The Australian and international news stories you need to know today, Wednesday May 12. Mamamia 3 days ago Chelsea McLaughlin
Victorian COVID-19 case could trigger restrictions.
Victorian health officials haven t ruled out beefing up COVID-19 restrictions if there is evidence a Melbourne man infected others in the community.
The man, aged in his 30s, flew into Adelaide from India via the Maldives and Singapore on April 19 before Australia s flight ban began.
After completing quarantine at the Playford Hotel, he returned to his home in suburban Melbourne s Wollert early last week and developed symptoms on Saturday before testing positive on Tuesday.
Melbourne is back on COVID-19 alert after a man tested positive to the virus after being released from hotel quarantine in Adelaide.
Escape tunnel found under Western Australia immigration detention centre
A 20-metre-long unfinished escape tunnel has been discovered at an immigration detention centre in Western Australia, refugee advocates say. The nascent tunnel – dug three metres underground – was found on Monday morning, built underneath an accommodation block in Falcon compound of the Yongah Hill detention centre. It is not known who dug the tunnel or with what.
As India is being devastated by COVID-19 cases that have now passed a daily rate of 400,000, affluent and callous Australia has taken the decision to suspend all flights coming into the country till mid-month. The decision was reached by the Morrison government with the blessing of the State Premiers and the Labor opposition.
Not happy with banning flights from India, the Morrison government promises to be savage in punishing returnees who find ways to circumvent the ban (for instance, by travelling via a third country). Citizens who breach the travel ban can face up to five years’ imprisonment and fines up to AU$66,000. “We have taken drastic action to keep Australians safe,” explained he Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. The situation in India was “serious”; the decision had only been reached after considering the medical advice.
Sunday, 2 May 2021, 4:59 pm
As India is being devastated by COVID-19 cases that have
now passed a daily rate of 400,000, affluent and callous
Australia has taken the decision to suspend all flights
coming into the country till mid-month. The decision was
reached by the Morrison government with the blessing of the
State Premiers and the Labor opposition.
Not happy
with banning flights from India, the Morrison government
promises to be savage in punishing returnees who find ways
to circumvent the ban (for instance, by travelling via a
third country). Citizens who breach the travel ban can face
up to five years’ imprisonment and fines up to AU$66,000.
Several states have either built or are attempting to build purpose-built quarantine facilities, to avoid the dangers posed by poorly ventilated hotel quarantine systems. The Northern Territory government-operated Howard Springs facility maintains open air separation between quarantine rooms and has been praised as the “gold standard” for infection control.
Queensland has long been pushing for a similar facility at the Wellcamp airport near Toowoomba, which would be privately owned by the wealthy Wagner family. The state government’s negotiations with the commonwealth on the Wellcamp proposal have stalled, prompting frustration at the state level.
“We will continue to see more lockdowns in our capital cities unless we give due consideration to regional quarantine facilities,” Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Tuesday.