MELBOURNE, Australia -- The premier of Australia’s Victoria state says more than 2,700 active cases have no known source and remain the primary concern of health authorities.
Victoria on Sunday saw a welcome drop in its new COVID-19 cases with 394 but a record 17 deaths, including two people in their 50s. It took the hard-hit state’s toll to 210 and the Australian total of deaths to 295.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said confirmed cases also include almost 1,000 health care workers.
The city of Melbourne has been under tough restrictions since a week ago, including an overnight curfew and mandatory wearing of masks, but won’t see the results of their efforts for another one to two weeks.
Almost 270 Victorian residents have been fined over the past 24 hours for breaching the restrictions, including a man helping a friend to move a television 27 kilometers (17 miles) across the city.
Victoria Police issued 268 fines to individuals in the past 24 hours, including 77 for curfew breaches and 38 for failing to wear a mask when leaving home.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— Trump allows some unemployment pay, defers payroll tax
— Brazil makes grim milestone -- 100,000 deaths from COVID-19
— New Zealand marks 100 days of virus elimination
— The glamorous French Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez is now requiring face masks outdoors. The move, which began Saturday, threatens to sober the mood in a place renowned for high-end, free-wheeling summer beach parties.
— One Spanish town as turned to deploying special police units whose job it is to enforce health regulations meant to check a surge in the coronavirus.
— Six thousand U.S. parents and kids are doing DIY nasal swabs twice a week to answer some of the most vexing mysteries about the coronavirus. They’re enrolled in an experiment investigating how many children are infected, how many have symptoms and how likely they are to spread it.
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Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil has surpassed a grim milestone — 100,000 deaths from COVID-19. And five months after the first reported case, the country is showing no signs of crushing the disease.
The nation of 210 million people has been reporting an average of more than 1,000 daily deaths from the pandemic since late May, and 905 were recorded in the latest 24-hour period to put Brazil above 100,000. The Health Ministry also said there have been been a total of 3,012,412 confirmed infections.
The totals are second only to the United States. And experts believe both numbers are severe undercounts due to insufficient testing.
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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky is reporting an increase of 801 cases of COVID-19, including 29 cases in children age 5 or younger.
In a news release, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said the state had a total of 34,578 cases of the illness caused by the new coronavirus and 772 deaths, including an incease of eight fatalities reported Saturday. Beshear says Saturday was a tough day the state’s fight against COVID-19.
Deaths reported Saturday include residents of Fulton, Kenton, Bell, Christian County, Pulaski County, Clinton and Muhlenberg counties.
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BEDMINSTER, N.J. — President Donald Trump has signed executive orders bypassing Congress to defer payroll taxes for some Americans and extend unemployment benefits after negotiations on a new coronavirus rescue package collapsed.
Trump accused Democrats of loading up their rescue bill with priorities unrelated to the coronavirus. “We’ve had it,” he said Saturday at a news conference at his country club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Trump said the payroll tax cut would apply to those earning less than $100,000 a year. He said that if he is reelected in November, he would look at the possibility of making the payroll tax permanent.
Extra aid for the unemployed will total $400 a week, a cut from the $600 that just expired.
Trump also signed executive orders holding off student loan payments and extending the freeze on evictions.
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JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s number of confirmed coronavirus deaths has surpassed 10,000.
The health ministry says the country with the world’s fifth-largest caseload now has 553,188 cases and 10,210 deaths.
South Africa makes up more than half the infections on the African continent, where the total number of cases this past week surpassed 1 million. Experts say the actual number of cases is several times that amount, given the shortage of testing materials and people can have the virus without symptoms.
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PHOENIX — Arizona health officials on Saturday reported 1,054 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 56 more deaths.
The figures from the Department of Health Services increased the state’s total confirmed COVID-19 cases to nearly 186,000 and the reported death toll to 4,137. The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected without feeling sick.
The hospitalizations for coronavirus and use of intensive care beds and ventilators have been declining since mid-July.
