Coronavirus: What we know today, May 15

Follow this post for rolling updates on the impact of the coronavirus in South Australia, the nation and the world, as well as the latest health information and links to official advice.

May 15, 2020, updated May 15, 2020

Carlton player Sam Petrevski-Seton arrives at Marvel Stadium to be tested for COVID-19. Photo: AAP/Michael Dodge

Refresh this page for updates – scroll down for links to official health information.

KEY POINTS

SA now has no active cases of COVID-19
SA tourism sites reopen
AFL re-start date confirmed
Gillard appointed to global health role
National cabinet decisions today

No active cases in SA

South Australia has no active cases of COVID-19, SA Health reported this afternoon.

The last new case was reported on May 7.

While one person is in hospital recovering from the effects of the virus, Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said they weren’t considered to be an active case.

“This is obviously a fantastic milestone for us,” she said.

However, she said South Australians needed to continue to maintain social distancing and hygiene measures as the virus remained a threat internationally, with cases still occurring interstate.

People with even a “touch of a sniffle” should remain at home and get a COVID-19 test.

Spurrier said if we “relaxed completely”, one or two new cases in the future could spread rapidly.

If a second wave occurred, there would be no option but to “shut things down”.

Mt Lofty Botanic Garden, Cleland reopen

Mt Lofty Botanic Garden and other State Government-run tourism sites have reopened to the public, as COVID-19 restrictions are eased following shutdowns.

Cleland Wildlife Park, Adelaide Gaol, Seal Bay and the Naracoorte and Tantanoola Caves have also reopened, but with social distancing measures in place.

Read the full story here.

AFL to resume on June 11

Empty stands during the round one match between Adelaide and Sydney in March. Photo: AAP/David Mariuz

All AFL players will be tested for coronavirus twice a week as the competition resumes on June 11, the league’s chief executive Gillon McLachlan says.

Players will resume modified training from Monday in groups of up to eight, with full contact training from May 25, McLachlan says.

An initial four-week block of fixtures will be released within 10 days.

Four clubs – West Coast, Fremantle, Adelaide and Port Adelaide – will be based in hubs on Queensland’s Gold Coast for the early part of the season resumption.

“Our 2020 AFL premiership season will resume on Thursday June 11,” McLachlan told reporters in Mebourne on Friday.

“Today is a significant step in getting footy back for everyone … we know as this situation continues to evolve we have to be agile and continue to adapt as necessary.

“Importantly we must not place any burden on the public health system.”

The AFL season – already shortened to 17 rounds – was suspended on March 22 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

McLachlan said all players and football department staff would be tested for COVID-19 twice every week – one test would be held within 24 hours of a club’s weekly main contact training session.

Players would also be subjected to daily health checks by club doctors.

Gillard appointed to global health role

Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Former prime minister Julia Gillard has been appointed chair of the UK-based Wellcome Trust, one of the world’s largest investors in medical research.

Gillard, who served as prime minister from 2010 to 2013, will take on the new role in April next year.

Gillard said she was honoured by the appointment and had been constantly inspired by the quality and dedication of the research community.

“As the coronavirus pandemic reminds us, science matters to everyone in our interconnected world. We are all indebted to those whose expertise and hard work enables us to be safer and healthier,” she said.

The announcement on Friday comes as the company continues its work on tackling the coronavirus outbreak, with Gillard backing the federal government’s calls for an inquiry into its origins.

“If a major health challenge for the world started anywhere, in any country on earth, then it is good to have a process which enables us to learn every lesson so that we can keep humanity safer for the future,” she told the ABC.

“Wellcome has directly invested in the therapeutics accelerator … that’s all about trying to ensure we get as many treatments and options to deal with COVID-19 as possible.”

Gillard, who will succeed Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller as Wellcome chair, also serves as the chair of Global Partnership for Education, which works to expand access and quality education worldwide, and Beyond Blue, Australia’s leading mental health awareness body.

National cabinet approves mental health package

More Australians will be able to access mental health services with the federal government boosting funding by $48.1 million.

State and federal leaders on Friday agreed to a national mental health and wellbeing pandemic response plan, backed by the extra money.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the extra telehealth capability rolled out in recent times had already seen Australians returning to their mental health providers in pre-pandemic numbers.

CABINET OUTCOMES IN BRIEF

DATA

7017 cases nationally

50 people in hospital and 12 on ventilators

ECONOMY

Leaders were briefed by the heads of the Treasury, Reserve Bank and Australian Prudential Regulation Authority

$220 billion in loan deferrals (two-thirds in mortgages and one-third for small and medium sized businesses)

$11.7 billion in claims for early superannuation and it is not presenting liquidity issues

$90.1 billion in Australian government securities raised since March 20, including $19 billion this week

RESTRICTIONS

States and territories are all moving through step one of lifting restrictions

HEALTH

Reopening of elective surgery nationally, at a pace set by the states and territories

$48.1 million extra for national mental health and wellbeing pandemic response plan

BORDERS

Biosecurity emergency powers extended to September 17

New process to manage access to remote communities

Cases of rare syndrome spike in Europe

Doctors in France and northern Italy, one of the areas hardest hit by the new coronavirus, have reported spikes in cases of a rare inflammatory syndrome in young children that appears similar to one reported in the US, Britain and Spain, according to a report in The Lancet.

The condition, “Pediatric Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome Potentially Associated with COVID-19”, shares symptoms with toxic shock and Kawasaki disease including fever, rashes, swollen glands and, in severe cases, heart inflammation.

Reports of cases have raised concerns that COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, could pose a greater risk to children than had been understood. COVID-19 so far has taken its greatest toll on the elderly and those with chronic health conditions.

New York on Sunday said it was investigating up to 85 cases of children with the syndrome. So far three of those children, who also tested positive for COVID-19, have died, and two more deaths are under review, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

In Bergamo, Italy, between February 18 and April 20, the Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII admitted 10 children with the syndrome including eight who tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.

Over the last five years, doctors there had seen a total of only 19 children with Kawasaki disease, according to the report published by The Lancet late on Wednesday.