Restrictions on elective surgery will be eased after this coming weekend, the Australian Government says an additional 100 million masks are on the way and Virgin Australia has gone into voluntary administration.

Overseas, President Donald Trump says he will temporarily stop immigration into the United States and China rejects calls for an independent investigation into the origins and spread of coronavirus.

This story was regularly updated throughout Tuesday. You can also stay informed with the latest episode of the Coronacast podcast.

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Tuesday's top stories

Some elective surgeries to recommence next week

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 2 minutes 5 seconds 2 m 5 s Scott Morrison announces easing of elective surgery restrictions

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says there will be a "gradual restart" of some elective surgeries after the upcoming Anzac Day long weekend.

"We estimate that this will lead to a reopening of around 25 per cent of activity in elective surgery in our private and public hospitals," he said.

The procedures that will be recommencing include:

All IVF

All IVF All screening programs where they have ceased

All screening programs where they have ceased Post-cancer reconstructions, including breast reconstruction, dental procedures like fitting dentures, braces, non-high-speed drilling, and basic fillings

Post-cancer reconstructions, including breast reconstruction, dental procedures like fitting dentures, braces, non-high-speed drilling, and basic fillings All procedures for children under the age of 18

All procedures for children under the age of 18 All joint replacements including knees, hips and shoulders

All joint replacements including knees, hips and shoulders All cataract and eye procedures

All cataract and eye procedures Endoscopy and colonoscopy

Mr Morrison says the decision taken by National Cabinet was only possible because Australia had been able to secure additional personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and because the growth of coronavirus cases had slowed.

Non-urgent procedures were cancelled last month to help the health system prepare for the expected influx of patients because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Spain's Running of the Bulls cancelled

The Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain draws about 1 million spectators every year. ( AP: Alvaro Barrientos )

Spain's San Fermin Fiesta, an eight-day festival in July in which fighting bulls run through the streets of Pamplona each morning, has been suspended for the first time in four decades due to the coronavirus crisis, the city hall said on Tuesday.

The famed event was last called off when political unrest broke out in 1978, though it also lost one day in 1997 after ETA Basque separatists killed a local politician.

"As expected as it was, it still leaves us deeply sad," acting mayor Ana Elizalde said of the suspension.

The festival, which draws hundreds of thousands of participants from Spain and across the globe, first gained international fame from Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises.

Mayor Elizalde did not know if San Fermin, which was also suspended in 1937 and 1938 during the Spanish Civil War, could be revived later this year given the unpredictable nature of the outbreak.

Virgin Australia goes into voluntary administration

Virgin Australia has already stood down 80 per cent of its direct workforce. ( AAP: Dean Lewins )

Virgin Australia has gone into voluntary administration, with at least 15,000 jobs hanging in the balance.

The troubled airline, which saw its cash flow collapse because of tough coronavirus travel restrictions, appointed accounting firm Deloitte to act as administrator after the Federal Government rejected calls to bail it out.

But Virgin Australia CEO Paul Scurrah said it was not the end for the company, and it was committed to preserving as many jobs as possible.

"We'll come back leaner, stronger and fitter, and play our role in making sure that the economy of Australia — which is currently devastated by the impact of COVID-19 — recovers as quickly as it possibly can," he said.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said it was a "difficult day" but "this is not liquidation, this is not Ansett".

He said the Federal Government remained committed to a "market-led solution".

"The Government was not going to bail out five large foreign shareholders with deep pockets who, together, own 90 per cent of this airline," he said.

Virgin Australia is saddled with around $5 billion debt. It has already stood down 80 per cent of its direct workforce and announced 1,000 redundancies in the past few weeks.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said the Federal Government should intervene, saying it was the decision to protect Australians' health that had put Virgin Australia in this situation.

"The Government says that they want a market-based solution … There is no market here today," he said.

Billionaire founder Richard Branson is also seeking a loan from the UK Government to keep his struggling Virgin Atlantic airline afloat.

