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After 548 days with restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19, Denmark's high vaccination rate has enabled the Scandinavian country to become one of the first European Union nations to lift all domestic restrictions.

The return to normality has been gradual, but as of Friday, the digital pass — a proof of having been vaccinated — is no longer required when entering night clubs, making it the last virus safeguard to fall.

More than 80 per cent of people above the age of 12 have had the two shots.

"I wouldn't say it is too early. We have opened the door but we have also said that we can close it if needed," Soeren Riis Paludan, a professor of virology with the Aarhus University in Denmark's second largest city, told The Associated Press.

As of midnight, the Danish government no longer considers COVID-19 "a socially critical disease." Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said August 27 that "the epidemic is under control" but warned: "we are not out of the epidemic" and the government will act as needed if necessary.

READ MORE: Sweeping new vaccine mandates for 100 million Americans

Jens Lundgren, a professor of viral diseases at the Copenhagen University Hospital said the government would be "quite willing" to reintroduce restrictions if infections spike again. He pointed at night clubs being the last thing to open because "it is the activity associated with the highest risk of transmission."

"The world is in the middle of a pandemic and none of us can claim that we are beyond the pandemic," said Lundgren who described Denmark as being "an isolated island" where the vaccine roll-out has worked.

"Nobody should have the illusion that we are over this."

The tipping point in Denmark to start easing restrictions came when a majority in the age group of 50+ had the two shots, Riis Paludan said.

Since August 14, a face mask on public transportation is no longer mandatory. On September 1, night clubs reopened, limits on public gatherings were removed and it was no longer mandatory to show the pass when one wanted to be seated inside restaurants, or go to soccer games, fitness centres or hairdresser.

However, the face mask or shield are still mandatory at airports and people are advised to wear one when at the doctor's, test centres or hospitals. Distancing is still recommended and strict entry restrictions still apply for non Danes at the borders. The outbreak is still considered "an ordinary dangerous illness."

"The ghost of corona sits in the back of our head," said Frank Oestergaard, a patron in a downtown Copenhagen restaurant.

After more than a year, several European countries are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but with caveats. Some have lifted restrictions but will introduce a vaccination passport. Others expect to do so soon. And in some places, there are few restrictions and they are not respected.

On July 19, the British government lifted remaining legal restrictions for England, though it still plans to introduce a vaccination passport for entry into nightclubs and other crowded venues at the end of September.

In Denmark's neighbour Sweden, which has stood out among European nations for its comparatively hands-off response to the pandemic, the government said earlier this month that most restrictions, including the ceiling for private and public gatherings and the advice to work from home, will be removed as of September 29.

The Scandinavian country has not gone into lockdowns or closed businesses, relying instead on citizens' sense of civic duty to control infection. According to official figures, 70 per cent of people over the age of 15 have gotten both shots and nearly 82 per cent have received the first shot.

And despite a surge, most of the Balkan countries practically have no restrictions, and those which are in place are not respected.

In late May, the Danish government presented the passport app featuring a QR code and a green bar if the person has been vaccinated twice or recently tested negative. A paper version also was available. People either had to scan the code or flash it before entering an airport, a harbour, a train station, a hairdresser or an eatery.

While in many European countries there were pockets of resistance such passes, people used it all the time in Denmark because people trust authorities, Riis Paludan said.

Armed with their pass, people were able to get a haircut, have a drink with friends or attend a cultural event. "It was getting one's freedom back instead of having to sit at home in isolation," laughed Oestergaard.

"I think it's very good, so hopefully we can get back to a normal day in the restaurant business without checking people and just no restrictions whatsoever. That's nice," said cafe owner Ralph Marker.

The freshly paved street with its new bicycle lane markings meanders through the heart of abandoned Varosha, in ethnically split Cyprus' breakaway north, to a crumbling cinema in front of Savvas Constantinides' family home.

Yet a rope line prevents the Greek Cypriot cardiologist from walking down a shrub-festooned side street to see the home he fled as a six-year-old refugee in 1974, while Turkish troops approached the Famagusta suburb.

Like any tourist or sightseer, Varosha's Greek Cypriot former residents must look from behind ropes at empty houses and schools, gutted hotels and looted stores.

They can't enter their lost homes.

READ MORE: Heat wave edges higher in southern Europe, fuels wildfires

That's the rule Turkish Cypriot authorities imposed last October, when they partly opened Varosha — Maras in Turkish — to visitors amid much fanfare, after keeping it uninhabited and sealed off by Turkish troops for nearly half a century.

They cite public safety, as many buildings are crumbling. But it's the absurdity of playing sightseer in his former home that grates on Costantinides, 53.

Now, Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots are dangling the opportunity of letting at least some Greek Cypriots reclaim their Varosha property if they accept the rule of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state as legitimate — a move that's sowing consternation and discord.

