Test your brains with the Herald’s morning quiz. Be sure to check back on nzherald.co.nz at 3pm for the afternoon quiz. To challenge yourself with more quizzes, CLICK HERE.

NSW Health has allowed the affluent Scots College to bus students from the Greater Sydney lockdown out to regional NSW for an annual six-month stay at an outdoor education campus.

The department on Wednesday confirmed the roughly two-hour journey from one of the school's Sydney campuses to the Glengarry campus west of Kangaroo Valley was allowed under current public health orders.

"This is not an excursion or a school trip. The students will be based at the campus in Kangaroo Valley for a period of about six months," NSW Health said, in a statement.

READ MORE: Twelve-day window at two venues on Sydney's COVID-19 exposure sites list

"Staff and students relocating from the campus in Greater Sydney are subject to the stay-at-home order when they relocate. NSW Health has provided advice in relation to COVID safety measures."

Greater Sydney's lockdown confines hundreds of thousands of school children to home learning and prevents people leaving the region for any but a few limited exceptions.

On Wednesday, the lockdown was extended for at least two more weeks.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she needed to get the number of COVID-19 patients who were infectious in the community "as close to zero as possible" before there was any hope of ending the lockdown.

Scots College principal Ian Lambert said the college sought guidance and received approval from NSW Health for them to make the journey to what the school's website describes as a "unique outdoor education, six-month residential experience for all Year 9 students".

The priority of the school, which also advised police and the local council, was to "meet and exceed the requirements" of public health orders.

READ MORE: Inside Sydney's COVID-19 intensive care unit

https://www.instagram.com/p/CI2Q7mRnFO_/

The principal said the students had been in home isolation for 14 days and tested negative to COVID-19, with anyone showing "the mildest of symptoms" blocked from travelling.

"Following their arrival, students and staff are in a full lockdown for an additional 14 days," Dr Lambert said, adding that any supplies would be dropped at the locked front gate.

"This means there are no visitors, including college employees or contractors in contact with the students.

"All students and staff will be following the NSW Health recommendation that masks be worn indoors whilst at school.

"Staff who live on the campus will run the program. Staff with families living onsite will remain separate from the boys. Staff who have any risk factors have been directed not to be on campus and to work from home."

After 14 days, the boys will be tested for COVID-19 again.

The Scots College describes the Glengarry program as "a rite of passage into manhood" and says it is "often recalled by old boys of the college as the highlight of their time at Scots".

It includes a 200km hike — The Long Journey Home — from the campus back to Sydney that involves mountain biking, hiking, canoeing and a ferry ride from Bundeena to Rose Bay.

Victorians must again wear masks any time they're indoors or in crowded outdoor spaces.

Acting Chief Health Officer Clare Looker made the announcement late last night, about 90 minutes before the new rules were due to come into force at midnight.

From today, masks would be "mandatory indoors (not at home) unless an exception applies – this includes all workplaces, and secondary schools," Dr Looker said in a statement.

READ MORE: PM rejects double standard claims after attack on lockdown payments

https://twitter.com/vicgovdh/status/1415287538676158467?s=21

"Masks must also be worn outdoors if you cannot maintain 1.5m distance from people who aren't from your household (such as at an outdoor event)."

The rules only apply to those 12 and over and there are some exceptions, with more detail to be available at the state's dedicated coronavirus website after the new rules come into force.

The Victorian government has ordered two schools to close due to infection fears after the state recorded seven new local COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, prompting Western Australia to slam its border shut.

The number of tier one exposure sites is soaring, with more than a dozen venues and public transport journeys added on Wednesday night alone.

READ MORE: Two schools close in Victoria after people test positive to COVID-19

Victoria's COVID-19 response commander, Jeroen Weimar, said authorities were working around the clock to trace and contain the latest cases.

"The next two days are critical … we are right on the heels of this outbreak," he said, foreshadowing a Wednesday afternoon review of restrictions.

"We will take fast and aggressive action as it is appropriate," he said.

The testing chief said exposure sites were likely to grow as contact tracers tracked the movement of the new cases.

The boss of a trucking company tried to "remove a spell" from a delusional driver who said he feared he'd been cursed hours before hitting and killing four police officers.

Convicted killer Mohinder Singh was lead into court unshackled and sat an arm's length from his victims' families as he recounted his version of events of last year's fatal crash for the first time.

Singh was giving testimony against his former boss, Connect Logistics manager Simon Tuteru.

