Refresh this page for updates – scroll down for links to official health information.

KEY POINTS

• More police at SA borders
• No new SA cases
• Victoria locks down 36 suburbs as cases leap again
• US reporting 40,000 cases a day
• EU to let Australians in, no Americans
• Airbus to slash 15,000 jobs

260 police at SA border

South Australia has stationed 260 police at its border and will patrol back roads as Victoria locks down suburbs to combat a surge in cases.

And from today, anyone wanting to come to SA will need to complete an online form to ensure their contact tracing details are recorded.

The system will apply to all arrivals, by land or air, no matter where they are travelling from.

It comes after Premier Steven Marshall announced a decision to abandon the July 20 date to lift quarantine measures for Victoria, NSW and the ACT after the spike in coronavirus cases across Melbourne.

“We are increasingly concerned about the outbreaks which are occurring in Victoria,” the premier said.

Marshall says the state may move separately on NSW and the ACT, but no date has been set with the local transition committee to consider that issue on Friday.

Border restrictions with Victoria will remain for the foreseeable future.

SA previously lifted its border quarantine measures for Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory and remained on track to do the same for other jurisdictions until the surge in COVID-19 cases in Melbourne.

No new SA cases 

South Australia recorded no new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.

SA Health said there were three active cases – all returning travellers who remain in quarantine in the CBD.

Victoria locks down 36 suburbs

Another 73 coronavirus cases have been recorded in Victoria, as suburbs head into localised lockdown.

Three of the cases are from hotel quarantine, nine are associated with known and contained outbreaks, 19 were found through routine testing and 42 remain under investigation by the public health team, Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed on Wednesday.

Dozens of suburbs re-enter lockdown from midnight as a result of the community outbreak and two weeks of double-digit case numbers.

“There will be 12 new sites that will be dedicated testing locations across all of those postcodes that have been locked down from midnight tonight,” Andrews said.

“This is not over. It won’t be over for a long time and the best and most important thing that we can all do, whether we are in one of these hot spot postcodes or not, is to follow the rules.”

Another 64 cases of COVID-19 were uncovered in the state on Tuesday, bringing the number detected since a testing blitz began last Thursday to 233.

International flights will be diverted away from Melbourne for two weeks and the quarantine program will restart under the supervision of Corrections Victoria.

US reporting 40,000 cases a day

The US government’s top infectious diseases expert has warned that daily COVID-19 cases could more than double if Americans fail to take counter-measures.

Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also cautioned against pinning hopes on a vaccine.

California, Texas and several other states are reporting record increases in cases of the sometimes deadly illness caused by the coronavirus.

Unless Americans wear masks and recommit to social distancing, the daily increase in new cases nationwide, currently around 40,000, could reach 100,000, Fauci told a US Senate committee.

“Clearly we are not in total control right now,” Fauci said on Tuesday.

“I am very concerned because it could get very bad.”

Fauci said “there is no guarantee” that ongoing efforts will produce a safe and effective vaccine to prevent infection by the virus, pouring cold water on hopes for a quick fix to the health crisis.

EU to let Australians in, but not Americans

The European Council has adopted a recommendation to continue banning travellers from most countries from entering the EU, with Australia and New Zealand among the 14 exempt nations.

A political agreement was reached on Monday after weeks of intense negotiations on which countries to include and which ones to ban.

The council formally gave its nod on Tuesday. Perhaps most contentiously, the EU will continue to ban travellers from the US.

As of Wednesday, the EU will lift its ban for 14 countries: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.

Australian citizens and residents are currently banned from travelling overseas without an exemption.

Airbus to slash 15,000 jobs

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus says it plans to eliminate 15,000 jobs over the next year, mostly in Europe, as it struggles with the financial hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

“With air traffic not expected to recover to pre-COVID levels before 2023 and potentially as late as 2025, Airbus now needs to take additional measures,” the company said in a statement.

It plans to shed 5000 workers in France, 5100 in Germany, 1700 in Britain, 900 in Spain and 1300 others at Airbus facilities elsewhere.

Airbus said it wants to start making the cuts within months, from this northern autumn.

It will aim for voluntary departures and early retirements, but also said that compulsory job losses can’t be ruled out.

“Airbus is facing the gravest crisis this industry has ever experienced,” the company’s chief executive Guillaume Faury said in the statement on Tuesday.

OFFICIAL SOURCES OF ADVICE AND INFORMATION

Local updates and resources

State Government central information

SA Health

Mental health support line (8am to 8pm): 1800 632 753.

National advice and information

Australian Government Coronavirus information hotline: 1800 020 080

Government information via WhatsApp: click here

Travel

Australian Government travel advice: smartraveller.gov.au

Check your symptoms

Free, government-funded, health advice: healthdirect.gov.au

– Reporting by InDaily staff, AAP and Reuters