Coronavirus Australia live news: Second wave hitting younger Australians, data confirms Victoria’s growing outbreak fears

While hospitalisation rates have dropped compared with the first wave earlier this year, so has the age of those infected, as analysis shows the spread of the virus throughout Melbourne.

Rachel Baxendale, Max Maddison and Christine Kellett

People queue for testing at a pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic in the town of Albury.

20 min read

5:01PMJuly 11, 2020.

Updated 12:08AMJuly 12, 2020

Second wave hitting younger Australians
Data confirms Victoria’s growing fears
Race to trace in auto-message call out
Victoria records 216 more cases, one more death
Vaccine may be 2.5 years away: WHO
Doomsday forecast unless Vic lockdown works

Hello and welcome to The Australian’s rolling coverage of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. A second wave of coronavirus sweeping Victoria is affecting a younger demographic than the first, as analysis of active cases across Melbourne shows the outbreak isn’t just confined to small areas. Victoria recorded 216 new cases of coronavirus and one more death in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has warned a vaccine could be two and a half years away.

Christine Kellett 11.00pm: Second wave hitting younger Australians

A second wave of coronavirus sweeping Victoria is affecting a younger demographic than the first, the nation’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer says.

Australia recorded 229 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to Saturday, 216 of those cases detected in Melbourne.

Fifty-five people are being treated in hospital, 16 of them in intensive care.

However, Dr Nick Coatsworth said hospitalisation rates had actually dropped compared to the first wave of coronavirus that hit Australia at the beginning of the year, along with the age of those infected.

Nick Coatsworth. Picture: Getty Images

“The demographic of the second wave has dropped. They are younger,” Dr Coatsworth told reporters on Saturday.

“Given there are only 16 Australians currently in intensive care, we are well within our (hospital) capacity.”

The Herald Sun has reported a quarter of Victoria’s cases are school-aged children.

Dr Coatsworth said health authorities were on “high alert” for a second wave in other states. However, he said the pursuit of an elimination strategy was not realistic in Australia, given global infection rates were rising by the million on a daily basis and a vaccine could still be 18 to 24 months away.

“Until a vaccine is developed, we have to be able to live with COVID-19,” he said.

Australia’s death toll stands at 23, after a man in his 90s died from coronavirus in Victoria on Saturday.

Rachel Baxendale 7.00pm: Data confirms Victoria’s growing outbreak fears

With a few exceptions in major hotspots, Saturday’s COVID-19 local government area data tells a tale of small but significant increases in active cases across a large number of different areas of Melbourne – indicating just how widespread the virus is in the city.

Oddly there has been a net decrease of 23 cases in the City of Melbourne, after a net increase of 98 on Friday, possibly due to the reclassification of cases, largely due to duplication.

Wyndham, in Melbourne’s outer southwest and home to a cluster of at least 113 cases linked to Islamic school Al-Taqwa College recorded the largest net increase in active cases, with 24, taking the LGA’s total number of active cases to 175.

The only to LGAs with higher active caseloads are the City of Melbourne, with 203, and Hume, in the outer north, with 176.

Housing commission towers in Melbourne’s inner northwest, which have been linked to at least 158 active cases, are divided between the City of Melbourne and Moonee Valley, which had 122 active cases on Saturday – a net increase of two since Friday.

There are 15 active cases of COVID-19 in regional areas outside the metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire Stage Three lockdown – up from 11 on Friday.

These include five in Greater Geelong, three in Greater Bendigo, two new cases in Baw Baw, to the east of Melbourne, single new cases in Greater Shepparton, in Victoria’s north, and Golden Plains, in the west, and single existing cases on the Surf Coast and in South and East Gippsland.

The locked down Mitchell Shire north of Melbourne has 12 active cases – a net increase of three since Friday.

Rachael Baxendale 5.30pm: Race to trace in auto-message call out

Victoria’s contact tracing team will have to track down up to 9000 extra people who have crossed paths with newly recorded COVID-19 infections, putting additional stress on an already-stressed public health workforce.

But the Victorian government has already admitted there would be delays in speaking to close contacts of COVID-19 cases and is using automated messages instead, as the state recorded 216 new cases on Saturday.

Number of COVID cases in Australia

“The national guidelines say that, where feasible, everyone should get a phone call every day,” Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said.

“What does happen in Victoria is that everyone gets an automated message.”

