Australia’s top nurse is putting the Northern Territory’s Howard Springs quarantine facility’s capacity under the microscope, as the nation’s coronavirus vaccine rollout gets underway. Freshly vaccinated chief nursing officer Alison McMillan is travelling to the Top End to see whether more people can quarantine at the hub. “She is looking at the maximum safe capacity for expansion of Howard Springs,” Health …

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh have been vaccinated against the coronavirus as UK hospitalisations reached a record high and infections passed three million. Doctors have warned that pressure on the health system could get worse in coming weeks amid criticism that the current lockdown measures are not strict enough. As the nation’s horror death toll passed 80,000, medics warned …

The UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK — following the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The British Government has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, enough to vaccinate 50 million people. Other countries will be watching …

The final report from the inquiry into Victoria’s botched hotel quarantine program has been unable to determine who commissioned the use of private security and has slammed the Andrews Government for failing to do “proper analysis” of the plan. The COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry report, which was tabled to Parliament on Monday, found Victoria’s second wave was triggered by transmission of the …

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced the easing of social-distancing restrictions on outdoor dining and events on the same day the state recorded seven new locally acquired coronavirus infections. Ms Berejiklian said businesses using an electronic QR code to maintain customer records will be allowed one patron for every 2 square metres in outdoor areas from Friday. “While we are …