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Number of US cases surpasses 8 million; France reports 25,086 new infections – as it happened

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Covid-19 testing will be increased in a south-west Sydney suburb after a positive case at Oran Park high school and a family and staff member tested positive at the suburb’s Great Beginnings childcare centre.

Saturday sport has been cancelled for the high school, the NSW education department says, and authorities have directed all staff and pupils to self-isolate. Classrooms will be deep cleaned.

The childcare centre cases are linked to another case confirmed on Tuesday, which prompted the centre’s lockdown.

All staff and children who attended the centre between October 2 and Tuesday have been told to get tested and self-isolate for a fortnight.

This weekend brings eased restrictions in NSW for outdoor venues, with up to 500 people allowed to attend open-air concerts so long as they stay seated and four metres apart.

Limits on outdoor dining venues have also been relaxed, allowing one patron per two square metres with venues to use an electronic QR code to record contact details.

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Just back to the United States, momentarily.

I mentioned a little earlier the record surges of Covid-19 in states like Wisconsin, which is now recording its highest levels of cases, hospitalisations, and deaths.

Dr Agnes Kresch, an infectious diseases physician in Green Bay, Wisconsin, said the numbers there are “unbelievable”.

She told CNN that the Covid-19 surge is threatening to overwhelm Green Bay hospitals.

Kresch blames “human behaviour” for the record highs.

For the city of Green Bay we have over 130 people hospitalised just with coronavirus, and the real issue is where does that leave the rest of the patients who are still coming in with their strokes and heart attacks. How do we find space for them?

“The numbers are really unbelievable. We’ve never seen numbers quite this high. Our hospitals are at near capacity,” says Green Bay, Wisconsin, infectious disease physician Dr. Agnes Kresch as the state sees a surge in Covid-19 cases. https://t.co/oOJFKmQfrv pic.twitter.com/TjefSalOcL

— CNN (@CNN) October 16, 2020
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Australia’s federal health minister, Greg Hunt, is urging his state counterparts in Victoria to ease restrictions following the welcome news of only one new Covid-19 case in the past 24 hours.

Hunt says the conditions for a safe reopening of the state have now been “firmly met”.

Great news for Vic- the rolling average of new cases is now well below 10. The epidemiological conditions for a Covid Safe reopening of hospitality, movement & family reunions among others, have now been firmly met. Vic should now be able to move to the next step in line w NSW https://t.co/x04HdZjgoo

— Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) October 16, 2020

Australian health authorities are urging residents to make their Halloween Covid-safe by hanging their treats along a fence or down the driveway, instead of giving them away at the front door.

This Halloween hang individually wrapped treats along your fence or down your driveway to avoid people coming to your door. For more advice on how to stay COVID-safe this Halloween visit: https://t.co/RYegZRUnfF pic.twitter.com/ZC4FzsFBnJ

— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) October 16, 2020

In the United States, Covid-19 cases are rising in key battleground states in the presidential election campaign.

AP reports that Midwest states such as Iowa and Wisconsin are opening more early voting locations, recruiting backup workers and encouraging voters to plan for long lines and other inconveniences.

Confirmed virus cases and deaths are on the rise in the swing states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Wisconsin governor Tony Evers, whose state is seeing record Covid-19 cases, says he plans to activate the Wisconsin National Guard to fill any staffing shortages at election sites.

While holding a competitive presidential election during a pandemic is “tricky business,” the governor said, “People are ready to have this election over, and I think it will be a successful election with very few hiccups.”


Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

In the Australian state of New South Wales, health authorities have in recent weeks been highly critical of pubs and venues refusing to implement proper contact tracing and social distancing measures.

AAP reports that another NSW pub has now been closed for failing to adhere to Covid-19 health orders.

The Shaws Bay Hotel in Ballina will be shut for a week from 5am on Saturday after police identified 12 breaches of the public health orders across two visits in late September and early October, which resulted in two $5000 fines.

Police said the breaches included one drunk patron mingling between six different groups and tables in the venue.

