Victoria records 288 new coronavirus cases.
Victoria has recorded 288 new coronavirus cases, the nation's biggest daily increase since the pandemic began.
Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the new cases on Friday, with just 26 linked to known infections, while 262 remain under investigation.
The new cases push the state's active case tally past 1000 for the first time.
Previously, the highest daily state total in Australia was 212 cases recorded in NSW on March 27.
Mr Andrews said the state's number of cases was "always going to get worse before it gets better".
"I know there will be great concern about these numbers. People will feel deeply concerned to see that number as high as it is," he said.
He said he was comforted by the record number of tests conducted in the state, including a record 37,588 tests on Thursday.
Victoria's Chief Health Officer has requested people in locked-down metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire wear masks when they are out of their home and can't social distance.
Two million reusable masks and one million single-use masks will be distributed by the government.
Hard lockdown remains for one Victorian housing tower.
480 residents in one public housing tower in Melbourne will be stuck inside for another nine days, amid fears a quarter of them could have coronavirus.
People living at 33 Alfred Street in North Melbourne will have to quarantine for 14 days, after at least 53 people in their building tested positive.
The tower has about a third of the 158 positive cases across the nine towers put into hard lockdown on Saturday.
There were no cases of coronavirus at the Pampas Street and Melrose Street towers, while six other towers had low numbers.
Those in the towers with none to few cases will join the rest of Melbourne in stay-at-home restrictions for six weeks.
Victoria as a whole recorded 165 new cases yesterday, with only 30 linked to known outbreaks. 13 cases were detected in NSW, three were found in WA, and one was recorded in the ACT.
The current COVID-19 figures.
Demand for mental health services surges as Victoria's lockdown starts.
Victorians made up almost half of all calls from across the country to Beyond Blue's support services in the past week, data reveals.
There was a 66 per cent increase in calls to Beyond Blue's support services in April, a 60 per cent uptick in May and a 47 per cent rise in June, the organisation reports.
Rivera played Santana Lopez on the Glee for six years from 2009, and appeared in nearly every episode of the musical-comedy-drama. She was also on the CBS sitcom The Royal Family and in the comedy film The Master of Disguise.
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US court rules Trump finances untouchable (for now).
The Supreme Court says it will keep hold of US President Donald Trump's financial records, of which Congress has been seeking for more than a year.
The ruling returns the case to lower courts, with no clear prospect for when it might ultimately be resolved.
The 7-2 outcome is at least a short-term victory for Trump, who has strenuously sought to keep his financial records private.
The decision came after the court upheld a prosecutor's demand for Trump's tax returns as part of a criminal investigation that includes hush-money payments to women who claim they had affairs with Trump.
The court rejected arguments by Trump's lawyers and the Justice Department that the president is immune from investigation while he holds office or that a prosecutor must show a greater need than normal to obtain the records.
Trump's two high court appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, joined the majority.
Around the world.
- The mayor of South Korean capital Seoul, Park Won-soon, has been found dead in nearby bushland after being reported missing by his family.
- Flooding and landslides in the scenic hot spring and hiking areas of central Japan has trapped up to 300 people, with 60 killed in rain-related disasters across the country in recent weeks.
- The World Health Organisation is setting up an independent review into its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the response by governments.
- A new study by the World Meteorological Organisation says the average global temperature will probably exceed pre-industrial levels by 1.5C in at least one of the next five years.
- With AAP
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