A reporter asks NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant – who has worked tirelessly since the epidemic began – why her resignation isn’t on the premier’s desk over NSW Health’s handling of the Ruby Princess. Hazzard answers the question, saying: Can I just say that the experts who made the decision were the best in the world. And the appropriate thing at this point is for the investigation to continue. I will make this point, too. Each of the staff of the chief health officer made the decision made it to the best of their ability. And those people are experts in their fields. 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. For as little as $1, you can support us, and it only takes a minute. Thank you. NSW health minister Brad Hazzard confronts Ruby princess cruise ship criticisms Hazzard is now addressing criticisms of the handling of the Ruby Princess following reports overnight that NSW Health advisors let passengers disembark from the ship after exchanging emails with its physician and assessing the ship as “low risk”. A chain of emails has been leaked that indicate the department knew about the risk of coronavirus aboard the cruise. Seven of the ship’s passengers have now died after getting the virus and more than 600 passenger are infected. Hazzard is angry at the criticisms, and has defended the handling of the situation by senior NSW Health staff. I have seen senior health staff, allI will say is that I have seen them extremely emotional because of the long hours they have worked and because of the challenges they are facing. And I find it disappointing in the strongest way possible that there can be any suggestion that those people are not doing their best. In general terms, can I just say, this city of ours is the gateway to Australia. In normal times we pride ourselves on that. We believe that we actually do lead the way in this country, through Sydney and through New South Wales. But part of that is we have more people coming through our airports and more people coming through our ports than any other state or territory. We have more cruise ships that come through the port of Sydney than any other port in Australia. In a normal course of events, there is about 300 of these cruise ships that come in through the port of Sydney every year. The very senior health staff that make the assessments on those cruise ships are actually among the world’s best. There were four, generally, involved in each decision made [about the ships]. Four very senior health staff. They are specialist physicians, doctors with extraordinary training and experience in public health. We have people in that group who make these decisions who are consulting to the World Health Organization, in communicable diseases. When they make decisions, they make decisions the rest of us, if we were one-on-one with that doctor, would be very, very happy to have that advice. I would say to all of you in the public, and actually, it is not so much, I think, the public, there are others who are making comments, but I would say to people who are being critical, know that these front-line staff are sometimes working, as Dr Kerry Chant did, she won’t want me to say this, but last Saturday she worked for 31 straight hours before she stood before the media. She hadn’t slept. People don’t do that unless they have extraordinary commitment to all of us. What I would say to the community and to those who are leaping to criticise is, take a step back, and realise that we need everyone of these people, who have worked their hearts out, worked every aspect, every possible thing they could do to keep us safe, and we should be very temperate and careful in any criticism of those people. I think if the average person got some of the criticism that was being thrown at them, they would say, ‘I am not doing this job any more’. NSW health minister Brad Hazzard is once again having a go at young people for disobeying social distancing measures. However, people of all ages have been seen breaking social distancing rules. However, Hazzard says: Some young people think it won’t affect them, my message as health minister is be very aware this can have extremely deleterious health effects, you could possibly die from this. Young people who think they are not going to be affected, you are wrong. It is quite possible you will be. You won’t be, perhaps, be affected to the extent older people will be, but you could be one of the unlucky ones. No doubt once this update and chastising of young people is over Hazzard will face a grilling over the handling of the Ruby Princess cruise ship saga. The NSW health minister Brad Hazzard made orders last night that there will be slight changes to funeral arrangements. Up until last night a funeral could have a total of 10 people including funeral staff and a celebrant or priest. Upon reflection and working with Victoria and the way that state has implemented the rules, Hazzard says there will now be 10 people allowed in attendance at funerals in addition to those officiating the service. Hazzard has also clarified that caravan parks in NSW can be used by overnight travellers by people, working in the local area and by people whose primary place of residence is unavailable. For example, some people lost their primary homes in bushfires, Hazzard said. He continues: Another issue causing anxiety was our truck drivers have found it challenging because truck stops and places they can stay and rest to comply with work safety requirements have closed. We reviewed that and we need to make sure our city and state functions as best it can and people have access to supplies they need. I want truck drivers to know now they can stop at truck stops and that truck stop operators know we want you