Lockdown

The first infection was reported on Saturday in a school principal who had left mandatory quarantine weeks ago after returning a negative test result.

His case appears to be linked to a simultaneous community outbreak in New Caledonia which went into a lockdown at midnight after recording its first nine community cases.

The authorities in Wallis now report 19 cases in total, including the first on the island of Futuna.

Passenger air traffic has been suspended.

He said the last official figures for Papua New Guinea's autonomous region of Bougainville were 40 cases of the coronavrius - a rise from just three last Thursday.

Toroama said Bougainville's health officials had been trying to convince people to wear masks, wash their hands and maintain social distance.

There had been criticism of Bougainvilleans failing to respond to the Covid-19 surge but Toroama said Buka town would now go into a full, 14-day, lock down.

Victoria health officials said two previous cases have been classified as prior infections taking the total positive cases associated with the tournament to seven.

"The new positive cases linked to the Australian Open involve two players and one non-playing participant," said a statement from the health department.

Tiley said athletes who tested positive were not considered contagious and were still at their regular accommodation.

The June quarter, which included alert level 4 nationwide lockdown, saw the value of spending at retailers on the Paymark network drop 15.5 per cent compared with 2019.

But by December, spending for the year was up 5 per cent.

Retail spending across the eftpos network in 2020 was $42.6 billion, an increase of just 0.1 per cent.

The average value per transactions increased, from $39.04 to $42.58.

Retailers experienced the highs and lows of 2020 differently, according to Paymark.

The state has detected 36 cases since infections were found in Adelaide on Sunday, the first community cases detected in six months.

Authorities say the "circuit breaker" measures were necessary to stop the virus' spread "at the beginning".

Australia has previously also responded aggressively to small outbreaks.

Various state governments have at times closed parts of the economy, enforced border restrictions and other measures to stop the virus' spread.

Auckland Council's economic team, which has tallied the cost, said the total 4205 jobs lost in the region were 60 percent of the national total for the month.

Its chief economist David Norman said the city's job losses averaged 200 a day - which was fewer than the 250 a day forecast in alert level 3, but still high.

"These are real people. It's lives and families to support, and a lot of them lost their jobs; over 400. So that's a real impact".

Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews said the restrictions would be in place until 28 September, with a slight relaxation.

A gradual easing of the measures will be implemented from October.

The state has been the epicentre of the country's second wave, accounting for 90% of Australia's 753 deaths.

Australia has recorded a total of 26,000 cases in a population of 25 million.

The Pacific Pharmacists Association is a pharmaceutical workforce that aims to meet the health needs of Pacific people in accordance with their culture, custom and heritage.

Auckland is currently on alert level three, while the rest of New Zealand is on alert level two. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said the settings would be reviewed on 21 August.

But for 3,000 people living in public housing tower blocks, an even stricter lockdown was imposed on Saturday.

Unlike other Melburnians, residents of the nine towers cannot leave for any reason - they are subject to a police guard.

It's the toughest lockdown seen in Australia so far.

The "detention directions" in suburbs of Flemington and North Melbourne are designed to contain a cluster of infections found in some of the buildings.

Prime Minister James Marape said the government had been advised by technical and health experts to extend the Covid-19 national emergency but it was considering other options.

Mr Marape said once the the emergency ended then a specific Act of Parliament would embrace how people lived, used transport, went to school, and conducted themselves in order to keep defences strong against the coronavirus.

He said Cabinet had directed the Health Department and State lawyers to come up with a specific Act.