As it happened: WA to drop hard border as PM confirms all states to open by Christmas; Victoria records zero new COVID-19 cases for 14th day straight

That's it for today's live coverage, thanks for your comments as always. Looks like there's a bit of traffic on the roads for this first weekend of freedom for Melburnians. For those going away for the first time in months, enjoy it and drive safe.

As state borders open up and case numbers continue to stay low, now is the time that we have decided to stop running daily live blogs on the coronavirus pandemic. Sunday will be the final hurrah, although the blog will return on big news days.

To find out more about why we have decided to take this step, you can read the notes from Gay Alcorn, editor of The Age, and Lisa Davies, editor of the Sydney Morning Herald.

American Dr Anthony Fauci says vaccine developers should push to make billions of their COVID-19 immunisation doses to ensure access to all parts of the world, instead of focusing on rich countries.

But he warned however soon an effective vaccine may be available it may not be enough to help eradicate the disease.

Speaking at a webinar hosted by London think tank Chatham House, America’s leading expert on infectious disease said the health crisis may not be a pandemic for much longer "because I believe the vaccines are going to turn that around" but he said that there may be a need to re-vaccinate people intermittently, if COVID-19 becomes endemic.

Co-panelist Dr David Heymann, who led the World Health Organisation’s infectious disease unit during the SARS epidemic in 2002-2003 said the future of COVID-19 may be similar to the response to HIV, Ebola, Zika and pandemic flu.

"The public doesn't understand all about vaccines … including that this disease may, even with vaccines, become endemic," Heymann said.

Read the full story here.

With a young woman twirling a hula hoop as her floral-clad friend beats on a drum, people could have been mistaken for thinking they were entering a climate change rally in the city on Melbourne Cup day.

But if they walked a little further into the crowd, they would have seen men throwing Nazi salutes and people holding signs denying the existence of COVID-19. In the thick of the scrum, a middle-aged woman, wearing a fascinator and dress, bellowed her protest.

It is hard to define in simple terms who the people protesting against lockdowns in Melbourne are, simply because they have come from so many walks of life. Deakin University researcher Josh Roose believes they hail from an amorphous cross-section of society and are united by only one thing: their anger at, and distrust of, government.

And they are not stopping. In online groups littered with references to the QAnon "deep state" paedophile conspiracy theory, they are urging their followers to keep going.

Click here to read the story.

When Indigenous leader Pat Turner heard of the spread of COVID-19 in China in January, she feared for the lives of those with chronic illnesses and vulnerable Elders, revered as living historians.

But a rapid response by Aboriginal leaders to stop the virus worked. Of the 907 deaths and 27,698 cases in Australia, including 685 deaths in aged care, there have only been 149 cases among Indigenous Australians. There were no cases in remote communities and not one death of any Indigenous person. Only 13 Indigenous people were hospitalised.

The extremely low rate of COVID-19 among Australia's First Nations peoples was the "best result for any Indigenous population in the world," said epidemiologist Professor Fiona Stanley, a public health expert and former Australian of the Year.

"It is not just a reversal of the gap but an outstanding result," Professor Stanley said. "It was supposed to be a disaster, but because they acted so responsibly, it was a model of how to prevent an epidemic in a high risk population. [This extraordinary result] just shows what happens when Aboriginal leadership is listened to."

Click here to read the story.

They've been isolated from the rest of the country for 222 days but Western Australia will finally drop its hard border from midnight.

Premier Mark McGowan has announced that the state will move to a "controlled border" from 12.01 am tomorrow.

Every traveller will need to meet certain requirements, however the 14-day quarantine period will only apply to those travelling from NSW or Victoria.