to open up those truck stops.” NSW health minister Brad Hazzard is giving an update As of 8pm Friday there are a further 104 confirmed cases in NSW, the health minister says. Those additional cases make a total of 2,493. In the past 24 hours more than 3,500 tests have been carried out in NSW. That means 117,633 tests have now been undertaken in the state. Twelve people have died from Covid-19 in NSW. We mentioned that abrasive press conference from US president Donald Trump a little earlier. Here is more from the reporter Trump attacked. More visa changes announced Acting immigration minister Alan Tudge said the government is making a number of changes to temporary visa holder arrangements. There are 2.17 million people presently in Australia on a temporary visa. There are more than 8,000 skilled medical professionals on temporary visas supporting the health system. While citizens, permanent residents and many New Zealanders have access to unconditional work rights and government payments (including the new jobkeeper and jobseeker payments), temporary visa holders do not. There has always been an expectation that temporary visa holders are able to support themselves while in Australia. But changes announced by the government today will help support those who may be stood down or lose work hours as a result of Covid-19. In line with changes being made for Australian citizens and permanent residents, most temporary visa holders with work rights will now be able to access their Australian superannuation to help support themselves during this crisis. Temporary visa holders who are unable to support themselves under these arrangements over the next six months are being strongly encouraged by the government to return home. International students are able to work up to 40 hours per fortnight. Those students working in aged care, as nurses and in supermarkets have now had these hours extended to support critical sectors. From 1 May, their hours will return to the maximum 40 hours a fortnight as more Australians are being recruited into these roles. New Zealanders who are on 444 visas and arrived before 26 February 2001 will have access to welfare payments and the jobkeeper payment. Those who arrived after 2001 have access to the jobkeeper payment. They do not have access to jobseeker or other welfare payments. Temporary skilled visa holders who have been stood down, but not laid off, will maintain their visa validity and businesses will have the opportunity to extend their visa as per normal arrangements. They will also be able to access up to $10,000 superannuation this financial year. And as we mentioned earlier, temporary visa changes to secure food supply and support farmers have also been announced. The Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos and the state’s deputy chief health officer are due to give an update at noon AEDT. In the meantime, Victoria Police have issued a statement saying police conducted 707 spot checks at homes, businesses and non-essential services across the state in the past 24 hours. Twenty-five fines have been issued in that time. The total number of fines is now 57. Since 21 March, police have conducted a total of 12,541 spot checks. Urgent support for frontline domestic violence services The federal government will provide $32.5m to states and territories to immediately bolster frontline services to protect those most at risk of domestic violence as a result of living changes enforced due to the coronavirus pandemic. This week the inaugural Council of Australian Governments Women’s Safety Council was held. It was agreed that, as a priority, funding should be directed to safer housing and emergency accommodation, counselling and outreach, crisis support and helplines as well as men’s behavioural change programs and other perpetrator interventions. This initial round of funding includes a fixed 3% payment to all states and territories with the remainder provided on a per capita basis with a small contingency set aside. The money will flow this month to support services through to 30 June. $20m has already been committed to Commonwealth funded initiatives including 1800RESPECT, Mensline and a new national information campaign with clear information on where Australians experiencing violence during this period can access support. It follows a report on Thursday from Women’s Safety NSW that the impact of Covid-19 was significant, with a higher percentage of frontline domestic violence workers reporting: An increase in client numbers overall (50% up from 41% the week prior) Increasing complexity of client needs (75% up from 70.8%) Escalating or worsening violence (50% up from 44.9%) Violence specifically relating to COVID-19 (50% up from 36.2%) A sharp increase in violence being reported for the first time (47.5% up from 15.9%) “What we’re observing is a ramping up on each indicator”, Hayley Foster, Women’s Safety NSW chief executive officer, said. “Not only are we seeing increased client numbers in more locations, we’re also seeing instances where the Covid-19 pandemic is contributing to more extreme violence and abuse as well as cases where violence is erupting in relationships for the first time.” We have some brilliant virologists, epidemiologists and public health experts here in Australia and many of them who have been providing expertise on the Covid-19 response can be found on Twitter, sharing their thoughts about the latest data and developments. I thought I’d share with readers a very quick round-up of just a few of them, because it’s pretty cool to be able to have such access to these minds. Professor Mary-Louise McLaws is a member of the World Health Organization Health Emergencies Program Experts Advisory Panel for Infection Prevention and