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More than 500,000 JobSeeker claims processed

The Federal Government says more JobSeeker payments will be made in the coming days. ( AAP: James Gourley )

The Federal Government says 517,000 JobSeeker claims have been processed since March 16.

As of yesterday, about $4.5 billion has been paid to just under 6 million Australians on welfare who have applied for the $750 cash benefit.

New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics have revealed the devastating impact of the pandemic on employment.

In total, the number of Australian jobs decreased by 6 per cent over the three weeks since the middle of March.

That suggests 780,000 people lost their jobs by April 4, just days after the current COVID-19 business and social-distancing restrictions were introduced on March 30.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank governor Phillip Lowe says in the first half of 2020, Australia is likely to experience the "biggest contraction in national output and national income" since the Great Depression.

"National output is likely to fall by around 10 per cent … The unemployment rate is likely to be around 10 per cent by June," he said.

There is also expected to be a significant decline in inflation by the middle of the year.

Australia records another death, single-digit case rises across the country

States and territories across Australia have recorded single-digital increases in cases. ( AAP: David Mariuz )

The nation's coronavirus death toll has risen to 72 after the death of an elderly resident at an aged care facility in Sydney's west.

The 92-year-old woman was living at Newmarch House nursing home near Penrith and is the third resident from the facility to die from COVID-19 since an outbreak there.

Meanwhile, for the second day in a row, New South Wales has confirmed just six new cases of coronavirus.

Queensland, which recorded no new cases yesterday, this morning also confirmed six new cases.

"It brings our total for the week to 25, and you'll recall that there was a period there where we were consistently seeing twice that number a day," Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles said.

However, there are concerns Cairns could be a new cluster site. Five cases of COVID-19 were linked to a lab within the Cairns Hospital precinct.

Victoria confirmed seven new cases, after recording only one additional case yesterday.

In Tasmania, five more cases were confirmed, all of them relating to the outbreak in the north-west of the state. However, the state's director of public health said that outbreak was now "trailing off".

Western Australia has recorded one new case, and has a total of 96 active cases.

Canberra has recorded no new cases in the past 24 hours, with its total remaining at 104 cases.

PM says coronavirus app secure, cyber-security expert 'comfortable' with it

The app is expected to be released this week. ( AP: Claudio Furlan/Lapresse )

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the coronavirus-tracing app would be released in the not-too-distant future and had received in-principle support from the National Cabinet.

He made reassurances data on the app would be secure and only accessed by local health authorities.

"The app only collects data and puts it into an encrypted national store which can only be accessed by the states and territories," he said.

"The Commonwealth cannot access the data, no Commonwealth agency at the national level, not government services, not Centrelink, not Home Affairs Committee, not the Department of Education — nothing."

Rachael Falk, the chief executive of the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CSCRC), says she will download the app and is "comfortable" with what she's seen of it.

"This is a public health app, it's not a surveillance app," she said.

The CSCRC approached the Federal Government to stress test the app and provide an independent assessment.

The first iteration of the app is expected to be released later this week.

The Federal Government says at least 40 per cent of the population will need to download it for it to be effective.

No crowds at slams, no Nick Kyrgios

Organisers of major sporting events around the world are pondering how to keep events alive amid the coronavirus pandemic, with many contemplating holding tournaments for broadcast only. Nick Kyrgios, however, has spoken out and refused to participate in any grand slam without a crowd.

The tennis season was suspended in March and the shutdown will continue at least until mid-July, with countries closing borders and going into lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.

The French Open has been delayed until late September, and the US Open, which begins in August could be played to empty stadiums.

"100% no," Kyrgios, told fellow Australian player Thanasi Kokkinakis on an Instagram chat when asked if he would play a grand slam without fans in the stands.

Immigration into the United States to be suspended

Donald Trump has recently called for US governors to start reopening the economy. ( Reuters: Leah Millis )

US President Donald Trump has announced he will sign an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States.

"In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!" he wrote in a tweet.

