From noon today all Tasmanian hospitals and aged care facilities will be closed to visitors, Premier Peter Gutwein has announced. On Monday night the North West Regional Hospital and the Mersey Community Hospital were closed to visitors but this has now been extended to all the state's hospitals. "Unless it's a partner visiting at the birth of a child, unless it's a parent visiting a dependent child who is sick in hospital or for compassionate or end of life reasons. We will be locking [hospitals] down today and there will be no visitors apart from those reasons from noon," Mr Gutwein said. In terms of aged care facilities, the previous rule allowing two people to visit for two hours would end. "People can continue to visit for compassionate or end of life reasons," Mr Gutwein said. The Premier said the rules would be in place for a two week period, over Easter and the following week, and would then be reviewed. There have been a total of 89 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Tasmania. Three new cases were identified on Monday night, including two health workers at the North West Regional Hospital. The other case was a contact of a passenger on the Voyager of the Seas cruise ship and was already in self-isolation. 34 people have now recovered. Tasmania Police Commissioner Darren Hine reiterated the messaged for Tasmanians to stay home this Easter and not travel to their shacks. "If you are travelling, be prepared to be stopped by police and asked where you are going," Commissioner Hine said. "We not only will be turning you around - you will be charged and facing almost a $17,000 fine." The Premier said TasRacing would be announcing a package later on Tuesday to support the industry through its closure. "The government will continue to make about $2 million a month available to the racing industry," Mr Gutwein said. Mr Gutwein said animal welfare would be at the heart of the package. He said commercial tenancies and rental agreements would be discussed later on Tuesday at a meeting of the national cabinet.
