COVID-19

Manning made this statement following queries from the public whether there were liquor restrictions in place.

“To assist with government response to COVID-19 during the State of Emergency certain restrictions were placed on the sale of liquor. However, when the SOE ended we reverted back to the normal situation. Let me make it clear that I have not issued any control measures on the sale of liquor under the National Pandemic Act 2020.

The move came a day after the state announced it would reimpose restrictions capping visitors to households to five people and outdoor gatherings to 10, starting Monday. The limits had been relaxed on 1 June to allow up to 20 people in households and public gatherings.

Victoria reported 19 new infections on Sunday, the fifth day of double digit-rises. The state has now had 1836 total confirmed cases, or a quarter of the cases in Australia, since the Covid-19 pandemic erupted.

Two sisters who arrived from the UK on Sunday 7 June were granted a compassionate exemption to leave managed isolation in Auckland to visit their dying parent in Wellington.

Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said the pair had applied for an exemption on Friday 12 June to travel on a private vehicle to the capital and it was approved the following day. The sisters drove down on the 13 June, and that night the parent died.

Mr Trump had boasted earlier this week that almost a million people had requested tickets for the event at Tulsa's Bank of Oklahoma Center.

But the 19,000-seat arena was far from full and plans for him to address an outside "overflow" area were abandoned.

There had been concerns about holding the rally during the pandemic.

Those attending the rally had to sign a waiver protecting the Trump campaign from responsibility for any illness. Hours before the event began, officials said six staff members involved in organising the rally had tested positive.

Of those cases 180 are classified as civilians, and 42 are military service members, including the 22 confirmed by the Department of Defense on Saturday.

The government says there are 44 active cases in Guam while 173 people have been released from isolation and there have been five deaths over the course of the outbreak.

The 22 latest positive results were identified through contact tracing among service members in a unit deployed to the Andersen Air Force Base after an initial spate of cases this week. There are now 35 infected people associated with the base.

The figure, however, is believed to be higher because of insufficient testing. Only the US has had more infections.

Brazil's health ministry has confirmed 1,032,913 cases but experts say the outbreak is weeks away from its peak.

Poor communities and indigenous people have been particularly badly hit by the pandemic.

IOC President Thomas Bach met his counterpart at FIFA Gianni Infantino in person at the Olympic Museum, which reopened on Tuesday June 9, after a closure forced by the outbreak of COVID-19.

During their meeting, Presidents Bach and Infantino discussed the importance of sport during the coronavirus pandemic, and how the global situation would force sport to adapt in the short and longer term.

Infantino was elected as a member of the IOC during its 135th Session in January.

But it's also further highlighted the difficult bind they find themselves in - risk the devastation of the coronavirus or prolong their economic suffering.

Fletcher Melvin, the head of the Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce and the Private Sector Taskforce, has been pushing hard for a travel bubble.

When Aotearoa declared zero cases a week ago, he was ecstatic, and so was the government - 87 percent of the country's economy relies on tourism, three quarters of those visitors from New Zealand.

Agreed? Agreed.

Well, fear not, because around the world some of the big-hitters are starting to re-commence production - which was of course halted by Covid-19 - in a variety of socially-distanced ways.

Here are just six of the films to keep your fingers crossed for then in 2021, when the cinemas are hopefully back in business.

Avatar 2

The long-awaited sequel to James Cameron's 2009 sci-fi blockbuster was able to re-start filming in New Zealand this week, because the country is almost coronavirus free.

The appointment was made by Governor General, Sir Bob Dadae.

This follows advice from the National Executive Council (NEC), and by virtue of the powers conferred in Section 41 (1) of the National Pandemic Act 2020, the Governor General declared the existence of a COVID-19 pandemic throughout PNG with effect from 17 June until further notice.

Following his appointment Manning issued seven National Pandemic Measures as part of the Government's COVID-19 response.

They are: