Australia

Demonstrations have taken place in Australian cities against tight restrictions imposed to tackle a rise in COVID cases.

NSW is bracing for another rise in COVID-19 cases today after a record rise yesterday and a state of emergency being declared.

There were 12 new locally-acquired cases recorded in Victoria in the 24 hours to midnight.

The entire trans-Tasman bubble between Australia and New Zealand has been suspended for at least eight weeks from tonight.

Eleven kilograms of magic mushrooms have been discovered by police during a raid in Melbourne’s northeast.

Anger is growing in Australia as 13 million people – about half the population – endure fresh lockdowns to quash Covid outbreaks.

Queensland will close its border to South Australia from Thursday amid fears a new coronavirus cluster may have been seeded by a woman who returned from Melbourne.

A school in Adelaide’s north is closed and concerns have been raised about a possible Covid-19 case at a suburban hospital as South Australians remain on high alert for possible infections.

Controversial British commentator Katie Hopkins will be deported from Australia for bragging about flouting hotel quarantine rules, says the government.

The Australian state of Victoria – home to its second largest city, Melbourne – is about to enter a snap lockdown after two more local cases of the virus.

Australian authorities extended a lockdown in Sydney yesterday by at least 14 days, after three weeks of initial restrictions failed to stamp out the biggest outbreak of COVID-19 this year in the country’s largest city.

The Australian military is closely tracking a high-tech Chinese surveillance ship making its way towards Queensland ahead of large-scale military exercises which begin this week.