Covid-19 News Updates

NSW encourages off-peak travel to avoid Covid-19 transmission

NSW Minister for Transport Andrew Constance has set out a series of recommendations and measures to avoid the spread of Covid-19 on public transport, including a push for off-peak travel to avoid person-to-person transmission.

"While staff have boosted maintenance and cleaning efforts on the network in response to COVID-19, customers need to take extra precautions too," says Constance.

"First and foremost we ask you to please stay home and avoid travel altogether if you are unwell. You cannot pass on COVID-19 or any virus, if you are self-isolated at home.

"Sick people in close proximity to others is causing to the global spread of the virus, so travelling outside of crowded peak hours can help reduce the chances of transmission."

Cleaning squads have been deployed across trains, buses, ferries, light rail and the metro, particularly in high-traffic areas including Central, Town Hall and Wynard.

Transport for NSW is encouraging customers to use Opal and contactless payments where possible, to further reduce chances of community spread and safeguard staff.

"For those services that do not offer contactless payment, we are advising all frontline staff to wash their hands and use hand sanitizer to limit the spread of viruses," says Constance.

"Practicing good hand hygiene is crucial for staff and customers, particularly after coming in contact with handles, rails, buttons and windows, which people need to use."

Measures that TfNSW has implemented to help limit the spread of COVID-19 include:

• Stringent cleaning regimes
• Increased public health messaging at stations and Transport offices
• Logistics planning around the provision of hand sanitiser across the network
• Set up of a dedicated COVID-19 incidents and scenarios Taskforce
• Staff to validate tickets without contact via Opal and contactless card payment

Transport for NSW is also continuing to provide support for the extensive freight network as it addresses the COVID-19 challenges ahead.

Updated at 2:06pm AEDT on 16 March 2020. 

Byron Bay Bluesfest called off

As was expected given the ban on events of 500 people or more, the Byron Bay Bluesfest has officially been cancelled for this year.

Bluefest Group of Companies executive chairman Peter Noble OAM thanked everyone for their support, and said emails and posts received were "deeply appreciated".

"It is obvious we will not be on this Easter. We are heartbroken as we believe we were presenting one of the best ever bills of talent for you," Noble said in a statement this morning.

"I was in discussions right through last week with every headliner they ALL said they're coming as long as nothing occurred to prevent them from doing so.

"That is the level of commitment that our artists have, and I am proud of that."

Organisers are now working through how to move forward and to provide further details.

Updated at 11:55am AEDT on 16 March 2020.

Hearing implants business Cochlear and oOh!media withdraw guidance

Hearing implants business Cochlear (ASX: COH) and billboard advertising group oOh!media (ASX: OML) have joined the growing list of companies withdrawing guidance due to coronavirus-related uncertainty.

With healthcare providers either fast-tracking elective surgery or putting it on hold to shore up capacity for Covid-19 patients, many countries have put cochlear implant surgeries on hold.

"Since the update we provided on 18 February, we have seen COVID-19 spread rapidly across many countries," says Cochlear CEO and president Dig Howitt.

"We are now seeing a growing number of health authorities either recommend or enforce surgery deferrals.

"Over the weekend, the US Surgeon General has urged hospitals and healthcare systems to consider suspending elective surgical procedures in an effort to reduce the strain on the healthcare system until the rate of infection of COVID-19 is under control."

Howitt expects these actions to impact surgeries in our major markets, particularly the US and Western Europe.

"The business has been on track to deliver its earnings guidance driven by strong growth in cochlear implant system sales across the developed markets. However, we expect to experience a significant decline in sales in the immediate future," says Howitt.

"As a result, we are not in a position to provide an earnings outlook to the market at this time and withdraw our earnings guidance for FY20."

As for oOh!media, revenue for the year to date has been in line with the prior corresponding period and performance has been consistent with previous guidance.

However, the company notes the "deteriorating macroeconomic conditions and resultant market uncertainty caused by COVID-19" have made forecasting full year revenue in the current environment difficult.

The full-year result is even more uncertain than most for the advertising group given it follows a calendar year for the reporting and still has nine months to go in its FY20.

"In accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations, oOh! therefore advises that it has withdrawn FY20 earnings guidance for the time being," the company says.

Other companies that have withdrawn guidance include Qantas (ASX: QAN), Webjet (ASX: WEB), Helloworld (ASX: HLO), Flight Centre (ASX: FLT), Corporate Travel Management (ASX: CTD) and Apollo Tourism & Leisure (ASX: ATL).

Click here for more.

Updated at 11:28am AEDT on 16 March 2020.

Collins Foods' Dutch KFC restaurants at risk of closure

Global KFC restaurant operator Collins Foods (ASX: CKF) has announced that its stores in the Netherlands will not be able to operate as usual because of coronavirus concerns.

