“Non-essential” organised mass gatherings of more than 500 people will be banned across Australia from Monday in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the ban on Friday, after meeting with state premiers, senior ministers and health authorities.
Schools, universities and shopping centres, along with Australia’s vast public transport networks, are not included in the ban.
Luna Park will close as part of the new measures introduced to combat the spread of coronavirus, announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison today
The advice to cancel non-essential mass gatherings is expected to be reviewed daily, but at this stage an end-date for the extraordinary measure has not been set.
Temporary cabinet
Morrison said there were many issues to work through between Friday and Monday, and a new temporary national cabinet emerging out of the COAG meeting would convene again on Sunday.
“This step we are flagging for Monday is just about a scalable precautionary response,” he said.
Earlier on Friday, Australia’s chief medical officer, Dr Brendan Murphy recommended to the COAG meeting that a 500 person limit be placed on public gatherings.
‘This step we are flagging for Monday is just about a scalable precautionary response.’
At the press conference after COAG, Murphy dismissed concerns from reporters that the ban would not come into effect until Monday.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if they’d made a decision one or two days either side,” he said.
“It was felt that that was a reasonable time to progress.”
MELBOURNE GP OFFICIALLY CANCELLED
The Australian Formula One Grand Prix has officially been called off due to coronavirus fears.
Australian Grand Prix Corporation and Formula One chiefs this morning took the unprecedented decision to suspend the race indefinitely.
Race and F1 chiefs met this morning to discuss the fallout and made the call after consultation with health authorities and teams from around the world.
It comes as spectators were this morning told they would not be allowed to attend this weekend’s event in Melbourne due to concerns of the potential spread of the deadly coronavirus.