Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said internal border closures were unlikely to lift before Christmas, as the country reported a record single-day rise in Covid-19 deaths.
There was, however, some evidence that drastic lockdown measures in the city of Melbourne were having an effect, with daily new infections in the state of Victoria slowing to a near two week low. "I am more hopeful of that today than I was in the course of the past week," Mr Morrison told reporters in Canberra, as he called on state leaders to cooperate to allow stranded residents to return home.
Australia's federal political system has led to its eight states and territories taking different measures in response to the crisis, resulting in several internal border