New infections decline slightly in Victoria

SYDNEY: Melbourne has recorded an eighth consecutive day of triplefigure coronavirus infection increases as Sydney deals with concerning disease spotfires.

Victorian authorities reported 177 new cases yesterday.

Clusters at Melbourne nursing homes have grown, with Menarock Life in Essendon the largest after 26 staff and residents tested positive.

A staff member at a hotel housing about 60 refugees and asylum seekers in the city’s north has tested positive, while 12 have been linked to a meatworks in Melbourne’s west.

New South Wales recorded 14 more cases, with seven part of a cluster at The Crossroads Hotel in the suburb of Casula. The pub has been linked to 21 infections.

Authorities want people who visited the venue between July 3 and 10 to selfisolate and get tested.

Federal Labor MP Anne Stanley is in quarantine at home after having dinner at The Crossroads in that period.

There are fears hundreds of people may have been exposed to the virus at Sydney's Star Casino after a recent patron tested positive.

Florida reported a record increase of more than 15,000 new virus cases in 24 hours yesterday, as the Trump Administration renewed its push for schools to reopen and antimask protests were planned in Michigan and Missouri.

Many people are still refusing to wear a mask, which health experts say helps stop transmission of the virus that has killed more than 134,000 Americans.

New York City, once the epicentre of the US outbreak, has reported its first day with zero confirmed or probable virus deaths since the pandemic hit

New York State.

The milestone came yesterday in initial data from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The city reported its first Covid19 fatality on March 11.

Deaths in Mexico from the pandemic rose above 35,000 yesterday, overtaking Italy for the world’s fourthhighest death total.

But leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the pandemic was ‘‘losing intensity’’ in Mexico, and blamed what he called ‘‘conservative media’’ for causing alarm.

Mexico yesterday recorded 276 additional fatalities and 4482 new infections to bring its coronavirus death toll to 35,006. — AAP/ Reuters/TCA