MONDAY, AUGUST 3
Victoria is expected to record 429 new cases of coronavirus, the ABC reports, as the Victorian Government prepares to shut some businesses down and force others to drastically wind back their operations in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus.
There have been 13 confirmed new cases in NSW this morning two new cases in South Australia and none in Queensland.
South Australians will face tougher coronavirus restrictions at in-home gatherings and licensed venues from midnight tomorrow night.
From 6:00pm on Sunday, all of metropolitan Melbourne was plunged into stage four restrictions, which includes a curfew from 8:00pm to 5:00am each night preventing people from leaving their homes unless it is for work, giving or receiving care, or visiting a partner.
Victoria is now under both a state of disaster and a state of emergency, after the Government offered police greater powers to help enforce tightened restrictions in a bid to force down the worrying community transmission of coronavirus.
The alternative, Premier Daniel Andrews said, was a situation where the rate of community transmission would leave the state unable to lift stage three restrictions until the end of the year.
After declaring that Victorian students would return to remote learning, and Melbourne childcare centres would be closed from Thursday, Mr Andrews and his Cabinet’s crisis council met to discuss further restrictions for workplaces.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said three of the 13 new cases were identified in overseas travellers residing in hotel quarantine, while one case had recently returned from Victoria.
Ms Berejiklian said the state remained on high alert as Victoria’s cases continue to increase.
“No border is impenetrable … No matter how tough we are, so long as the virus is in and around us in Australia, there is a risk in NSW,” she said.
Four people, including a baby, have been diagnosed with coronavirus in Wagga Wagga, NSW, after visiting the Melbourne area.
They are all from the same family and have been in self-isolation since returning from Victoria.
They are a 52-year-old woman, her son and daughter-in-law in their 20s, and their baby.
MLHD director of medical services Dr Len Bruce said the 52-year-old woman had mild symptoms while the other members of the family were asymptomatic.
Although Queensland has recorded no new cases Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk called for exemption “loopholes” to be closed off after one of the state’s positive cases was revealed to be a returning consular official who did not need to quarantine.
Ms Palaszczuk said she would be raising the issue of exemptions being granted to overseas travellers after the returned official, who lives in Queensland, tested positive yesterday.
“I don’t think the time is right now for those exemptions,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said it would be a “matter for the chief health officers” around the country to ultimately decide.
Crowd numbers could be further reduced at the Melbourne’s Storms next home game on the Sunshine Coast amid concerns over a disregard for coronavirus social distancing rules.
Images of thousands of fans crowded on the eastern hill at yesterday’s game sparked criticism online, prompting Melbourne Storm officials to request a review of crowd management practices and capacity at the venue.
Just under 5,500 people attended the Storm, Newcastle Knights clash yesterday afternoon at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
Sunshine Coast Council said the stadium made significant changes ahead of the match including increased security, volunteers, police and staff.
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English actor, comedian, writer and television host James Corden is “in line” to replace the $50 million-a-year Ellen DeGeneres, despite the star not yet having confirmed she is departing her long-time TV hosting role, report UK newspapers.
They said he “could be the shock winner after dozens of employees accused of turning a blind eye to racism, bullying and sexual harassment on her hit daytime show”.
The Sun newspaper reports that Late Late Show host James Corden is “in line” to replace DeGeneres.
The outlet cited insiders who claim British presenter Corden, 41, has long been seen as DeGeneres’ “long-term successor” – even before the recent scandals.
It follows reports over the weekend that the 62-year-old is ready to call it quits on her show amid mounting pressure and a storm of negative publicity around toxic workplace allegations.
According to the Daily Mail the host has told executives at TelePictures and Warner Bros that she’s had enough and wants to walk away.
“She feels she can’t go on and the only way to recover her personal brand from this is to shut down the show,” a source told the publication.
“The truth is she knew what was going on, it’s her show. The buck stops with her. She can blame every executive under the sun – but Ellen is ultimately the one to blame.”
Staff at DeGeneres’s show have also hit back at the apology letter she sent out last week, branding her a “phony” and claiming anyone who complained to her about the ongoing issues “would’ve been fired”.
“Don’t think for a minute anything she has said in that apology means anything. She created and then enabled this toxic culture to go on for so long,” one staffer said.
“If anyone had come to her or those three (executive producers) to complain, they would’ve been fired.”
“Inside Telepictures we’ve had enough of her. She is a phony who does not practice what she preaches,” another source told Daily Mail.
“The behaviour of her show executives has been appalling, but (Ellen) is no better. In fact, she is the worst. It’s outrageous that she is trying to pretend that this is all a shock to her. The fish rots from the head, and Ellen is the head.”
The insider went on to claim that DeGeneres “hates coming to work”, “struggles to be nice to people” and has “utter contempt for her audience”.
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Two US astronauts who flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in SpaceX’s space ship have splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico following a two-month voyage, reports the ABC.
Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley landed safely after what was NASA’s first crewed mission from the US in nine years and the first crewed splashdown in an American capsule in 45 years.
The pair undocked from the ISS on Saturday and returned home to land in the waves off Florida’s Pensacola coast on Sunday local time after a 21-hour overnight journey aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavor spacecraft.
The successful splashdown was a final key test of whether Elon Musk’s spacecraft can transport astronauts to and from orbit, a feat no private company has accomplished before.
“On behalf of the SpaceX and NASA teams, welcome back to Planet Earth. Thanks for flying SpaceX,” SpaceX mission control said upon splashdown.
For the return sequence, on-board thrusters and two sets of parachutes worked autonomously to slow the capsule, bringing Behnken and Hurley’s speed of 28,100 kilometres per hour in orbit down to 563kph upon atmospheric re-entry, and eventually 24 kph at splashdown.
During re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere, the capsule’s outer shell withstood temperatures as high as 1,900 degrees while Behnken and Hurley, strapped inside the cabin, experienced 29C temperatures.
Bob Behnken (left) and Doug Hurley (second from left).(AP/NASA)
The crew were expected to spend up to an hour floating inside the capsule before joint recovery teams from SpaceX and NASA retrieve them for a helicopter trip ashore.
There they will undergo medical checks ahead of a flight to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
The landmark mission, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 31, marked the first time the space agency launched people from US soil since its shuttle program retired in 2011.
Since then, the United States relied on Russia’s space program to launch its astronauts to the space station.
Behnken and Hurley’s homecoming was also the first crewed splashdown in an American capsule in 45 years.
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