CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS
* The national death toll is 97 – NSW 46, Victoria 18, Tasmania 13, WA nine, Queensland 6 (includes 2 Qld residents who died in NSW and are included in both the Qld and NSW counts), SA four, ACT three.
* 11 of 17 new coronavirus cases in Victoria are connected to a cluster at a meatworks facility in Melbourne’s west, bringing the total number of cases at that facility to 45.
* 6849 cases have been recorded in Australia but only around 960 remain active, with 25 new cases and 27 in intensive care.
* Deaths at Newmarch House, the western Sydney aged care home, have hit 16.
* More than 660,000 people have been tested in Australia, out of a population of 25.7 million.
* More than five million of an estimated 16 million people have registered for the federal government’s coronavirus tracing app, COVIDSafe, since April 26.
* National cabinet will on Friday decide whether to relax some anti-coronavirus measures across the country.
* Reopening of Australia’s international borders is still a long way off, Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge has said.
* Businesses which ban people from entry unless they have downloaded the government’s coronavirus contact tracing app may face up to five years in jail and a $ 63,000 fine under proposed new federal laws.
* Victorians will get $ 490 million in tax relief split between payroll tax relief and forgone premiums under WorkCover.
* Australia has pledged $ 352 million to a European Union fundraiser to develop a coronavirus vaccine.
* In NSW, households are now allowed two adult visitors and their children. Most beaches are open for exercise, swimming and surfing only. Property inspection restrictions will be lifted from next weekend.
* In WA, up to 10 people can gather for non-contact recreational activities while open homes and display villages are also permitted.
* In Queensland, people can now travel 50km from their residence to visit parks, have picnics and jet ski. Shopping for non-essential items is also permitted while cafes and restaurants will open in June at the earliest.
* The Northern Territory has relaxed restrictions on parks, golf, fishing and swimming. Restaurants and bars are to reopen with a two-hour limit on May 15 followed later by bans on entertainment venues.
* Restrictions on funeral attendance and travel to regional areas will be the first major restrictions to be lifted in South Australia, which has reopened playgrounds and skate parks after 13 days of no new cases.
* Tasmania will ease restrictions on aged care home visits next week and announce its road map towards releasing other social clamps on Friday.
* Victoria has no plans to lift restrictions until May 11 at the earliest.
* Queensland kindergarten, prep, grade 1 and year 11 and 12 students will return to classrooms full time from May 11 with schools expected to be fully operational by May 25.
* NSW students will start attending school in stages starting from May 11.
* Western Australia hopes all students will return to classes by May 11.
* Still open: supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, public transport, some schools, hairdressers, petrol stations, postal and freight services, bottle shops, newsagents, retail shops. Restaurants restricted to takeaway and delivery in most states.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
* The CSIRO is testing two coronavirus vaccines from the US and the UK.
* Qantas has extended the suspension of domestic and trans-Tasman flights to the end of June, and international flights until the end of July.
* A WA trial housing 20 homeless people at a Perth hotel since the end of March, to protect them from COVID-19, has been scrapped due to mixed results.
* Three South Sydney NRL players sent for COVID-19 tests have returned negative results.
* NRL clubs will resume group training on Wednesday after officially agreeing to an 80 per cent pay cut for the rest of the season.
* A-League soccer clubs are preparing for competition to re-start in August, despite no official word from Football Federation Australia.
* If COVID-19 cases continue to decline, the AFL season could resume end of June and without quarantine hubs, federal sports minister Richard Colbeck said.
* $ 4 billion a week is being shed from the economy under current restrictions.
* Treasury has estimated the economy will take a $ 50 billion hit in the June quarter
* Wages have dropped 8.2 per cent
* Job advertisements suffered their largest ever fall in April – at 53 per cent – with 27 per cent of arts and recreation jobs lost and one in three accommodation and food sector jobs gone.
GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS
* Cases: at least 3,646,871
* Deaths: at least 252,442
* Recovered: at least 1,200,640
*Data current as at 1730 AEST May 5, taking in federal government and state/territory government updates.
Australian Associated Press