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Australians attending events to commemorate Anzac Day are being urged to take all necessary COVID-19 precautions to protect the vulnerable.
Many jurisdictions are returning to full-scale Anzac Day services after two virus-disrupted years, while most states and territories are in the process of further easing coronavirus restrictions.
However, Victorian health officials have asked patrons to remember their masks when in situations that make it hard to physically distance, particularly in crowds or at indoor environments.
Anyone who has COVID symptoms is being encouraged to stay home and get tested, while people meeting indoors pre- or post-service should open doors and windows to maximise air flow.
"As important as the Anzac Day march and our dawn services are, there may be elderly and vulnerable people there we need to protect," the state's chief health officer, Brett Sutton, says.
Seven-day isolation for close contacts is no longer mandatory in NSW or Victoria as case numbers plateau or dip amid the current Omicron sub-variant wave.
Household contact quarantine rules will be ditched in the ACT after Anzac Day, while Queensland is moving to scrap quarantine for unvaccinated international arrivals by Thursday.
South Australia will also drop the requirement for close contact isolation from April 30 but they must take five rapid antigen tests over seven days.
Masks will also be required outside the home, high-risk settings like aged care centres will be off limits and employers and schools will need proof of status.
Vaccination status and check-in requirements for social and sporting venues are being wound back in Victoria, although mandates for workers in multiple industries have been retained.
NSW is shifting to a risk assessment model, with household contacts of positive cases no longer needing to isolate for seven days, so long as they continue to test negative.
They should still work from home where possible and avoid high-risk settings.
Almost 34,000 new COVID-19 cases were recorded across Australia on Sunday along with 22 deaths, pushing the national toll since the start of the pandemic past 7000.
Some 7004 Australians have lost their lives to coronavirus, with NSW and Victoria accounting for four out of five deaths.
A teenager was among three COVID-related deaths reported in WA on Sunday, as Premier Mark McGowan's child recovers at home with the virus after being released from hospital.
LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA:
NSW: 7985 cases, four deaths, 1631 in hospital, 64 in ICU
Victoria: 7643 cases, four deaths, 441 in hospital, 31 in ICU
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Emmanuel Macron has comfortably defeated his far-right rival Marine Le Pen, heading off a political earthquake for Europe but acknowledging dissatisfaction with his first term and saying he would seek to make amends.
His supporters erupted with joy on Sunday as the results appeared on a giant screen at the Champ de Mars park by the Eiffel tower.
Leaders in Berlin, Brussels, London and beyond welcomed his defeat of the nationalist, euro-sceptic Le Pen.
Macron is the first French president in 20 years to win re-election, since incumbent Jacques Chirac trounced Le Pen's father in 2002.
With 97 per cent of votes counted, Macron was on course for a solid 57.4 per cent of the vote, interior ministry figures showed. But in his victory speech he acknowledged that many had only voted for him only to keep Le Pen out and he promised to address the sense of many French that their living standards are slipping.
"Many in this country voted for me not because they support my ideas but to keep out those of the far right. I want to thank them and know I owe them a debt in the years to come," he said.
"No one in France will be left by the wayside," he said in a message that had already been spread by senior ministers doing the rounds on French TV stations.
Two years of disruption from the pandemic and surging energy prices exacerbated by the Ukraine war catapulted economic issues to the fore of the campaign.
Le Pen, who at one stage had trailed Macron by just a few points in opinion polls, quickly admitted defeat. But she vowed to keep up the fight with parliamentary elections in June.
"I will never abandon the French," she told supporters chanting "Marine! Marine!"
Macron can expect little or no grace period after an election in which radical parties scored well. Many expect the street protests that marred part of his first term to erupt again as he presses on with pro-business reforms.
How Macron now fares will depend on the parliamentary elections. Le Pen wants a nationalist alliance in a move that raises the prospect of her working with rival far-rightists such as Eric Zemmour and her niece, Marion Marechal.
Outside France, Macron's victory was hailed as a reprieve for mainstream politics rocked in recent years by Britain's exit from the European Union, the 2016 election of Donald Trump in the US, and the rise of a new generation of nationalist leaders.
European leaders praised Macron's victory, since France has played a leading role in international efforts to punish Russia with sanctions and is supplying weapons to Ukraine.
"Democracy wins, Europe wins," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said.
"Together we will make France and Europe advance," tweeted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Italian Premier Mario Draghi hailed Macron's victory as "splendid news for all of Europe".
"Congratulations to the President and a true friend @EmmanuelMacron on the election victory," Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted.
The disillusion with Macron was reflected in an abstention rate expected to settle about 28 per cent, the highest since 1969.
Initial polling showed the vote was sharply split both by age and socioeconomic status: two-thirds of working-class voters backed le Pen, while similar proportions of white-collar executives and pensioners backed Macron, an Elabe poll showed.
During the campaign, Le Pen homed in on the rising cost of living and Macron's sometimes abrasive style as some of his weakest points.
Macron, meanwhile, pointed to Le Pen's past admiration for Russia's Vladimir Putin as showing she could not be trusted on the world stage, while insisting she still harboured plans to pull France out of the European Union - something she denies.
Reuters with AP
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Down 3-0 in their NBA first-round play-offs series, the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday ruled Ben Simmons out for Game 4 against the visiting Boston Celtics.
Simmons was widely expected to make his season and team debut on Monday night after a lengthy ramp-up period while dealing with a back injury.
But ESPN reported that Simmons awoke with back soreness Sunday, and he and the Nets agreed to play it safe and keep him out.
The former Philadelphia 76ers star was cleared for contact last week and participated in more live drills at practice, including a 4-on-4 drill.
The No.2 seed Celtics defeated the No.7 seed Nets 109-103 on Saturday night to move ahead by a daunting margin.
No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a play-off series.
Simmons, acquired in a blockbuster trade in February that sent James Harden to the Sixers, has yet to play a game in a Nets uniform.
The Australian forced his way out of Philadelphia over a fractured relationship with 76ers coach Doc Rivers and teammate Joel Embiid.
The 25-year-old was the No.1 overall pick in the 2016 draft. He averaged 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game with the 76ers.
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Two people aged in their 50s are among eight COVID-related deaths for the 24 hours to 4pm yesterday.
Both had significant underlying health conditions.
One had received one vaccine dose, the other three.
Two people in their 70s, two in their 80s and two in their 90s also died while battling COVID.
Two were unvaccinated.
Five were from south-western Sydney, one was from Sydney’s Inner West, one was from the Central West and one was from the Lake Macquarie area.
This brings the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 2,694.
There are currently 1,588 COVID-19 COVID patients being treated in hospital, including 64 people in intensive care, 20 of whom require ventilation.
There were 11,107 new cases in the 24 hours to 4pm yesterday, including 1388 from the Hunter New England area, 1154 from the South Western Sydney Local Health District, 598 from the Illwarra Shoalhaven and 316 from Southern NSW.
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