Melbourne braces for more anti-lockdown protests as daily cases hit pandemic high
Police in Melbourne prepared for a fourth day of anti-lockdown protests on Thursday and a vaccination hub in the city closed after protesters allegedly abused...
Oceania
Magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes near Melbourne, tremors rattle southeast Australia
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck near Melbourne on Wednesday, Geoscience Australia said, one of the country’s biggest quakes on record, causing damage to buildings in the country’s...
Chinese embassy says opposes US, Australia interference
The Chinese embassy in Australia rejected on Fridays “unfounded accusations” against China made by the defence and foreign ministers of Australia and their U.S. counterparts after annual...
Australia trials facial recognition software to police pandemic rules
Australia’s two most populous states are trialling facial recognition software that lets police check people are home during COVID-19 quarantine, expanding trials that have sparked...
France furious with Biden over Australia’s submarine deal
France accused U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday of stabbing it in the back and acting like his predecessor Donald Trump after Paris was pushed...
Delta spreads in China, new cases ease in New Zealand, Australia
New local COVID-19 infections more than doubled in China’s southeastern province of Fujian, health authorities said on Tuesday, prompting officials to quickly roll out measures...
New Zealand keeps Auckland in strict lockdown
New Zealand extended a strict lockdown in its largest city on Monday, requiring 1.7 million people living in Auckland to remain indoors for at least...
Sydney pubs to re-open in mid-Oct while Japan to extend lockdown
Sydney’s cafes, restaurants and pubs are set to reopen in the second half of October after months of strict COVID-19 lockdown, even as the Prime...
New Zealand lifts virus curbs, Sydney cases seen topping 2,000 a day
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday said nationwide coronavirus curbs would be lifted, bar in the biggest city of Auckland, as the country...
Surfer dies in shark attack off Australian beach
A surfer died on Sunday after being bitten by a shark off a surfing beach on Australia’s east coast, paramedics said. The incident took place...
Australia reports record daily Covid cases, braces for worse
Australia, struggling to quell its worst wave of COVID-19, reported 1,756 infections on Saturday, another record high, and officials warned that worse is yet to...
New Zealand supermarkets take knives off shelves after ‘extremist’ stabbing
New Zealand supermarket group Countdown said on Saturday it has removed knives and scissors from its shelves, a day after a man the authorities called...
New Zealand police kill “extremist” inspired by Islamic State
New Zealand police on Friday shot and killed a “violent extremist” who was known to authorities, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, after he stabbed and...
Melbourne lockdown extended, New Zealanders venture out as curbs eased
Australian authorities on Wednesday extended the COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne for another three weeks, as they shift their focus to rapid vaccination drives and move...
New Zealand reports first death linked to Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine
By Praveen Menon New Zealand reported its first recorded death linked to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the health ministry said on Monday, after a woman...
Auckland stays in lockdown, officials report Pfizer-linked death, Moderna woes in Japan widen
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday extended a lockdown in Auckland by two weeks, while officials reported the country’s first death linked to...
Australia logs record Covid-19 cases, driven by New South Wales
Australia reported a record 1,126 coronavirus infectious on Saturday, the vast majority in New South Wales, the epicentre of the Delta-fuelled outbreak. More than half of Australians...
Sydney cases dip, New Zealand keeps curbs until next week
Sydney’s COVID-19 cases slightly eased on Friday but still hovered near record levels as the Australian federal government looks to press states to stick to a...