The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services had just 57 people in the public health team in recent weeks, embarking on a significant hiring spree to recruit more than 1250 new staff as the number of infections grew.

With Imogen Reid

Angela Seng 4.55pm: Bali to reopen — but can you actually get there?

Bali wants its most valuable asset back – Australian tourists — but don’t pack your bags just yet.

Indonesia’s best-known tourist destination has announced it will reopen for international travellers on September 11, despite the country experiencing its worst spike in coronavirus cases this week.

And while Bali is keen for the economic boost tourists would bring, the Australian Government has told Australians to stay away.

“Do not travel to Indonesia, including Bali,” the government’s Smartraveller site reads.

“If you’re an Australian visitor in Indonesia leave now – don’t delay.”

A man has his temperature taken before a ceremony dedicated to the Hindu deity Saraswati at Jagatnatha temple in Denpasar on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on July 4.

Flights to the country are severely limited, with Qantas, Virgin and Jetstar suspending travel and Garuda offering a limited schedule.

Travel booking sites show return tickets cost at least $1000 after September 11 and until travel restrictions are lifted by the Australian Government, you will be unable to buy travel insurance.

COVID-19 has spread widely across Indonesia to all of its 34 provinces, including Bali, and the risk of transmission increases daily.

“Critical medical care is significantly below the standard available in Australia,” government travel advice states.

Angela Seng 4pm: Delays at long-awaited border reopening

Queensland Police are asking those waiting to enter into Queensland once again to have documentation and patience close at hand.

Gold Coast District Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler told the Nine Network there were lengthy delays at Queensland’s southern border from noon on Friday.

“We ask people to be patient, plan your journey and understand we are trying to get you through as quickly as possible,” Spt Wheeler said.

“If you are coming through the M1, expect there will be delays.”

Traffic was backed up about six kilometres on Friday from the M1 border checkpoint, which would normally amount to a 20-minute delay but delays were reportedly up to one hour due to documentation not being in place.

The superintendent implored those looking to cross the Queensland border to have their Border Declaration Pass complete before reaching the checkpoint.

The pass applies to all visitors to the state, as well as Queenslanders returning to the state after interstate travel, but will not be available to Victorians.

The pass is a print-at-home document and issued after the completion of an online questionnaire.

Christine Kellett 3.20pm: New COVID drug ‘no silver bullet’

Australia has enough doses of the newly approved COVID-19 drug remdesivir to treat those currently in hospitals across the country, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth says.

US pharmaceutical giant Gilead has donated the antiviral drug to Australia’s national stockpile, and with only 55 people currently hospitalised — 16 of them in intensive care — Dr Coatsworth said he was confident there was now enough to last several weeks.

The intravenous drug, which stops coronavirus from replicating within the body and was approved for use in Australia overnight, has been shown to reduce the length of hospital stays of patients as well as the adverse affects of the disease. However, Dr Coatsworth warned it was “no silver bullet.”

“What we don’t know yet is whether it has a conclusive effect on mortality,” he told a press conference on Saturday.

The drug remdesivir has been approved for use in Australia.

He said Australia’s “world-class” intensive care doctors and nurses remained the best chance of surviving COVID-19.

“Given there are only 16 Australians currently in intensive care, we are well within our (hospital) capacity,” he said.

Remdesivir has already been used earlier in the pandemic, and more recently in Melbourne, where 216 new cases were diagnosed overnight.

READ MORE: Viral panic is just as dangerous

Max Maddison 2.40pm: WA records two new cases

Western Australia has recorded two cases of novel coronavirus, as well as two historical cases.

The two new cases were both returned travellers currently in hotel quarantine, while the two historical cases were based on serology, which linked the cases to cruise ship travel.

WA has recorded two cases of novel coronavirus

The four additional cases brought the state’s total to 634. There are 21 active cases in the state — all in hotel quarantine.

Rachel Baxendale 2.25pm: 535 Victorian cases remain a mystery

Victoria now has 1249 active cases of COVID-19 — representing an increase in the fortnight to Saturday of 1045.

There have now been 535 cases in the state with no established source, including 275 in the past fortnight.

Victoria’s 216 new cases on Saturday has brought the state’s total since the pandemic began to 3560, compared with 3,285 in NSW.

The state’s overall total has increased by 181, after 35 cases were reclassified – largely due to duplication.

Within Victoria, 30 of the new cases are linked to outbreaks and 186 are under investigation. No cases have been detected in returned travellers in hotel quarantine.

