Qantas has significantly extended the use-by date for the flight vouchers it is providing to travellers in the wake of disruptions due to the coronavirus.
The airline is now allowing anyone with a ticket to travel before July 31 to cancel in return for a flight credit to the full value of the booking, which can be used for a future flight up until the end of next year.
Qantas extends flight credits until the end of next year Credit:Wolter Peeters
Previously, the airline was only providing flight credits to passengers who were set to travel before May 31.
Those passengers had to use the flight credit within 12 months or their original booking date, or September 30, whichever was later.
Qantas said passengers who had already received a flight credit issued on or after January 31 would automatically be granted the extension to December 31, 2021, but warned it may take a few weeks to update in the airline's system.
Passengers whose flights have been cancelled by the airline will be contacted. The flight credits can only be used toward fares of equal or higher value to the fare originally purchased.
Virgin Australia is allowing passengers to cancel and receive a credit for flights up to June 30. The credits last 12 months from the date of cancellation.
Charities are set to receive more than $100 million in federal relief as Social Services Minister Anne Ruston announces she is working on a package to bail out the sector.
Not-for-profit organisations say they are stretched to breaking point, with volunteer bases decimated due to health concerns as demands on their services continue to grow under the pressure of the coronavirus outbreak.
Read on for further details of the bail-out.
Dozens of Vinnies op-shops have closed their shops down.Credit:Dean Sewell
Australia Post last week saw a steady rise in parcels, and posties are expecting an exponential jump.
“The last two weeks, I've delivered so many more parcels than before. Today I delivered three to the one lady and she said she had 15 more coming,” Melbourne postie Mohammed Tehseen said.
Postie Mohammed Tehseen on his Essendon North route on Friday.Credit:Justin McManus
Australia Post’s retail and online stores also recorded big increases last week, as the nation stocked up its home offices.
Even with a small number of postal outlets closing because their older franchisees considered themselves vulnerable to the coronavirus, technology and stationery product sales rose almost 100 per cent.
And Australia Post’s parcel lockers, the red delivery boxes located around post offices, supermarkets and train stations, saw an additional 5700 new members in the last week alone.
Australian energy giants have pledged to extend payment terms and suspend disconnections for customers under financial strain due to the worsening coronavirus emergency, amid fears up to 2 million Australians could end up jobless.
AGL chief executive Brett Redman on Friday said the company would fast-track access to a program that offered deferred payments until July 31, as the nation's energy industry is called on to widen relief for residential customers and small to medium-sized businesses unable to pay their bills.
Hospital beds in the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton during the influenza pandemic.Credit:Museums Victoria
Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition building may be used as a giant hospital for COVID-19 patients as the state government scrambles to increase its capacity to treat potentially thousands of critically ill people within weeks.
Premier Daniel Andrews said on Friday that it made sense to look at buildings like the 140-year-old Carlton landmark, along with the city’s Convention Centre, if the coronavirus pandemic develops as feared.
The world heritage-listed exhibtion hall was used as one of 35 temporary hospitals set up around Victoria during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919, with up to 1500 patients at a time treated there.
More here
Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The latest federal update on COVID-19 shows a rise in the crucial number of locally acquired cases with “no known link” – the category officials are watching closely to determine community transmission.
The national tally, as at 4pm on Friday, found there were 142 cases in the key category compared to 115 on Thursday morning.
The report from Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s department said there were 3166 cases nationwide, of which 2129 were acquired overseas and 594 were acquired locally but from a “confirmed case” with the infection.
Another 301 were under investigation, the term used for cases where health authorities are tracing each person’s contacts to identify the source of the infection.
Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said on Friday he was worried about the scale of community transmission.
“That is the single most important concern for the health experts,” he said. “There are small amounts of community transmission in some pockets in Sydney, which is probably the most significant in the country, but tiny pockets in other states. But we’re not kidding ourselves: if community transmission becomes significant, that is the real serious concern. That’s why these social distancing measures are just so important.”
