As the day unfolded: Melbourne stage four business shutdown begins, Australian death toll stands at 255

There's been some confusion tonight around the rules for using babysitters or nannies under stage four restrictions in Victoria. Hopefully we can clear that up.

There are reports that some parents calling the Health Department's coronavirus hotline were told they don't need to be a permitted worker to use in-home care.

Brighton Liberal MP James Newbury has tweeted that his constituents were given this advice.

We were unable to get onto the hotline to check but that seems to be contrary to the actual rules.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has admitted that he does not know which government ministers and departments are responsible for the state's botched hotel quarantine program behind most, if not all, of its second wave of coronavirus.

In a combative 90-minute press conference on Thursday, Mr Andrews made clear his refusal to provide information on the quarantine hotels would continue until an inquiry is finished in November, despite the retired judge running the investigation declaring on Wednesday that there was no legal reason preventing him from answering questions.

Responding to a barrage of questions about what he knew and when, the Premier - who organised the quarantine hotels program in March together with his seven most senior cabinet ministers - said he would not go into detail.

"The lines of authority and accountability and exactly what has gone on here, it is not clear," Mr Andrews said.

The Philippines health ministry on Thursday reported 3561 new coronavirus infections and 28 additional deaths.

In a bulletin, the ministry said total deaths had increased to 2150, while confirmed cases had reached 119,460, topping Indonesia's tally for the most infections in east Asia.

A strict lockdown in and around the capital brought the economy to its knees in the first half. The government placed the capital under lockdown until mid-August to stem surging infections.

Indonesia reported 1882 new infections and 69 new deaths.

Hong Kong reported 95 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, of which 91 were locally transmitted, as authorities tried to contain the virus, which has seen a resurgence over the past month.

The number of confirmed new coronavirus cases in Germany has breached the 1000 threshold for the first time since early May, in the latest sign that slackening social distancing is raising the risk of a second wave of the disease.

According to data published by the Robert Koch Institute early on Thursday morning, the number of new infections rose by 1045 to 213,067, breaching a key psychological barrier after creeping up for weeks.

With Europe's largest economy only now starting to recover from the near-total lockdown that was imposed in March to stem the disease's spread, any sign of renewed restrictions on the horizon will dismay investors. The head of the German doctors' union said earlier this week that Germany was already contending with a second wave of the coronavirus and risks squandering its early success by flouting social distancing rules.

Officials, including Health Minister Jens Spahn, have warned that it will become far harder to control the spread of new infections from autumn onwards, making it all the more important to keep numbers down as the summer draws to a close.