The US economy has ground to a standstill due to coronavirus, with more than 22 million people applying for unemployment benefits in the last month.

Mr Trump has recently called for US governors to start reopening the country's economy.

The US has recorded more than 42,000 deaths and a total of 786,000 positive coronavirus infections, according to Johns Hopkins University data, making it the hardest-hit country.

US oil price falls below zero for first time

The pandemic has reduced the demand for oil for factories, offices and cars. ( Reuters: Jessica Lutz )

US oil has traded at negative prices for the first time in history, with demand for energy collapsing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The benchmark price for US crude plummeted to negative $US35.20 a barrel as traders sought to avoid owning crude with nowhere to store it.

The price was nearly $US60 at the start of the year, before business-shutdown orders swept the world and stopped the operation of factories, offices and cars.

Demand for oil has collapsed so much that facilities for storing crude are nearly full.

"There's no place to put it, so you've got to flush it basically," said Bob Yawger, director of futures at Mizuho Securities.

Experts say it's possible oil prices in the US and elsewhere could fall even further.

The Federal Government is considering how to take advantage of the record low oil prices to top up Australia's domestic fuel stockpiles.

Aged care restrictions don't mean no visitors

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 58 seconds 1 m 58 s Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy urges aged care facilities to allow visitors

The Federal Government has issued a stern warning to aged care providers not to impose harsher visitors rules than those recommended by health experts.

Ages care residents can have two visits a day by close relatives and support people in their room.

Chief Health Officer Brendan Murphy says the rules do not mean resident should be locked away from their families.

"It is not reasonable in a situation as we are now, where community outbreaks are not in existence, to lock poor residents away from their family," he said.

Providers should still screen visitors but are being urged to be 'proportionate' when it comes to rules around visitors.

Australia secures 60 million masks, thousands of ventilators

Australia now has 7,500 ventilators after more than 3,000 arrived this week. ( Reuters: Flavio Lo Scalzo )

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says elective surgery is able to restart because Australia has secured more personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers.

"That is an extraordinary achievement across our hospitals and across the country," he said.

"All of this means we are in a position to start the recovery."

About 60 million masks have arrived with 22 million distributed so far and another 11.5 million to be given out in the coming weeks.

An additional 100 million masks are also on the way.

Australia has also reached its goal of securing 7,500 ventilators after 3,260 arrived this week.

There has been less than a 1 per cent growth in Australian cases for nine days straight.

Expert says Australia could eliminate COVID-19 altogether

Eliminating coronavirus in Australia would require a strong testing regime. ( AAP: Bianca De Marchi )

Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says Australia can eliminate COVID-19 completely if testing is significantly ramped up to pick up asymptomatic transmissions.

"That would mean lots of testing, lots of individuals coming forward potentially trying to work out if there's asymptomatic transmission," he said.

Professor Sutton said environmental testing would also need to be done to determine if the virus was present in sewage.

"That might be able to tell us if [the virus is still present] even if we haven't detected cases," he said.

Last week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia remained in a suppression phase and was not in an eradication mode like New Zealand, although the National Cabinet agreed on Australia having a "suppression/elimination strategy".

Oktoberfest cancelled due to pandemic

Oktoberfest attracts 6 million people to Munich each year for the two-week-long event. ( Reuters: Lukas Barth )

The world's best-known beer festival — Germany's Oktoberfest — has been cancelled because of the coronavirus crisis.

Bavaria's state premier Markus Soeder says it is too risky to hold the Munich event.

"We have decided the risk is simply too great. It hurts, it's a huge shame," he said.

Oktoberfest attracts about 6 million visitors each year for the two-week-long festivities — a third of visitors come from overseas.

Some areas in Germany have started to relax lockdown measures introduced last month to but big events are banned until the end of August.

There have been 143,457 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Germany, and 4,598 people have died.

