We’re doing a callout for voicemails for Guardian Australia’s Full Story news podcast which is now daily and looking for your stories about how the Coronavirus pandemic has affected you. We want to know: How are you feeling? How has your life changed due to the pandemic? You can leave a voicemail on (02) 8076 8550 and leave your first name and number if you wouldn’t mind us getting in touch with you. In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. Because no one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, we can keep delivering quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political bias, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power. Your support protects the Guardian’s independence. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will remain with you, delivering high quality news so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Make a contribution - The Guardian Aviation industry support measures announced Deputy prime minister Michael McCormack is speaking in Wagga Wagga in the NSW Riverina and says the aviation industry is one of the hardest hit due to Covid-19, with cuts to flights especially harsh on regional Australia which relies on planes to bring in essential supplies. Today I’m announcing $198 million dollars as part of an aviation network support measure to help subsidise the 138 or so communities that rely on aviation. These are airline companies that are flying in and out of centres such as Wagga Wagga, where I am now, the home of the Wagga Air Centre and Rex. They will be subsidised so that regional airlines, the dozen or so regional aviation companies, and others, [can continue to fly] in each and every day. Of course regional aviation has been smashed by Covid-19. Regional aviation like all aviation is doing it very, very tough. An emergency department health worker at the Mersey Community hospital is among the new cases in Tasmania. Patients and close contacts are being identified. Overnight, Tasmanian public health services were also informed that a separate Tasmanian case involves a passenger who was on board the Sun Princess cruise ship that disembarked from Sydney on 19 March. Any Tasmanians who were on the Sun Princess have been told to go into quarantine from today until 2 April. Tasmania cases now at 59 The Tasmania premier adds that from midnight Sunday, any non-essential traveller arriving in the state, either through airports or through the ferry port, will be placed into self-quarantine for 14 days in a government-run facility. Peter Gutwein says the facilities will be managed and overseen by Tasmanian police with support from the Australian defence force. He says the record jump in cases in Tasmania reported on Friday meant vigilance is needed: I can’t be clearer. We are an island state. We have an advantage. But we need people to work with us. The events of yesterday are a wake-up call. The events of yesterday should send a signal to Tasmanians that we are not immune from this. We need to ensure that the rules are followed, and we can only beat this virus if everyone plays their part. Stay home unless you absolutely need to go out. If you are not going to work, if you are not taking your children to school, if you are not out buying supplies, stay home. Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein urges people to stay home The Tasmanian premier, Peter Gutwein, has opened a press conference with the words: “Stay home and save lives.” We introduce the direction that if more than 10 people congregate at a park or beach, that will be an offence. If you go to somebody’s house and you have a party, that will be an offence. We need to ensure that we follow the rules. In terms of compliance, I want to just touch on this. So far there have been 730 compliance checks. The vast majority of Tasmanians are doing the right thing, but 18 people were not – out of 730. We are currently working through those individual circumstances, and I want to be absolutely clear. Anybody that was found to be blatantly breaching those rules will be charged. Now I want to say to Tasmanians, understand that this is serious. If you are asked to go into self-isolation, then you need to stay in self-isolation. This is not a game. We have both the benefit and the challenge that more than 98% of our cases today relate to cruisers or overseas travel. We are leading the way in terms of the way that we have managed our borders, but we need to do more. Kindness everywhere ... A little earlier I asked you all to email me with your stories of kindness during this difficult time, where people are separated from their loved ones, losing their jobs, and facing uncertainty. And wow, did you deliver. I have been overwhelmed with stories of people walking their elderly neighbours’ dogs, leaving thank you notes to retail staff in supermarkets, children writing letters of support to health workers, and people dropping care packages to neighbours. Here are a few of the stories you’ve sent this morning. Thanks for sharing ... Is someone cutting onions in here? Rachael West told me that her Melbourne apartment building has pulled together a WhatsApp group which means neighbours who would never have met otherwise are now talking. Some of the requests for help that have been met include glass jars for jam making, dog-sitting and book-swaps. Amber wrote in to tell me that her daughter, Victoria, has been busy making up boxes of goods for elderly relatives and dropping them off in suburbs around Melbourne. The boxes include handmade letters and pictures from grandchildren. Dandenong market has launched a “Be Kind” campaign encouraging the community to engage in random acts of kindness for each other. You can read about here. They’re donating bags of fresh fruit and vegetables to the most vulnerable in the community. Charlotte emailed to say that one of her neighbours had anonymously left a roll of toilet paper on every doorstep in the street in Coburg, Victoria. Andrew Nicholson said his Bendigo neighbours of the past five have become fast friends with his family due to them having children of similar ages. He says: “Isolation has been making it hard this week, so my wife, Laura Russo, came up with a great idea of removing some colour-bond panels from our shared fence and replacing them with transparent polycarbonate so we could hang out without breaching social distancing measures. Friday night drinks worked out so well we’re going to do it every day. Dance-offs are on the cards.” And Jamie Derkenne emailed: “When the fires