As the day unfolded: COVIDSafe downloads continue to rise, global COVID-19 cases top 3.7 million as Australian death toll stands at 97

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As the day unfolded: COVIDSafe downloads continue to rise, global COVID-19 cases top 3.7 million as Australian death toll stands at 97

If you suspect you or a family member has coronavirus you should call (not visit) your GP or ring the national Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080.

Summary

  • The global coronavirus death toll has passed 259,000. There are more than 3.7 million known cases of infection but more than 1.2 million people have recovered, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally
  • The national death toll stands at 97 and there have been 6895 confirmed cases. Today, Australia passed 6000 recoveries from the virus
  • NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has been cleared by a police investigation into his visit to his luxury farm near Queanbeyan.
  • It remains too early for the NSW government to provide a specific "road map" for the easing of coronavirus restrictions, an inquiry has heard.
  • Queensland residents will be allowed to visit households in groups of five from Sunday.

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We are closing the blog for the evening

Thanks for joining us. Here's what you may have missed from today:

We will be continuing our coronavirus live coverage overnight and into Friday in a new blog, which you can read here.

Matt Bungard signing off.

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'Blatant interference': Former Australian foreign ministers lash Wuhan dossier

By Eryk Bagshaw and Anthony Galloway

Australia has secured the emphatic support of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in its push for an independent probe into the origins of the coronavirus as the United States retreats on claims it has evidence the disease started in a Chinese laboratory.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently discussed the inquiry with Mr Johnson and has identified two mechanisms at the World Health Assembly that could lead the investigation. Australia will use a European Union motion to zero in on China's handling of the initial outbreak and the global health response.

Scott Morrison has secured Boris Johnson's support for an independent probe into the origins of the coronavirus.

Scott Morrison has secured Boris Johnson's support for an independent probe into the origins of the coronavirus.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Thursday revealed there were rising suspicions within the Australian government and intelligence services that the US embassy in Canberra had leaked a western government dossier that tied the virus to a laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Senior sources said the research, reported by News Corp Australia on Saturday, contained no intelligence and was made up of publicly available material, including news reports. Australia has maintained that the most likely scenario is the virus emerged from a wildlife wet market in Wuhan.

Former Australian Labor foreign ministers Gareth Evans and Bob Carr said the episode showed the importance of maintaining independent intelligence from the US.

Read the full story here

UFC becomes first major sport to return to US soil

UFC President Dana White has assured fans his secretive island off the coast of the USA will be ready to host fights next month - but in the meantime the organisation will host their next fight night at a temporary venue in Florida.

The UFC will become the first major sporting organisation in the United States to resume operations this weekend, with the UFC 249 pay-per-view.

"All the infrastructure is being built and set up right now - we're hoping it will be done mid-June": Dana White's 'Fight Island' is close to being ready.

"All the infrastructure is being built and set up right now - we're hoping it will be done mid-June": Dana White's 'Fight Island' is close to being ready.Credit: AP

"Obviously in the early days we used to run into all different types of problems, but this is like nothing I've ever seen before," he said.

"We'd get something done, go to sleep and wake up the next day and the whole world had changed."

UFC 249 was supposed to be one of the company's biggest nights of the year with a packed-out Madison Square Garden in New York City watching two of the organisation's best fighters.

Read the full story here

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Sydney's strictly social distancing ballroom dancing scene

By Helen Pitt

Usually, 70-year-old retired lawyer turned ballroom dancer Roger Selby would spend this week rehearsing in a Sydney studio for Sunday's Winter Dance Fest.

Sequins would be getting sewn onto his dance partner Annette Hudson's ball gown, he'd be dusting off his red bow tie, pressing his suit and the two would be strutting their stuff in an attempt to make it to the national ballroom titles in Melbourne this December.

Roger Selby and Sue Johnson practising ballroom dance moves while social distancing at Milsons Point.

Roger Selby and Sue Johnson practising ballroom dance moves while social distancing at Milsons Point. Credit: Louise Kennerley

But the Australian Dancesport championship, due to celebrate its diamond anniversary this year, known as the pinnacle in the old-time dance calendar will likely be cancelled. Ballroom dancing, since social distancing started, has been strictly prohibited.

Read the full story here

'It's hard to accept': Hearts to ache on a virtual Mother's Day

By Chloe Booker

Mother's Day was set to be extra special for Jayne Minchin this year, with her latest grandchild on the way.

Jayne Minchin will make do with video-calling her daughter, Summer, and grandchildren Maverick, 12, and Chris, 9.

