Australia passed another grim coronavirus milestone over the weekend and, with today's statistics, the national death toll now sits at 517. The majority of those deaths, 430, have been in Victoria, with 295 of those coming from aged-care facilities.

Active cases in Victoria overall are now trending down, but among aged care residents the active count remains significant at 1568.

And as tempting as it may be to do the compare our stats with other countries, a recently released comment piece published on the world's leading medical journal's website suggests this is unwise. Read the report in The Lancet about comparing apples and oranges here.

Also in Victoria today, the hotel quarantine inquiry heard details of a security guard who worked at Rydges quarantine hotel and delivered food orders while he was infected with COVID-19. Premier Daniel Andrews also spoke about the possiblity of extending the state of emergency by at least 12 months to combat the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

In NSW three new cases - two in hotel quarantine and one in the community - were revealed as Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned that the virus continued to "lurk" at the edges of every day life.

It wasn't so much on the fringe in Sydney's Newmarch House where "a vicious cycle" of staff and protective equipment shortages, as well as less than ideal infection control practices, contributed to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak there earlier this year.

News also broke this afternoon about former PM John Howard being taken to hospital after visiting a doctor. A spokesman for his office said the condition was not coronavirus-related.

Elsewhere, South Australia will double the size of its pandemic control centre, an outbreak in Queensland is being monitored closely, and the Western Australian government has its eyes on AFL's most glittering prize - the AFL grand final.

Coronavirus seems to have taken a backseat in the US as the 2020 election looms but there's always a convergence with the New York Times reporting that Trump aides, meeting with lawmakers, reportedly said a vaccine would be approved before the election. Oh, and President Trump's high-profile aide Kellyanne Conway has quit for family reasons: "For now, and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mama."

Closer to home, the sentencing of Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant has begun in Christchurch, where the New Zealand High Court heard tragic testimony from victims of his crimes. The hearing continues, with Tarrant likely to be given life imprisonment for his attack on two mosques, when Justice Cameron Mander hands down his sentence on Thursday.

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