Coronavirus updates LIVE: Scott Morrison announces mass gathering bans for Australia

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Summary

The Grand Prix in Melbourne this weekend has been cancelled, while football leagues face an uncertain fate
As of Monday, most gatherings with more than 500 people will be advised against (schools, universities and airports will remain open)
Wall Street had its biggest drop since the Black Monday crash of 1987 and the Australian Dollar crumbled
France joined dozens of countries in shutting all schools, Broadway theatres and Disneyland will temporarily close

5.08pm

Royal Easter Show cancellation will 'upset' many

Royal Agriculture Society chief executive Brock Gilmour said the decision would leave many people "upset".

"We will survive coronavirus, the show will be just as big, bold and as existing in 2021," he said.

The show, which generates $250million to the NSW economy each year, will cost thousands of dollars to cancel.

5.04pm

Watch live: Royal Easter Show cancelled

Watch live as the Royal Easter Show is cancelled.

4.57pm

Melbourne Fashion Festival runway shows cancelled

By Mary Ward

The remaining runway shows at the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival (VAMFF) this weekend have been cancelled, in light of the directive from Prime Minister Scott Morrison to ban gatherings of over 500 people from Monday.

VAMFF chairman David Briskin made the announcement at the conclusion of the festival's Australian Fashion Summit on Friday afternoon.

The cancellation affects ticketholders to runways by Reebok and The Iconic, as well as the festival's closing runway which was to feature a lineup including Double Rainbouu, C/MEO COLLECTIVE and Ten Pieces.

4.48pm

Third time Royal Easter Show cancelled in almost 200 years

The Royal Easter Show has only been cancelled twice during its almost 200-year history: once during the Spanish flu pandemic and the Great Depression.

The Easter Show, which attracts an average of 850,000 visitors, was scheduled to run from April 3 to 14.

Last week, organisers said they were unlikely to cancel the show, but would act on advice from NSW Health.

Organisers will announce the show has been cancelled in the next few minutes.

4.32pm

Royal Easter Show could be cancelled

The Royal Easter Show's organisers are expected to cancel this year's show.

They will make an official announcement at 5pm.

4.12pm

Will airlines refund overseas flights?

The government has just advised against all non-essential overseas travel.

It looks like travellers will be able to easily move dates, but not access refunds from Australia's two major airlines.

Qantas has been offering refunds for flights to China, due to the Australian government's travel ban. But this won't be offered for all international travel, because the government only advised against going overseas - instead of banning it.

Qantas has already been waiving fees to change flights until June 30, if the bookings were made between March 10 and 31.

Virgin has made no change to its latest coronavirus travel policy.

This week, the airline said customers travelling internationally between March 10 and June 30 can change their travel dates and destinations free of charge.

Customers of both airlines will need to pay the difference if their new flights are more expensive.

4.05pm

Sydney Writers' Festival suspends ticket sales.

By Broede Carmody

Australia's largest writers' festival has suspended ticket sales this afternoon due to the coronavirus. The festival is due to kick-off next month.

Chief executive Chrissy Sharp more information would be available on Monday. "We are now carefully working through the next steps," she said in a statement.

"Thank you for your patience and forbearance."

3.55pm

Gatherings exempt from PM announcement

Exempt gatherings include:

Schools
Universities
Offices and workplaces
Public transport
Airports
Parliament

3.42pm

'We need to get ahead of the curve'

When asked why mass gatherings would be stopped from Monday, the chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy said: "We think that by that time we will start to see again a few more cases of community transmission."

"There's no immediacy about this, but we need to get ahead of the curve and so the recommendation was Monday and the Premiers and the Prime Minister agreed with that.

"It wouldn't have mattered if they'd made a decision one or two days either side. It was felt that that was a reasonable time to progress."

3.35pm

'What we decide today may be different from next week'

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the decision to advise against mass gatherings is an "evolving situation".

"If we feel that anybody's health is compromised, there's a great risk to the community, we will take those decisions," she said.

"What we decide today may be different from next week - we need to make clear it is evolving - at this stage there's no reason for us to change the existing policy we've been adopting in New South Wales.

"Again, that is advice we will take from the health experts.

"To this point we will continue to maintain that policy."