Coronavirus

Covid-19: Victoria reports no deaths, 42 new cases

There are a further 42 infections in the Australian state, which continues to see a gradual downward trend in daily case numbers.

The last day with zero deaths recorded was 13 July.

Metropolitan Melbourne's 14-day daily case average is now 52.9, down from 54.4 yesterday.

Regional Victoria's is now 3.6, down from 3.9 yesterday.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said there was a total of 82 cases with an unknown source in metropolitan Melbourne, and one in regional Victoria.

Solomons students in Philippines test positive for Covid-19

This was confirmed by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on Sunday.

"We have spoken with some parents. We will continue our efforts to contact and speak with the other parents. Some students have already informed their parents," Sogavare said.

It comes after months of failed appeals for repatriation from the Solomon Islands students association in the Philippines to Honiara, citing concerns for their personal safety.

The Philippines has had over 4000 Covid-19 deaths and well over 200,000 cases have been confirmed so far.

Coronavirus: Israel to impose three-week national lockdown

The country's second lockdown begins on Friday and lasts at least three weeks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the measures would "exact a heavy price on us all", but the country faced a surge with 4,000 new daily infections.

A minister has resigned to protest against the restrictions that overlap with important Jewish festivals.

Fiji has new Covid-19 case from repatriation flight

The Health Ministry says the latest patient is a 64 year-old woman who arrived on a repatriation flight from India on 27 August.

Last week, the ministry announced two men who were on the same flight had tested positive to the virus.

It said more than 200 passengers were onboard that flight and they had travelled from Delhi via Fiji, landing in Christchurch late on 27 August.

New Zealand's Health Ministry also announced last week that five passengers on the same flight tested positive after arriving in Christchurch.

Six new cases in NZ today, four in community

In a statement, the Ministry of Health says one of the imported cases was a man in his 20s who arrived from the Philippines on 3 September and was at a managed isolation facility when he tested positive on day 3 of his stay.

The other is a female in her late teens who arrived on the same flight from the Philippines and also tested positive on day three, it says.

The COVID-stricken Air India flight that brought 17 cases to NZ

On August 28, the Ministry of Health confirmed seven imported cases of COVID-19; three men in their 30s, a woman in her 60s, a woman in her 20s, and two children.  

They arrived in New Zealand on the flight in question - an Air India flight from Delhi, on August 23. 

Hong Kong reports 'first case' of virus reinfection

They say genome sequencing shows the two strains of the virus are "clearly different", making it the world's first proven case of reinfection.

The World Health Organization warns it is important not to jump to conclusions based on the case of one patient.

And experts say reinfections may be rare and not necessarily serious.

There have been more than 23 million cases of coronavirus infection around the world.

Those infected develop an immune response as their bodies fight off the virus which helps to protect them against it returning.

New South Wales premier apologises over cruise ship outbreak

Last week, an inquiry found New South Wales health authorities made "serious mistakes" in allowing about 2,650 passengers to disembark when the ship docked in Sydney in March.

Those people were not tested for the virus, despite suspected cases aboard.

The ship was ultimately linked to at least 900 infections and 28 deaths.

Prior to Australia's second wave of the virus - which emerged in Melbourne in June - the cruise ship had been the source of Australia's biggest coronavirus cluster.

PNG records more than 50 Covid cases in three days

The government said 38 of the latest cases were in Western Province and 15 in the National Capital District (NCD).

Pandemic Response Controller David Manning said the new cases were linked to community transmission in the NCD and a cluster of cases at the Ok Tedi mine.

He said laboratories in Port Moresby and Brisbane had completed over 400 tests bringing PNG's total to 13,361.

The Brisbane lab is testing samples from Western Province, funded by Ok Tedi.

New Zealand locks down Auckland after cases end 102-day run

A three-day lockdown was swiftly imposed in Auckland after the cases were confirmed.

The four new cases are all members of a single family. None had travelled recently.

The restrictions will come into effect on Wednesday, as authorities scramble to trace contacts of the family.

Auckland residents will be asked to stay at home, large gatherings will be banned, non-essential businesses will be shut, and some social-distancing restrictions will be reintroduced in the rest of the country.