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Under order by the Supreme Court, India's government agreed on Thursday to provide more medical oxygen to hospitals in the capital, potentially easing a two-week-old shortage that worsened the country's exploding coronavirus crisis.

Government officials also denied reports that they have been slow in distributing life-saving supplies donated from abroad.

The government raised the oxygen supply to 662 tonnes from 444 tonnes per day in New Delhi as ordered by the Supreme Court. The court intervened after 12 COVID-19 patients, including a senior doctor, died at New Delhi's Batra Hospital when it ran out of medical oxygen for 80 minutes last week.

READ MORE: Two million coronavirus tests to expire this month

On Wednesday night, 11 other COVID-19 patients died when pressure in an oxygen line dropped suddenly at a government medical college hospital in Chengalpet in southern India, possibly because of a faulty valve, The Times of India newspaper reported.

Hospital authorities said they repaired the oxygen line last week, but the consumption of oxygen had doubled since then, the newspaper said.

The number of new confirmed cases in India on Thursday breached 400,000 for the second time since the devastating surge began last month. The 412,262 new cases pushed the country's official tally to more than 21 million. The Health Ministry also reported 3980 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 230,168. Experts believe both figures are an undercount.

K Vijay Raghvan, a principal scientific adviser to the government, called the explosion of cases "a very critical time for the country."

READ MORE: Sydney arrivals questioned in Adelaide over NSW COVID hotspots

Demand for hospital oxygen has increased sevenfold since last month, a government official said, as India struggles to set up large oxygen plants and transport oxygen to where it is needed. India on Tuesday stated ferrying oxygen tankers from Bahrain and Kuwait in the Persian Gulf, officials said.

Most hospitals in India don't have their own plants that generate oxygen for patients, As a result, hospitals typically rely on liquid oxygen, which can be stored in cylinders and transported in tank trucks. But amid the virus surge, supplies in hard-hit places such as New Delhi have run critically short.

Dr Himaal Dev, chief of the critical care unit at Apollo Hospital in the southern city of Bengaluru, said COVID-19 patients in ICU wards require at least 10-15 litres of oxygen per minute because of their reduced lung function.

READ MORE: Five more suffer blood clotting after receiving AstraZeneca jab

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said India has enough oxygen but is facing capacity constraints in moving it. Most oxygen is produced in the eastern parts of India while the demand has risen in northern and western parts.

The outbreak has been spreading to neighbouring countries which share porous borders with India.

In Nepal, thousands of people rushed to leave the country ahead of a halt to all international flights because of spiking COVID-19 cases.

Nepali citizens leaving to report back for jobs in foreign countries or to visit family members and a few foreign tourists lined up at Kathmandu's airport before flights ceased at midnight Thursday. Domestic flights in Nepal have been halted since Monday.

Nepal's main cities and towns have been in lockdown since last month as the number of coronavirus cases and deaths continues to surge. Nepal recorded its highest daily infections with 8659 on Wednesday and 58 deaths, also a record.

READ MORE: 'I have to make decisions in the national interest' PM says over India ban

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the coronavirus situation with top officials on Thursday and told them to ramp up the vaccination drive.

The country, with nearly 1.4 billion people, has so far administered 162 million doses but is facing vaccine shortages.

The United States, Britain, Germany and several other nations are rushing therapeutics, rapid virus tests and oxygen, along with materials needed to boost domestic production of vaccines to ease pressure on the country's fragile health infrastructure.

India's vaccine production is expected to get a boost with the United States supporting a waiver of intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines.

Vaccine components from the U.S. that have arrived in India will enable the manufacture of 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, said Daniel B Smith, the senior diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.

Last month, Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, the world's biggest vaccine maker, appealed to President Joe Biden to lift the embargo on US export of raw materials, which he said was affecting its production of COVID-19 shots.

The government meanwhile described as "totally misleading" Indian media reports that it took seven days to come up with a procedure for distributing urgent medical supplies that started arriving from overseas on April 25.

