Covid-19 News Updates

Trump advises Americans to avoid gatherings of 10 or more

US President Donald Trump has encouraged Americans to avoid gatherings of 10 or more people for the time being.

"We've made the decision to further toughen the guidelines and blunt, the infection," said President Trump at a press conference on Monday.

"We'd much rather be ahead of the curve than behind it, and that's what we are."

"Therefore, my administration is recommending that all Americans including the young and healthy work to engage in schooling from home when possible."

"Avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people, avoid discretionary travel and avoid eating and drinking in bars, restaurants and public food courts."

Elsewhere overseas Germany, Canada, Egypt, Switzerland, Malaysia, and Chile have closed their borders.

The Spanish Government has nationalised all private hospitals and healthcare providers to tackle a surge in coronavirus cases.

And the global death toll is now at 7,119 people, with 181,377 total cases confirmed.

Updated 9:21am AEDT on 17 March 2020.

Racing NSW closes doors to events

This Saturday's $3.5 million Golden Slipper horserace at Rosehill Gardens in Western Sydney will be run behind closed doors as Racing NSW places restrictions on public attendees.

The horse racing authority has imposed a uniform response to all thoroughbred race meetings, barrier trials and trackwork in NSW, meaning any horse race in the state is closed to the public effective immediately.

No on-course wagering facilities will be available and all essential personnel will be required to leave the racecourse after their horses have run.

Because of coronavirus concerns Racing NSW has also abandoned a number of race meetings including the Ardlethan picnic meeting and Trangie race meeting on Saturday 21 March, the Tullibigeal picnic meeting on Saturday 28 March, and the Cootamundra picnic meeting on Saturday 4 April.

Updated at 8:52am AEDT on 17 March 2020.

Farmers will pull out all stops to ensure fruit & veg is on shelves

The Australian Fresh Produce Alliance (AFPA) explains its members are at the front line of delivering fruit and vegetables to the country's consumers despite the challenges posed by Covid-19.

The alliance highlights "rigorous" systems are in place to guard against the spread of foodborne illnesses and viruses, and its members are working with the government and retailers to ensure the most comprehensive systems are working to deal with the impact of the coronavirus.

Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) advises the "transmission (of coronavirus) through food is unlikely and there is no evidence of this occurring with novel coronavirus to date, however investigations into how the virus spreads are continuing".

"Our members are at the forefront of efforts to maintain the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables to all Australians," says FPA CEO Michael Rogers.

"They are also focussed on ensuring business continuity in order to maintain crop production,  harvesting  and supply.   

"It is vitally important in these unprecedentedtimes for people to be able to access and continue to consume healthy and nutritious food."

He says farmers remain vigilant in providing safe and nutritious fruit and vegetables while managing the impact of coronavirus on individual businesses.

Updated at 6:19pm AEDT on 16 March 2020.

WA commits $114 million to small business support

Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan has announced a $607 million stimulus packaged to help small and medium businesses and households in the state.

The Premier has committed $114 million to support small businesses including:

• A one-off grant of $17,500;
• Bringing forward the $1 million payroll tax threshold tax by six months to July 1, 2020; and
• Businesses affected by Covid-19 can defer payroll tax payments until July 21, 2020.

11,000 WA businesses are expected to benefit from the cut in payroll tax.

In addition to the stimulus for small and medium sized businesses the WA Government will immediately place a freeze on household fees and charges, including electricity, water, motor vehicle charges, the emergency services levy and public transport fares.

"We are in uncharted territory and there's no doubt our economy is going to feel the effects of COVID-19," says Premier McGowan.

"As a responsible Government, we must respond and we must provide certainty to both businesses and households."

"These measures will provide relief to WA families, seniors and small businesses to further support our economy to withstand the headwinds we face."

Updated 5:10pm AEDT on 16 March 2020.

ANZAC Day services cancelled in NSW, WA, VIC and TAS

ANZAC Day services in NSW, WA, VIC and TAS have been cancelled by each state's Returning Services League (RSL).

All RSLs have made a statement saying the decision to cancel the services was based on securing the health of those that would choose to attend ANZAC Day dawn services on 25 April.

"Given the significant concerns around the spread of COVID-19, it would be irresponsible to allow such large gatherings as we see each year on ANZAC Day to go ahead," says RSL NSW acting state president Ray James.

"This is not a decision we have taken lightly. The RSL has a responsibility to act in the best interests of veterans and the general public. In these uncertain times we must follow the advice of medical experts and do everything we can to protect the community."

Updated 3:22pm AEDT on 16 March 2020.

Second stimulus package being considered

The Federal Government is reportedly considering launching a second round of spending just days after announcing a $17.6 billion stimulus package to revive the economy.

As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald Prime Minister Scott Morrison is conducting meetings with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann to consider new economic measures as Covid-19 strangles Australian industries.

Speaking to 3AW today Morrison says the government's response to the coronavirus will go well beyond measures taken during the GFC.

"I mean, in the GFC, we didn't have to shut down the borders," says PM Morrison.

"In the GFC, we didn't have to stop mass gathering of the public. I mean, this is of an order well beyond what we saw last time. And it'll be a challenging period. But, you know, Australians will come through".

Updated at 3:13pm AEDT on 16 March 2020.

