Sunday, 8.30am
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A passenger on another Australian Open charter flight had returned a positive COVID-19 result.
COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria on Saturday night confirmed a case of the virus in a passenger on a charter flight arriving in Melbourne at 8.20am on Friday from Abu Dhabi.
The passenger's pre-departure COVID-19 test was negative.
The infected passenger has been transferred to a health hotel. All of the other 63 passengers on the flight were deemed close contacts.
None of the passengers who have tested positive to the virus are Australian Open players.
The total number of close contacts linked with both the chartered flights is 129. Australian Open players and support people on those flights will be unable to access training while in quarantine.
2.45pm
Victorian permit and COVID-19 case update
Downgrading Victoria's 'red zones' in Queensland to 'orange zones' is expected to remove the need for 5000 travel exemption requests.
From 6pm today, people who have been in Greater Brisbane in the past 14 days will no longer require exemption applications.
The local government areas marked as 'red zones' in that state will become 'orange zones', and people travelling from those areas will be eligible to apply for permits to return to Victoria.
"Anyone applying for an Orange Zone Permit will need to agree to the conditions including the requirement to self-quarantine, get tested within 72 hours of arrival and remain in self-quarantine until they receive a negative result," a statement from Victorian Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said.
"They must also attest that they are not a diagnosed person or a close contact of another diagnosed person, are not experiencing coronavirus symptoms, and confirm they have not been in a currently listed red zone in the past 14 days."
The government had received an average of 13.5 applications for permits or exemptions per minute for the past 24-hours. That amounts to more than 19,460 applications.
There have been 145,761 permit and exemption applications since Monday, when Victoria's new traffic light system went live.
The Chief Health Officer's statement provides further information about the three new internationally-acquired COVID-19 infections Victoria today recorded.
The cases are in a man in his 50s, a woman in her 30s, and a woman in her 20s.
Professor Sutton's statement said a case in a passenger on a chartered flight containing Australian Open players and support people would be counted in figures released on Sunday, as their result came in after midnight.
A crew member on the flight also tested positive.
All 66 passengers on the flight have been deemed close contacts of the infected persons.
"The remaining flight crew all tested negative and were permitted to fly out without passengers directly to their home port. They left at 7am today," the statement said.
2.15pm
Flights for returning Australian travellers
The federal government will schedule 20 more flights to bring Australians stranded overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic home.
"This is in addition to 90 facilitated flights the government has operated already through the course of helping to bring Australians home," acting foreign affairs minister Simon Birmingham said.
The additional flights will be scheduled in priority areas.
"Of crucial importance, these facilitated flights will bring Australians home over and above the caps that have been agreed by national cabinet... so will create additional places for Australians to get home... by transporting people into Howard Springs in the Northern Territory, Canberra or Tasmania locations that are willing to work above those caps on a case-by-case basis," Mr Birmingham said.
It comes after Emirates announced it would be suspending flights to Australia's eastern seaboard.
"These are commercial decisions taken by commercial airlines," Mr Birmingham said.
"The capacity Emirates had within the cap to bring Australians home will now be allocated to other airlines so there's no loss of capacity into Australia."
A total of 446,000 Australians have returned home from overseas since March.
2pm
Passenger, crew member on chartered Australian Open flight test positive to COVID-19
COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria has confirmed two positive COVID-19 cases linked with the Australian Open.
An event participant, who is not a player, and an aircrew member on a charter flight carrying Australian Open participants and other attendees have returned positive tests.
The flight, from Los Angeles, landed at 5am on Friday.
A COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria spokesperson said the passenger's pre-departure test was negative.
Both the positive cases have been interviewed and all 66 passengers on the flight have been deemed close contacts.
The spokesperson said any players and support people would not be able to leave quarantine to attend training.
"Players are being supported to access equipment for their hotel rooms to help them maintain their fitness during this time," the spokesperson said in a statement.
The statement said the mandatory quarantine program treated all international arrivals as though they had the potential to be carrying the virus, regardless of if they had tested negative.
"We have had multiple cases of airline crew testing positive on passenger flights to Melbourne," the spokesperson said.
"We have taken the same approach to passengers and crew on this tennis charter flight."
11.15am
Community transmission case recorded in New South Wales
A two-day streak without COVID-19 community transmission in New South Wales has ended, with a new locally-acquired case recorded on Saturday.
There were also 11 new internationally-acquired cases of the virus in that state.
The new community-acquired infection is in a man in Western Sydney, and is believed to be linked to the Berala BWS cluster.
10.20am
Victoria relaxes Queensland travel restrictions
Premier Daniel Andrews says there is sufficient stability in Queensland's cases to relax restrictions on Victorians returning from parts of that state.
Victoria's designated Queensland 'red zones' will be downgraded to 'orange zones' from 6pm today.
They include the local government areas of Greater Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Redland, Logan, and Ipswich.
People in those areas will be able to apply for an orange zone permit to enter Victoria from 6pm.
Travellers will need to get tested within 72 hours of returning to Victoria and isolate pending a negative COVID-19 result.
Mr Andrews hoped Victoria would be able to shrink its red zones in New South Wales in the coming days, enabling travellers in newly orange zoned areas to apply for permits.
"We know this has been a difficult time for Victorians whose lives have disrupted by border closures, but we have to follow the health advice and keep each other safe from this deadly disease," the Victorian premier said.
"We're monitoring the situation every single day and we will not keep zones red for a moment longer then needed.
"We'll continue to review Greater Sydney and will hopefully have more to say soon."
10am
No new community transmission cases in Queensland
Queensland has reported one new case of COVID-19 in a child in hotel quarantine.
There are no new locally-acquired cases in that state.
Earlier
Victoria's streak of days without community transmission continues
Victoria has recorded a 10th consecutive day without new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19, with almost 15,000 test results received.
There are three new internationally-acquired infections.
There are 26 known active cases of the virus in the state.
More news:
Emirates is suspending flights to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, citing "operational reasons".
Its last flights to all three Australian cities will depart between Saturday and Tuesday.
It comes as tennis players travel to Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open.
- with AAP
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