It said in a statement that a mechanism for allocating supplies received by India has been put in place for effective distribution. The Indian Red Cross Society is involved in distributing the supplies from abroad, it said.

A B-double tanker driver has been arrested after leaving the scene of a crash in downtown Melbourne that left five pedestrians injured, two of them critically.

Witnesses told police the truck left the road and hit a traffic light near the intersection of City Road and Power Street in Southbank about 7pm.

"It appears that while performing the left-hand turn the truck cut the intersection corner and mounted the footpath, taking out the traffic light which fell to the ground," Victoria Police said, in a statement.

Police had earlier said investigators were told the truck had collided with the group of people as well as the traffic light.

https://twitter.com/tpwkelly/status/1390270289485787139

Four men and a woman, all believed to be aged in their 20s and 30s, were injured.

Police said the vehicle left the scene via Power Street.

A driver who saw the crash followed the tanker and passed on information that led to police finding the truck at Truganina, about 20 kilometres west of Southbank.

Police arrested a 64-year-old driver from Wyndham Vale, who detectives were speaking to overnight.

Major collision investigation unit detectives appealed for anyone who saw the incident or had dashcam footage to come forward.

https://twitter.com/VictoriaPolice/status/1390312788816535553

Ambulance Victoria said two of the injured men, believed to be in their 20s, were taken to the Alfred Hospital. One was in a critical condition, the other was serious but stable.

The other pedestrians, one critically injured and the other two in a serious but stable condition, were taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Paramedics said all five suffered lower-body injuries.

Harry Ledingham, who works at My Goodness nearby, said he didn't realise what had happened until he heard the sirens.

He said an "army of fire trucks" was blocking the scene for about an hour and a half and an investigation team remained afterwards.

"It's shocking," he said.

"It's a bit of a reality check. That sort of stuff doesn't happen every day."

The crash scene is expected to remain cordoned off throughout the night.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

It's a childhood dream come true.

Disney has somehow managed to create a realistic lightsaber that can extend and retract at the press of a button.

But don't get too excited – there's a chance it may never hit shelves.

They've been tight-lipped, but in an investor call a few months back Disney let loose their plans to create the dream. 

READ MORE: Engineer creates world's first retractable 'Star Wars' lightsaber

Since then blueprints have been unveiled, and some have even gone to great lengths to create 3D renders of how it would work. 

But we don't need to wait any longer.

In a teaser video published earlier this week, Disney Parks shared a 13-second video that shows the prototype lightsaber in action. 

Before you get your wallet out, only guests who stay at Disney's upcoming Star Wars resort in Florida will be the first to see it in action.

The upcoming, "all-immersive" Star Wars resort, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, is still under construction and we're yet to see any physical interior of the ship. But we know it's going to be packed with activities for people of all ages. 

READ MORE: How to catch a glimpse of Baby Yoda from Earth

Galactic Starcruiser will offer a two-night stay "aboard" a Star Wars spaceship which sends you at lightspeed (virtually) into space.

And while it may seem that they're essentially locking you in a big simulation building for two days, that doesn't mean it's any less exciting. 

In a blog, Disney Parks says guests will have the opportunity to train in the ways of the lightsaber.

"Watching that lightsaber activate right before your eyes will be just one of the countless ways that, from the moment you arrive to the moment you depart, you'll be plunged into a Star Wars story," the post read. 

READ MORE: Disney confirms new Star Wars series, The Book of Boba Fett

And while we haven't seen the new lightsaber retract just yet, we presume this is coming when Disney is ready to unveil their multi-million-dollar attraction. 

The lightsaber has been created by Walt Disney's Imagineering Research and Development team at Disney Parks. 

It's true, we have other types of toy lightsabers available to buy. But this is the first of its kind. No plastic insertable blades, no violent flick of the wrist, no push down spring release. 

This is the real deal. 

There's no price point, we don't know how big it is and we don't actually know how readily available it'll be (or if it'll even be available for sale) – but this doesn't mean every Star Wars fan in the galaxy isn't excited. 

But how does the lightsaber work exactly? 