Control. Follow her here. Professor Lyn Gilbert is an infectious disease and clinical microbiology specialist who is helping to inform the government’s Covid-19 response. She’s dedicated her impressive career to communicable diseases. Follow her here. Professor Jodie McVernon is director of Doherty Epidemiology, with expertise in mathematical modelling of infectious diseases and clinical vaccine trials. She has also been advising the government almost every day on Covid-19. Follow her here. Professor Julie Leask from the University of Sydney is a social scientist and an expert in public health, immunisation, human behaviour, and health communication. Follow her here. Professor Peter Collignon is an infectious diseases physician and microbiologist at the Canberra Hospital. He is currently executive director of ACT Pathology. He is also a Professor at the Australian National University medical school. Follow him here. Dr Kathryn Snow is an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Melbourne, working in health services research for vulnerable populations. She posts lots of cool and interesting stuff about epidemiological modelling. Follow her here. Just turning quickly to the US where once again, president Donald Trump is displaying hostility toward reporters in a press briefing. The US Centers for Disease Control has just recommended that US citizens wear non-medical cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (for example, in grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission. However, Trump said he wouldn’t be taking this advice on board himself. “I won’t be doing it, personally,” he said, adding he doesn’t want to greet world leaders, “presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens” while wearing a face covering. “I don’t know, somehow, I don’t see it for myself.” More on the Ruby Princess saga. The Australian reports that it has obtained emails between NSW Health and Australian Border Force that show health officials did not board the cruise ship to test passengers for Covid-19 even though the cruise liner’s on-board doctor told them explicitly in emails there were sick travellers on the ship. You can read the full report by The Australian’s Yoni Bashan here. The New South Wales health minister, Brad Hazzard, and NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, are due to give an update in a couple of hours, at 11am AEDT. I’ll bring you updates from that here when it happens. Australia’s national science agency CSIRO says zoonotic diseases – diseases which pass from animals to humans – such as Covid-19 and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) now account for almost 75% of human infectious diseases. This morning CSIRO announced that with the increasing threat of zoonotic diseases, $220m would be directed to upgrading CSIRO’s containment biosecurity research facility in Geelong, Victoria, which is currently testing vaccines to combat the disease. The facility’s rapid work on Covid-19 has also been supported by a further $10m in funding from the government. If you’re interested in learning more about the spread of Covid-19 from bats to humans, here is some great listening for your Saturday morning. In this podcast episode ABC reporter and Science Friction host Natasha Mitchell asks what is it about bats that makes them such exceptional incubators of viruses that – if they jump species – can be so darn deadly to humans. She also asks whether before we blame bats for Covid-19, we need to take a good look at our ourselves. In case you missed it the chair of the Australian Healthcare Reform Alliance, Jennifer Doggett has written that maximising the value of our health system resources should be important every day, not just in the middle of a health crisis, and that private hospitals should not be allowed to return to ‘business as usual’ once the pandemic ends. She says: Most of our private hospitals are now operated on a ‘for profit’ basis and many are owned by companies based outside of Australia. Healthscope, Australia’s second largest provider of private hospitals, is owned by Canadian private equity firm Brookfield. The third largest private hospital provider, Healthe Care, is part of the Luye Medical Group, owned by Chinese billionaire Liu Dian Bo. Their primary accountability is to their shareholders and not the Australian public. The negative impacts of this ‘hands off’ approach have been apparent in the difficulties experienced in mobilising private hospitals to support Australia’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.” You can read the full piece here, and can follow her on Twitter here. Temporary visa changes to help farmers The announcements are rolling in this morning. Following the release from the health minister outlined below, the department of agriculture has said temporary changes to visa arrangements are being made to help farmers get the workforce they need to secure Australia’s food and produce supply during the pandemic. The changes allow those within the Pacific Labour Scheme, Seasonal Worker Program and working holiday makers to continue to work in agriculture and food processing until the coronavirus crisis has passed. Deputy prime minister Michael McCormack said the measure meant supporting businesses, providing job opportunities and securing food supply. He said: We can’t afford to see fruit rotting on trees and vines and vegetables left unpicked. It is vital our farmers maximise their hard work and economic returns. We are acting to enable seasonal workers to extend their stay and remain lawfully in Australia until they are able to return to their home countries. The agriculture sector relies on an ongoing workforce and we are committed to providing the means for that to continue