LATEST NEWS ABOUT COVID-19: NUMBERS * Confirmed cases in Australia: 2136 (at 3pm AEDT Tuesday), up from 1091 on Saturday. * Australian deaths: eight (seven in NSW, one in WA) * Social distancing: one person per four square metres * Groups over 100 banned * 1.5 million people estimated out of work by mid-year -- MEASURES * Borders closed in SA, NT and WA from Tuesday, Queensland Wednesday. Already in place in Tasmania (freight and essential travel excepted) * WA to ban travel between its nine regions * All patients will be able to access Medicare-funded online consultations from next week * Non-essential travel should cease * Non-essential services urged to close * Still open: public transport, some schools, hairdressers, supermarkets, pharmacies, petrol stations, postal and freight services, bottle shops, newsagents, retail shops, restaurants restricted to take-away/delivery in most states * Closed: schools in Victoria, gyms, indoor sports venues, pubs, cinemas, nightclubs, casinos, places of worship, theme parks * Parents urged to keep children home from school in NSW, Queensland * Live streaming of funerals in Queensland due to social distancing and closed border * Elective surgery to be delayed in WA, NT, but ramped up in Victoria and NSW * NSW police to have powers to arrest people breaching virus health orders under emergency bill * Updated testing guidelines expected to be announced soon -- COMMENT * Quote: "We prepared over the weekend for 55,000 ... I didn't think I'd have to prepare for 100,000 concurrent users." - Government Services Minister Stuart Robert on the MyGov website crash. -- SPORT * IOC expected to announce soon that this year's Tokyo Olympic Games will be postponed * The AFL, NRL, A-league soccer, Super Rugby and netball competitions postponed -- ECONOMICS * Finance: The ASX200 closed 4.17 per cent higher at 4,735.7 while the All Ordinaries index also added 4.15 per cent, to 4,753.3 * Parliament has passed two packages worth $17.6 billion and $66 billion in response to the outbreak of the virus * The Reserve Bank injected $6.9 billion into the financial system on Tuesday and will buy a further $4 billion in government bonds * The IMF predicts a global recession worse than the GFC, but says there'll be a recovery in 2021 * Queensland has announced a $4 billion economic and health package * WA to announce another stimulus package -- GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS * Cases: more than 381,761 * Deaths: more than 16,558 * Recovered: at least 102,429 *Source: Australian Department of Health website at 0600 March 24, plus NSW government at 0800 and worldometer website. Australian Associated Press
