As the day unfolded: Scott Morrison eases COVID-19 restrictions on restaurants, cafes under stage one plans to kickstart Australian economy as Australian death toll stands at 97

Thanks for joining us. Here's what you may have missed from today:

• The national death toll stands at 97 and there have been 6914 confirmed cases.
• There are more than 3.84 million cases around the world, with 269,700 deaths and more than 1.28 million recoveries

• Australians trying to access their superannuation funds early to make ends meet could face delays after the scheme was temporarily frozen on Friday.

• A Port Authority harbourmaster said he thought a low-risk classification of the Ruby Princess by NSW Health meant it posed minimal risk, despite 15 passengers aboard awaiting results for COVID-19 swabs.

• Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned Australia there will be more outbreaks of COVID-19 as the nation emerges from shutdown.

• Cases at the Fair Work Commission were up 40 per cent in April as unemployment soared on the back of the pandemic.

• The AFL will not force players to have a mandatory flu vaccination ahead of the resumption of the game, instead leaving the decision up to players and club doctors.

• Small businesses in Queensland who have missed out on state government coronavirus relief may see another injection of cash soon.

• West Australians are turning to the dark web to buy an anti-malaria drug touted by US President Donald Trump as a coronavirus treatment.

We will be continuing our coronavirus live coverage overnight and into Saturday in a new blog, which you can read here.

Matt Bungard signing off.

Singapore plans to test all 16,000 elderly residents of its nursing homes for the coronavirus over the coming weeks, as it edges towards exiting a nationwide lockdown next month.

The city-state recorded 768 new coronavirus on Friday, taking its total infections to 21,707 - one of the highest rates in Asia largely due to mass outbreaks among a young population of low-paid migrant labourers living in crowded dormitories.

It has recorded only 20 deaths from the virus, with the majority being over the age of 60. Four of the deaths have been residents of nursing homes.

"We have not seen widespread COVID-19 outbreaks in our nursing homes locally but we cannot let our guard down," health minister Gan Kim Yong said at the announcement of the testing plan on Friday.

"We expect that more cases will be identified within our nursing homes with this extensive testing in progress."

Under lockdown rules to curb the virus due to last until June 1, Singapore residents can only leave their homes for essential trips like grocery shopping and must wear a mask in public. Breaches can result in hefty fines or jail.

Gan said tests at all the nursing homes would be completed by early June, while a further 9000 staff working at the homes have already been tested. Some 2600 nursing home staff are also being moved into hotels to minimise the risk of infection, he added.

Singapore, which already has one of the highest testing rates in the world at 2500 tests per 100,000 people, said earlier this week said it was planning a 500 per cent increase in its virus-testing capacity.

NSW Labor has questioned the decision to hand police chief Mick Fuller an $87,000 pay rise at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, making him one of the state's highest-paid public servants.

Opposition industrial relations spokesman Adam Searle said Commissioner Fuller's pay rise was a "massive increase at a difficult time".

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller received a pay rise of almost $87,000 after Premier Gladys Berejiklian ordered a review of his salary in March.Credit: Rhett Wyman

"At a time when the Berejiklian government is proposing to, in effect, cut the wages of public sector employees, it is just not appropriate to be giving a wage increase well outside the 2.5 per cent wage cap," Mr Searle said.

"You should not have one rule for a select few, and a harsher rule that applies to everyone else."

The salary increase means Commissioner Fuller is now paid a salary of $649,500. His exact previous salary is not known, but the tribunal determination states it was "secretary level", ranging between $487,501 to $562,650.

Read the full story here.

Tesla plans to reopen its sole US car plant in Fremont, California as soon as Friday, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing an email from the company to its staff.

The move comes a day after California allowed manufacturers in the state to reopen operations, shut due to coronavirus-led lockdowns, which drew an enthusiastic "Yeah!!" on Twitter from Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk.

Musk, who recently became a father, has been criticising the lockdown and stay-at-home orders calling them a "serious risk" to US business, even tagging them "unconstitutional" and saying they would not hold up before the US Supreme Court if challenged.

Musk said Tesla aims to restart its Fremont factory on Friday afternoon, according to the Bloomberg report.

Even though the lockdown in Alameda, the county in San Francisco Bay Area where Tesla's factory is located, is scheduled to last until the end of May. So according to a county order, the Fremont factory is not allowed to operate regularly.

California's order from Thursday does not supersede the county plan, Alameda Sheriff's Office spokesman Ray Kelly told Reuters on Thursday.

The Fremont plant shut its operations in mid-March after lockdowns were imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, which has infected over 3.8 million people globally.