Star Entertainment follows Crown Resorts' lead on Covid-19 containment

Star Entertainment Group (ASX: SGR) is kicking off a series of measures for patrons at its casinos to keep their distance, taking a leaf out of Crown Resorts' (ASX: CWN) playbook.

This afternoon the company announced the following social distancing measures, much in line with those already announced by Crown Resorts (ASX: CWN) this morning:

• Deactivation of every second gaming machine and electronic table game to create additional distance;
• Reducing the capacity at table games, including increasing distancing at seated table games between players and restricting the total number of players at each stand up table game; and
• Restricting the number of patrons in individual food and beverage, banqueting and conferencing, and theatre facilities to under 500 persons with limited density for each outlet.

"The safety and wellbeing of our guests and team members remains of highest importance to The Star," the company said.

Updated at 2:58pm AEDT on 16 March 2020.

"Born in the cloud" Megaport pre-ordered supplies in early stages of coronavirus

Cloud technology company Megaport (ASX: MP1) pre-ordered around six months worth of critical supplies when Covid-19 was in its early stages in China this January, while Megaport founder and chairman Bevan Slattery says the company is in "great shape" with more than $100 million in cash.

In a letter to shareholders today, Slattery said the group pre-ordered items such as optics and transceivers, as well as equipment for planned rollouts for the financial year.

"Almost all of those orders have now been received and dispatched to the country of planned installation," Slattery said.

"As such we expect to see little impact from any potential supply-chain issues that may arise in the near term. We are keeping a watching brief with all our suppliers on inventory levels."

He explained most of Megaport's revenues were monthly recurring, and to date there has not been any "material change" to either existing business or the company's sales pipeline for the quarter.

"While travel restrictions may have some impact, most of our sales and deal closure activities are driven remotely and our sales force has experience working away from an office," he said.

"So far this quarter the number of VXC services are up 11 per cent QoQ and ports are up 7 per cent, with a solid pipeline that we would expect to close before quarter end.

"Additionally, we are already beginning to see companies which had a more "traditional" IT posture looking to embrace a more "cloud-enabled" environment, removing risks associated with on-premises management while leveraging platforms that are hosted in the cloud."

Last week Megaport activated a company-wide work from home trial day to test its business continuity capabilities in the event all staff were required to work remotely.

"As expected, the team and systems performed well. Megaport was "born in the cloud" and many of our staff in the US, Europe and Asia have always worked from home. It is expected that all staff will be working from home starting from this week," Slattery said.

Updated at 2:35pm AEDT on 16 March 2020.

Australian tourism "effectively shut down"

Covid-19 is just the latest in a series of disastrous circumstances for Australia's tourism sector and the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) sees no end in sight.

After three months of constant hits on the industry, beginning in January with the bushfires and now the global outbreak of Covid-19, ATEC managing director Peter Shelley says the international visitor numbers for January, released today, only paint a small picture of the widescale collapse of the sector.

"Our industry has borne the brunt of two exceptional setbacks and the international visitor numbers for January, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today, only provide a glimpse of where our industry is falling from," says Shelley.

Of particular concern is the flatlining of Australia's international visitor income.

Over the last decade international visitor income has been growing at an incredible rate, from just over $20 billion to well over $45 billion in 2019.

Today's ABS arrivals data revealed a negligible increase on last year's figures and is what appears to be the lowest growth rate for many years.

"With yesterday's announcement of isolation measures for all new arrivals to Australia, our inbound tourism industry has effectively been shut down," says Shelley.

"No international visitors means all travel distributors, and many tourism suppliers, have no business and are unlikely to have any business in the near future. This comes right on the back of a massive decline in our industry that came as a result of January's bushfires."

"The damage to our inbound tourism sector across Australia will deliver a significant blow to Australia's economy and, with more than 600,000 people employed in tourism jobs, that will have a dramatic flow on to employment.

Shelley has called on the federal government to place the tourism at the heart of its response to resuscitating the national economy.

"We know the Government is aware of our predicament and that tourism is not alone in the crisis but what we need to do is ensure the businesses at the heart of our industry can survive the next few months and help Australia get back on its feet.

"Crucial to this will be the Government's support in helping our inbound travel distributors to keep their business afloat, as this will be critical to maintaining Australia's tourism ecosystem, without which our export tourism markets will struggle to recover."

Updated at 2:20pm AEDT on 16 March 2020.

Unisuper cuts short selling loans amidst market panic

One of Australia's largest superannuation funds has taken a precautionary approach to market volatility caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, suspending its stock lending program effective immediately.

Unisuper, a $85 billion superannuation fund for the higher education and research sector, has instructed its custodian BNP Paribas Securities Services to recall all shares currently out on loan, without exception.

"In a normally functioning market we're comfortable lending our shares as we genuinely believe that it adds to market efficiency," says Unisuper's chief investment officer John Pearce.

"The ability to short-sell adds to liquidity and price discovery in an orderly market. However, we are now in a market gripped by panic and we believe that restricting the ability to short-sell is in the best interest of promoting a more orderly market."

Pearce added, "We are only one fund and the efficacy of our actions will depend on how many other funds follow a similar path. Of course, we are not privy to the thinking of other funds who lend their stock."

Updated at 2:17pm AEDT on 16 March 2020.