COVID-19

Melbourne lockdown: why it’s time to consider moving infected people outside the home

OSTN Staff

Melbourne’s lockdown came too late. It’s now time to consider measures aimed at stemming the spread among families. Powered by ...

Police to enforce city lockdown with checkpoints

OSTN Staff

Police will enforce Melbourne’s citywide coronavirus lockdown with checkpoints on the “hard border” between metropolitan and regional areas. Powered by ...

Calls to defer Victorian council elections

OSTN Staff

Melbourne’s locked-down councils are urging the State Government to defer this year’s local government elections, saying it would be “impossible” ...

How to extend your home loan holiday

OSTN Staff

Mortgage customers who have deferred their loans and are now able to make repayments again must do so, the banks ...

700 Victorian travellers turned away

OSTN Staff

More than 700 travellers from Victoria have been refused entry into Queensland since tough new border restrictions were enforced on ...

‘I can’t breathe’: Tense scenes erupt at lockdown tower

OSTN Staff

Tense scenes between civilians and police have erupted outside one of the Flemington towers overnight. Powered by WPeMatico

‘Mammoth task’: Australian Defence Force to help NSW patrol Victoria border

OSTN Staff

The Australian Defence Force will assist in what Gladys Berejiklian describes as a “mammoth task” to patrol the NSW-Victoria border ...

Drones fly in the night sky to show pictures of gratitude over Seoul

OSTN Staff

Drones showing messages of gratitude and support for South Korea’s efforts to combat COVID-19 have brightened up the Han River ...

Louvre museum re-opens without the crowds

OSTN Staff

Visitors queued outside the Louvre museum in Paris for the first time in nearly four months as the museum re-opened ...

Shutdowns as US virus deaths top 130,000

OSTN Staff

Coronavirus cases in the US are approaching three million, the highest in the world and double the tally of infections ...

Virus revives Italy’s age-old shadow safety net: the pawnshop

OSTN Staff

Italians have put up valuables as collateral for loans for centuries, through plagues and sieges. Today they do it as ...

Hotel quarantine security guard reveals cash payment farce

OSTN Staff

Security guards employed at Crown Promenade Hotel while it housed quarantined travellershave alleged they were paid $22 an hour without ...

How NSW dropped barricades on Victoria once before

OSTN Staff

The Victorian and NSW border has been snapped shut once before — when Spanish flu hit more than 100 years ...

Why statewide lockdown is more likely by the hour

OSTN Staff

Victoria’s spiralling coronavirus threat has been likened to “a public health bushfire” — and make no mistake, they are now ...

WHO launches iSupport Lite

OSTN Staff

The recent COVID-19 pandemic and resulting breakdown of community-based services for people with dementia and their caregivers emphasized the importance ...

WHO: access to HIV medicines severely impacted by COVID-19 as AIDS response stalls

OSTN Staff

Seventy-three countries have warned that they are at risk of stock-outs of antiretroviral (ARV) medicines as a result of the ...

‘Ring fencing’ key to virus control: Hunt

OSTN Staff

Health Minister Greg Hunt says “rings” of containment and further lockdown restrictions are the key to tackling Victoria’s coronavirus crisis, ...

Elite school axes winter sport, fears others could follow

OSTN Staff

A major private school in a Melbourne lockdown suburb has cancelled all upcoming winter sport, as other elite schools reconsider ...

Victoria records 127 new coronavirus cases as border with NSW set to close

OSTN Staff

The border between New South Wales and Victoria will close on Tuesday night as cases continue to surge in Victoria. ...

This London park has been covered in rubbish as pubs and clubs reopen

OSTN Staff

Parts of the world saw environmental improvement during the coronavirus lockdowns. But as the lockdown eases, the day-to-day impacts of ...

Police investigating after Brisbane nightclub dancing video emerges

OSTN Staff

Hospitality leaders are concerned about the government’s response to a Brisbane nightclub that allegedly opened its dance floor in breach ...

Why some people don’t want to take a COVID-19 test

OSTN Staff

There are some very good reasons why some people decline coronavirus testing, which we need to address before jumping to ...

Global report gives Australia an A for coronavirus response, but a D on climate

OSTN Staff

A global report has ranked Australia third among OECD countries for its response to the coronavirus pandemic. Powered by WPeMatico

Virus ‘detention’ document slammed

OSTN Staff

Vulnerable residents living inside Melbourne’s nine quarantined public housing towers have been handed an information booklet citing the lockdown operation ...

Border to close after COVID spike

OSTN Staff

The border between NSW and Victoria will close from Tuesday night after crisis talks between the state premiers and Prime ...

Victoria’s highest virus total yet

OSTN Staff

Victoria has recorded 127 new cases of coronavirus overnight, the state’s highest daily spike so far. Powered by WPeMatico

Victoria records highest daily cases as border with NSW closes

OSTN Staff

This coronavirus article is unlocked and free to read in the interest of community health and safety. Get full digital ...

‘Drug addicts, alcoholics’: Hanson takes aim at lockdown victims

OSTN Staff

Pauline Hanson has taken aim at high-rise public housing tenants who are under a hard lockdown in Melbourne in a ...

Protest with virus-death coffin in Bolivia

OSTN Staff

A family of a 62-year-old man who died after contracting COVID-19 in Cohabamba, Bolivia, blocked a street with the coffin ...

Beer flows again as England’s pubs reopen

OSTN Staff

England’s pubs and bars swung open their doors for the first time in more than three months as the country ...