People enjoy the sunshine, as Victoria state begins easing Covid-19 restrictions, at Elwood beach in Melbourne, Australia September 14, 2020.
SYDNEY: Australia’s Victoria state, at the centre of the country’s latest coronavirus outbreak, reported on Tuesday no deaths from Covid-19 in more than two months fuelling optimism of a further easing of restrictions in the state.
Australia’s second-most populous state said new cases nudged higher to 42 in the last 24 hours, compared with 35 a day earlier, but those were still far away from the one-day highs of more than 700 touched in early August.
Melbourne, the southeastern state’s capital, is on an extended hard lockdown until September 28. But with the steady fall in cases, some restrictions were relaxed from Monday that allowed people to leave their homes for longer periods for exercise and authorities shortened a night curfew.
Victoria, home to one-quarter of Australia’s 25 million population, now accounts for about 75 per cent of the country’s more than 26,700 coronavirus cases and 90 per cent of its 816 deaths.
Queensland state reported one new case on Tuesday, a returned traveller from overseas and in quarantine.
New South Wales state, Australia’s most populous, will report its case numbers later in the day. The virus has been effectively eliminated in all other states and territories.