China rejects Payne's calls for independent investigation

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 17 seconds 1 m 17 s Foreign Affairs Minister calls for inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic

China has dismissed Australia's questioning of how Beijing handled the coronavirus pandemic as groundless, saying it had been open and transparent, despite growing scepticism about the accuracy of its official death toll.

On Sunday, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne called for an international investigation into the origins and spread of the virus, joining a chorus of concern over how China tackled the virus that emerged in its central city of Wuhan late last year.

Since then the virus has caused over 2.4 million infections and more than 165,000 deaths worldwide, paralysing life and business in major cities.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang dismissed Australia's calls for an independent investigation. ( MOFA )

"Australian Foreign Minister Payne's remarks are not based on facts. China is seriously concerned about and firmly opposed to this," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

"Any doubt about China's transparency is not only inconsistent with the facts, but also disrespectful of the tremendous efforts and sacrifices of the Chinese people."

Senator Payne's comments came amid rising criticism of China in recent weeks from the United States, including President Donald Trump, who said on Saturday that China should face consequences if it was "knowingly responsible" for the pandemic.

Mr Geng urged Australia to "treat this issue in an objective, scientific and scrupulous manner".

"We hope that Australia will do more things to deepen China-Australia relations, enhance mutual trust and help epidemic prevention and control in both countries, rather than dancing to the tune of a certain country to hype up the situation," he said.

On Monday, China's National Health Commission reported 12 new infections, taking the mainland's tally to 82,747, while the death toll stood unchanged at 4,632.

More than 20,000 have died in French hospitals and nursing homes

France has become the fourth country to confirm 20,000 deaths from COVID-19.

Of the 20,265 people who have died in the country, 12,513 died in hospitals and 7,752 in nursing homes. The country has not been counting people who die with the virus at home.

The head of the national health agency, Jerome Salomon, said the epidemic in France had reached a high "plateau" that was trending slowly downward.

Three other countries have recorded more than 20,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data: the United States (41,575), Italy (24,114) and Spain (20,862).

NSW students to return to school from May 11

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 5 minutes 35 seconds 5 m NSW Premier announces plan for school to return from May 11

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced that students will begin returning to school from May 11.

The return will be gradual, with students initially going to school for just one day a week, before that becomes two days.

"We hope by the end of term two we'll be in a position to have students going back to school in a full-time capacity by term three," Ms Berejiklian said.

She said there would be extra cleaning and that schools would be able to conduct temperature checks if required.

Gyms to reopen and dine-in services to return in Georgia

Brian Kemp's announcement followed calls from Donald Trump for restrictions to be lifted. ( Reuters: Leah Millis, file photo )

Georgia's Governor Brian Kemp has announced plans to restart the US state's economy before the end of the week.

The timetable would allow gyms, hair salons, bowling alleys and tattoo parlours to reopen as long as owners followed strict social-distancing and hygiene requirements.

By Monday, movie theatres could resume selling tickets, and restaurants limited to takeaway orders could return to limited dine-in services. Bars, nightclubs and live performance venues would remain closed.

"I think this is the right approach at the right time," Mr Kemp said.

Georgia's death toll from COVID-19 rose above 700 as new numbers were reported Monday (local time). Infections have been confirmed in nearly 19,000 people.

Mr Kemp's announcement followed calls from President Donald Trump and demonstrators to lift restrictions.

The Governor in neighbouring Tennessee has also plans to let businesses in most of his state to begin reopening as soon as next week.

The US is now the country hit hardest by the pandemic, with more than 780,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections and more than 41,000 deaths.

WHO says the worst is yet to come

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned the worst is yet to come in the coronavirus pandemic. ( Reuters: Denis Balibouse )

The head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned the coronavirus pandemic could worsen, while also rejecting any suggestions that his organisation has hidden any information from any of its member states.

"There is no secret in WHO because keeping things confidential or secret is dangerous. It's a health issue," he said.

Dr Tedros didn't specify why he believed the outbreak could get worse, but he and others have previously pointed to the likely future spread of the illness through Africa, where health systems are far less developed.