hit Little Forest on the NSW south coast in late December last year the community started a WhatsApp group chat for the entire area. It proved invaluable for sharing information and resources as the fires raged, and is now proving it’s worth again with Covid-19. Through this group chat the community has been able to do such things as resource computers for home-schooled kids and share-shopping duties and tips. This group chat has certainly helped the community remain strong, and has helped us settle quickly into a community we only moved into in mid December.” The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, police commissioner, Mick Fuller, and police minister, David Elliott, will provide an update on Covid-19 at noon today AEDT. NSW has flagged introducing more stringent measures to control the pandemic. The state has more than 1,400 cases; there are more than 3,100 cases across Australia. Thousands of Australians caught by India’s dramatic nationwide shutdown say they face running out of food and water or being evicted from accommodation, as 1.3 billion people across the world’s second-most populous nation are ordered to stay indoors. “There will be a total ban on venturing out of your homes … Forget what going out means,” the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, told the nation. Thousands of Australian tourists, expatriate workers and “overseas citizens of India” have been stranded by India’s dramatic shutdown, the largest lockdown the world has seen to arrest the Covid-19 pandemic. There are no commercial flights permitted in or out of India until at least 15 April, and Australians fear they will not be able to get home without a government-sponsored repatriation flight, which India’s government is allowing. Australian Jai Houltham is stranded in Goa on India’s west coast. He has been moved on from two hotels that were closed by police and fears he may be forced out again. He has nowhere left to go. “We are now at the end of the fifth day of a total lockdown, police roam the streets with lathis [bamboo poles used to enforce crowd control] ensuring everyone stays inside, many unable to get supplies,” Houltham said. “The lockdown has been extended to the 14th of April, and there is talk of it being extended for three months, with currently no option for Australians to get home.” Houltham said many tourists had tried to get back to Australia when the government first called for citizens to return, but had faced unannounced flight cancellations, sudden border closures or restrictions on transiting through international airports. “Now with complete lockdown, accommodation closing and people being left on the streets, and being unable to access food, water or medicines, people have had enough and are desperate for the Australian government to step in.” Australia’s high commission in New Delhi has told citizens: “We would encourage you all to stay indoors and avoid any crowded place. Please note there are no evacuation plans yet declared by the Australian government for Australians in India. “If your situation is, or becomes, life-threatening, or you have serious concerns for your welfare (eg cannot find any accommodation whatsoever, or any food, or essential medications), please don’t hesitate to contact us.” I’d love to include some stories about kindness and being positive during these difficult times. If you have stories of neighbours helping each other out, friends supporting each other in isolation, and other acts of kindness, feel free to email me melissa.davey@theguardian.com or teeet me, and I’ll include them in this blog. Superannuation funds have asked the government for taxpayer backing to help them meet withdrawals by members without being forced to sell assets, as the coronavirus crisis sparks one of the worst stock market routs in the past 100 years. But sources said that so far the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has rebuffed the proposal for a “liquidity backstop facility” designed to protect funds from taking heavy losses if or when a large number of people withdraw money because they have lost their jobs due to government restrictions. Guardian Australia understands there are fears within the super industry that withdrawals will be much higher than estimates of $25bn to $27bn that were circulating this week. The industry super funds, which tend to have a higher proportion of their assets in harder-to-sell but more lucrative unlisted assets such as roads and ports, have led the push for the facility. For-profit funds represented by the Financial Services Council do not support the proposal. Victoria, like NSW, now has on-the-spot fines Just to recap those measures just announced in Victoria to penalise those breaking physical distancing rules. New South Wales has introduced a similar system of on-the-spot fines. In Victoria from today: Police have been given the power to issue on-the-spot fines of up to $1,652 for individuals and up to $9,913 for businesses that don’t follow the rules. The fines can be issued to those people and businesses who, for example, fail to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving at an airport; organise or attend a mass gathering; organise or attend a wedding that has present more than the people being married, the celebrant, and two witnesses; organise an auction. Victoria police has established a coronavirus enforcement squad of 500 officers to ensure containment measures are followed. Yet again Daniel Andrews has flagged “stage three” of a lockdown is coming but without giving clarity around what stage 3 means, how many stages there are, or when the next stage might come. Despite this, Andrews insists he has been clear. He says: In terms of next stages, I’ve been very clear about this: there was a stage one, and when we announced that, I told you all there would be a stage two, we’ve done that. There will be a stage three. It will come at an appropriate time. The national cabinet understands what is going on in Victoria is very different from what is happening in the Northern Territory; what is happening down the eastern seaboard is a different magnitude – it poses a different threat and risk than other parts of the country. We have the full support of the national cabinet for a differentiated approach – the measures that help Victoria flatten the curve, the same for New South Wales, and the same for parts of Queensland. That’s national cabinet working well. Compare that with New Zealand, which has published clear definitions for each phase of its response.