It is the third venue this week to be shut down, AAP reports.

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Tim Wilson, a federal Australian government MP, says he doesn’t see any problem with news that 17 New Zealanders have made it to locked down city of Melbourne. The New Zealanders travelled to Sydney under a new travel bubble arrangement, allowing them to travel without quarantine. But the travel bubble does not extend to Victoria and the state is not taking international travellers.

Wilson:

Well, to be frank, I don’t really understand what the issue is ... New South Wales are accepting flights as part of the trans-Tasman bubble from New Zealand. There is no quarantine obligations when people go from New South Wales into Victoria. There is in reverse. So, once people have arrived here and have been assessed ultimately as safe, then the ordinary pathways for people to be able to travel into Victoria, if they wish to do so. So, I want to know what the basis of – and it’s not clear to me what the basis of, is there a new quarantine requirement to go into Victoria? I’m in the ACT right now. If I go to Victoria, I’m not expected to quarantine, because it isn’t a source of Covid-19.

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In locked down Melbourne, the government has set itself a target of five cases in the rolling 14-day case average, before easing restrictions.

This morning’s result takes metropolitan Melbourne’s 14-day rolling case average to 8.1, down from 8.7 yesterday.

Jodie McVernon and James McCaw have written this piece about why expectations of an “elegant linear decline to zero” is misguided.

So instead of being discouraged by the failure to meet five, we should be encouraged by the stability of close to 10. Victorians should celebrate the success of all their efforts to suppress the spread of this virus, given daily reports of new cases in excess of 700 at the peak. As of 15 October, we had a total of 175 active cases across the state, of which 21 were in hospital . While lockdown was painful, it has convincingly done its job of putting a brake on widespread community transmission.

You can read their full piece here:

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Victoria reports one new case and zero deaths

Christopher Knaus
Christopher Knaus

We’ve just heard some excellent news from Victoria, the Australian state currently under strict lockdown.

The state has only recorded a single new Covid-19 case in the past 24 hours, with no new deaths.

The news will be music to the ears of Victorian residents and could help encourage the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, to ease restrictions on Sunday.

The result takes the state’s rolling 14-day average of Covid-19 cases to 8.1. Victoria has been by far the hardest hit of any Australian state or territory during the pandemic, and has faced harsh restrictions, including restrictions on travelling more than 5kms from home and, at one point, a nightly curfew.

But case numbers have eased considerably in recent weeks, giving residents hope.

Yesterday there was 1 new case & the loss of 0 lives reported. The rolling 14 day average is down in metro Melb & regional Vic. Cases with unknown source is stable. More info available later today. https://t.co/pcll7ySEgz #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/yCu0ZgdCpI

— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) October 16, 2020
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Brazil records a further 30,000 Covid-19 cases

Brazil has registered 754 further coronavirus deaths over the last 24 hours and 30,914 new confirmed cases, the nation’s health ministry said on Friday.

The South American country has now registered 153,214 total coronavirus deaths and 5.2 million total confirmed cases.

Seventeen New Zealanders caught trying to enter Melbourne

Christopher Knaus
Christopher Knaus

In Australia, 17 passengers who travelled to Australia from New Zealand have been caught trying to enter the locked down city of Melbourne.

The two countries announced a travel bubble to allow limited international travel for some citizens earlier this month, and three flights from New Zealand touched down at Sydney Airport on Friday, prompting joyous scenes.

But the travel bubble arrangement was not extended to the state of Victoria and its capital Melbourne, a city hit hard by Covid-19, which is not accepting any international passengers.

Seventeen passengers from New Zealand flew to Sydney before taking a connecting flight to Melbourne.

The state’s health authorities say they do not have the legal authority to detain the travellers.

But the state said it did “not expect to receive international travellers” as a result of other states making arrangements with New Zealand.

“The Victorian Government has made it clear to the Commonwealth that we expect NZ passengers who have not undertaken quarantine will not be permitted to board flights in Sydney bound for Melbourne,” the Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

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