TOUGH LOVE MOVE AS LOCKDOWN LOOMS CLUBS, PUBS, GYMS CLOSE

AUSTRALIA is poised for lockdown, with non-essential services including pubs and clubs set to be shut by noon today in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

But schools across Queensland will remain open.

Pubs and clubs will be forced to close from noon to tackle the spread of coronavirus, state and territory leaders have agreed.

Entertainment venues and cinemas, casinos, nightclubs, gyms, indoor sporting venues and places of worship will all be forced to close, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced.

Under measures that are expected to remain in place for at least six months, restaurants and cafes will only be allowed to serve takeaway food.

Bottle shops will remain open, as will supermarkets, pharmacies, and retail outlets.

Other enclosed spaces, including for gatherings like funerals, will be required to provide four square metres per person.

Schools will remain open but authorities will plan options to provide learning at home. Shopping centres will also remain open.

Home deliveries will continue and become more important as large numbers of Australians stay at home.

“I am deeply regretful that those workers and those business owners who will be impacted by this decision will suffer the economic hardship that undoubtedly they will now have to face,” Mr Morrison said.

“That is a very, very regretful decision. But a necessary one in the view of the premiers and chief ministers and myself to ensure that we can control the spread of this virus. This should highlight to all Australians how serious this is and how hard we all have to work together to get this right.”

The PM warned tougher restrictions would follow amid concerns that too many Australians were not taking the risk seriously enough.

In the dramatic escalation of coronavirus warnings, Australians have been told to cancel non-essential domestic travel and stay at home as states close borders.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk urged Queenslanders not to stray from their neighbourhood.

She urged everyone to follow social distancing guidelines including staying 1.5m from others. People over 60 with underlying health concerns should self-isolate.

“It is not a laughing matter,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“There are people out there who think this is not going to happen to us. Wake up! It is.”

Schools across Australia will remain open and children should be at school today, Mr Morrison said. Victorian schools will close from tomorrow.

Queensland Teachers’ Union president Kevin Bates said it was “inevitable” schools would close but called for a suspension of the academic year rather than attempting to move all classes online.

After seeing crowds of people at beaches on the weekend, Ms Palaszczuk said beach closures would be considered but added there could be exemptions.

Mr Morrison ordered the immediate cancellation of all “nonessential domestic travel”. He said Australians could still travel for work and compassionate reasons but urged everyone else to stay near home.

“It does mean those holidays that you might have been planning to take interstate over the school holidays, cancel them,” he said.

“That’s what it means. That’s regrettable and I know the impact that will have for many people in those communities where those holidays were going to take place. These decisions are not taken lightly.”

Declaring there needed to be “tough love” to save lives, Ms Palaszczuk backed Mr Morrison’s call for non-essential domestic travel to cease.

“Queensland is beautiful but I want Queenslanders there for the future,” she said.

The move was followed by a string of states beefing up border controls as they ordered 14 days of mandatory self-isolation for anyone arriving by air, road, rail and sea.

Western Australia Premier Mark Mcgowan shut down borders from tomorrow and revealed his government was looking at buying hotels and using Rottnest Island to set up quarantine zones.

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said police would man 12 border patrol stations and anyone entering the state from 4pm tomorrow could be required to sign a declaration about their health and ability to isolate for 14 days.