Australia records 182 new Covid-19 infections – as it happened

That is where we will leave the Australian coronavirus live blog for Thursday.

Here’s some of the news from today:

• There were 182 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia, with 165 of those cases in Victoria
• Only 30 of those cases were linked to confirmed outbreaks
• Metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire are now back in stage 3 restrictions for the next six weeks
• Eight of the nine public housing towers in north and west Melbourne will move to stage three restrictions, with the Alfred St tower remaining in quarantine for another nine days due to high case numbers
• Those who test positive in the non-Alfred St towers or who are close contacts are being offered hotel accommodation
• Victoria is planning support for businesses
• 125,000 border passes issued for people travelling to NSW from Victoria
• A pilot program of bringing in international students to ANU has been postponed
• Australia to offer safe haven for Hong Kong residents, preferencing students and workers
• The Australia-Hong Kong extradition treaty is benched
• China wasn’t happy about the announcement
• The Queen’s correspondence with Sir John Kerr around the time of the dismissal to be released on Tuesday next week
• The Liberals concede defeat in the Eden-Monaro by-election, meaning Labor’s Kristy McBain is the new member

Until tomorrow, stay safe.

For those seeking to enter Queensland (not you, Victoria)

Liberal party candidate Fiona Kotvojs has conceded she has lost the byelection in Eden-Monaro to Labor’s Kristy McBain, around four days after the ABC called it for McBain.

For context.

Food deliveries and other support to the towers moving to stage 3 will continue tonight.

Hotham and Falls Creek will shut their lift operations due to the Victorian restrictions.

So in summary, from the Daniel Andrews press conference, here’s what we know:

• Eight of the nine public housing towers will move to stage 3 restrictions like the rest of Melbourne.
• Two towers on Pampas and Melrose streets will move immediately, while six others, bar Alfred Street, will remain in lockdown until midnight tonight.
• Alfred Street will remain in quarantine for another nine days due to the high number of cases but residents will be able to go outside for exercise and fresh air.
• Those in the six towers with low numbers of cases who test positive or are a close contact will be given the option of moving to a hotel for their quarantine period.
• A police presence will remain at the towers.
• Nine fines have been handed out since the lockdowns were brought back in to some Melbourne suburbs (prior to citywide lockdown commencing today).
• Victoria is working on a support package for businesses in Melbourne affected by the lockdown.

Andrews is asked what he did on his birthday (which I believe was the day before yesterday). He says he had dinner at home after a Zoom cabinet meeting.

I was at home having a very nice family dinner. Let me indicate to you when that occurred, Alex. That occurred after I had done a two-and-a-half-hour cabinet meeting over Zoom and I think my plate might have been a bit cold, but we’re all doing all sorts of things, but I was pleased to be at home with my parents – sorry, with my wife and my kids. Happy? Fine? Very good.

That’s the end of the press conference.

Andrews says Victoria has “more than sufficient” supplies to treat people testing positive for coronavirus.

We’ve got sufficient, in fact we have very large stockpiles of everything from PPE and machines to help you and everything in between. We have the trained staff and the places that have been refitted, whether it be the Peter Mac or others. We are confident we have got everything we need and erred on the side of caution.

Andrews says Victoria is still pursuing a suppression, not an eradication strategy for coronavirus. He says there will still be cases, but they need to be at a manageable number – which is not where Victoria is currently at.

“If you’re breaking the rules you will be fined. There won’t be too many warnings given out – there can’t be,” Andrews says about people not complying with the lockdown restrictions.

“If we find one reason or another to do something that isn’t the spirit or, indeed, compliant with the rules, then we just won’t achieve that number. Our numbers, our case numbers, will be still at an unacceptably high level. Nobody wants that.”