READ MORE: Cyprus Church calls for 'satanic' Eurovision song to be pulled

"There's tremendous anger about what has happened here. Turkey has committed a huge crime," Costantinides said.

"Today, we're living the same crime again. … It's as if they're performing an autopsy and tourists are coming to witness it. It's a shame, a shame for humanity."

With its white sand beaches and luxury hotels, Varosha was once the pride of the eastern Mediterranean island's booming tourism industry.

READ MORE: Cyprus cancels maligned 'golden passport' scheme

Then in 1974, Turkey invaded in response to a coup aiming at union with Greece. About 180,000 Greek Cypriots fled Cyprus' northern third, including 15,000 Varosha residents. Tens of thousands of Turkish Cypriots settled the north — whose declaration of independence only Turkey recognises.

Varosha was kept untouched, to be used as a bargaining chip in peace negotiations, despite two United Nations Security Council resolutions — the latest in 1992 — for its return to its residents under UN administration.

After decades of fruitless talks, Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots last year changed tack on Varosha, under a major policy shift seeking to formally partition Cyprus between two "sovereign and equal states" — ignoring the agreed-upon framework for a federation of Greek- and Turkish-speaking zones.

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That shift was condemned by the UN, the EU, the US, Russia and others as gravely undermining hopes for peace.

In July, Turkey and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar raised the stakes, inviting Greek Cypriots to reclaim their property and live under Turkish Cypriot administration in a tiny sliver of Varosha ahead of a potential wider opening.

Applications must go to the Immovable Property Commission, a Turkish Cypriot legal body endorsed by the European Court of Human Rights. The IPC was created to adjudicate property cases of Greek Cypriots seeking to reclaim their property, as a first step before potentially reaching the ECHR.

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Greek — and many Turkish — Cypriots saw the invitation as a Turkish Cypriot ploy to cement control of Varosha and secure implicit acknowledgement of their rule from its former inhabitants.

The Greek Cypriot government, which represents the island internationally, fears a rush of applications to the IPC could trigger a mass property sell-off both in Varosha and elsewhere that the north would exploit politically.

The IPC has received nearly 7000 applications since 2006, and essentially purchased Greek Cypriot properties in about 1200 of these cases with the remainder still pending. It has ruled to return or exchange property with land elsewhere in the north only a dozen times.

READ MORE: Thousands flee as fire devours Greek island's forests

Oz Karahan, the Turkish Cypriot president of the left-wing peace association Union of Cypriots, says Turkish Cypriots who lost property of their own in the south empathise with Varosha's refugees. He's among many Turkish Cypriots who consider Tatar's rule illegitimate, claiming his election followed unprecedented Turkish interference.

"Turkey's new policy is clearly aiming to make Varosha part of its … illegal regime in the north," Karahan said.

Standing in a garden in front of the school he graduated from more than 50 years ago, Simos Ioannou, the Greek Cypriot mayor-in-exile of Famagusta, claims Turkey's move sought to undermine the peace talks and cause upheaval in the south.

"I believe it was done to plant a tombstone on the Cyprus issue, to compel us to live under Turkish Cypriot administration and to foment division among the Greek Cypriot residents of Varosha," he said.

On his first visit to Varosha since 1973, Ioannou said the refugees could have returned long ago had Turkey heeded the UN resolutions.

"But they're afraid we will prove that we can live peacefully with (the Turkish Cypriots)," he added.

Ioannou said 37 Varosha property owners are known to have applied to the IPC, but "very few" expressed a willingness to return under Turkish Cypriot administration.

Constantinides's home lies outside the section of the suburb where Greek Cypriots have been told they can reclaim their properties. But he said he won't give up trying to get back what belongs to his family.

"I hope that a way can be found where we can return as owners and not as tenants or tourists, but for certain, I'll fight for my rights," he added. "I owe it to my parents who toiled to build this, I owe it to my daughter."

A Queensland man's life has been turned upside with a $15 raffle ticket and a bit of luck.

Tony Baldry, a fitter and turner working at the Hail Creek open cut mine outside Mackay, has won a multi-million dollar home on the Sunshine Coast and $100,000 in gold bullion in a YourTown Prize Home competition.

He told 9News when he received the life-changing phone call, he didn't believe it.

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"My boss Dan showed up. 'What are you doing, sitting in the car doing nothing?' I said 'bugger off I'm a millionaire," Mr Baldry said.

Not long afterwards he told his boss he'd be quitting and moving to Cooroibah on the Sunshine Coast.

He says he now plans to deck the house out before his work mates come for a visit.

Watch the full story in the video above

You might have seen Macka on the tele a couple of weeks back.

Beef farmer Robert Mackenzie was watching from relative rural safety as metro local government areas (LGAs) began to lock down with COVID-19, and he wanted to help.

