It turns out no one is exempt from New Zealand's strict coronavirus rules - not even the country's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
It turns out no one is exempt from New Zealand's strict coronavirus rules - not even the country's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Ms Ardern and her husband Clarke Gayford were initially turned away from a restaurant in Wellington this morning, because it had already reached its limit of customers under the coronavirus restrictions.
Mr Gayford took the blame in a lighthearted Twitter post, admitting he "didn't get organised and book anywhere".
But the story had a happy ending. Shortly after the couple were rejected, a space opened up, and staff chased them "down the street" to let them know.
Back in Australia - despite coronavirus restrictions lifting around the country and cases falling - the NSW Health Minister has warned we should be treating everyone, including ourselves, as if they have the virus.
And in Queensland, people have been warned the virus could "take hold" if they don't get themselves tested after a nurse slipped under the radar.
The nurse, who continued working through mild symptoms and took a trip to Brisbane, was diagnosed with the virus yesterday.
RELATED: Follow the latest coronavirus updates
In total, Australia has recorded 7040 cases of COVID-19, with 3074 in New South Wales, 1554 in Victoria, 1054 in Queensland, 439 in South Australia, 556 in Western Australia, 226 in Tasmania, 107 in the Australian Capital Territory and 30 in the Northern Territory.
The death toll stands at 98.
Here's how the day unfolded.
Italy, once the epicentre of the global coronavirus outbreak, has decided to ease travel restrictions from Monday onwards.
People will be allowed to move freely inside their own region of the country. And from June 3, not quite three weeks from now, they will be able to move between regions.
International travel to and from Italy will also be allowed from June 3, but given the state of international travel at the moment, that probably won't actually lead to much movement.
Tasmania and the Northern Territory have both reported no new cases, which is obviously fabulous news.
The national tally remains at 7040.
A man will face court tomorrow after a woman was allegedly assaulted with a bottle at a supermarket in Sydney’s southwest.
At about 11.35am on Friday, a 59-year-old woman was waiting at a checkout counter of a supermarket on Cartwright Avenue, Miller, when a man stood closely behind her and she asked him to take a step back, in compliance with social distancing rules.
While the woman was purchasing her groceries, the man approached her from behind and allegedly hit her head with a bottle he was holding. The bottle did not break, and the man left the store.
The woman was treated by paramedics and taken to Liverpool Hospital as a precaution.
As part of inquiries, officers from Liverpool Police Area Command were patrolling Green Valley when they saw a man in a park on Lorikeet Crescent at about 11.30am on Saturday.
Police approached the man, who allegedly produced a meat cleaver. He was tasered before being arrested and taken to Liverpool Hospital as a precaution.
The man was then taken to Liverpool Police Station and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, using an offensive weapon to prevent lawful detention, two counts of assaulting police, and custody of a knife in a public place.
He was refused bail and is expected to appear in Parramatta Local Court on Sunday.
– AAP
Spain has the second-highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world, behind only the United States.
But it has just received some pretty good news, recording its lowest rise in deaths since the middle of March.
It's suffered 102 new deaths in the last 24 hours. The last time Spain's number was that low was on March 16.
Things are pretty quiet here in Australia, so let's look overseas for a moment.
Donald Trump has offered a new excuse for the scale of America's coronavirus outbreak. As I write here (yes, that is a shameless plug), it is not a good one.
RELATED: Trump offers absurd excuse for scale of US outbreak
“Don’t forget, we have more cases than anybody in the world. But why? Because we do more testing,” Mr Trump told workers at a medical supply plant in Pennsylvania yesterday.
“When you test, you have a case. When you test, you find something is wrong with people. If we didn’t do any testing we would have very few cases.
“They don’t want to write that. It’s just common sense.”
At the risk of making a painfully obvious point – if the US didn't do any testing, it would still have the same number of cases. The government would just have no idea where they were, and therefore no capacity to contain them.
A nine-year-old boy in Marseille, France, has reportedly died from Kawasaki disease – the inflammatory illness that has been linked to the coronavirus.
His death follows that of a teenager in London last week.
French health authorities say the disease is appearing, on average, about a month after children are infected with the coronavirus.
Deputy chief medical officer Michael Kidd addressed the illness when he spoke this afternoon.
"The research is still underway and we're still looking to see if there is a definitive link in cases being reported with children with this inflammatory condition," said Prof Kidd.
"We’re still watching to see what happens with research.
"At the moment, all doctors across Australia are aware of the potential link.
"Cases are very, very unlikely and if we did see a case we'd pick that up very quickly."
The New Zealand Herald has spoken to the owner of Olive, that restaurant Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was initially turned away from today because it had reached its customer limit under the country's coronavirus restrictions.
