Join +750K new investors every month who copy stock picks from billionaire's portfoliosSign Up Free

UPDATE 2-Australia COVID-19 hotspot reports lowest rise in cases in nearly two months

Published 27/08/2020, 09:41 am
© Shutterstock
AZN
-

* Australia's Victoria state reports 113 COVID-19 cases

* New Zealand says it found 7 new cases

* New Zealand says it has set aside millions for vaccine (Adds Australia COVID-19 tally, New Zealand case numbers)

By Renju Jose and Colin Packham

SYDNEY, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Australia's Victoria state - epicentre of the nation's second wave of COVID-19 infections - reported its lowest one-day rise in new cases in nearly two months, buoying hopes a lockdown of nearly 5 million people has contained spread of the virus.

Victoria said it detected 113 new cases in the past 24 hours, the lowest one-day rise since July 5. The state reported 149 infections on Wednesday.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said the results mean officials are now plotting how to ease restrictions when the stringent lockdown of Australia's second-most populous city Melbourne is scheduled to end in September.

"Hopefully soon we'll see those numbers in double digits and we can have ... a really clear discussion about what the back end of September looks like," Andrews told reporters.

Strict lockdown measures have helped ease the daily rise of coronavirus infections in Victoria after the state hit a one-day high of more than 700 cases about three weeks ago.

New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, reported nine COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, all locally acquired, and Queensland said it detected two new infections.

Australia has now recorded nearly 25,500 COVID-19 infections. The death toll has risen to 572 after the death of 23 people in Victoria.

Neighbouring New Zealand on Thursday said it has allocated extra funding of "hundreds of millions of dollars" to help secure access to a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as one is available.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declined to specify the total amount that will be spent on procuring a vaccine, citing commercially sensitive reasons.

Last week, Australia signed a deal with British drugmaker AstraZeneca AZN.L to produce and distribute enough doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine that Canberra plans to roll out cost-free to its population of 25 million. Zealand reported seven COVID-19 cases on Thursday.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.