"Trust us. The worst is yet ahead of us," he said.

WHO plans to ship 180 million surgical masks to countries in April and May, and has placed orders for 30 million diagnostic tests over the next four months.

New York could remain in lockdown for months

New York could remain in lockdown for weeks or months due to the pandemic. ( AP: Frank Franklin II )

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says it could take weeks if not months for the United States' most populous city to re-open due to a lack of widespread testing, even as officials elsewhere began rolling back restrictions on daily life.

Mr de Blasio said New York needed to be conducting hundreds of thousands of tests a day and to see hospitalisations decline further before reopening the economy.

"We could get there but we can't do it without widespread testing and so far the Federal Government still can't get their handle on that," Mr de Blasio said on MSNBC's Morning Joe, adding that ending social distancing too soon could rekindle the virus.

"The Federal Government, especially, needs to get the memo that this thing ain't over and if you pretend it's over it is only going to boomerang back and make it worse."

Mr de Blasio's warning on testing echoed comments by several governors over the weekend disputing President Donald Trump's claims that the US has enough tests for COVID-19.

British Government pays wages for more than a million workers

The British Government says more than a million workers in the country are on temporary leave due to coronavirus.

UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said there had been a flood of applications for a government scheme that will pay 80 per cent of employers' wage bills until the end of June for staff suspended during the lockdown.

The British Government's budget watchdog said last week the scheme could cost 42 billion pounds ($82 billion) in just three months.

That was based on the watchdog's projection that Britain's economy will shrink by 35 per cent during the three months to June.

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'Corona island' mayor resigns in Estonia

Flowers are seen in the empty main square on Saaremaa island's main town Kuressaare, Estonia. ( Reuters: Tarmo Virki )

The mayor of an island in Estonia that's become a coronavirus hotspot has resigned for allowing a volleyball match that sparked a spread of infection.

Madis Kallas says the wrong decision was made to host matches in early March against a team from Milan — the northern Italian city where COVID-19 gained a major foothold.

Half of the residents on the island of Saaremaa are thought to be infected.

No-one is allowed to leave or enter the island, which locals have dubbed "corona island".

'We need life again': Germans flock to shops

Germans returned to the shops on Monday, craving retail therapy after a month of lockdown, but Chancellor Angela Merkel is concerned that could increase coronavirus infections again just as the number of new cases had started to slow.

Shops up to 800 square metres, as well as car and bicycle dealers and bookstores, are allowed to reopen this week under an agreement with the leaders of Germany's 16 states. Schools are set to begin reopening in two weeks.

Europe's largest economy has relied more on domestic demand in recent years as the strength of its traditional export engine has faded, and the move echoes a slow easing in neighbouring countries, equally desperate to revive business and society.

"We need life again. This whole time it was like a ghost town," said Michaela Frieser, not wearing a face mask, in Frankfurt's main shopping district.

"The sun's out, we saved enough money and now we need to go out and spend it!"

The federal and state governments have strongly recommended that Germans wear face masks when shopping and on public transport, and some states have even made that compulsory.

Idris Elba: 'The world should take a week of quarantine every year'

Idris Elba says he and his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba had their lives "turned around" after contracting coronavirus. ( AP: Jordan Strauss, file )

Even though they only had mild symptoms, Idris Elba says he and his wife had their lives "turned around" after contracting coronavirus, calling the experience "definitely scary, unsettling and nervous".

"You know, everyone's sort of feeling the way we have been feeling, but it has definitely been sort of just a complete upheaval," he said.

But the British actor feels that there are life lessons to be learned, and the pandemic serves as a reminder that "the world doesn't tick on your time".

"I think that the world should take a week of quarantine every year just to remember this time. Remember each other. I really do," he said.

The British actor and his model wife, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, were speaking as they began a push with the United Nations to lessen the impact of COVID-19 on farmers and food producers in rural areas, launching a $US40 million ($62 million) fund.

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