Reuters, Bloomberg

AFL chief Gillon McLachlan told coaches on Thursday that players breaching COVID-19 protocols faced being suspended for the entire 2020 season.

Gillon McLachlan.Credit: Getty Images

The warning, which was communicated in a video hook-up to one-third of the senior coaches and then passed on to the other 12, came just hours before McLachlan learned that 16 Adelaide footballers trained as a group at a golf course in the Barossa Valley.

McLachlan also raised the prospect of season-ending suspensions with the 18 club chiefs on Tuesday and received significant support. The prospect of tough new penalties for breaking social distancing has also been put to the players' union.

As McLachlan and his team weighed up potential sanctions for both players and club, Adelaide CEO Andrew Fagan said the Crows should not be judged in light of previous misdemeanours and notably the damaging Collective Minds pre-season camp.

Read the full story here.

Paris has proposed that the European Commission issues bonds to finance a recovery fund for the European Union worth 1-2 per cent of GNI per year, or some €150-300 billion ($249.4-498.8 billion), in 2021-23, according to a French proposal seen by Reuters.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.Credit: AP

The proposal comes as the EU debates how to kickstart growth after the coronavirus slump. The bloc's executive Commission is due to make a formal proposal in the week starting May 18 of a new joint budget for all the 27 member states for 2021-27 and an accompanying recovery fund.

"The size should be at least 1 per cent to 2 per cent of EU GNI per year over the next three years, which would provide the EU budget a top-up of €150 billion to €300 billion each year between 2021 and 2023," the French discussion document read.

"Loans to member states could help closing the gap, but need to remain a top-up to grants. To ensure maximum added value, such loans should have a grace period, very long maturity and low interest rate ... It is also essential that this fund be set-up as soon as possible, possibly before the entry into force of the next MFF."

Ireland's unemployment rate rose to 28.2 per cent at the end of April including those receiving emergency coronavirus jobless benefit, the highest on record and up from just 4.8 per cent before the crisis two months ago, the state's statistics office said on Friday.

A man pushes a pram across an almost deserted O'Connell Street in Dublin's city centre.Credit: PA

The new COVID-19 Adjusted Unemployment rate increased from 15.5 per cent in March after the number of people claiming the higher emergency payment more than doubled to 602,107, on top of the 216,900 on regular jobless benefits.

Excluding the emergency coronavirus payment, the unemployment rate stood at 5.4 per cent.

The adjusted unemployment rate does not include 427,400 more workers on a wage subsidy scheme for impacted companies, where the state agreed in March to pay 70 per cent of wages up to a maximum of €410 ($681) a week for an initial 12-week period.

Australian pub-goers could see their favourite watering holes stay shut despite a plan to ease coronavirus restrictions across the country.

The Australian Hotels Association says the road map to recovery is inconsistent and could force some hotels and pubs shut permanently.

"Hotels have been left blindsided,' chief executive Stephen Ferguson said on Friday.

"They basically will not be able to re-open their businesses until stage three of the recovery process."

Mr Ferguson said the plan failed to account for venues with large floor space and most would be forced to remain closed.

"We are told only 10 people can sit and have a meal in a pub restaurant area even if that area could safely socially distance 50 or 100,' he said

"Why can only 10 people be allowed in a dining area of a huge venue that could safely socially distance 120?"

People are cramming into supermarkets and work side-by-side on building sites, he said.

"Where is the consistency?"

He warned that many operators were already struggling with mounting debts after being closed for more than a month and the recovery plan could force some to close their doors permanently.

"Hotels have done the right thing, put the health of staff and patrons first the moment this pandemic hit - and we will continue to do so - but common sense needs to prevail here too," he said.

AAP

It's Friday night - and normally you'd expect a lot fewer lights on around Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, with people flocking to the city or to local watering holes.

Instead, as self-isolation rules remain, the moon is just one of many bright lights on the skyline as you can see from Janie Barrett's photos below.

The moon rises over apartments in Coogee, where most people are still self-isolating.Credit: Janie Barrett

This Maroubra residence is buzzing - with people staying home.Credit: Janie Barrett

If you have looked up recently, you might have noticed how empty the skies are.

Nowhere is that more apparent than above busy cities like Sydney and Melbourne.

Brisbane Airport's terminals are deserted, but planes filled with freight are still taking off.Credit: Attila Csaszar

And if you live under a flight path or near an airport, that silence is even stranger.

The once common deep roar of a jet overhead is now rare and no one knows when regular services will resume.

The animated graphics in this piece show the number of planes in the sky has changed over the course of the past couple of months as the coronavirus crisis has deepened. The difference is stark, but keep in mind the graphics are not real-time representations of air traffic and do not display every single flight in Australian skies.

Read the full story here