As the day unfolded: NSW records 18 local cases, six linked to Croydon cluster; Victoria's two-month streak ends with three new cases

Three people in Melbourne have been diagnosed with COVID-19, ending the state’s two-month streak of zero locally-acquired cases.

The infections, confirmed by the Andrews government late on Wednesday afternoon, came as the state government tightened border controls with NSW after 18 new cases were confirmed in Sydney, including some linked to a new cluster.

The three local cases recorded in Melbourne on Wednesday are believed to be linked to COVID-19 cases from NSW.

The COVID-positive Victorians have not recently travelled to NSW but the state government confirmed that health authorities believed they were connected with cases north of the border through close contacts.

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We are covering the coronavirus pandemic again on Thursday. Here's a summary of what happened in terms of coronavirus news today:

• NSW now has 160 active cases with 18 new locally acquired ones recorded.
• Nine local cases were linked to the Avalon cluster, all previously identified as contacts. The source of the cluster (now 138 cases) remains unknown.
• Six other locally acquired cases are all members of the same extended family and linked to a cluster in Croydon whose source is also unknown.
• Three other locally acquired cases are under investigation, two cases, from the same household, are from the Wollongong area and one is from northern Sydney.
• Fragments of the virus that causes COVID‑19 were detected at a sewage plant that services the Liverpool area.
• New Year’s Eve restrictions in Greater Sydney have tightened again. Outdoor gatherings were cut from 50 to 30 guests, and households limited to five visitors (including children).
• Sydneysiders will be restricted from visiting aged care facilities until at least January 7.
• Victoria broke a two-month run without community cases after three were recorded late on Wednesday with possible links to NSW.
• The third cricket test against India will go ahead at the SCG with spectators but some experts, and the state opposition, say it should be held without fans at the venue.
• Britain approved the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine

Victoria’s border with New South Wales remains closed to anyone who has been in the northern beaches area, Sydney, or the Central Coast. And after midnight tomorrow night, anyone who has been in the Blue Mountains or Wollongong, in the past 14 days is not allowed to come into Victoria.

Anyone arriving at the road border from those impacted areas will be turned away and will have to find alternative accommodation in New South Wales.

Any Victorian who has been in or visited the Blue Mountains or Wollongong regions from December 27 will have until 11.59pm on the 31 December to apply for a new travel permit through Service Victoria, must get tested within 24 hours of returning to Victoria, and must self-quarantine at home for 14 days from when they last left the region.

After December 31, nobody who has visited these areas will be able to enter Victoria.

Anyone currently in Victoria, who has been in Wollongong or the Blue Mountains since December 27 is urged to get tested and stay at home until a negative test result is received.

The Department of Health and Human Services will contact each returning traveller and provide them with further information about their quarantine.

The open-air cinema at Mrs Macquarie's Chair has canned its screenings on January 1, 2 and 3, moving them to dates in early February.

Westpac OpenAir advised ticket holders today that "in line with the current restrictions to limit activity and refrain from any non-essential activity for Greater Sydney", they've decided to postpone screenings of The Dry, originally scheduled for Friday, January 1, Saturday, January 2 and Sunday, January 3, 2021.

Sydneysiders looking to find out whether they have been to a venue recently visited by someone later diagnosed with coronavirus can now do so more easily thanks to a new service that overlays alert locations onto a map.

The website covid19nearme.com.au was built by a Sydney data expert and uses information provided by the NSW government's COVID-19 data program to visualise a long list of venue alerts put out sometimes multiple times per day by NSW Health.

The map, embedded below, doesn't include public transport routes. They can be found on the NSW government's official list of locations at https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/latest-news-and-updates#latest-covid-19-case-locations-in-nsw.

Interact with the venue alert map:

There are more than 350 COVID-19 testing locations across NSW, many of which are open seven days a week. To find your nearest clinic, visit https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/how-to-protect-yourself-and-others/clinics or contact your GP.

London: Britain on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca as it battles a major winter surge driven by a new, highly contagious variant of the virus.

"The government has today accepted the recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to authorise Oxford University/AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for use," the health ministry said.

The pandemic has already killed 1.7 million people around the world, sown chaos through the global economy and upended normal life for billions since it began in Wuhan, China, a year ago.

Britain and South Africa, in particular, are grappling with new variants of the coronavirus, which the government and scientists say are more contagious; many countries have responded by banning passenger flights and blocking trade.

Read more here.