The national report said 1405 cases were in NSW, 574 were in Victoria, 555 were in Queensland, 257 were in South Australia, 255 were in Western Australia, 62 were in the ACT, 46 were in Tasmania and 12 were in the Northern Territory.
Of the 3,166 people with confirmed COVID-19 infections across the country, 13 have died.
Protective equipment is donated to the Elmhurst Hospital Centre in the Queens borough of New York.Credit:Bloomberg
Here are the latest developments from overseas today:
- Cases are at 532,000 worldwide, according to John Hopkins data: 24,000 dead, 122,000 recovered
- US fatalities top 1,100 and confirmed cases in Canada surge 72 per cent
- New York medical authorities' top fear is a lack of ventilators, while New Jersey state authorities will ask a bioethics panel to set guidelines for them
- The UK has given police stronger powers and warned coughing could be considered harassment
- The collapse in international demand has rocked China's newly opened factories
- From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages
- The Reserve Bank of India cut interest rates, joining central banks around the world in boosting stimulus to counter the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak
- North Korea has about 2,280 people in quarantine for "medical observation", state media reported
- Iran has banned travel between cities
-Bloomberg
Before today's announcement, many Australians returning from overseas were already using hotels as quarantine facilities to keep their friends and family safe, while hotels were advertising "self isolation" specials.
Kate Parker, a 33-year-old Melburnian who recently returned to Australia after moving to Canada, is spending her 14-day quarantine at Quest Hotel Apartments in Melbourne. Parker was living in Toronto when DFAT issued the urgent travel advice for Australians overseas to come home.
"Toronto was already in lockdown at that point with schools and restaurants closed, so I knew the situation would get worse before it got better and didn't want to take the risk," Parker says.
"I booked the last seat on a flight from Toronto to Vancouver then direct to Melbourne which left the next day. By that point the US had closed their borders so I couldn't even transit through LAX, which made my options quite limited."
Parker, who is in her sixth day of quarantine, chose to spend her isolation period in a hotel instead of at home with family to minimise the risk of contact.
She chose Quest Hotel Apartments because the hotel offers one-bedroom units with a kitchen, so she can get groceries delivered and cook meals. The rooms also have a balcony so she can get fresh air and, she points out, to wave at family when they drop off supplies.
The justice system continues operating as an essential service, but County Court judges are only hearing urgent custody matters, such as bail applications, as well as some cases already underway.
The County and Supreme Courts stopped empanelling juries on Monday March 16, and no new trials were expected to start for another six months.
Only one jury is still deliberating a case at the County Court of Victoria.Credit:Vince Caligiuri
Staff at the court will use the time between Monday and Easter to test technology such as videolinks and teleconferences that will allow hearings to continue through the COVID-19 crisis.
The County Court hears the majority of the state's criminal trials but it and the Supreme Court have already suspended the start of new trials.
Only one jury is left sitting at the County Court - in a trial that began before the suspension took effect - and it will on Monday resume deliberations for three men accused of perverting the course of justice.
The Supreme Court has a much shorter list than usual for Monday, but criminal and commercial hearings continue, as do Court of Appeal hearings. Video links are being used where possible.
The Magistrates Court of Victoria continues to operate but with a focus on remand hearings, bail applications, family violence cases and administrative hearings for people charged with serious crimes. Many cases before magistrates have been adjourned.
The country's peak business body has joined the trade union movement, Labor and the Greens in backing an 80 per cent wage subsidy for workers whose jobs are at risk because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Pubs have been forced to close and cafes and restaurants are take-away only, prompting businesses to stand down thousands of staff.Credit:Edwina Pickles
The subsidy proposed by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is modelled on a similar scheme introduced in the United Kingdom.
It would apply to all full and part-time workers along with sole traders up to a cap of average weekly earnings, currently about $1660 for an adult working full-time and $670 part-time. Casuals would not be eligible.
The chamber's plan aims to keep workers in their jobs rather than the welfare system amid hundreds of thousands of stand-downs and redundancies across the country.
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