The Australian Electoral Commission website shows Ms McBain won by 50.8 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis compared to Dr Kotvojs on 49.2 percent.

Meanwhile, over the state border, after being locked down without notice, surrounded by police and prohibited from leaving their homes, residents of Melbourne's public housing estates have been been told they do not have to pay for their "incarceration". They will have their rent waived and receive a hardship payment as the health authorities try to get on top of a COVID-19 cluster.

The virus' resurgence in Victoria has worried other states, leading to bans on Victorians entering some states and calls from the Australian Medical Association for a temporary halt to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions across the country.

Victoria recorded 74 new coronavirus cases overnight, including 16 connected to controlled outbreaks, after recording 108 new infections on Saturday.

NSW has recorded 14 new cases, but all were returned travellers from overseas. The state has completed 942,432 tests in total.

A fair bit of hand-wringing is going on around the stock market at the start of the week as the continued spike in US COVID-19 cases and fears around the Victorian outbreak cast shadows over national and global economic recovery.

But Americans will be glad to hear US President Donald Trump's announcement that 99% of coronavirus cases in the United States were "totally harmless", particularly as the US again racked up a record number of new COVID-19 cases over the weekend. The US death toll now edges close to 130,000.

In a cruel twist of fate, an American man, Stephen Cooper, immortalised in a famous photo as he fled falling debris from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, has died from coronavirus.In a cruel twist of fate, an American man, Stephen Cooper, immortalised in a famous photo as he fled falling debris from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, has died from coronavirus.

This year's US election promises to be an entertainment extravaganza with rapper Kanye West announcing he will run for president in the November election. Don't hold your breath. There is a degree of skepticism surrounding the statement.

The World Health Organisation has reported an increase of 212,326 cases in 24 hours, a global daily record. The global coronavirus death toll is 530,754.

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