Received

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine has moved a step closer to going into Australians' arms with the medicines regulator giving provisional approval.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday announced Moderna has been granted Therapeutic Goods Administration provisional approval, joining Pfizer and AstraZeneca in Australia's vaccine armoury.

The government has secured 25 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, including the supply of 10 million doses in 2021 and 15 million doses of its updated variant booster vaccine in 2022.

Moderna, like Pfizer, is a messenger RNA vaccine which teaches cells how to make a protein to trigger an immune response.

It requires two doses 28 days apart.

There have been more than 140 million doses of Moderna used in the United States.

Therapeutic Goods Administration boss John Skerritt said the vaccine was 93 per cent effective against COVID-19 infection, 98 per cent against severe disease and 100 per cent against death.

"It's very exciting to see such sustained activity of that vaccine six months after," he told reporters in Canberra.

"It also seem to be quite efficacious against variants although the company is doing some further work on development."

The first one million doses are due to arrive next month and will be allocated to pharmacies.

Three million doses are expected to arrive in each of the final three months of the year.

"This is another important tool that we have in our battle against COVID," Mr Morrison said.

"We'll have it in our hands and we will have the jabs in our arms starting next month."

Moderna is seeking to make its vaccine available to Australians as young as 12, but could also use Australia as a trial country for vaccinating children as young as six months.

Professor Skerritt said the regulator was working with businesses on wider use of rapid antigen tests, which can return results in 15 minutes but are less accurate than swabs.

"These are not the gold standard PCR test, but they are a useful adjunct," he said.

Mr Morrison earlier ruled out enlisting Tabcorp to run a lottery for people who are vaccinated against coronavirus.

The prime minister did not dispute reports senior government officials sought advice from the gambling giant about the design of a lottery.

"We are not proceeding with any arrangement like that with Tabcorp," he told parliament.

Labor has called for every person who receives both doses by December to be handed one-off $300 payments.

Mr Morrison has fiercely opposed the $6 billion plan and argues offering people extra motivation to be immunised is not immediately necessary.

Labor's health spokesman Mark Butler said other countries started using Moderna before the government entered talks with the company.

"Australia has the lowest vaccination rate in the developed world, all because Scott Morrison has been so slow to act in procuring deals with Pfizer and Moderna," Mr Butler told reporters in Adelaide.

Australia has fully vaccinated 22.5 per cent of people aged 16 and over with 13.7 million doses administered since February.

The coronavirus crisis in NSW continues with 283 new local infections and one death reported on Monday.

There are 70 people in intensive care nationally with 67 of those in NSW.

Tamworth will be locked down after an infectious person visited multiple places in the regional centre.

A snap one-week lockdown was also announced for areas in northern NSW including Byron Bay after a man infected with COVID-19 visited the area.

Victoria recorded 11 new cases but none in regional parts of the state, which will be released from lockdown on Tuesday.

Cairns is on high alert for new cases after starting a three-day lockdown because of an infected taxi driver.

© AAP 2021

Regional Victoria will be released from lockdown at 11:59pm on Monday night after no new COVID-19 cases were detected outside Melbourne.

Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the regions will return to the COVID-safe settings in place prior to the state's sixth lockdown, meaning schools, retail and hospitality can reopen.

Home visits will remain banned and masks will still be compulsory indoors and outdoors.

"There is a degree of localisation if you like to these cases," Mr Andrews told reporters on Monday, as the state recorded 11 new locally acquired cases.

"Pleasingly we haven't seen cases in regional Victoria over these last four or five days."

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said while there were a few close contacts self-isolating in regional Victoria, there were no new exposure sites or recent wastewater detections of COVID-19.

But opposition regional Victoria spokesman Peter Walsh said it was "four days too late" for regional businesses, including those in hospitality who had to cancel bookings and throw out fresh food before the snap lockdown.

The government had used coronavirus detections in Wangaratta wastewater, some 236 kilometres northeast of Melbourne, as a justification for a statewide lockdown.

"You've got to take a conservative approach, particularly with (the) Delta (variant)," Mr Andrews said.

