Vaccine can conquer virus, says Australian minister Australia’s health minister, Greg Hunt, believes there is genuine cause for hope for a vaccine to conquer the coronavirus after the AstraZeneca Oxford trials resumed. Clinical trials for the coronavirus vaccine have resumed after getting the go-ahead from UK medical authorities and following the suspension last week over a reported side-effect in a patient. The Australian federal government has a deal for 34 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine to be distributed next year if trials succeed. Hunt said the suspension was an ordinary part of a safeguards process whenever there is an adverse event and people don’t know at the time of the event whether it is related to the vaccine or not. Hunt told Sky News: For us, number one is safety, that trumps everything. There is genuine cause for hope and optimism for Australians. AstraZeneca said in a statement trials had resumed in the UK following following confirmation by the Medicines Health Regulatory Authority that it was safe to do so. On 6 September, the standard review process triggered a voluntary pause to vaccination across all global trials to allow review of safety data by independent committees, and international regulators. The UK committee has concluded its investigations and recommended to the MHRA that trials in the UK are safe to resume. There is mounting alarm in the UK about the sharp rise in cases in the past few weeks. New cases are doubling every week in England and Birmingham, the country’s second biggest city, is introducing new restrictions to head off a big rise in cases. The spike has forced ministers to warn that people breaking new “rule of six” curbs on social gatherings could face fines. In Scotland, the situation is not much better. New infections rose to a four-month high on Saturday. Authorities said 221 people had tested positive in the 24 hours to their announcement on Saturday. It was the highest daily figure since 8 May. Since the start of the pandemic, 22,435 people have been infected with Covid-19 in Scotland and 2,499 have died with the virus. Still in Victoria, here is the link to the News Corp story I mentioned a couple of posts ago about a woman being “ripped out” of her car by police at a checkpoint. It comes after the state premier, Daniel Andrews, said police checkpoints on key roads out of Melbourne could be bolstered to ensure that people are not leaving the city for regional areas ahead of the lifting of some restrictions in the country. The relaxation of rules would mean people could go out for a meal or visit a cafe. “It may go to a new level to make sure that only those who absolutely need to be travelling into country Victoria are doing that,” he said. Victoria"s roadmap out of lockdown Victoria officially begins it’s “roadmap” out of the pandemic tomorrow, with Melbourne entering the “first step” on the multi-month plan to ease restrictions, writes my colleague Matilda Boseley. A number of small changes will come into effect at midnight tonight in Australia’s second biggest city, including the curfew being pushed back from 8pm to 9pm. Exercise time will also be extended to two hours. Previously only two people were allowed outside together, this has now reverted back to either a whole household or a maximum of two people from different households. You will also technically be able to meet a person from another household outside for recreational reasons rather than just exercise. (Essentially you can sit on opposite ends of a park bench with a friend rather than just going for a walk). Single parents and those living alone can also begin to visit their nominated households from tomorrow. At the same time, regional Victoria will enter the “second step” where childcare and hairdressers will reopen, and retail can continue with density restrictions. Five people form a maximum of two households will also now be allowed to meet outside from recreational reasons. Australian diplomats have been sent to Heathrow in London to help stranded Australian citizens forced to camp at the airport until they can get a flight home. Thousands are stuck overseas because the number of people allowed to enter Australia has been capped in order to manage quarantine arrangements. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, there are now more than 25,000 Australians overseas who have registered an intention to return home, but who cannot access flights due to the government’s strict international arrival caps. Here’s the full story from my colleague Elias Visontay: Young people in England – and maybe some older ones – have not universally heeded government warnings about not going out and partying in big groups ahead of the new restrictions on gatherings. Pictures from Leicester Square in central London showed people in large groups enjoying the city’s nightlife. Those latest figures from Victoria for the past 24 hours take the state’s death toll to 723 and the national count to 810 since the start of the pandemic. The state capital, Melbourne, is still under hard lockdown but the restrictions could ease by the end of the month if cases continue to fall. Regional areas of the state are expected to ease its restrictions within days. They come after another day of protests in Melbourne on Saturday amid growing discontent with the curbs on normal life. Premier Daniel Andrews said road checkpoints may be stepped up to make sure Melburnians don’t escape to the country. On Sunday, News Corp media outlets released footage of a woman being dragged from her car by a police officer at a vehicle checkpoint about 45km north of Melbourne. The footage suggests she had refused to give her name to the officer and was subsequently forcibly removed from the car after refusing to get out herself, saying she felt unsafe. Victoria records 41 new cases and seven more deaths The worst-hit Australian state has just released its daily coronavirus numbers. Good morning/afternoon/evening wherever you are reading this latest edition of our coronavirus live coverage. French health authorities reported 10,561 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, a new daily record as the number topped 10,000 for the first time.The latest daily count highlights a resurgence of the disease in France. Victoria has recorded 41 new cases and seven deaths on Sunday. The Australian state continues to be in hard lockdown with Melbourne under nightly curfew. Oxford University says clinical trials of its vaccine are to resume in the UK. Trials of the treatment under development with the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca halted last Sunday when a participant fell ill. Daily coronavirus cases in Scotland have hit a four-month high, after a total of 221 people have tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours. Oxygen supply has grown scarce in parts of India that are particularly hard-hit by coronavirus. The Netherlands has reported 1,231 new cases of coronavirus, as well as one further death. Athens has become the centre of what senior government officials are calling a “troubling” surge in cases in Greece. In England, people have been urged not to have a “party weekend” before the government’s “rule of six” restrictions come into force on Monday. Russia reported 5,488 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing the tally to 1,057,362, the fourth largest in the world. Victoria records 41 new cases and seven deaths The worst-hit Australian state has released its latest daily figure for new cases.