LATEST COVID-19 DEVELOPMENTS:
* The Howard Springs quarantine facility in the Northern Territory is set to receive 500 of the most urgent and vulnerable cases from India when flights resume on May 15.
* Most of those are likely to have mild symptoms but others will require specialist care at Royal Darwin Hospital, which can only handle three to four positive cases.
* The first flight to have about 150 people on board, with NT health authorities expecting about 10 per cent to be positive to COVID-19 (despite pre-flight testing)
* A number of state governments are considering how to facilitate commercial flights safely, but the commercial flight ban remains in place. NSW says it's happy to take flights from India under the new plan.
* Passengers will need to return both a negative COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction test and a negative rapid antigen test before boarding.
* COVID-19 positive cases in Howard Springs have fallen to 21 from more than 50 cases a week ago.
* Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the India travel ban will end on its planned expiry date of May 15, following a fierce backlash against the decision to fine or jail those who try to return to Australia from India before May 15.
* "All of this is about sensibly preventing a third wave of COVID-19 here in Australia," he told reporters in Sydney on Friday.
* A Senate inquiry has been told there are 173 Australian children in India separated from their parents, who are desperate to reunite on home soil. Qantas does not allow children to fly unaccompanied on repatriation flights.
* Five Victorians are isolating after being identified as exposure site contacts in the NSW COVID-19 outbreak. Three have tested negative and the other two are awaiting results.
* Victoria will finally have a single QR code check-in as the state further eases business and venue COVID-19 restrictions.
* A deal will continue where Tasmania houses Victoria's share of seasonal workers from Pacific islands and Victoria takes Tasmania's share of repatriation arrivals
AUSTRALIAN VACCINATION NUMBERS:
* There have been 2,554,531 doses administered in the national COVID-19 vaccination rollout up to Thursday, including 81,002 in the previous 24 hours.
* Of the total, 1,650,181 have been administered by the Commonwealth (an increase of 56,851 in the previous 24 hours).
* 1,395,549 have been issued in primary care (+51,204) and 254,632 in aged and disability facilities (+5647).
* 904,350 have been administered by the states and territories, including 24,151 in the previous 24 hours.
* 249,405 have been administered in Victoria (+9937), 229,491 in NSW (+5415), 154,403 in Queensland (+2292), 110,273 in Western Australia (+2439), 67,198 in South Australia (+1745), 42,374 in Tasmania (+710), 32,337 in the ACT (+793) and 18,869 in the NT (+820).
AUSTRALIAN CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS:
* Australia reported no new locally acquired virus cases on Friday. There were 10 new overseas-acquired cases; five in NSW, three in South Australia and two in Queensland.
* The national death toll is 910: Victoria 820, NSW 56, Tasmania 13, WA 9, Queensland 7, SA 4, ACT 3 (Two Queensland residents who died in NSW have been included in the official tolls of both states).
GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS:
* Cases: at least 156,080,676
* Deaths: at least 3,256,425
* Recovered: at least 92,322,350
Data current as of 1730 AEST on May 7, taking in federal and state/territory government updates and Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre figures.
Australian Associated Press