It comes as the Dutch government announced all restaurants must close immediately until 6 April.

"As a result, Collins Foods' KFC restaurants in the Netherlands will not be able to operate as normal," says Collins Foods.

"The Government has yet to announce whether restaurants can continue to trade through channels such as delivery and/or drive through."

Collins Foods also announced the reopening of its KFC restaurant in Deagon, Queensland after one of the store's team members tested positive for coronavirus last week.

The restaurant was subjected to a deep clean and all other employees have received clearance to return to work.

Further information is expected within the next 24 to 48 hours.

Shares in CKF are down 13.59 per cent to $5.14 per share at 11.13am AEDT.

Updated at 11:25am AEDT on 16 March 2020.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission restricts share trading

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will make institutional investors or large equity market participants cut their number of executed trades by 25 per cent on levels seen last Friday.

The pre-emptive actions under ASIC Market Integrity Rules are aimed at keeping the market resilient following an environment of heavy trading over the past two weeks.

"This action will require high volume participants and their clients to actively manage their volumes," ASIC said.

"We do not expect these limits to impact the ability of retail consumers to execute trades."

ASIC claims while there was no disruption to market operations on Friday, there was a significant backlog of work required to be undertaken over the weekend by the exchanges and trading participants.

"If the number of trades executed continues to increase, it will put strain on the processing and risk management capabilities of market infrastructure and market participants," the regulator said.

Updated at 11:12am AEDT on 16 March 2020.

Crown Resorts deactivates every second electronic gaming machine across casinos

With the ban on mass gatherings of 500 or more now in place, Crown Resorts (ASX: CWN) has deactivated every second gaming machine and electronic table game.

Crown has also implemented other precautionary measures across its Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth entertainment complexes, including the provision of alcohol-based hand sanitiser and more frequent and strengthened cleaning measures.

The company will restrict the number of patrons in individual food & beverage, banqueting and conference facilities to 450 persons at Crown Melbourne.

In addition, the following measures will be implemented:

• Deactivation of every second gaming machine and electronic table game;
• Distancing at seated table games between players, including no standing players; and
• Restricting the number of players at each stand-up table game to five players.

The social distancing policy for Crown Melbourne has been approved by the Victorian Chief Health Officer.

Updated at 10:58am AEDT on 16 March 2020.

Business SA announces resilience workshops to help businesses survive

The peak industry body for South Australian businesses, Business SA, has announced a series of workshops designed to assist businesses through the uncertainty created by Covid-19.

Business SA will also seek to hold a Summit with the leaders of selected businesses associations from across the State to coordinate further solutions to combat the crisis.

"As the peak body for business in SA, we are committed to ensuring that the business community is informed and united in this time of great uncertainty," says Business SA chief executive Martin Haese.

"The next weeks and months will be about keeping people in jobs. If we keep people in jobs, our economy will rebound quicker."

"As the independent and local voice for the SA business community, this is absolutely our focus right now."

The resilience workshops will feature industry experts covering topics including employment obligations and options, how to access support programs and short-term tactics to preserve cash flow when sales are down.

Business SA's initiatives will be held in person, online, or both in the coming weeks and will be free of charge for Business SA members.

Register your interest now at [email protected].

Updated at 10:55am AEDT on 16 March 2020.

Conference centres take a hit

Last Friday, the Federal Government announced that Australians should begin to avoid mass gatherings from today.

Naturally, large events like conferences will likely be cancelled.

Sydney's major conference centre, ICC Sydney, says it is experiencing a significant number of cancellations because of Covid-19.

"Along with the rest of the industry, we are seeking further clarification on the recommendation of "all non-essential organised gatherings of 500+ people or more should not go ahead from Monday 16 March," made by the Prime Minister [on Friday]," says ICC Sydney.

"We are currently working with our state authorities, Business Events Council of Australia and Federal Government to confirm the exact position and implications."

Sydney ICC says many clients have been cancelling events, but others, like Salesforce, are pivoting instead to livestreams and digital initiatives to make sure the large events go ahead as planned.

"A significant number of events have already been cancelled, with a great number looking to reschedule later this year and in early 2021," says ICC Sydney.

"Some are still going ahead with organisers looking at different delivery methods like live streaming and digital conferencing."

"It is up to the individual clients and event organisers to announce and publicise their cancellations or postponements, not ICC Sydney, but two prominent ones which have been announced publicly are Salesforce scaling to an online broadcast and Amazon."

Melbourne's major conference centre, MCEC, says it is still awaiting further direction from the Victorian Government.

"The health and safety of our people, customers and community is our priority, and we will be working to ensure we are in the best position, with the latest information from the Government, to respond effectively," says MCEC.

