Coronavirus Australia live: Australia records zero new virus cases again - NEWS.com.au

Australia has recorded another “doughnut day” – with no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases across the nation in the last 24 hours.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed the happy news this afternoon.

“The latest advice from the National Incident Centre is that Australia has once again recorded a zero community transmission day – this occurs at a time when the world has recorded its second highest daily global case numbers and sadly its highest daily loss of life,” Mr Hunt wrote on Twitter.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard told reporters this morning it was a “great result”; while Victoria is well and truly moving out the other side of its second wave, with today marking its sixth consecutive day of zero new cases and deaths.

The state’s Department of Health and Human Services announced another significant milestone this afternoon: for the first time since June 15, there are no active COVID-19 cases in Victoria’s aged care sector.

“Late yesterday, the last remaining active case of COVID-19 linked to an aged care facility outbreak in Victoria was cleared,” the department said in a statement.

“The clearance of this final active case represents a significant achievement in Victoria’s response to the second wave of this pandemic.”

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Anthony Piovesan, NCA NewsWire

Residents in western Sydney are being urged to get tested for coronavirus after traces of the virus were detected at a sewage pumping station in the area.

NSW Health confirmed fragments of COVID-19 were identified in samples taken on Wednesday from the sewerage system that drains parts of Leppington, Catherine Field, Gledswood Hills, Varroville and Denham Court.

“Symptoms like a runny nose or scratchy throat, cough, tiredness, fever or loss of taste or smell can all signal COVID-19,” a statement read.

“After testing, you must remain isolated until a negative result is received.”

Read more about the story here.

Western Australia has reported four new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

The new cases – three females and one male aged between 18 and 44 – are all returned travellers from overseas, and are in hotel quarantine in Perth.

The new cases bring the state's total number of active infections to 16, and overall tally to 775.

An infant has become the sixth confirmed case of COVID-19 from a repatriation flight from India to Darwin on October 27.

NT Government authorities confirmed that the child is less than one-year-old, and tested negative at first upon their arrival at the Howard Springs quarantine facility last week.

The child has now tested positive, joining its mother and young sibling, and three others from the flight.

The Chief Minister's office said the family is "well and asymptomatic".

The flight marked the second of eight Commonwealth repatriation flights chartered to bring 1300 stranded Australians home from India, Europe and South Africa.

Just 20 active cases of COVID-19 remain in Victoria, according to the state's daily DHHS update.

Today marked the sixth straight day of zero daily new cases and deaths, with the 14 day average in metropolitan Melbourne standing at 1.4, while in regional Victoria it's at zero.

As we mentioned earlier, there are no longer any active coronavirus cases linked to aged care.

All 20 active cases are located in metropolitan Melbourne.

The DHHS continues its work to contain an outbreak of coronavirus in Melbourne’s northern suburbs with 43,335 tests processed from that area since Tuesday 20 October.

A total of 1,634 test results were processed yesterday and a further 903 tests were processed this morning from northern suburbs testing sites in the local government areas of Banyule, Darebin, Hume, Moreland and Nillumbik.

Melissa Iaria, NCA NewsWire

Victorian holidaymakers are furious after it was announced camping at a popular Victorian coastal strip would remain banned until February.

Mornington Peninsula Shire Council revealed on Thursday it had postponed camping on its foreshore, saying this was the most prudent approach given COVID-19 restrictions remain in place.

Picture: David Crosling

“One of our major concerns is the transmission risk from people having to use the shared toilet and shower amenity blocks,” shire CEO John Baker said.

“This approach is consistent with the Chief Health Officer’s advice, which has underpinned our decision”.

Every summer, large visitor numbers flock to the peninsula to camp along the natural foreshore reserves in Rosebud, Rye and Sorrento.

But the decision to postpone the camping season has drawn fury from some who took to the council’s Facebook page to complain.

Read the full story here.

Anthony Piovesan, NCA NewsWire

Victoria’s second coronavirus wave has caused wait times for elective surgery to blow out, with thousands more on wait lists compared with the same time last year.

Picture: Wayne Taylor/NCA NewsWire

Latest quarterly Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI) data shows 66,242 Victorians are waiting for operations surgery as of September 2020 compared with 44,860 at the same time last year.

Most category 2 and all of category 3 elective surgery was cancelled during the July to September quarter, whereby the data showed Victorians waiting for category 3 elective surgery increased 53 per cent compared with this time last year, with almost 36,000 people waiting.

Read the full story here.

South Australia has reported five new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

The new infections include a teenager, one man in his 20s, two women in their 30s and one man in his 40s.

All five people have been in medi-hotels since their arrival from overseas and there's no public health risk, SA Health said in a statement.

They bring the state's active cases to 16 (all but one of which are overseas acquired and in hotel quarantine), and its total case tally to 509.

South Australian COVID-19 update 5/11/20. For more information go to https://t.co/mYnZsG7zGQ or contact the South Australian COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787. pic.twitter.com/FYvBO6Izra
— SA Health (@SAHealth) November 5, 2020

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People should be allowed to protest again now that coronavirus numbers have fallen, Liberty Victoria says.

The group said it had supported restrictions due to the pandemic but believes people should be able to protest again now that cases were down to zero on most days.

"We are now in a different environment; one where a prohibition on protest activity is no longer justified or proportionate," the group said in a statement.

"People should be free to engage in responsible, peaceful and socially distanced protest activity."

Liberty Victoria said it had been concerned by recent crackdowns including the arrest of around 50 people protesting the destruction of culturally significant trees to the Djab Wurrung people near Buangor, west of Melbourne.

Fines worth almost $5000 were also issued.

The Victorian Health and Human Services has announced a significant milestone in the state's fight against the coronavirus.

For the first time since June 15, there are no active virus cases in the Victorian aged care sector.

"Late yesterday, the last remaining active case of COVID-19 linked to an aged care facility outbreak in Victoria was cleared," a DHHS statement said.

"The clearance of this final active case represents a significant achievement in Victoria’s response to the second wave of this pandemic."

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has denied NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian asked to talk about state borders in a text following her election victory.

Ms Berejiklian said she had texted Ms Palaszczuk to offer her congratulations on the result and asked to have a conversation about border restrictions between the two states.

But the newly reinstated premier has denied the border was mentioned in Ms Berejiklian’s text, with a spokesman telling NCA NewsWire Ms Palaszczuk left her on read for three days before responding with just one word.

“Premier Palaszczuk replied following the outcome of last night’s Origin game with the word ‘Queenslander’,” a spokesman said.

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