Prime Minister Scott Morrison has shut the doors. Not in a Pauline Hanson-way but banning all non-residents and non-citizens from entering our shores from 9pm tomorrow.

"The reason for this decision is about 80 per cent of the cases we have in Australia are either the result of someone who has contracted the virus overseas or someone who has had a direct contact with someone who has returned from overseas," the PM said.

Tasmanians would be cheering as today three new cases of coronavirus - all came from abroad - were revealed in the southern state.

Not for this reason alone Tassie Premier Peter Gutwein declared a state of emergency this morning with severe financial consequences (not to mention possible medical ones) for ignoring the measures. Take Jacquie Lambie's lead, she's staying put.

And if that didn't rattle the mainland, then a series of measures Qantas announced to combat the impact of COVID19 certainly did. International flights suspended, thousands of staff stood down, shareholder implications, and domestic route suspensions, too.

Regional centres didn't escape the airline's axe - Newcastle, Bendigo, Tamworth, Wagga, Busselton in WA and Port Lincoln in SA to name a few places.

That knock-on effect will hit regional communities in the solar plexus. The casual workforce beyond metro centres is significant and unions are understandably concerned.

In a rare show of left-right unity, the CFMEU and the Australian Workers Union issued a joint statement calling on mining companies to pay the wages of any worker, including casuals, forced to self-isolate, and to provide an extra two weeks of special leave to anyone infected with COVID-19. Watch this space - it is likely to grow exponentially as closures reverberate through related industries.

Now the government has made the call on borders, will schools be next to close? Hopefully so, says Laureate Professor Nick Talley AC. The former NSW Scientist of the Year believes students' risk needs to be reduced. Oh, and also strategies for families unable to take time off work would be good too, he says.

Some educational institutions are making their own decisions. In Wagga today, Saint Mary MacKillop Catholic Colleges sent its student cohort home; CSU has moved all on campus classes online, and the same will happen in Tassie if The Greens get their way.

Schools, nurseries and colleges will leave millions of children "displaced" in Britain from Friday as UK PM Boris Johnson took the decision last night to close them down indefinitely. Where Britain leads, will Australia follow?

But let's not end on a downer - it's really not all bad.Take a moment, here are some uplifting good news stories you absolutely need today.