LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
* NSW will reopen its border to Victoria at 12.01am on November 23 as Premier Gladys Berejiklian challenged her Queensland counterpart to follow suit.
* Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said NSW’s call won’t bring forward any decision on its border ban for Sydneysiders. The health advice will be reviewed at the end of November before a call is made on Queensland’s borders before Christmas, Ms Palaszczuk says.
* Qantas boss Alan Joyce also criticised the Queensland government for keeping its borders closed to Sydney residents, saying the decision was driven by politics and populism.
* South Australia will not rush to reopen its borders with Victoria, but Premier Steven Marshall says officials are “far more confident” of dropping all COVID-19 restrictions in time for Christmas.
* Victoria recorded no new cases of coronavirus and no deaths for a fifth consecutive day, a feat not seen since February.
* The state’s virus death toll remains at 819 and the national figure at 907.
* There are now just 30 active COVID-19 cases across Victoria, the lowest number since the government began counting them in March.
* Premier Daniel Andrews warned the virus is “still lurking” in the state and encouraged anyone with symptoms to get tested.
* Mr Andrews said scenes of crowded beaches on Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup public holiday were concerning, and criticised anti-lockdown protesters who gathered outside parliament house.
* Ms Berejiklian announced QR codes will become mandatory for NSW hospitality venues from November 23, as health authorities are still identifying non-compliance seven months after the pandemic began.
* NSW reported three locally transmitted infections and another six cases in hotel quarantine.
* Queensland recorded two new cases on Wednesday, both returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
* South Australia and Western Australia recorded one new case apiece, both overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
AUSTRALIAN CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS
* There were 13 new cases recorded in Australia – nine in NSW, two in Queensland and one each in SA and WA.
* The national death toll is 907: Victoria 819, NSW 55, Tasmania 13, WA 9, Queensland 6, SA 4, ACT 3. (Two Queensland residents who died in NSW have been included in the official tolls of both states.)
GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS
* Cases: at least 47,404,000
* Deaths: at least 1,213,000
* Recovered: at least 31,608,000
Data current as of 1630 AEDT November 4, taking in federal and state/territory government updates, Worldometer and Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre.
Australian Associated Press