A locked down public housing tower in Alfred Street, North Melbourne.

As was the case on Friday, Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services has ceased providing a breakdown of the cases linked to known outbreaks, due to the sheer volume of cases they are dealing with.

The death overnight of a man in his 90s in a Victorian hospital has brought the state’s COVID-19 death toll to 23.

There are 49 people in Victorian hospitals with COVID-19 – an increase of two in 24 hours – including 15 in intensive care, which is three more than Friday.

More than 1,095,000 tests have been processed in Victoria to date.

Gerard Cockburn 1.45pm: Daniel Andrews’ dire warning for Melbourne suburbs

Victoria has recorded 216 new cases of coronavirus and one death, with the Victorian chief health officer saying more than 100 “cumulative outbreaks” were making finding the source of the virus a challenge.

The state’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, told reporters on Saturday that only 30 of today’s cases were linked to known outbreaks.

“Essentially we’ve got over 100 cumulative outbreaks now, so it’s very difficult to speak to the 30 cases with each and every one of those outbreaks, but we are seeing single cases with staff members in aged care facilities,” Professor Sutton said.

Premier Daniel Andrews would not be drawn on the specifics of where the disease was spreading, saying all of Melbourne was now at risk.

A shop on Sydney Road in Brunswick offering masks for sale.

“We’ve seeing significant numbers out of the northern and western suburbs, but it’s in other parts of Melbourne,” he told reporters on Saturday.

“I wouldn’t want anyone in Melbourne to think this isn’t relevant to you. It is relevant to your family, your street, your community and all of us. We’ve all got a part to play.

“There is a big representation in that corridor (but) it is in every part of Melbourne. Some at very low levels but it won’t be at low levels for long if people don’t follow the rules.”

Max Maddison 1pm: Queensland records just two new cases

Queensland has recorded two new cases of coronavirus, both in hotel quarantine.

In a statement, Queensland Health said the two new overseas-acquired cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the state’s total cases to 1,070.

Poppy Brecknock, 5, from Sydney reunites with her grandmother Susan Forster at Brisbane airport as border restrictions are finally lifted into Queensland. Picture: Lachie Millard

“Both cases recently returned from overseas and have been in isolation since arrival. They are therefore not currently considered be a risk to the public,” the statement said.

Queensland currently has three active COVID-19 cases.

Max Maddison 12.10pm: US ‘gobbled up’ global supplies of COVID drug

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the US “gobbled up” global supplies of remdesivir — the antiviral drug shown to help severe cases of COVID-19.

After the treatment was approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Professor Sutton was asked whether Victoria had sufficient supply of the drug.

“I don’t know. I know that the Australian government looked to get its own supply. The US really went very hard in gobbling up the entire global supply almost,” Professor Suton said.

Labor’s shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers welcomed the TGA’s decision but said it was vitally important that Australia secured its own supply.

“I think it is really important that this drug has been approved for treatment, because treatment will be such an important part of what is necessary here in the absence of a vaccine,” Mr Chalmers said on Saturday.

“We want to make sure that the government has sufficient stocks of this important treatment to deal with what has been a spike in cases in Victoria, until and unless we have a vaccine for COVID, these kinds of treatments will be extremely important.”

Max Maddison 11.45am: Premier defends number of public health workers

Premier Daniel Andrews has defended the number of Victorian public health workers, as the state continues to battle surging cases of COVID-19.

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Andrews said members of the Australian Defence Force were on the ground in “unprecedented numbers”, and warned Melbournites this wasn’t an “ordinary weekend”.

“We have 1300 people in our public health team, more than has ever been the case. There are 300-plus people from interstate, many of which are senior public health clinicians that deal with some of the more complex cases,” Mr Andrews said.

“We’re deeply grateful to our interstate colleagues for giving us that capacity.”

Things I have learnt today: there were more advisers in @DanielAndrewsMP's private office when the pandemic began than there were people in the entire state's public health team. (64 vs 57) #springst
— Rachel Baxendale (@rachelbaxendale) July 10, 2020

With North Melbourne’s Alfred Tower the last remaining public housing block under strict quarantine, Mr Andrews said that everyone was being treated as if they have the virus.

“There will be some additional cases. We can probably come back to you and give you more information as it comes to him,” he said.

“But I just want to assure every single Victorian, as challenging as those steps were to take, they were the right steps to take, and there are literally enormous amounts of support being given to those residents.”

