NEWS.COM.AU1:30

Coronavirus: Stage two of Australia’s lockdown explained

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a nationwide crackdown on social gatherings to stop the spread of COVID-19.



National cabinet will meet again tonight to discuss near-total 'stage three' lockdown measures to contain the spread of coronavirus, even as the economic disaster from stages one and two unfolds.
Draconian stage two rules will shut another enormous swath of businesses from midnight and Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he would offer “no resistance” if individual states wanted to go further. Experts fear up to two million Australians could lose their jobs in the worst downturn since the Great Depression.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says the lines outside Centrelink are “heartbreaking” but “what we don’t want is queues for people who need a machine to help them breathe”, adding “no dinner party, no shopping trip is worth a life”.
More than 2300 cases of COVID-19 have now been confirmed across Australia, with 1029 in New South Wales, 466 in Victoria, 443 in Queensland, 175 in Western Australia, 170 in South Australia, 44 in the Australian Capital Territory, 36 in Tasmania and six in the Northern Territory.
Eight people have died, with seven deaths in NSW and one in WA.