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A Chinese Australian writer tried in Beijing for alleged espionage has told supporters he pleaded for a judge to reject evidence of what he had said while being tortured by interrogators.

Yang Hengjun faced a closed trial on Thursday and the court deferred its verdict to a later date.

Australian ambassador to China on Friday labelled his incarceration since arriving in China in January 2019 as arbitrary detention.

READ MORE: China to allow families to have three children

The Associated Press on Monday saw the crime novelist and blogger's account of the legal proceedings circulated among his supporters over the weekend.

Mr Yang said he had a meeting with his trial judge three days before his one-day trial.

The judge refused his request to submit evidence and call witnesses during the trial but agreed to include almost 100 pages of defence documents in his case file.

"I made a plea to the judge to exclude my interrogation records from the court proceedings," Yang said.

"It's illegal. Torture. They had hidden camera records," Mr Yang added.

He did not say how the judge responded to his request.

Chinese Criminal Procedure Law prohibits confessions forced by torture or threats.

The prosecution case, "according to legal facts, is groundless," Mr Yang said.

READ MORE: Australian on 'totally baseless' spying charges at 'grave risk of torture'

The writer said he was "tired and confused" during the hearing and "didn't have the spirit to speak enough."

He estimated he spoke for less than five minutes in his own defence but said the hearing "gave me a sense that things are OK."

"The interrogations I had been subjected to, where I was told I had to confess, and the treatment I received for the first one-and-a-half years was (sic) much worse," he said.

Chinese authorities have not released any details of the charges against Mr Yang, who reportedly formerly worked for China's Ministry of State Security as an intelligence agent.

Mr Yang told his supporters at the weekend: "I served China when I was young, even secretly."

He has denied the accusation against him, and while a conviction is virtually certain, it isn't clear when the verdict will be handed down.

The espionage charge carries penalties ranging from three years in prison to the death penalty.

The trial comes at a time of deteriorating relations between the countries, brought on by Chinese retaliation against Australian legislation against foreign involvement in its domestic politics, the exclusion of telecommunications giant Huawei from its 5G phone network, and calls for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus that was first detected in China in late 2019.

Vietnam plans to test all 9 million people in its largest city for the coronavirus and has imposed more restrictions to deal with a growing COVID-19 outbreak.

People in Ho Chi Minh city were only allowed to leave home for necessary activities and public gatherings of more than 10 people were banned for the next two weeks, the government announced on Monday.

Prior to the order, the city, also Vietnam's economic hub, shut down non-essential business last Thursday when cases started to increase.

READ MORE: Vietnam finds new virus variant, hybrid of India, UK strains

State newspaper Vietnam News said the city authority was planning to test its entire population with a testing capacity of 100,000 samples a day.

The newspaper said police had filed a case on Sunday for "spreading dangerous infectious diseases" against the couple who head a Protestant church mission, citing poor health protocols applied at the premises.

At least 145 cases of coronavirus infection have been reported with links to the Revival Ekklesia Mission, a Protestant sect, and the city district of Go Vap, where the church is based, has been locked down. Vietnam has since banned all religious events nationwide.

The newspaper said church followers gathered in small space for singing and chanting without proper distancing and mask-wearing. Ho Chi Minh City police said the mission had 48 registered members.

READ MORE: Sydney man's family plead for help to free him from Vietnam jail

The report said the husband and wife accused in the case were responsible for leading and organising activities at the church. They were not identified and were not under arrest.

Since the end of April, a surge in COVID-19 has spread to 31 municipalities and provinces in Vietnam with more than 4000 cases, almost double the total number that the country reported since the beginning of the pandemic.

Some recent patients in Vietnam were infected with a hybrid of the virus variants first found in India and the UK, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said on Saturday. He said the hybrid might spread more easily and could be responsible for Vietnam's recent surge.

Viruses often develop small genetic changes as they reproduce, and new variants of the coronavirus have been seen almost since it was first detected in China in late 2019.

The World Health Organisation has categorised the UK and the Indian variants, along with two others first found in South Africa and Brazil, as "variants of concern" because they appear to be more contagious.

Vietnam has vaccinated 1 million people with AstraZeneca shots.

It has a deal with Pfizer for 30 million doses to be delivered later this year. It is also in talks with Moderna that would give it enough shots to fully vaccinate 80 per cent of its 96 million people.

Record case numbers in Thailand

Thailand reported a record number of new coronavirus cases on Monday as the Governor of Bangkok announced an easing of some restrictions in effect for more than a month — including people visiting parks for exercise.

Thailand has been fighting to deal with a virus surge that began in early April in a group of nightclubs in Bangkok and has since spread around the country.

The Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration reported a record 5485 new cases, of which 1953 were in prisons.

Confirmed deaths increased by 19 to bring the total to 1031 since the pandemic began last year.

The total number of confirmed cases has now risen to 159,792, of which 82 per cent occurred during the latest surge.

Singapore restrictions 'on track' for relaxation

Singapore's Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said on Monday that controls to lower coronavirus infections were working, while announcing a move to vaccinate students after a spate of transmissions in schools and learning centres.

Lee said controls banning dining out and severely limiting social gatherings were "on track" to be relaxed after June 13.

He urged the public to remain vigilant and only leave home if they must.

The government imposed the tighter controls this month after a number of local coronavirus cases were linked to malls, hospitals and the airport, up from virtually none earlier in the year.

A major overhaul is coming for Western Australia's hotel quarantine operations, after the McGowan government agreed to hire a private health logistics company to provide all doctors and nurses to the system.

Healthcare Australia, which is already contracted to the New South Wales and Victorian governments, recruits and trains medical staff specifically to manage and treat people in hotels.

"The Health Department has appointed Healthcare Australia to provide end-to-end health support services, including all GPs, nurses and nursing assistants," outgoing State Health Incident Controller Dr Robyn Lawrence said.

READ MORE: Hospital ignored 'graphic' warning signs before teens death

The company has had some role in WA's quarantine system since March, last year. Using their staff will allow public health care workers to return to frontline hospital duties.

While WA has largely kept COVID-19 out of the state, or quickly crushed any outbreaks, two lockdowns in Perth and the Peel region have been the result of the virus escaping hotel quarantine.

In January, a security guard caught the virus while guarding a floor of the Four Points Sheraton without wearing a mask because he was not required to.

And a man in a room opposite two guests with the virus at the Mercure Hotel was infected by airborne contamination in April.

Neither hotel is now being used for quarantine following a report into the two outbreaks.

"HCA clinical staff are trained in, and have been instrumental in the development of, current hotel quarantine procedures," Dr Lawrence said.

"The move will enable clinical staff to return to frontline healthcare services."

The McGowan government said last week it was still considering other ideas for quarantining passengers from overseas.

The federal government has ruled out using any Commonwealth facilities in WA.