"Every time the bush gets in strife", Macka would tell me for the yarn I was doing on him, "whether it's fire, flood, or the biggest drought we've had in decades, the city comes and gives us a hand."

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So Macka helped in the best way he could, delivering 300kg of black angus beef, which Cumberland Council then turned into lasagnas and shepherd's pies, to be added to emergency hampers for the slew of the shire's now stood-down or COVID-19 retrenched workers.

And it seems by doing so, Macka may have started something.

Social enterprise force Thankful saw Macka's yarn.

And off their own bat, they hit the phones, doing the cold calling to cockies to kick the idea of the bush helping the big smoke further.

"We saw the story on Channel 9 a few weeks ago, where a farmer was giving back, and we wanted to help propel that," says Thankful CEO Kim McDonnell.

"Every single time we had a conversation with a farmer and a producer, it was 'absolutely we'll help'.

READ MORE: NSW reopening plan slammed as 'incredibly risky'

"We were overwhelmed, but we weren't surprised by their kindness and generosity, and desire to want to give back."

One of those is Wentworth Hill, of The Gourmet Potato Hill in the Southern Highlands.

"If people don't step up, well, who's going to do it?" Wentworth proffers forcefully.

"It is the private sector who has got to step in in times like this and address the realities."

Mind you, while the paddocks are fertile, and the harvesters proof of it, the pain of lockdown ripples everywhere.

"When COVID-19 hit, it really knocked our income," says Wentworth, a lifeline thrown to him by a business contact.

READ MORE: NSW records 1542 new coronavirus cases and nine further deaths

"I spent about eight weeks on the floor, selling our potatoes. There's a lot of broken people out there I can tell you, broken."

Catherine Velisha, the veggie queen of Werribee, between Melbourne and Geelong, is also giving to the Thankful4Farmers campaign.

"Your employees are stressed; they come to you with things that you don't have answers for, the government doesn't have answers," says Catherine.

"I guess we're just grateful that we can still keep going, and we can help other people keep going as well with some fresh produce."

READ MORE: How North Korea's parade reveals country is 'clearly suffering'

So now in a function room of the council chambers, rows of open boxes show the generosity of Wentworth, Catherine, and a sizeable mob of like-minded farmers and businesses, sparked by the desire to give to the troubled in the city.

"From broccoli to celery and cauliflowers and bok choy and apples and pears, those boxes were absolutely overflowing," she said.

"That's what community's all about."

By RNZ Police say they have checked more than 58,000 vehicles on the borders of Auckland in the past three days – and turned around 554.Auckland police say the numbers turned back at the checkpoints is less than one percent…

A leading epidemiologist has warned Victoria's coronavirus cases could soar to 1000 daily infections by the end of the month – on par with New South Wales.

The alarming estimate comes as the state recorded 334 new COVID-19 cases today, a figure that is set to rise as the Delta variant continues to rip through the community.

Professor Mary-Louise McLaws told 9News today data showed Victoria could soon be reporting quadruple-digit case numbers similar to NSW.

"I've looked at the data and I've analysed it from a couple of different perspectives," she said.

LIVE UPDATES: Vaccinated Aussies returning from overseas must still quarantine

"I agree with a model that says that soon, probably by the end of the month, that they could be at the same level as NSW."

Professor McLaws put the case number growth rate down to the rapid speed at which the Delta strain had torn through the state.

"It's the speed at which Delta moves and you've got just over 300 cases daily, and the growth rate hasn't slowed down," she said.

"There is no indication that you're peaking or slowing down.

"So unless there is some rapid intervention in those three hot spots particularly, and in the young group, then you'll continually see numbers rise.

"The exponential explosion will be huge."

While Sydneysiders will enjoy more freedoms once NSW reaches its 70 per cent double-dose vaccination threshold, there is no guarantee Victorians will get the same freedoms.

A roadmap is in the works but the Victorian Government is pleading for patience and to analyse new Burnet Institute modelling, stressing people will die if they don't act cautiously.

https://twitter.com/VicGovDH/status/1436099442592018443?s=20

A Coburg man in his 70s is the latest person to die with coronavirus in the state.

Professor McLaws said she did not believe the government needed to wait for modelling in order to announce a plan to exit lockdown.

"I don't think the government needs to wait for the modelling," she said.

"Certainly it's important to plan and have an idea of how many beds and staff you may need.

"But certainly people need some positive future. Previously this government has understood the impact of lockdown and I think that they can move forward with some very sensible outbreak management approach.

"It doesn't need modelling."

Train services hit by mass disruptions after positive case

Victoria's regional train services have been hit with mass disruptions after a driver tested positive.

