This was published 5 years ago
Thanks so much for joining us again today. Before we finish up (and turn our full attention to the AFL grand final) here is a look back at the major developments:
Andrews tentative on reopening as state records seven cases; urges mass testing in Melbourne's north
Sutton's career in balance as hotel quarantine saga enters final lap
Progress on bringing Australians home offset by others joining waitlist
Queensland FIFO worker arrested after breaching Perth hotel quarantine four times
Secondary close contacts at two additional Melbourne schools are being tested for COVID-19, as health authorities try to crack down on a major cluster.
More than 9400 tests have been completed across the city's northern suburbs since Tuesday, with the cluster now reporting 15 active cases.
The Department of Health and Human Services are now testing a number of secondary close contacts to the outbreak at Sirius College and Ilim College.
"They are connected to separate close contacts who will be tested again over this weekend," the daily Chief Health Officer's update said on Saturday afternoon.
Melbourne's biggest step out of its second wave of coronavirus restrictions hinges on the test results of thousands of people potentially linked to a growing outbreak in the city's north that will be received by Sunday morning.
Premier Daniel Andrews warned case numbers could "explode" if there was community transmission unfolding in Melbourne's north as retail and hospitality opened to customers for the first time in almost three months.
The outbreak grew by four to 32 cases across at least six households on Saturday. To understand the cluster's growth among over 400 identified contacts and whether more cases with an unknown source were appearing in the area, the Premier and the Victorian public health team were sweating on COVID-19 test results that will be delivered overnight.
"A lot of people had been banking on [Sunday] as the day where we would have absolute clarity about what October and November looks like," Mr Andrews said.
Investigators are looking to speak to five people who attended Melbourne’s anti-lockdown protest on Friday, in relation to animal cruelty, theft and criminal damage charges.
North West Metro Regional Crime Squad detectives are seeking public assistance to identify four men and one woman who attended the protest at the Shrine of Remembrance.
Officers would like to speak to one man in relation to animal cruelty, after a number of police horses were hit in the face with a flagpole. Police are also looking to talk to a woman following horses being kicked during the protest.
No horses were injured during the incidents.
ROME — Protesters in Naples, angry over a just-imposed 11pm to 5am regional curfew and by the local governor’s vow to put the region under lockdown to try to tame surging COVID-19 infections, clashed with police on Friday night.
The demonstrators, who Italian media said numbered several hundred, headed toward the Campania region’s headquarters near the southern Italian city’s Mediterranean waterfront.
RAI state TV said local merchants joined the protest, hours after Governor Vincenzo De Luca told citizens in a televised speech that he was "moving toward closing everything down" except essential services.
Demonstrators threw rocks and smoke bombs and police officers responded with tear gas.
What will Melbourne's shopping centres look like once they're allowed to reopen?
Well, virtual queuing systems, COVID-19 safety crews, extended trading hours, and digital heat mapping will be the norm.
Vicinity Centres, which runs Chadstone, The Glen, Box Hill Central, Northland and Emporium, has a COVID-safe plan that includes a new website tool to allow customers to view foot traffic in real-time at the centres and plan their trips to avoid busy times.
The real-time pedestrian monitoring will also enable COVID safety crews to act on the ground if areas become too crowded.
And a virtual queuing app will help customers book times to visit specific stores.
Before the pandemic, Melbourne business SpaceCube's six-metre-long shelters were mostly used in events like the Melbourne Cup or the Australian Open.
The pods are a few centimetres longer than the average car parking space – which is why, after Premier Daniel Andrews announced last month that restaurants and cafes would be able to reopen using outside spaces, orders came thick and fast.
“Every business we help get open is saving jobs right now,” SpaceCube chief executive Mark Davies said. His company has been installing the shelters on streets and open spaces before the expected reopening on November 2.
All over Melbourne, food and drink operators are focused on getting their doors open, even with fears of a repeat lockdown looming over them.
An interstate fly-in fly-out worker has been arrested after he allegedly breached hotel quarantine four times after landing in Perth from Queensland.
His colleague, a 30-year-old worker from New South Wales staying at the same accommodation, has also been fined for breaching quarantine to hang out with his workmate.
Selu Cecil Thornley Siitia, 32, landed at Perth Airport on October 13, after receiving an exemption through the G2G Pass system to travel to Western Australia for work.
Mr Siitia, who is a New Zealand citizen but usually lives in Queensland, was ordered to self-isolate for 14 days at the Mont Clare Boutique Apartments in East Perth.
Police allege the man wasn't in his apartment when officers arrived at the hotel for a random quarantine compliance check just after 3pm on Friday and found him outside the complex instead.
Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass has opened an investigation into the state government's multibillion-dollar Business Support Fund after receiving what she called a flood of complaints pointing to systemic problems with the fund's administration
The Ombudsman, tasked with scrutinising the state government's actions, has been approached by more than 750 business owners who detailed lengthy delays and failures of communication by the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions.
The Ombudsman launches investigations when a matter is deemed to be of significant concern. The vast majority of the thousands of complaints received each year do not culminate in full-scale investigations, of which there are usually fewer than 10 annually.
"If it had only been about delays, I wouldn't have launched an investigation," Ms Glass said of complaints about the economic survival package.
"What were initially complaints about failure to respond and poor communication became more around the outcome of applications."
The Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine trial, paused earlier this month due to a participant's unexplained illness, is preparing to restart after investigators concluded the man's stroke did not appear to be related to the vaccine, according to two individuals familiar with the trial who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The AstraZeneca vaccine trial, on hold in the United States since early September, also got the green light on Friday to restart from the Food and Drug Administration, according to a company statement.
When a potential adverse event occurs during a clinical trial, the testing is typically stopped so that an independent data and safety monitoring board can thoroughly investigate and determine whether the problem was likely related to the vaccine. Rules around clinical trials and patient privacy usually restrict details from being released but the tremendous scrutiny of the coronavirus vaccine trials has prompted many scientists to call for greater transparency in disclosing and explaining the reasons for such halts.