while ensuring strict health and safety measures are adhered to, including visa holders following self-isolation requirements when they move between regions.” Before moving to other parts of the country, working holiday makers will need to self-isolate for 14 days and register at the Australia.gov.au website. Those who do not comply will face having their visas cancelled. The National Farmers Federation has developed best practice guidance for farmers regarding requirements for the living and working arrangements for farm workers during the Covid-19 outbreak. The key points: Seasonal Worker Programme and Pacific Labour Scheme workers can extend their stay for up to 12 months to work for approved employers. Approved employers will need to continue to ensure recruitment of Australians first. Working Holiday Makers who work in agriculture or food processing will be exempt from the six month work limitation with the one employer and eligible for a further visa to keep working in these critical sectors if their current visa is due to expire in the next six months. Health minister announces $1.5m to support clinical management of Covid-19 cases Greg Hunt has just issued a statement saying the government is investing $1.5m into support for clinicians to ensure they are given the best advice on managing Covid-19 patients. The National Covid-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce will receive the funding from the Medical Research Future Fund to deliver guidelines on the clinical management of patients with suspected or confirmed cases. The Taskforce, which includes a large coalition of peak health professional bodies, will analyse emerging national and international research and data on Covid-19 to provide frontline health care workers with the most up-to-date information and advice. Their recommendations will be continually reviewed and updated in near real-time. The initial set of recommendations will be launched on Saturday and will address priority topics in urgent need of clear and unified guidance, including: Drug treatment of COVID-19 infection Use of oxygen therapies Key elements of critical care, and Disease categories and monitoring. The recommendations will be published in a mobile web app to make it easier for clinicians to access information at point of care. New Covid-19 cases in Darwin Four residents of Darwin tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, and all cases are related to interstate or international travel, the Northern Territory chief minister said in a statement overnight. It brings the Territory’s total to 26 cases. A Darwin man, aged in his 40s, had been in self-quarantine after returning home from Africa when he became unwell. Another man, in his 50s, became unwell while in self-quarantine after returning from the United Kingdom. A woman, aged in her 50s, who had travelled to South America became unwell while in self-quarantine. Under national medical guidelines, contact tracing on flights is not required due to the delay between their return to Darwin and becoming unwell. The fourth case, a woman in her 20s, was in self-quarantine and is a close family contact of another Territorian already diagnosed with Covid-19 who had returned from overseas. All four people are now in the care of Royal Darwin Hospital. Good morning, Melissa Davey joining you for another Saturday to bring you all of the Covid-19 updates for Australia throughout the day. If I miss anything, let me know at melissa.davey@theguardian.com or over at Twitter. Let’s recap the last 24 hours or so by starting with some good news. Australia’s chief health officer, Brendan Murphy, said he was “quietly pleased” with the numbers of new cases of Covid-19 slowing, with the rate of the number of new confirmed cases in single digits. However, community transmissions have been growing. There are now 300 community transmission cases in Sydney, 60 in Melbourne and 30 in Brisbane. Australia is now in the “suppression” phase of containing the virus, the prime minister said on Friday. In other updates: Last night, New South Wales Health confirmed that to date, there have been 342 confirmed cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in NSW related to Ruby Princess cruise ship passengers. Defending their handling of the debacle, NSW Health said “Transmission of Covid-19 amongst these passengers could not have been prevented by NSW Health staff. No cases of Covid-19 were identified on board the ship before it docked. The vast majority of these passengers reported they did not develop symptoms until after leaving the Ruby Princess.” Australia’s death toll for Covid-19 is now 28, after WA premier Mark McGowan said on Friday afternoon that a passenger from the Artania cruise ship, in his 60s, had died. My colleague, federal political reporter Daniel Hurst, wrote a handy explainer about what the government’s free childcare package in response to the virus means for you. Meanwhile, sociologist Eva Cox asks whether the announcement is too good to be true. Calls are growing for governments to support the evacuation of Aboriginal elders from remote and regional communities as Covid-19 spreads, indigenous affairs editor, Lorena Allam, reports. Australia exceeded 5,300 confirmed cases on Friday. After seemingly endless back and forth about whether Australia’s modelling on coronavirus will be made public, the prime minister said this information will be released by the government next week after more work, and review by the national cabinet. It is a complex data-set to release. Thanks for joining me this morning, and I hope everyone is coping okay with isolation, checking in on their neighbours, and managing to get out for fresh air and maybe even a cheeky kebab without copping a fine.