Australia

Thirteen new cases were recorded in Victoria today, health officials said, with six of the cases related to an infections cluster at a meat processing facility in Melbourne.

"What I'm worried about is the unknown unknowns," Victoria's Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said at a televised briefing, urging more people to get tested.

"We want to make sure that if we have cases that are positive in the community we can identify those individuals... this is how we are going to defeat the virus."

The items include medical supplies, shelter, hygiene and household kits, bed nets, solar lights, birthing kits and water buckets.

Australia has already committed over 300 million vatu to the Government of Vanuatu’s Tropical Cyclone Harold response.

In addition to the provision of humanitarian supplies, Australia is also supporting other sectors such as health, education and policing.

The COVIDSafe smartphone app uses a Bluetooth wireless signal to exchange a "digital handshake" with another user when they come within 1.5m (4.9ft).

The app then logs this contact and encrypts it.

Users will be notified if they have had more than 15 minutes of close contact with another user who tests positive.

Australia has recorded 6,694 confirmed coronavirus cases and 80 deaths from the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

This is the second delivery of humanitarian relief supplies from Australia.

In addition to Australian-funded supplies, the C-17 also carried vital humanitarian supplies from the Government of the United Kingdom as well as Oxfam, Australian Red Cross, Care International, UNICEF and World Vision.

As part of $US2.5 million relief package, an Australian Air Force plane this week brought items including hygiene, shelter and kitchen kits to Port Vila.

Australia's High Commissioner to Vanuatu, Sarah de Zoeten, said the relief package will be used by the Vanuatu government to support NGO responses on the ground.

She said this could include setting up health centres.

The Vanuatu Daily Post reports Australia complied with strict Covid-19 protocols when delivering its aid.

The C-17 Globemaster delivered shelter kits, kitchen kits, blankets, solar lanterns, bed nets and hygiene kits.

Australia has complied with strict COVID-19 protocols. Australian Defence Force personnel supporting the delivery of these essential supplies adopted additional measures including wearing Personal Protective Equipment, providing medical clearances, disinfecting equipment and supplies, and practicing physical distancing at all times.

The ex-Vatican treasurer, 78, was the most senior Catholic figure ever jailed for such crimes.

In 2018, a jury found he abused two boys in Melbourne in the 1990s.

But the High Court of Australia quashed that verdict on Tuesday, bringing an immediate end to Cardinal Pell's six-year jail sentence.

The Australian cleric had maintained his innocence since he was charged by police in June 2017.

His case rocked the Catholic Church, where he had been one of the Pope's most senior advisers.

The Wallabies are set to take on Andy Farrell’s Ireland in Brisbane on July 4 and Sydney on July 11, before playing Fiji in Townsville on July 18.

Yet with the global rugby calendar facing huge uncertainty as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, those games look set to be postponed, or even cancelled.

Rugby Australia held their annual general meeting on Monday, where they revealed a $9.4 million operating deficit for the World Cup year of 2019.

That is a question that took on new relevance on Sunday after Smith's two-year leadership ban ended.

Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were suspended from cricket after a ball-tampering scandal on the 2018 tour of South Africa.

A scheme was cooked up to use sandpaper to doctor the ball, with Smith being aware of the plan but doing nothing to prevent it going ahead.

Disgraced by the incident, Smith was served with a one-year playing ban that began on March 29, 2018, with a further 12-month suspension from leading Australia in any format of the game.

However, while appointments can now go on for longer, hairdressers and barbers must still observe the "four square metre per person" rule.

Salons have been allowed to remain open, despite other businesses being closed amid the coronavirus outbreak.

But some have called for all salons and barbers to be shut during the outbreak, which has killed 13 in Australia.

Earlier this week Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a number of new restrictions, which saw play centres, libraries and museums closed from midnight on Wednesday.