Eighty-one people on the Greg Mortimer cruise ship, which has been stranded off the coast of Uruguay for almost two weeks and has over 90 Australians on board, have tested positive for coronavirus.
Carnival Corp's troubled Ruby Princess cruise liner, the biggest single source of coronavirus infections in Australia, docked south of Sydney on Monday to get help for sick crew members requiring urgent medical treatment.
Uruguay's foreign and public health ministers have said that none of the over 200 people on board the cruise vessel Greg Mortimer will be allowed to disembark in Montevideo for the moment since several passengers and crew members seem to have coronavirus symptoms.
Australian police and military will soon begin flying doctors to several cruise ships stranded near Sydney to assess nearly 9,000 crew for COVID-19, officials said on Thursday.
France and Spain joined Italy in imposing lockdowns on tens of millions of people, Australia ordered self-isolation of arriving foreigners and other countries extended entry bans as the world sought to contain the spreading coronavirus.
Australian officials declared a state of emergency for the capital city of Canberra and surrounding regions on Friday, as soaring temperatures and strong winds threatened to propel a large bushfire beyond the control of firefighters.
One in two Australians have donated money to support bushfire relief efforts, a new survey showed over the weekend, with meteorologists warning more hot and dry weather is to return after a heavy rain respite dampened many of the blazes.
Soaring temperatures are set to stoke simmering bushfires in Australia's southeast on Thursday with Sydney forecast to hit 41 degrees Celsius following a few days of reprieve.
A secret operation by specialist firefighters has saved the world's last stand of Wollemi Pines, a pre-historic species known as “dinosaur trees”, from Australia's unprecedented bushfires, officials said.
Australian Open qualifying was disrupted for a second successive day due to poor air quality on Wednesday as smoke from bushfires continued to blanket Melbourne in an acrid haze. Organizers of the year's first Grand Slam said practice had been suspended at Melbourne Park until 11am and qualifiers would not get under way until 1pm.