The V/Line train driver's infection sparked a shortage of train drivers after he attended a staff room at Melbourne's Southern Cross Station, forcing 160 drivers and operation staff into two weeks of isolation.

Road Safety Minister Ben Carroll warned up to 100 V/Line train services would be disrupted today, with some 50 services cancelled this afternoon and evening.

"Health advice requires more than 160 drivers and operation staff to isolate – as a result, only a small number of services are able to operate to the normal timetable for the rest of the day," a Department of Transport statement read.

"50 V/Line services have been cancelled this afternoon and this evening. Coaches will replace trains on most lines, passengers are urged to allow extra time for their journeys."

The infected train driver travelled to Gippsland and attended the staff room while asymptomatic.

But Mr Carroll emphasised the driver "wore a mask" and "did the right things" while on the job.

https://twitter.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/1436148712686829585

Victoria's COVID-19 cases

Victoria's 334 COVID-19 cases include:

• 190 cases in the northern suburbs, including Craigieburn and Roxburgh Park
• 100 cases in the western suburbs, including Truganina and Altona North
• Nine cases in the eastern suburbs
• 16 cases in the south-eastern suburbs, including Noble Park and Frankston
• Four cases in regional Victoria: one is the V/Line staff member who lives in Gippsland, the second is a construction worker from Mitchell Shire, the third is a call centre worker from King Lake and the fourth is a case in Bacchus Marsh

"I am a little bit concerned about the number of cases creeping into the south-east," COVID-19 Response Commander Jeroen Weimar said.

"We are obviously dealing with significant community transmission in the north and west of our city.

"We are seeing a little bit of seeding out to the south and east."

READ MORE: NSW students awaiting clarity for exams as vaccine push receives boost

'Don't go to regional Victoria for vaccines'

A stern warning has been issued for Melburnians using vaccinations as an excuse to enter regional Victoria, with government officials today clarifying it's not a reason to cross the border.

Mr Weimar said he was aware of some Melburnians using vaccinations as a loophole to enter regional Victoria, which is not permitted.

"If you live in metro Melbourne you can go to any vaccination centre in metro Melbourne," he said.

"You cannot go to regional Victoria for a vaccination, you cannot go to regional Victoria for a test.

"That is not the behaviour we want to see."

Mr Weimar said he did not believe the issue was "widespread".

Businesses left 'disappointed' by regional announcement

A Victorian publican has praised a plan unveiled by New South Wales in reopening to vaccinated patrons after months of lockdowns.

From today regional Victoria – except for Shepparton – is open but there are strict limits on numbers, which David Strange said will make his business, and many others, not financially viable.

Hospitality venues can welcome back just 10 patrons inside and 20 outdoors.

Mr Strange operates a pub in Metung in East Gippsland and said businesses have been left "disappointed" by Premier Daniel Andrews' announcement.

"The business community is disappointed, we just would have liked more so we can run our businesses and employ people and serve the customers who want to come out of lockdown and get out of home," Mr Strange told Today.

"I see Gladys up your way has come out with something which is terrific, which gives people hope. We have Christmas five minutes away. I have to employ people. I have to train people, I have to order goods in. I have to prepare for it. And you know, it's not a five-minute job.

"It is a good four months' work ordering all the supplies in. The suppliers have the same problem I have got, so we need to plan and we need months of planning.

READ MORE: The restriction changes now in place for regional Victoria

"It's not a five-minute job running a business like a hospitality industry."

The patron caps will make it hard for businesses to make any profit, he said.

"But I am going to give it a go. I am trying to stay positive. We are going to have a very reduced menu.

"We have an area we can put people outside, so we can have 30 – when I say it like that it is just ridiculous, but I want the place to be open.

"It is not financially viable but I am hoping it will only be a week or two and if it was four or five months it would be a disaster but fingers crossed Dan will come around."

His staff will be vaccinated and patrons who haven't had the jab could be turned away.

"I have been working with my staff over the last month because I have had the view that it is going to be compulsory. I have to provide a safe working place for my staff."

READ MORE: Premier 'not shocked' as Victoria records 324 new coronavirus cases

Ninety per cent were already jabbed, he said.

"The other 10 per cent are just waiting their turn because they are young kids. 

"But I am hopefully, by the end of this monthly have 100 per cent uptake from the staff."

As for patrons, Mr Strange said those who are not vaccinated won't be welcome.

"I have come across a couple who aren't (vaccinated) and I have said to them, 'you know, it will be my decision and my decision will be probably in October you will have to be vaxxed to come in'.

"I can't have people come into my venue and giving each other this virus that could kill you for a simple vaccination, and my staff.

"I have to provide a safe working place and I can't have that sort of thing going around in the pub."

Yesterday Victoria recorded 324 new infections with the Premier warning Victorians the state had not yet reached the peak of its coronavirus outbreak.

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