"MCEC will work with those event organisers who are affected to find alternative arrangements, should their event need to be postponed or cancelled as a result of this measure."

Updated 10:24am AEDT on 16 March 2020.

Self isolation announcement in Australia and New Zealand, European stores close

After US President Donald Trump declared a national emergency, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that as of midnight Sunday "everyone" entering the country would need to be in self-isolation for 14 days.

On Sunday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison followed New Zealand's lead with new self-isolation measures of two weeks for anyone entering Australia from overseas. This was preceeded by an information advertising blitz with the slogan "Help stop the spread and stay healthy".

The self-isolation requirement was effective from midnight last night.

"Further, the Australian government will also ban cruise ships from foreign ports from arriving at Australian ports after an initial 30 days and that will go forward on a voluntary basis," the PM said.

He added bespoke arrangements would be put in place under the command of the Australian Border Force to ensure that the relevant protections are put in place.

"We're seeking to assist Australians to come home by ensuring that the flights continue to run, but when they come home, they'll be spending another 14 days in self isolation," he said.

Morrison said bans have been very effective to date in countries that are having issues with the virus.

"We know that the virus cannot be absolutely stopped. Of course not. No one can do that. But we can slow the spread and we anticipate that will be what our task will be over about the next six months," the PM said.

"We're going to have to get used to some more changes in the way we live our lives over the next six months or so - there will be further intrusions.

"There will be further restrictions on people's movement and their behaviour. But the point is, you do it in a timely way. You do it in a managed way. You do it in a careful way."

Regarding the ban on mass gatherings of 500 people or more, the Prime Minister said this referred to "static" gatherings and not train stations, shopping centres or even "markets like Salamanca down in Hobart or things of that nature".

There are now 313 recorded cases of Covid-19 in Australia, of which almost half are in NSW, and Queensland has recorded its first death from the virus - a 77-year-old woman from Noosaville.

Emergency declarations have been declared in WA, the ACT and Victoria.

Today we declared a State of Emergency for Victoria.

This declaration gives the Victorian Chief Health Officer the powers required to enforce the quarantine and isolation measures agreed yesterday by Premiers, Chief Ministers and the Prime Minister.

Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) March 15, 2020

The amount of cases has surged in Europe, especially in Italy which saw a one-day record of 368 deaths on Sunday. France and Spain have ramped up their actions to stop the spread of the virus with the closure of cafes, restaurants, cinemas and some other public places. 

Popular Sydney music and arts festival Vivid has cancelled its 2020 edition because of coronavirus conerns.

NSW Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres says the decision, while disappointing, was the right thing to do in order to control the spread of infection.

"Vivid Sydney is a bright star of Sydney's event calendar so the decision to cancel was not taken lightly," says Minister Ayres.

"As the event owner, we must follow the advice of health officials to ensure the health and safety of our citizens and everyone involved with Vivid Sydney."

"We are currently working through the full implications of the cancellation and will provide further information and advice as soon as it's available."

Updated at 9:57am AEDT on 16 March 2020.

Domino's prepares for "100 per cent zero contact ordering"

As restaurants shutter all over France, one of Domino's Pizza Enterprises' (ASX: DMP) largest overseas markets, the company is hunkering down to bolster the viability of its delivery services.

In response to the seriousness and urgency of Covid-19, Domino's has put procedures in place to offer customers Zero Contact Delivery, and Zero Contact Takeaway in all markets.

The Brisbane-based group emphasises it is ready to move to 100 per cent zero contact ordering for carry-out and delivery in the future if necessary.

"The safety of team members and customers is, and always will be, our priority," says CEO Don Meij.

"Teams in all nine countries have been monitoring government health recommendations and requirements, reviewing and updating operational procedures and business continuity processes to ensure, as far as practicably possible, stores can continue to safely operate in this unprecedented environment."

He says customers have responded well to the initiatives so far.

"In France the government has taken steps to limit the opening of many businesses as part of its strategy to deal with COVID-19," says Meij.

"Our carry-out and delivery procedures are not affected by these initiatives at this time. In the Netherlands, government regulations mean that we have now ceased dine-in at our stores, but delivery is unaffected at this time."

In general, Domino's is a predominantly delivery and carry-out business rather than dine-in.

"The situation is fast-moving, especially in Europe, and Domino's will provide updates as required. Management is confident in the ability of stores to rapidly update procedures to reflect local conditions," says Meij.

"We recognise the trust and approval of our customers and the community is a privilege and a significant responsibility. We believe it is possible to live up to this responsibility, to continue to safely prepare millions of meals for our customers each week, delivering to those who are staying at home, and to provide employment for more than 50,000 team members around the world."

Updated at 12:49am AEDT on 16 March 2020.