As it happened: Victoria records just two COVID-19 cases as state considers lifting 5km lockdown rule; UK to re-enter lockdown as Australian death toll stands at 904

That's all from us today. Thanks for reading along, for commenting and for sending us tips and photos.

A brief look back on the day that was:

• Melbourne’s restaurants, cafes, pubs and most of its shops will remain empty for at least

  another week, despite Victoria's daily COVID-19 case numbers falling to their lowest since June on Friday with just two cases reported.
  Premier Daniel Andrews said it was unlikely that retail and hospitality would be included in Sunday’s much-anticipated announcement of the next stage of lockdown but raised the possibility of them opening from next Sunday, October 25.

  Meanwhile, the inquiry into the state's hotel quarantine program, that led to Victoria's deathly second wave of coronavirus, .

• Thousands of Australians who are stranded overseas will be returned home over the next six months in an expanded rescue scheme using new Qantas flights and a quarantine camp near Darwin.

  Prime Minister Scott Morrison struck a formal deal with the Northern Territory government on Friday to use the former workers' camp to help overcome capacity problems in the major cities.

• NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has foreshadowed further easing of coronavirus restrictions next week if COVID-19 case numbers are low over the weekend.

  NSW recorded one new locally acquired case in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday – a household contact of a confirmed case linked to the Lakemba GP clinic – bringing that cluster to 16. There were also four new cases among travellers in hotel quarantine.

• And overseas, newly confirmed COVID-19 cases have surged across Europe over recent weeks as autumn kicks in, prompting authorities to bring back measures that had been relaxed over the summer. The Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, France and Britain are among the countries causing particular concern.

  We'll be back early again tomorrow morning with our free live coverage. Until then, stay save and good night.

The cause of an outbreak of the novel coronavirus at a hospital in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao was traced to two infected dock workers.

The workers had check-ups in an examination room at the Qingdao Chest Hospital that was contaminated after it was not disinfected properly, a Qingdao health official told a media briefing.

One of the workers had tested positive for the virus in late September, but only developed symptoms after 20 days, on Oct. 14, the Qingdao Municipal Health Commission said in a statement.

No details were given on the second worker. Both of them were asymptomatic, the official said.

In September, Qingdao health authorities found coronavirus contamination on some packages stored by a seafood importer after two of its handlers tested positive for the virus but displayed no symptoms.

It was unclear whether or not the two handlers were the two infected dock workers.
In response to the outbreak, Qingdao launched a city-wide testing blitz and expects to complete testing all of its 9 million residents by Friday.

It reported 13 new infections this week, most linked to the Qingdao Chest Hospital, where infected travellers arriving from overseas had been treated in an isolation area.

As reported earlier, there's been a jump in the number of active 'mystery' cases with no known source in Victoria by two today, bringing the total to 17 recorded between September 30 and October 13.

The two new mystery cases today are in postcode 3047 (Broadmeadows, Dallas, Jacana) and 3977 (Botanic Ridge, Cannons Creek, Cranbourne, Cranbourne East, Cranbourne North, Cranbourne South, Cranbourne West, Devon Meadows, Junction Village, Sandhurst, Skye).

The mystery cases tally has increased by two today and so has the daily cases tally.

The two new cases confirmed today were residents of postcodes 3152 (Knox City Centre, Studfield, Wantirna, Wantirna South) and 3175 (Bangholme, Dandenong, Dandenong East, Dandenong North, Dandenong South, Dunearn).

The Victorian government had hoped to be under five mystery cases before October 19 for easing.

News just in, the Victorian Board of Inquiry running the probe into the state's hotel quarantine program is reconvening next week.

"The Board of Inquiry proposes to hold an extraordinary sitting at 2pm on Tuesday 20 October," a spokesperson for the Board said in statement a few minutes ago.

The announcement contained no further details so it's not clear who they want to hear from.

But it comes after The Age broke the story today that Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton had been sent emails from the very beginning of the hotel quarantine system in March 27 alerting him and others that private security guards would be used.

These emails were never tendered to the inquiry, even though it asked for all relevant documentation.

In his evidence to the inquiry - both verbal and written - Professor Sutton said he was ignorant of the use of private security until June when he became aware of the outbreak. He also said when he found out, he did not think it was a good idea.