Christine Kellett 11.22am: Victoria records 216 new cases, one more death

A man in his 90s has died as Victoria records a further 216 cases of coronavirus statewide.

That number is down from the 288 new cases recorded on Friday.

Victoria’s death toll now stands at 23.

“It is very frustrating, and it is not the place that we wanted to be in,” Mr Andrews has told a press conference.

“It is the simple stuff, the common sense, doing the right thing, the smart thing. That’s

how we will get to the other side of this. This is not an ordinary weekend. It is anything but that. You’ve got to be in your home if you are in the metropolitan, Melbourne or Mitchell Shire.

“The numbers are absolutely far bigger than we’ve ever seen.”

Christine Kellett 11.20am: Seven new cases recorded in NSW

NSW has recorded seven new cases of COVID-19in the past 24 hours.

NSW says five of those cases involve returned overseas travellers.

Seven new cases have been diagnosed, bringing the total in NSW to 3,285.

Five are returned travellers in hotel quarantine. One is a man from the Blue Mountains who visited Crossroads Hotel Casula on Friday 3 July. The other is a man from Victoria who drove into NSW on 7 July. pic.twitter.com/GmSx6MxO6O
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 11, 2020

Christine Kellett 10.55am: Daniel Andrews to provide Victoria update | WATCH

Premier Daniel Andrews and his Health Minister Jenny Mikakos are due to address a press conference at 11am to provide an update on the situation in the state.

Watch our livestream here:

Max Maddison 10.50am: PM’s JobKeeper secrecy ‘disgraceful’

Jim Chalmers has slammed Scott Morrison for the secrecy surrounding the JobKeeper report, branding the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the wage subsidy program “disgraceful”.

Speaking at a press conference, the opposition treasury spokesman said the Prime Minister had two options.

“He can try and address the genuine uncertainty and anxiety which is in the community, or he can add to that uncertainty by continuing to sit on this JobKeeper report that he’s had for weeks,” Dr Chalmers said.

“Now is not the time for the Prime Minister’s infamous glass jaw. It’s time for him to come clean about the future of JobKeeper. He’s had the JobKeeper review for weeks. It’s time that he released it.”

Dr Chalmers escalated the war of wards between the two parties, as he rebuffed Mr Morrison’s claims that Labor’s JobKeeper website — which shows the number of jobs that could be lost in each suburb if JobKeeper is retracted in September — was “disgraceful fear mongering”.

“Well, let me tell him what’s disgraceful. Disgraceful is sitting on a secret report for weeks in a way that only adds to the uncertainty that businesses and workers feel,” he said.

“Disgraceful is focusing obsessively on the Labor Party, as he does, rather than on the national economic interest. Disgraceful is leaving businesses in the lurch and in the dark, and leaving workers behind.”

Greg Brown, Richard Ferguson 10.20am: Hugs, handshakes still not okay, says PM

Scott Morrison has warned that Australians will have to live with social distancing practices, including no hugging or handshakes, for a “very long time” as he launched a national inquiry into the quarantine system and put a new cap on people returning from overseas.

After a meeting of national cabinet, the Prime Minister said a lesson of the second wave in Victoria was to “protect against complacency in other parts of the country” as formal restrictions on gatherings eased.

“It is still not okay for hugs and handshakes. It’s important to maintain the discipline of the social distancing behind closed doors, not just out in the public space,” Mr Morrison said. “It is important that social distancing is the norm, it is not the exception, it is the norm, and it is going to be the norm with us for a very long time, until at least we have a vaccine that can be mass-produced and made available across the population.

Read the full story here.

Max Maddison 9 .40am: Record spike in global infections as death toll nears 560,000

Global confirmed cases of COVID-19 are approaching 12.5m, as the World Health Organisation reports a daily record increase in cases.

Global reported cases stand at 12,439,087, while coronavirus-related fatalities have reached 558,561, according to Johns Hopkins University. In a daily update on Friday, the WHO reported that confirmed cases had risen by 228,102 in 24 hours. The previous record for new cases was 212,326 on July 4.

The number of daily recorded cases continued to soar in the US, as health authorities reported another 57,437 infections. The country’s total number of confirmed cases is now at 3,117,946, with 133,290 deaths.

US army chief-of-staff General James McConville has his temperature taken as he arrives for an official visit in Bangkok.

Brazil’s cases also continued to climb, with 44,571 confirmed cases taking the country’s total to 1,755,779, with 69,184 deaths.