Mr Tuteru is facing 77 charges, including four counts of manslaughter for allegedly failing his duty of care, after Mr Singh killed four police officers on the side of the Eastern Freeway in April last year.

A new police statement tendered to court revealed Singh had told Mr Tuteru he was tired, delusional and believed he'd been cursed by a witch.

Singh has claimed the 50-year-old "talked about witches and curses" then "placed his hand on my head and prayed, saying 'In Jesus' name I cast the spell out of you'".

Singh told the court Mr Tuteru asked him to do "one last load", then he could come back to see how he was feeling and go home.

But less than two hours after departing the depot, Singh ploughed his 19-tonne truck into Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King, Constable Glen Humphris and Constable Josh Prestney who were in the emergency lane.

The statement revealed Singh called Mr Tuteru immediately after the crash, telling him he fell asleep.

He has alleged his boss told him: "Don't say nothing to no one."

The magistrate will decide whether there is enough evidence for Mr Tuteru to go to trial tomorrow.

Senior Constable Taylor's husband Stuart Shulze was in court today and said it was important to him to face his wife's killer.

"I had to be satisfied myself that I could hear him say what he did that day," Mr Shulze said.

"That's what I wanted to hear."

Two Victorian schools have been forced to close as a result of potential COVID-19 exposure.

Barwon Heads Primary School, south-east of Geelong, and Bacchus Marsh Grammar, to Melbourne's north-east, have both closed temporarily, with some staff and students sent into isolation.

The Department of Health said an infected person was at Barwon Heads Primary on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week, while a confirmed case spent Monday at a Bacchus Marsh Grammar staff development day.

READ MORE: Tier One exposure sites continue to climb in Melbourne

It said Barwon Heads Primary School had been directed to close and public health teams were investigating potential exposure to the virus.

"Public health teams are working closely with the leadership and community at both schools," the department said, in a statement,

"Affected individuals will be contacted directly and further updates will be provided when they are available.

"The schools will not be listed as public exposure sites online as comprehensive record-keeping practices were in place."

READ MORE: Victoria shut out as state records new local coronavirus cases

Bacchus Marsh Grammar earlier confirmed a teacher had returned a positive COVID-19 test and the school would be closed for the rest of the week.

"We have been informed that a member of the teaching staff has tested positive for COVID-19. The teacher was at the School's Staff Day on Monday 12 July but has not been in contact with students on either Tuesday 13 July or Wednesday 14 July 2021," school Principal Andrew A Neal said in a statement.

"As a result of this result all staff who were at the Staff Day on Monday 12 July have been directed by the COVID-19 Public Health Division Department of Health to isolate and be tested.

"Given the need for testing of virtually all staff and the need for additional cleaning, there will be no classes at the Woodlea or Maddingley Campus on Thursday and Friday 15-16 July for all students.

"In the event of a longer period of confinement for staff, online learning would commence on Monday 19 July."

READ MORE: PM rejects double standard claims after attack on lockdown payments

The grammar school is awaiting instructions from the Department of Health regarding sanitation and cleaning of the school.

Victoria today recorded seven additional COVID-19 cases in addition to one confirmed overnight.

All cases are linked to known clusters.

Several exposure sites have been identified, including multiple Tier One locations.

The health department is regularly updating the list.

An armed man firing at police has been shot and killed in Hillcrest, Hamilton.Waikato district commander superintendent Bruce Bird said police were at an O’Donoghue St address last night seeking a person in relation to firearms…

A shocked bride-to-be and her furious father have told of their frustrations after their wedding accommodations were cancelled last second due to the NRL's COVID bubble move to Queensland.

Kathryn McDowall was due to marry longtime partner Andrew on the Sunshine Coast this Saturday – with the wedding party booking out 10 rooms at the Novotel Twin Waters.

The family have since been told that their longtime bookings have now been cancelled three days before the event, with their rooms going to The Newcastle Knights, Penrith Panthers, Sydney Roosters and Manly Sea Eagles.

READ MORE: Queensland warns of border closure 'considerations' as state records zero local cases

"They haven't even contacted her, and she found out from an uncle," Kathryn's father Kevin told 9News.

"You know, I'm furious."

Kathryn's uncle, supposed to be travelling from Melbourne, only received the email notification last night.

The email reading:

"Regretfully, the Novotel Sunshine Coast Resort has just been advised today that from tomorrow … the property will become a quarantine hotel for 15 days and is now obliged to cancel all upcoming bookings through that period."

