Coronavirus live news: Western Australia opens border, Trump says vaccine soon for vulnerable | World news

That’s all from me. Handing over now to my colleague Nino Bucci who’ll guide you through the next few hours of our live coronavirus coverage.

Stay safe. Wash your hands and don’t touch your face.

More than 300 people drove across the border into Western Australia on the first morning after the state’s hard border closure was lifted.

About 1,300 people were also expected to arrive at Perth airport on Saturday on 11 flights after the seven-month border lockout was lifted at midnight on Friday.

AAP reports that by mid-morning, 205 people had crossed into WA from South Australia at Eucla and 97 had travelled through Kununurra from the Northern Territory.

People from NSW and Victoria will have to self-quarantine for 14 days and have a coronavirus test on day 11.

But AAP reported all travellers will be asked to complete an online declaration and will be screened, including a temperature check, when they arrive.

So far about 3,000 people have applied online to return to WA since the system went live late on Friday night.

The police assistant commissioner, Paul Steel, said the processes were needed to keep Covid-19 at bay.

Don’t expect that you can just get off an aircraft and walk through. This is the new Covid normal. This is what we are doing to keep our community safe.

We make no apologies for that because the state expects that their authorities will be doing what they can to keep Covid out.

We’ll be as efficient and effective as we can.

WA has been closed to the rest of the nation for seven months, including to West Australians who were denied entry for compassionate reasons.

The quarantine rules for NSW and Victoria will only be removed once they go at least 28 days with no community spread, as all other jurisdictions have achieved.

Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases has reported 22,461 new cases on Saturday morning, with 178 more deaths.

Reuters reports the tally puts Germany’s number of confirmed cases at 775,556 with 12,378 deaths.

Saturday’s daily increase is slightly lower than the record 23,542 cases reported on Friday – the highest number of cases reported in the European country since the start of the pandemic.

The country is in a partial lockdown that could be extended, with Christmas markets, traditional parades and carnival season all cancelled, while more than 300,000 school pupils are in quarantine along with about 30,000 teachers.

The prime minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, has been taking part in a virtual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) from the cabinet room in Canberra.

Morrison said on Friday he would be discussing Australia’s role in the regional recovery from Covid-19 at the summit, and at a virtual East Asia Summit also taking place today.

Queensland has reported two new cases of coronavirus – both detected in people currently in hotel quarantine.

The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said both infections were acquired overseas.

The New York attorney general, Letitia James, has said she will sue if US president Donald Trump carries through with a veiled threat to withhold distribution of any coronavirus vaccines from the state.

You can read more on this at the Guardian’s just closed US politics live blog:

In Sydney, two police officers were hurt and three people were arrested after officers broke up a party in a unit earlier this morning that broke the state’s coronavirus rules.

Daily infections of Covid-19 in South Korea are starting to creep higher and have gone above 200 for the first time since September, Reuters is reporting.

The country also introduced fines for people not wearing masks in public places on Friday as it reported 205 new cases, with 166 of those being caught domestically.

People caught without masks in public venues, including nightclubs, malls, theme parks and hair salons, face fines of up to 100,000 won (US$90, A$124), while the operators of those places could pay up to 3 million won in fines.

Mexico and China have both just reported their latest case numbers of the coronavirus.

Reuters reports that Mexico’s health ministry confirmed that Friday saw 568 coronavirus deaths, bringing the country’s total to 97,624.

There were 5,558 new cases, pushing the official total to 997,393 cases. Health officials there have said previously the actual numbers are likely much higher.

AP has reported that Mexico City will order bars closed for two weeks after the number of people hospitalised for coronavirus rose to levels not seen since August.

Mainland China reported 18 new cases for 13 November, up from eight cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority reported on Saturday. All new cases had originated overseas.

The total of confirmed cases in mainland China stands at 86,325, and the death toll is unchanged at 4,634.

Victoria has reported its 15th consecutive day with no new cases of coronavirus and no deaths.

But it is always worth remembering just how bad things were in Victoria not too long ago.

On 4 August the state recorded 687 new cases and three days later there were 6,767 active infections. A month ago, on 14 October, there were 123 active cases in the state.

Now there are three active cases.

AAP reports comments made earlier today by the state’s health minister, Martin Foley, who said said the health department had removed 515 cases from its tally of mystery cases after establishing links to known infections. He said:

As case numbers have come down over the past few weeks, the DHHS … has created and tested an algorithm that has identified some additional 515 historical cases that are connected to close contacts, or established outbreak.

The deputy chief health officer, Allen Cheng, said the reclassified cases are mainly from July and August. He said:

It’s important to correct the record so that we can analyse the data correctly, and make sure we have learnings for next time.

Cheng said the state’s run of zero cases was “about as good as it can get”.

Victoria’s death toll from the virus stands at 819, with the national figure at 907.

A little more on the update from NSW, where no new cases have been recorded in the past 24 hours but four new cases have been recorded in people in hotel quarantine.

Health authorities in the state test sewage outflows for virus traces, and tests from Wednesday turned out positive for the Rouse Hill area that is a catchment for 120,000 people.

So anyone living in the areas listed here and showing any symptoms at all are being asked by NSW Health to get tested.

Quakers Hill, Castle Hill, Annangrove, Kellyville, Box Hill, Kenthurst, Glenhaven, The Ponds, Rouse Hill, North Kellyville, Kellyville Ridge, Beaumont Hills, Stanhope Gardens, Baulkham Hills, Glenwood, Bella Vista, Parklea, Acacia Gardens and Norwest.

Australia’s ABC has reporters talking to people who are crossing the Western Australia border that opened at midnight on Friday after being shut for seven months.

There are two main road checkpoints where people are moving through to work, see friends and be reunited with family.

The Victoria Highway takes people from the Northern Territory to WA in the north, and the Eyre Highway crosses the South Australia border in the south.

In the north, a police officer a few minutes ago told the ABC that 46 people had crossed since midnight.

In the south, about 35 people were waiting at the border for the restrictions to lift at midnight, the ABC reported.

One driver at the South Australia checkpoint said he was heading to meet his new grandson, who he had never met because of the border closure.

Any arrivals into WA from people who have been in NSW or Victoria will have to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Good morning, afternoon or evening. Graham Readfearn here in Australia taking you through the next several hours of live coverage of the global coronavirus pandemic.

It has been a grim 24 hours globally, with more than 666,000 cases recorded in one day.

That stands in sharp relief when writing here from Australia where restrictions are being lifted and community transmission appears under control. All seven new cases reported on Friday were overseas arrivals.

Here’s a summary of where things are at:

• According to Johns Hopkins University, the world had its worst day of the pandemic with 11,617 more people dead and more than 666,000 new cases recorded in 24 hours.
• Western Australia opened its border at midnight, with cars streaming in. Arrivals from New South Wales and Victoria will need to self-quarantine for 14 days, but people from other states can enter freely.
• Some 455 people who arrived on flights from New Zealand since 5 November are being contacted by health authorities in NSW after concerns of a mystery case in Auckland.
• Victoria on Saturday recorded its 15th consecutive day with no new cases or deaths. NSW also recorded no local cases on Saturday.
• Donald Trump gave his first press conference since losing the US election, saying his administration would not order a lockdown despite rising infection rates and more than 100,000 new cases being recorded daily for the past seven days. The pandemic has killed more than 240,000 people in the US.
• Trump said a vaccine would ship in a few weeks to vulnerable people. Governors in Oregon and New Mexico ordered partial lockdowns.
• Liverpool FC’s talisman striker Mohamed Salah has tested positive for coronavirus.

Stay with us and stay safe.