South Africa posted a record daily increase in cases, with health authorities reporting 13,734 additional cases – almost 3,000 more than the previous record on July 4. The total number of cases in the Cyril Ramaphosaou-led country sits at 251,000.

Christine Kellett 9.30am: Virus vaccine ‘two-and-a-half years away’

Australians may be forced to wait two and a half years for a coronavirus vaccine, the newly appointed head of the World Health Orgainisation’s coronavirus inquiry has warned.

“I’m told from Geneva that the most optimistic scenario for a widely available vaccine would be at least two and a half years,” former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark has told Nine Newspapers.

“And even then we don’t know how efficacious it would be – it may not stop us getting it, it may simply mitigate the impact of getting it.”

Former prime minister of New Zealand Helen Clark.

Ms Clark will serve as the co-chair of the WHO’s independent panel examining the origin of the coronavirus outbreak and the global response to the pandemic.

Scott Morrison was one of the leading global figures pushing for the investigation with 145 nations co-sponsoring a resolution at the recent World Health Assembly Meeting to establish the independent panel.

Ms Clark said Mr Morrison was right to call for the inquiry, warning some nations could “go over a cliff” without more dramatic international intervention.

“I think it can get worse if the G20 doesn’t mobilise the support required for the international financial institutions to do their job,” she is quoted as saying.

Jared Lynch 8.45am: Victoria’s spring racing carnival under a cloud

Coronavirus has clouded one of the nation’s biggest sport and corporate events — Melbourne’s spring racing carnival — threatening a $100m hospitality industry across three Victorian metropolitan racing clubs.

Moonee Valley Racing Club has yet to release packages for its Cox Plate Carnival, and Melbourne Racing Club has scaled back its hospitality offering, ditching marquees in favour of its smaller permanent buildings.

Hospitality and catering packages are a big earner for Melbourne’s racing clubs, generating about $100m a year in revenue. Picture: AAP

But the Victoria Racing Club remains hopeful it can still accommodate crowds, including at its Birdcage. This is despite the national economy remaining fragile after Victoria — which has been exiled from the rest of the country — re-entered a hard lockdown this week to limit the spread of COVID-19. Adding to the uncertainty is the AFL finals fixture, with the grand final pushed back from the last week of September to the same day as the Cox Plate, on October 24.

The possibility of moving the grand final interstate from the MCG positions Sydney to become Australia’s sport capital in coming months — and lure the lucrative corporate crowds from Melbourne.

Read the full story here.

Rachel Baxendale 8.30am: Soaring Victorian infections still to peak

As Victoria records the highest daily increase in new coronavirus cases, health authorities are warning that despite the “pretty ugly number” infections have not yet peaked.

Melburnians were directed to wear face masks in public for the first time in a century after the state recorded 288 new cases on Friday as coronavirus fears spread to Sydney, with a Casula pub emerging as a hotspot and 77 COVID-19 tests “misplaced”.

The dramatic developments came as Queensland opened its borders to NSW for the first time in more than three months, but Tasmania and Western Australia announced delays in easing restrictions because of the Victorian outbreak.

The number of Victorian active cases has risen by almost 1000 in a fortnight to a total of 1172 on Friday and the state government has battled to contain a resurgence of the virus.

After a meeting of national cabinet, Scott Morrison moved to halve to 4000 the number of weekly international arrivals into the country and announced a national inquiry into hotel quarantine, which has been blamed in Victoria for allowing the virus to escape into the community.

The Prime Minister said the situation in Victoria was “very concerning” and other states and territories would provide more resources to boost contact tracing.

Read the full story here.

Paul Kelly 7.50am: COVID is splitting us into two nations

Australia’s second wave of COVID-19 will come with a fearful price — not just more infections but signs of psychological resistance, the erosion of political concord and fresh lockdowns that will damage recovery, cost jobs and impose a deeper financial burden on the Morrison government.

We are being split into two nations, Victoria and the rest, a situation without precedent for a century. The border closures arising from the health imperative have a wider meaning. Every sign is that our unity in success is being replaced by recrimination in the second wave — a potent threat to economic recovery.

Illustration: Eric Lobbecke.

Scott Morrison tries to temper the angst with his declaration that “we’re all Melburnians now”. But that’s not how much of the country is reacting. While the Prime Minister preaches unity — and he is right to do so — the failures of the Andrews government will be borne by Morrison in a more impaired economy, a higher fiscal cost and signs that agreement over national economic reform may be a forlorn hope.

