Aus records 17 new COVID-19 death, infection tally reaches 23,583

Another case was identified in Western Australia who was a returned traveller in hotel quarantine. Describing the new cases number as an encouraging sign, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said, "The deaths that we've today continue to reflect the high levels of community transmission that we were seeing just two weeks ago." "In Victoria, we're continuing to see a decline in daily figures, which is very encouraging and a huge credit to the people of the state.

Australia has recorded 17 fresh COVID-19 deaths while another 226 coronavirus cases have been reported across the country, taking the total number of infections to 23,583, the government said on Tuesday. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, while giving daily updates on the outbreak, said that 17 deaths and 222 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the total deaths in the state to 334 deaths.

He urged people to get tested for coronavirus even those with mild symptoms. The premier said that given the number of regular flu cases were substantially lower this year, there is "every chance" people with mild symptoms have coronavirus.

With Melbourne and Mitchell shire under stage 4 restrictions, Victoria overall recorded its lowest number of coronavirus cases in a month. Andrews confirmed that cases in regional Victoria had dropped and there were 422 cases in regional areas, which are under stage 3 restrictions.

In New South Wales (NSW), three new cases were reported from Monday night including two from south-west Sydney. Another case was identified in Western Australia who was a returned traveller in hotel quarantine.

Describing the new cases number as an encouraging sign, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said, "The deaths that we've today continue to reflect the high levels of community transmission that we were seeing just two weeks ago." "In Victoria, we're continuing to see a decline in daily figures, which is very encouraging and a huge credit to the people of the state. In NSW, today has not just been a good day but again reflects the positive trend and reinforces there is still a way to go to drive down and keep down community transmission in that state," Kidd said. Australian Capital Territory and Queensland reproted zero new cases.

TIll date, Australia has recorded 23,583 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 438 deaths. Meanwhile, in a bid to restart its billion dollar international education sector which has been hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, the Australian government is set to allow a first batch of 300 overseas students to enter South Australia under the federal pilot plan.

Federal trade and tourism minister Simon Birmingham has announced the new move under which 300 students from South east Asia will be allowed to enter Adelaide next month to complete their courses. The students will undertake two weeks of hotel quarantine, paid for by their universities, before they start their studies.

In an interview on Monday, Birmingham said, ''this is approval for a pilot for up to 300 students to come into South Australia again. This is being worked up carefully by SA's health officials in conjunction with the universities.'' He said that the move was being reviewed and approved by the Commonwealth health officials so that the government can have complete confidence that all of the necessary testing and quarantining arrangements will be in place. Highlighting that the international education industry was a major employer for many Australians, he said, "Approving this pilot to run, so that we can see whether it can all be done in a manner that can be facilitated, as confidently as we are that the safety precautions are in place and then we can think about how that impacts decisions, as we run into the next academic year." "This is a very important next step in terms of the recovery from the economic disaster of COVID," he said, adding that, "International education is a huge services export industry for Australia and South Australia." "It underpins many thousands of jobs and it is important that we figure out how we can get international students back to Australia safely and appropriately,'' the minister said.

According to latest figures, India is the second largest source of international students for Australia after China and accounts for 17 per cent of its total international student market..