The chairman of St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Melbourne, has stood down this morning.
On Friday, the Greek Orthodox Church, who operate the home, announced that chairman Konstantinos Kontis had resigned, but would remain on the St Basil’s board.
The aged care home has the most Covid-19 deaths in the country’s aged care system, with 44.
Also this morning, federal data has emerged showing that 95 per cent of Australia’s coronavirus aged care deaths have occurred in Victoria.
Also today in Victoria, Melbourne is bracing itself for more anti-lockdown protests, after 17 people were arrested last week.
A “freedom walk” is planned for 11am today in the city, as well as other protests, despite the stern warnings of police and the state’s premier, Daniel Andrews.
Andrews told protesters on Friday: “All you’re potentially doing is spreading the virus”.
The assistant commissioner of police, Luke Cornelius, went even further, saying: “I feel a bit like a dog returning to eat his own vomit.”
“I’m sick of it,” he said.
Last weekend, a protest was held at the Shrine of Remembrance, resulting in 17 arrests and more than 160 fines.
Updated
Victoria records lowest new cases since June
Earlier today, the state of Victoria released its Covid-19 numbers, showing 37 new cases and six new deaths over the past 24 hours.
That’s the lowest new case total since since 26 June.
Premier Daniel Andrews is expected to deliver his press conference on the statistics later today, and we’ll bring you that as it happens.
Updated
Hi all, it’s Naaman Zhou here, bringing you the latest coronavirus news from Australia and around the world.
The state of Victoria is bracing for more protests and arrests today as anti-lockdown groups plan to march through the city, following protests last week. Earlier this morning, the state also announced 37 new cases, one of the lowest totals for months.
Here’s what has happened over the past few hours:
- Brazil’s death toll passed 130,000, according to the country’s health ministry. It has the second highest death toll in the world, after the US.
- France has ruled out imposing a new national lockdown despite recording more than 9,000 new cases for the second consecutive day. Instead the prime minister, Jean Gastex, announced an increase in test and trace measures and a reduction the quarantine period for those with the virus from 14 to seven days.
- Spain has reported 4,708 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours. It brings its cumulative total to 566,326 – the highest in western Europe.
- A further 3,539 people have tested positive in the UK, the largest daily figure since mid-May. It was also announced that the R value for both the UK and England is between 1 and 1.2.
- The US government’s infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, said he disagrees with President Donald Trump’s assessment that the country has “rounded the corner” on the coronavirus pandemic, saying the statistics are disturbing.
- The first European pandemic “travel bubble”, created in May by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, has burst after Latvia said it was mandating a 14-day quarantine on everyone arriving from Estonia.
- Iraq has recorded another 4,254 new cases and 67 more deaths from the virus. Despite the recent surge in cases, thousands of supporters of Iraqi shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gathered at a mosque in east Baghdad for the first time since March.
- India has set another global one-day record for coronavirus infections. The country reported 96,551 new cases. Deaths have remained relatively low in the country, but are seeing an upward trend, with more than 1,000 deaths being reported every day for the last ten days.
- Global infections have passed 28.2m and deaths stand at 911,282, according to Johns Hopkins data. The first four countries in terms of infections, the US, India, Brazil and Russia, account for nearly 58% of all cases.
- Austria has expanded mandatory mask-wearing and imposed restrictions on events in response to a surge in new cases.
- In the UK, the Covid-19 smartphone app will be launched across England and Wales on 24 September.