Read the full story here.

Richard Gluyas 7am: Melbourne stranded in lockdown

The excesses of the coronavirus might be localised to Victoria, but its economic impact will be felt nationwide.

In 2019, the nation’s second-biggest city accounted for 20 per cent of Australia’s gross domestic product and an equal share of its population.

Its contribution to economic growth, however, was a disproportionate 40 per cent.

A departures screen displays many cancelled flight to Melbourne. Picture: Richard Walker

The state’s economic ascendancy — mainly driven by a heavy program of infrastructure investment — was a heavily marketed electoral asset for Andrews.

Now it’s about to disappear in a puff of the city’s virus-infected air.

Treasurer Tim Pallas says “literally billions of dollars (would be) written off the expected size of the economy”, and it would take two to three years for state output to return to where it was expected to be at the end of 2020.

Read the full story here.

Greg Brown 6.30am: Union’s tax cut opposition ‘peak of COVID absurdity’

The détente between business and unions forged by the coronavirus crisis is at risk after the nation’s leading industry group condemned ACTU secretary Sally McManus for rejecting the need for tax cuts in the October budget.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said Ms McManus’s opposition to fast-tracking tax cuts was a “new peak of economic absurdity for the COVID-19 crisis”.

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus.

Mr Willox also lashed the union leader’s refusal to back extensions to short-term flexible workplace laws, implemented to accommodate for the pandemic, unless the $1500-a-fortnight JobKeeper scheme was continued in full past its September expiry.

Read the full story here.

Natasha Robinson 5.40am: Hotspot residents may be targeted for human trials

Residents living in coronavirus hotspots in Melbourne may be targeted for human trials of an Australian vaccine in an experimental plan being drawn up by an Adelaide scientist.

A COVID-19 vaccine developed by Flinders University professor Nikolai Petrovsky last week became the first Australian candidate to enter phase 1 human trials.

A researcher works on the development of a vaccine against the new coronavirus COVID-19.

Professor Petrovsky, the founder of the South Australian biotech Vaxine, wants to conduct the next phase of human trials in Victorian outbreak hotspots.

Read the full story here.

Jamie Walker 5.15am: 500 cases a day unless lockdown works

Locked-down Victoria will be hammered by up to 500 new cases of COVID-19 every day by the end of next week — with infections doubling every five days — unless the disastrous coronavirus outbreak is checked, exclusive modelling for The Weekend Australian shows.

The confronting scenario emerged on Friday as Victoria reported the biggest daily spike in cases since the pandemic erupted, with 288 more people testing positive to the virus.

Premier Daniel Andrews, who is already under pressure over the bungling of security at Melbourne quarantine hotels, said the latest surge in infections was of “great concern” and had not yet peaked. “We knew it would need to get worse before it got better, and that unless we took those steps we simply wouldn’t be able to bring a sense of control to this,” Mr Andrews said, referring to the reintroduction of Stage Three COVID restrictions.

Read the full story here.

Agencies 5am: Bolivian president catches COVID-19 as US cases soar

Interim Bolivian president Jeanine Anez became the latest world leader to test positive for the coronavirus as the US notched yet another record-breaking surge of cases, while global infections and fatalities continued their relentless rise.

A day after the US began its formal pullout from the World Health Organisation, former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clarke and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf were appointed by the WHO to lead an inquiry into its handling of the pandemic. They will report their initial findings in November.

Interim Bolivian President Jeanine Anez takes a blood test before donating blood on Blood Donor Day. She has since tested positive.

COVID-19 has claimed more than 550,000 lives across the planet, and infected more than 12 million people since it emerged in China in late 2019 — among them Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and, on Friday AEST, Ms Anez.

Read the full story here.

Stephen Lunn 4.30am: Wear the face masks, Victorians now told

The Andrews government now recommends Victorian adults living in lockdown zones wear face masks if they can’t physically distance and will order three million masks to distribute across the state.

The shift in policy on mask-wearing, effective immediately, has been driven by the severe spike in COVID-19 community transmission cases across the state and a change in the international medical evidence, the government said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has recommended the wearing of masks.

It will order more than two million reusable marks by the end of July and a further million single-use masks for use in the interim as it looks to contain the second wave outbreak that saw 288 new coronavirus cases on Friday alone.

Read the full story here.