"So (Mum) called the hotel straight away, saying 'hey what's the go with our booking? Is it cancelled?' and they were like 'Yep, that's it', Kathryn told 9News.

When asked for comment, a Novotel Representative told 9News that "This isn't something we're able to comment on."

The Queensland Government has also shifted responsibility towards the NRL, with Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles saying that the League should do "everything they can" to help the family.

"There weren't three empty hotels or resorts that the NRL could move into," Mr Miles said.

"I'd simply call on the NRL to do everything they can to accommodate this wedding to help them to find an alternative venue and to appropriately assist and compensate them.

9News understands that the NRL has today reached out to both the hotel and the family.

While Kathryn's family and wedding party have since been able to find scattered accommodation, they still feel like they've been blindsided.

A mother was forced to throw her young child from a burning building during rioting in South Africa set off by the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma.

Footage shot by media outlets captured the child being thrown from a building in the city of Durban that was on fire after ground-floor shops were looted.

The mother and child were later safely reunited.

READ MORE: South Africa riots over jailing of ex-leader Jacob Zuma

The death toll climbed to 72 from rioting yesterday, with many people trampled to death during looting at stores, as police and the military fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to try to halt the unrest.

More than 1200 people have been arrested in the lawlessness that has raged in poor areas of two provinces, where a community radio station was ransacked and forced off the air yesterday and some COVID-19 vaccination centres were closed, disrupting urgently needed inoculations.

Many of the deaths in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces occurred in chaotic stampedes as thousands of people stole food, electric appliances, liquor and clothing from stores, police Major-General Mathapelo Peters said in a statement last night.

He said 27 deaths were being investigated in KwaZulu-Natal province and 45 in Gauteng province.

In addition to the people crushed, he said police were investigating deaths caused by explosions when people tried to break into ATM machines, as well as other fatalities caused by shootings.

The violence broke out after Zuma began serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court on Thursday.

He had refused to comply with a court order to testify at a state-backed inquiry investigating allegations of corruption while he was president from 2009 to 2018.

The unrest spiralled into a spree of looting in township areas of the two provinces, although it has not spread to South Africa's other seven provinces, where police are on alert.

"The criminal element has hijacked this situation," Premier David Makhura of Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, said.

More than half of South Africa's 60 million people are living in poverty, with an unemployment rate of 32 per cent, according to official statistics.

The pandemic, with job layoffs and an economic downturn, has increased the hunger and desperation that helped propel the protests triggered by Zuma's arrest into wider rioting.

"We understand that those unemployed have inadequate food. We understand that the situation has been made worse by the pandemic," an emotional Mr Makhura said on the state South African Broadcasting Corp.

"But this looting is undermining our businesses here (in Soweto). It is undermining our economy, our community. It is undermining everything."

The deployment of 2500 soldiers to support the South African police has so far failed to stop the rampant looting, although arrests were being made in some areas in Johannesburg, including Vosloorus in the eastern part of the city.

Greater Sydney faces at least two more weeks of lockdown, after 97 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 were reported.

Of those, 24 cases were infectious while in the community. That is the key number Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she needs "as close to zero as possible" before there is any hope of ending the lockdown.

Ms Berejiklian said home learning for hundreds of thousands of school children would continue for at least another two weeks, while warning she had no "crystal ball".

READ MORE: Scots College allowed to bus students from locked down Sydney to regional NSW

"We will know at the end of two weeks to what extent we need to extend the lockdown, whether there is any chance of face-to-face schooling ending," Ms Berejiklian said

But the current lockdown settings for what people can and can't do aren't about to change.

"I appreciate people are stressed and upset about what is going on, myself included," Ms Berejiklian said.

The vast majority of cases are being detected in south-west Sydney, with areas of most concern including Fairfield, Roselands, Rosebery, Canterbury, Belmore, Sutherland Shire, the St George area, Windsor, St Ives, Penrith and Bayside. 

READ MORE: What you need to know about Sydney's lockdown extension

READ MORE: Victoria tightens mask rules as COVID-19 outbreak spreads

Mobility data for Sydney showed movement inside the Fairfield LGA had tapered off considerably.

However, Ms Berejiklian said the same data showed too many people were moving around in the neighbouring Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool Council areas.

That was backed up by NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys, who on Wednesday said 201 coronavirus restriction tickets had been written in the last 24 hours, "the vast majority not in south-west Sydney".

