National News

Elderly people who have suspended in-home services during the coronavirus crisis will soon receive welfare checks over the phone.

Halfway into New Zealand's four-week lockdown and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is cautiously optimistic her country has turned the corner in the fight against COVID-19.

Just hours after Australia's highest court threw out the sex abuse conviction of the Vatican's former treasurer, Pope Francis offered his morning Mass for all those who suffer from unjust sentences, which he compared to the persecution of Jesus.

Panic buying is causing a shortage of grocery supplies in remote indigenous communities, forcing many vulnerable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to travel long distances to shop, exposing them to the spread of COVID-19.

British prime minister Boris Johnson was stable overnight in intensive care after suffering a deterioration of his COVID-19 symptoms and he remains in good spirits.

LATEST NEWS ABOUT COVID-19:--NUMBERS* Confirmed cases in Australia: 5,895* Australian deaths: 48 (21 in NSW, 11 in Vic, four in Qld, six in WA, three in Tas, two in ACT, one in SA).

Cardinal George Pell has won his appeal bid to the High Court and been freed from prison.

All cruise ships anchored in Queensland waters will leave by Wednesday as the state continues to crack down on movements to limit the spread of COVID-19.

In Vanuatu, homes have been destroyed and livelihoods ruined by Tropical Cyclone Harold, which passed through the country's northern islands as a category-five system bringing devastation.

Another elderly Tasmanian passenger from the ill-fated Ruby Princess has died, with all three of the state's coronavirus deaths tied to the cruise ship.