Ms Ardern's husband Clarke Gayford jokingly copped the blame, admitting he hadn't booked ahead. But it turned out fine, as a spot opened up soon afterwards and the power couple were allowed inside.
OIive's owner, who didn't want to give his name, said it was nice to be talking about "something light-hearted and fun" after "all the drama and stress" of the pandemic in recent months.
He confirmed that Ms Ardern was indeed turned away at first, and then chased down the street a few minutes later when a table became free.
"She had a lovely brunch and left half an hour later. She was lovely with all the staff," he said.
"She was treated like a normal customer."
He wouldn't say what the Prime Minister ordered, which is a pity, because one of my favourite weekend pastimes is judging other people's food choices.
Speaking of which, I'm currently halfway through a bag of sour cream and chive chips – evening shifts make me crave snacks – and have no regrets.
Given people ignoring social distancing rules at Bondi is largely what sparked a tightening of the rules all those weeks ago, you had reason to worry that the easing of restrictions would lead to people flouting them again.
But these photos from Bondi Beach today show most people were actually following the rules.
Pictures: Damian Shaw
The South Australian government is quietly preparing for a second coronavirus wave and expanding its pediatric emergency department capability, despite having no new or active cases.
The portable ward at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide will make way for nine new beds to respond to a surge in cases or other respiratory illnesses in children during the coming months.
Premier Steven Marshall said he hoped the site was not needed to be activated. He said there were a number of places around the world that were in the same situation as SA, having no or low COVID-19 cases, only to have a spike weeks later.
“We have worked so hard to get to where we are at the moment and we have to continue,” Mr Marshall said.
The extension will be connected to the hospital via an external corridor. There are eight local businesses contracted for the ward’s construction, expected to be completed by the end of the month.
The portable beds, costing the federal government $900,000, can be moved to other South Australian hospitals to respond to future events if necessary. The state government has allocated $550 million to build a new Women’s and Children’s Hospital in its forward estimates.
But Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said there was a delay with the project, putting it in doubt at a time when jobs were so desperately needed. He said there was no clarity surrounding a start or completion date, a budget or number of beds.
However, Mr Marshall said a final business case was in the process. He said the virus delayed consultation with clinicians but remained on track to be delivered by the 2025-2026 financial year.
Royal Adelaide Hospital has been SA’s main coronavirus facility with 18 people admitted in its intensive care unit.
One person remains in hospital but is no longer infectious.
– AAP
Queensland health officials breathed a sigh of relief today after testing at an aged care home where an infected nurse had been working came back negative.
The good news came as cafes, public parks and playgrounds buzzed with activity after restrictions were eased across the state.
Restaurants and cafes can now have up to 10 people dining in, while groups of 10 can gather outside for recreation as the state emerges from isolation.
“It is great to see some familiar faces returning,” Coffee Club manager Kaili Yang told AAP as she took orders from a pair of jovial regular customers at their favourite table.
The Brisbane cafe in the leafy inner-city suburb of Ascot was among many that opened their doors to customers on Saturday.
The eased restrictions also saw exercise classes returning to the city’s New Farm Park, where fitness trainer Chris Tuck coached his first group in 10 weeks.
“It’s awesome to be back together again feeding off each other’s energy,” he said of the six people he had just finished training.
Many families were also out and about as children revelled in reopened playgrounds that had been closed to control the spread of the virus.
“She is loving it,” mother-of-two Jo Williams said as she pushed her four-year- old daughter Hannah on a swing in the same park.
“Both the kids have missed the outdoor activity and interacting with children.”
A maximum of 10 people can now also attend a wedding, while up to 20 are permitted at indoor funerals, and 30 at those held outside.
Road trips are also back on the agenda with residents allowed to travel up to 150km from home, increasing to 500km for those in the outback.
Meanwhile, 193 people have been tested in central Queensland after a nurse working at an aged care facility was diagnosed with the disease on Friday.
All tested negative, including 114 residents at the North Rockhampton Nursing Centre where the nurse worked.
Health minister Steven Miles said low-risk residents would be moved from the home so that residents from the wing where the infected nurse was working could be spread out to further reduce the risk of infection.
“We are taking the risks here very very seriously,” he said.
New Farm Park in Brisbane today. Picture: Darren England/AAP
– AAP
Another wave of Covid-19 is surging across one Aussie state, with authorities urging residents to have a new booster jab.
The apology follows a major report into Australia’s response to the pandemic that found trust in vaccination programs has declined.
Australia’s health minister is issuing a grim warning about the country’s ability to weather another pandemic.