LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
* Victoria has recorded two new coronavirus cases as some 180,000 people returned to work across Melbourne after the latest easing of restrictions..
* Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said more than 16,000 retail stores, 5800 cafes and restaurants and 1000 beauty salons reopened their doors on Wednesday, following 112 days of the nation's toughest lockdown.
* Melbourne's 14-day case average dropped from 2.8 to 2.7 and its mystery cases in the fortnight to October 25 halved to three. For the first time since May 7, regional Victoria has no cases.
* Two aged care residents - a man in his 70s and a man in his 80s - who died some weeks ago from the virus were added to Victoria's toll on Wednesday. They are the first COVID-19 deaths reported in Australia since October 19.
* Some 25,000 people will be able to attend the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December, but there will be no crowd at next Tuesday's Melbourne Cup.
* There was one new case of locally acquired COVID-19 in NSW and seven cases detected in returned travellers in hotel quarantine in the 24 hours until 8pm on Tuesday.
* NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she would be monitor how Victoria goes controlling the spread of COVID-19 over the next two weeks as it emerges from lockdown, before considering opening the border.
* Ms Berejiklian blasted Queensland for not taking enough returned overseas travellers while continuing to lock out most people from her state, saying "you can't have it both ways".
* Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk hit back, saying her state would not be lectured by NSW.
* Queensland recorded two new COVID-19 cases after a man, 45, and woman, 49, were diagnosed while in hotel quarantine in Cairns.
* South Australia has reported one new case of COVID-19 in a returned overseas traveller. The woman in her 60s has been in hotel quarantine since her arrival in Adelaide.
* A returned overseas traveller has tested positive for COVID-19 while quarantining in the Northern Territory. The woman, 31, arrived on the Commonwealth repatriation flight from India on Tuesday and was isolated at a re-purposed mining camp near Darwin.
* Australia is on track to receive its first batch of coronavirus vaccinations early next year.
* The federal government has pumped $1.7 billion into two lead vaccine candidates. Health Minister Greg Hunt said the latest trials of the Oxford University AstraZeneca vaccine were very positive.
* The number of Australians trying to return home has continued to rise with 34,000 people now stranded overseas.
* New figures provided to Senate estimates on Wednesday represent a rise of about 2000 since last week, with concerns some vulnerable people won't be home for Christmas.
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KEY DATES
* November 2 - Regional Victorian residents allowed to travel to the Northern Territory if case numbers remain low.
* November 6 - Victoria's hotel quarantine inquiry report due. Tasmania plans to open its border to NSW residents without quarantine.
* November 8 - From 11:59pm, the 25km travel rule scrapped and the Metropolitan Melbourne-regional Victoria border will end, reuniting the state. Gyms and fitness studios can reopen subject to density quotas, while patron limits for hospitality will increase.
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AUSTRALIAN CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS
* There were 14 new cases in Australia, including eight in NSW, two in Victoria and Queensland, and one in South Australian and the Northern Territory.
* 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.)
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GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS
* Cases: at least 43,900,000
* Deaths: at least 1,170,000
* Recovered: at least 29,700,000
Data current as of 1630 AEDT October 28, taking in federal and state/territory government updates, Worldometer and Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre.
Australian Associated Press
