASES RISE Victoria has recorded four new coronavirus cases on Friday and no further deaths. The 14-day rolling average for metropolitan Melbourne is still well below the safe threshold of five, rising slightly from 2.4 to 2.6 overnight. There are two cases from an unknown source, a fall of two from four on Thursday. Regional Victoria‘s 14-day rolling average remains at zero with no mystery cases. The state’s death toll remains at 819. Victoria has recorded almost 20,350 cases since the start of the pandemic, with 76 cases still active as of Thursday. It came as Victoria recorded no new cases on Monday – the first time in 139 days – and then again on Tuesday. The city is slowly reopening after a gruelling 112-day lockdown, with some pubs and restaurant booked out for up to two weeks. The easing of restrictions saw 16,200 retail stores able to reopen on Wednesday, along with 5800 cafes and restaurants, 1000 beauty salons and 800 pubs. 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