Jayne Minchin will make do with video-calling her daughter, Summer, and grandchildren Maverick, 12, and Chris, 9.Credit: Eddie Jim

But the heartbroken 63-year-old won't get to see her children or grandchildren due to Victoria's coronavirus restrictions.

She was even considering risking a $1652 fine to drive from her Dingley Village home, in Melbourne's south-east, to enjoy a lunch with them in Mansfield, in the state's north-east, but decided she couldn't afford to get caught.

Read the full story here

'Resistance': Players expected to oppose mooted cuts to domestic game

By Andrew Wu

Cricket Australia's proposal to make cuts to its domestic competitions this season is expected to meet resistance from players, in another potential source of tension between the two parties.

As reported in the Herald last week, the governing body is looking to scrap the Sheffield Shield final and shorten the season while also reducing the number of games in its women's competitions, including the WBBL, as part of austerity measures.

The country's players union, which has not yet heard officially from CA on the mooted changes, has not formalised a position but has traditionally been a fierce defender of the domestic game.

The Australian Cricketers' Association must agree to any changes to domestic competitions and is not expected to view favourably cuts based on financial reasons.

Read the full story here

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From the city to the bush, pubs are left in the dark

By Garry Maddox

For more than six weeks, there have been no rowdy bars to visit. No quiet corners for a catch-up over a drink. No jostling for seats to watch a band or sport on the big screen.

Pubs that had been bustling for more than a century - longer in some cases - have been dark.

Lonely sight: the famous old Unity Hall Hotel in Balmain.

Lonely sight: the famous old Unity Hall Hotel in Balmain. Credit: Getty Images

The only activity as the coronavirus shutdown continues are in bottle shops and sometimes bars that have become essentials stores.

Once there was a famous song about a pub with no beer. Now there's not even an open pub.

The pause has made Sydney's most famous old hotels, normally full of charm and character, lonely sights.

Where patrons once bustled around getting drinks, telling stories, bantering with staff and buying tickets for meat raffles, now it's unhappy hour all night.

Read the full story here

China reporting huge case drops around the country

Beijing: China on Thursday declared all areas of the vast country have been downgraded from high to low virus risk, as the numbers of new cases falls to near zero and no new deaths have been reported in more than three weeks.

The last region to be downgraded was Linkou county outside the city of Mudanjiang in the Russian-border province of Heilongjiang, where the most recent spike in cases had been reported.

China's National Health Administration on Thursday reported just two new coronavirus cases, both of them brought from overseas, and said 295 people remained in hospital with COVID-19.

Another 884 people were under isolation and being monitoring for being suspected cases or for having tested positive while showing no symptoms.

In total, China has reported 4,633 deaths among 82,885 cases of the virus that is believed to have originated in the central industrial city of Wuhan late last year before spreading worldwide.

AAP

'A positive step': Anglicare appoints independent adviser to Newmarch House

By Jenny Noyes and Rachel Clun

Anglicare has appointed an independent adviser to oversee its management of the deadly coronavirus outbreak at Newmarch House nursing home in western Sydney, where 16 elderly residents have died and 69 people have been infected – including another three staff members picked up by screening on Wednesday.

The NSW coronavirus epicentre: Newmarch House in western Sydney.

The NSW coronavirus epicentre: Newmarch House in western Sydney.Credit: Kate Geraghty

The appointment of Andrew Kinkade was announced late on Thursday after the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission gave Anglicare 24 hours to agree to terms, including the appointment, or face having its licence to operate Newmarch House revoked.

The aged care regulator cited "an immediate and severe risk to the health, safety and wellbeing of care recipients" at Newmarch House in its notice to Anglicare on Wednesday.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian welcomed the move, saying health experts had advised her of "a number of issues that have to be considered in relation to the safety of residents" at Newmarch House, and said she was "relieved" that the regulator had stepped in.

"The federal regulator has now put them on notice to say if you don’t do X, Y and Z, we might revoke your licence. I think that’s a positive step," she said.

Read the full story here

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Sharp rise in Russian case totals

Russian health officials reported more than 11,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday - a new record daily spike which brought the country's total over 177,000 confirmed cases.

Russia's official caseload has thus surpassed that of Germany and France, becoming the 5th largest in the world.

The actual number of cases is likely to be much higher as not everybody is getting tested and many people infected with the virus don't show any symptoms.

Last week, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin suggested in his blog that as many as 2% of Moscow's 12.7 million population - more than 200,000 people - may be infected with the coronavirus. Moscow has currently registered about 93,000 confirmed cases.

AAP

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