Data on mobility and movement was a "key metric" informing NSW Health's coronavirus modelling, and lockdown calculations.

READ MORE: How to claim the COVID-19 Disaster Payment

"There are various different models," NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry explained, when asked whether government modelling was showing a two-week lockdown extension would be sufficient.

"What I can say to the community is that we need to decrease our movements, particularly in the areas of south-western Sydney and Canterbury Bankstown, St George, Sutherland, that sort of area."

Dr Chant defended the decision to keep Wollongong and the Blue Mountains locked down, despite no community transmission in those regions.

"What we know is that there are mobile workforces across the whole of Greater Sydney," she said.

READ MORE: NSW authorities shutdown idea of Melbourne style 'singles-bubble' during Sydney lockdown

"We are concerned that you can get seeding so until we reduce the burden of the disease in Greater Sydney, we are really still concerned with the mobility, the way workers move around."

When asked by reporters if the NSW lockdown was too soft, compared to Victoria, Ms Berejiklian said it was foolhardy to "compare apples and oranges" and that Sydney was fighting the highly transmissible Delta variant.

Victoria imposed much stricter health orders to stop movement when it faced multiple outbreaks.

Dr Chant said 70 of Wednesday's cases were from the south-western Sydney local health district, with "most" in the Fairfield LGA.

There are now 71 COVID-19 patients in hospital, with 20 in intensive care.

Of the 21 people in ICU, five are aged under 50.

Testing times for Fairfield residents wanting tests

Adding to the pressure on the system, new guidelines announced on Tuesday put intense pressure on testing stations in Fairfield.

On Wednesday morning, 9News filmed queues of cars stretching for kilometres, with Fairfield residents experiencing waits of more than five hours.

Ms Berejiklian acknowledged there had been major problems at Fairfield COVID-19 testing sites, and offered an apology, but she did not accept responsibility for the chaotic scenes.

She also rejected assertions she had imposed a lockdown on Sydney too late, leading to a lockdown which will now run for at least five weeks.

Mr Worboys said it was "a very challenging situation" around those testing centres.

https://twitter.com/lizziepearl/status/1415116710990925824

Some experts have predicted the lockdown, now in week three, could last for two months.

Cases have climbed as the Delta variant has swept through households, particularly in Sydney's south-west.

Health officials are concerned about a possible spread into regional NSW, with a fresh case detected yesterday in Goulburn, 200 kilometres south-west of Sydney.

That development led a raft of tough new testing measures focused on Fairfield, in Sydney's south-west, and essential workers travelling outside of Greater Sydney.

A Chinese surveillance ship is being tracked heading towards Queensland waters ahead of upcoming Australian-hosted military exercises.

The vessel is the high-tech general intelligence (AGI) ship Tianwangxing and is scheduled to arrive on Friday.

It is then expected to surveil the Talisman Sabre 2021 military exercises involving Australia, the US and other international forces which officially start today.

READ MORE: Australian warships 'to hold naval drills with UK strike group'

The Department of Defence told nine.com.au that it was monitoring the Chinese ship.

"Defence is aware that the People's Liberation Army (Navy) General Intelligence Ship Tianwangxing is approaching Australia's east coast via the Torres Strait," a Defence spokesman said.

"Australia monitors all vessels operating in our maritime approaches.

"Australia supports and respects the rights of all states to exercise lawful freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters and airspace, just as we expect others to respect our right to do the same."

Defence Minister Peter Dutton said the Australian Defence Force (ADF) had been tracking the Chinese naval vessel over recent days.

READ MORE: US warns China it stands behind South China Sea ruling

"We are aware that the People's Liberation Army (Navy) general intelligence ship Tianwangxing is approaching Australia's east coast via the Torres Strait," Mr Dutton said.

"We have been monitoring its approach to Australia for several days as part of Australia's broader surveillance effort."

Mr Dutton said he did not expect the presence of the Chinese naval ship to impede the Talisman Sabre exercises.

"We fully expected a ship of this class to arrive in our region during the exercise and have planned for its presence, as we do for every iteration," he said.

According to the US Navy, the Tianwangxing is equipped with advanced surveillance equipment that can intercept communication signals.

https://twitter.com/DeptDefence/status/1414806210780487681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Chinese naval vessels have previously monitored the biennial Talisman Sabre exercises.

The military drills involve armed forces from the US, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, the UK and Canada.