As the day unfolded: Scott Morrison upgrades travel ban, RBA cuts interest rates to record low

Thanks for following along today. Here's what you need to know:

• There are now 709 confirmed cases in Australia
• The global tally is now roughly 215,000
• Both the NRL and AFL went ahead this evening, in empty stadiums
• Qantas will temporarily stand down most of its 30000 workers this month
• Thirty-five people linked to a wedding south of Sydney have tested positive for coronavirus

We'll continune to cover the latest developments overnight and into Friday in a new blog, which you can read here.

And if you want to stay up to date with our COVID-19 email newsletter, you can do so for The Sydney Morning Herald here, and for The Age here.

Queensland's 50 new novel coronavirus cases stretch from the Gold Coast near the NSW border, up to Cairns in the state's far north, but there is a clear concentration area.

“The bulk of those [new cases] are in the south-east, 32 in Brisbane, 12 on the Gold Coast - although we do have new cases in Rockhampton, Townsville and Cairns," Health Minister Steven Miles said on Thursday afternoon.

“There are more than 7000 Queenslanders returning home a day, and all of them are required to go into quarantine for 14 days. They are returning from right around the world.”

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said only one patient was almost sent to the intensive care unit, the rest were "mild" cases.

Dr Young said she expected COVID-19 cases to continue to increase next week and it was all hands on deck to trace those who came into contact with the state's confirmed cases.

“I see that it is really important to contact trace every single case and I am grateful to all of the support we are getting," she said.

"We have had retired doctors put up their hand saying they want to come and help, we have had medical students put up their hand, at this point in time, the biggest workforce I need are people to help us contact trace all of the people who have been in contact with a confirmed case."

Some of Queensland's remote Indigenous communities have already started enacting travel restrictions for both visitors and residents in order to protect their most vulnerable members from coronavirus.

Palm Island, off the coast of Townsville, has advised only those involved in "essential community services should travel to the island and asked those who are ill or even had close contact with someone who had been sick or recently returned from overseas to stay clear.

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Two cruise ships that were heading for Hawaii have been told their passengers will not be allowed to disembark.

The Norwegian Jewel and Maasdam have been turned into floating prisons after their original ports of disembarkment imposed bans on incoming cruise travellers. Several Australians are on board both ships.

“The health and safety of all people in Hawaii is always at the forefront of operational decisions. Presently, all state resources are focused and directed towards containing the spread of COVID-19," Hawaii's Department of Transportation director Jade Butay said.

"Allowing more than 2,500 passengers and crew to disembark will further strain these resources."

Denise Gordon, whose brother, Tim, is on the Norwegian Jewel, said he was in good spirits, but there was confusion about where they would dock.

There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on either ship.

As the COVID-19 spreads, scores of cleaners have been tasked with disinfecting Sydney’s public transport network, which ferries thousands of commuters across the city each day.

Having rattled their way through Sydney’s rail network, the empty trains arrive once a day at several depots across the city, where teams of cleaners are waiting.

Only one person is allowed in a carriage at a time. The men and women - some contractors and others government employees - mop the floors, disinfect windows and handrails with chemicals that NSW Health says will kill the coronavirus.

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NSW public education authorities have urged teachers to keep children outdoors and to ventilate classrooms as much as possible as they ramped up cleaning and made a large-scale "soap drop" to ensure students could wash their hands frequently.

They have also reassured teachers that their work is valued and critical, with many in the profession concerned about their own exposure to viruses and feeling that, as one said, they are being "sacrificed to keep nurses working".

It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued a veiled threat to private schools to follow government advice and keep their schools open or risk losing their public funding.

On Thursday, Newington College announced that the elderly father of the school's chaplain had died of the virus, one of the six deaths nationally previously announced. The chaplain, who had not visited the school since last Wednesday and wore protective clothing while visiting hospital, returned a negative test.

Meanwhile, the NSW Department of Education has boosted its efforts to ensure social distancing and hygiene in schools, sending out a large-scale "soap drop" on Thursday and boosting funding for regular cleaning of high-touch areas.

Read the full story here