"The advice was to lock everything down."

People from regional Victoria will only be able to travel to Melbourne for a permitted reason and must follow the city's restrictions when in town.

Businesses that are open in regional Victoria but closed in Melbourne, such as restaurants and beauty salons, must check the IDs of customers.

Roving police patrols of 200 officers will check compliance and Melburnians caught trying to drive into regional Victoria face fines of up to $5452.

"Anyone trying to sneak out of Melbourne and drive through the back roads, I implore you not to do it, we will be out in force in all areas," Victoria Police Commander Deb Robertson said.

She called on regional Victorians to dob in their city counterparts, saying police had "the eyes and ears of our regional town people".

The state's 11 new COVID-19 cases are all linked to the Hobsons Bay outbreak, including seven cases linked to Caroline Springs Shopping Centre, two to Newport Football Club, a Newport family household contact and an Al-Taqwa College student.

One case was in quarantine throughout their infectious period.

There are now more than 190 exposure sites across the state.

Some 38,987 tests were processed in the 24 hours to Monday morning, while 17,101 Victorians received a COVID-19 vaccine at a state-run hubs.

The state's vaccination program has also ramped up, with Australia's first drive-through clinic opened at a former Melton Bunnings warehouse, anticipated to administer 10,000 vaccines a week.

All Victorian adults now have the opportunity to get the AstraZeneca jab at a state mass vaccination centre, while children aged 12 to 15 with underlying health conditions or of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent can receive Pfizer doses.

For exposure sites visit www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/exposure-sites

© AAP 2021

Regional Victoria will be released from lockdown at 11:59pm on Monday night.

Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the regions will return to the COVID-safe settings in place prior to the state's sixth lockdown, meaning schools, retail and hospitality can reopen.

Home visits will remain banned, while masks will still be compulsory both indoors and outdoors.

"There is a degree of localisation if you like to these cases," Mr Andrews told reporters on Monday, as the state recorded 11 new locally acquired cases.

"Pleasingly we haven't seen cases in regional Victoria over these last four or five days."

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said while there were a few close contacts self-isolating in regional Victoria, there were no new exposure sites or recent wastewater detections of COVID-19.

The government had used detections of COVID-19 in wastewater in Wangaratta, some 236 kilometres northeast of Melbourne, as a justification for a statewide lockdown.

"You've got to take a conservative approach, particularly with (the) Delta (variant)," Mr Andrews said.

"The advice was to lock everything down."

People from regional Victoria will only be able to travel to Melbourne for a permitted reason and must follow the city's restrictions when in town.

Businesses that are open in regional Victoria but closed in Melbourne, such as restaurants and beauty salons, must check the IDs of everyone they serve.

Roving police patrols will check compliance.

The state's 11 new COVID-19 cases are all linked to the Hobsons Bay outbreak.

They include seven cases linked to Caroline Springs Shopping Centre, a coach and player at Newport Football Club, a household contact of a Newport family and a student at Al-Taqwa College.

One case was in quarantine throughout their infectious period and Mr Andrews anticipates this trend will continue.

"We're starting to see now the first of the new cases coming through that have been tucked away, no risk to public health, they've been in iso for 100 per cent of their infectious period. That's the system working as it should," he said.

Some 38,987 tests were processed in the 24 hours to Monday morning, while 17,101 Victorians received a COVID-19 vaccine at one of the state-run hubs.

There are now more than 170 exposure sites across the state, including the Joan Kirner Women's and Children's Hospital in St Albans, which was visited by a positive case for six hours on Friday.

The state's vaccination program has also ramped up, with Australia's first drive-through clinic opened at a former Bunnings warehouse in Melton.

It is initially expected to administer 10,000 vaccine doses a week, with hopes it will be the first in a series of drive-through hubs.

All Victorian adults will also have the opportunity to get the AstraZeneca jab at nine of the state's mass vaccination centres from Monday, while children aged 12-15 with underlying health conditions or of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent will be allowed to receive Pfizer doses.

For exposure sites visit www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/exposure-sites

© AAP 2021