The patented design for the lightsaber is publicly available online. It explains in great detail how it operates and the materials required. 

The concept has been compared to placing two builder's measuring tapes together, the tapes slightly wrap around each other, with another retractable spool of LEDs in the centre. 

The patent reads, "The device includes two long plastic semi-cylinders, and these two blade body members are rolled perpendicular to their length, which creates compact cylinders of material of small volume that can be provided on a pair of spools in a hilt.

"To extend the blade, a motor provided in the hilt unrolls the blade body members from the spools."

The below 3D render by Ben Ridout illustrates the lightsaber's function in layman's terms.

https://twitter.com/benridout/status/1381412831707422721

It's not clear if we'll see anything else regarding the lightsaber any time soon. 

We'll just have to wait for it to be unveiled at Walt Disney World next year. 

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic last year, paracetamol was almost as scarce as toilet paper.

The shortages affected many Australians, including Alex Philp, who needed pain relief after undergoing a knee reconstruction.

"I had to traipse around sometimes with two kids," she said.

READ MORE: New mothers react to world record breaking birth of nine babies

Global giant Johnson and Johnson was given approval to supply Tylenol until April this year. Now the product is here to stay.

"Now, coming into the market, it's a help as an alternative brand that customers can go to," Cabramatta East Day and Night Pharmacy's Vu Huynh said.

Industry analysts say paracetamol demand has increased, largely due to the ageing population.

But pricing customers away from market leader Panadol will be tough, according to IBISWorld industry analyst Liam Harrison.

"Tylenol is going to have a significant struggle trying to build up its own brand reputation in order to really be able to compete against Panadol," Mr Harrison said.

READ MORE: Former AMA head calls for vaccine confidence after 'concerning' clots

Government restrictions to combat misuse have made it harder to access codeine, and only last year long-acting paracetamol was placed behind the counter to tackle the disturbing rise in deliberate overdoses.

"It can lead to liver toxicity [and] liver failure," Dr Christina Abdel Shaheed from the University of Sydney said.

Last month experts uncovered the true benefits of paracetamol.

Among 44 conditions, they could only find evidence that the drug was effective in just four types of pain.

READ MORE: Study reveals way to reverse type 2 diabetes

"Those four conditions include knee and hip osteoarthritis, tension headache, perinatal pain following childbirth and craniotomy, which is the removal of part of the skull," Dr Abdel Shaheed said.

But Ms Philp believes pain relievers are effective.

"It was really important in my recovery," she said.

Dozens of firefighters are battling a blaze that has broken out in the chip aisle of a West Auckland supermarket tonight.Customers have been evacuated from WestCity mall in Henderson after a fire started in aisle 6 of the Countdown…

A teenage boy has been stabbed and another arrested at a school in western Sydney this afternoon.

Emergency services were called to Glenwood High School about 1.15pm and found a 16-year-old student with multiple stab wounds to his stomach.

An argument broke out at lunchtime and police will allege the younger boy pulled out an ornamental-style knife and stabbed the 16-year-old twice in the stomach.

READ MORE: Queensland man in ICU after receiving AstraZeneca jab

The school went into lockdown students told to stay inside.

An ambulance was called, and he was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening wounds.

He is in a stable condition, undergoing treatment at Westmead Hospital.

The 14-year-old was charged with wounding with intent and will face court tomorrow.

NSW Health has announced a new venue of concern connected to the current COVID-19 outbreak.

The update came after a raft of new COVID-19 restrictions went into effect at 5pm across the state.

Anyone who visited XOPP restaurant in Haymarket on Wednesday, April 28 between 1.30pm and 2.30pm has been asked to get tested and self-isolate until a negative result is received.

EXPLAINER: All the Greater Sydney restrictions

The health department has also updated its list of venues, with updated times.

Restrictions are now in place across Greater Sydney as health authorities work to find the missing link that saw a Woollahra couple test positive to coronavirus.

A man in his 50s from Sydney's Eastern Suburbs tested positive yesterday and today his wife was also confirmed to have contracted the virus.

LISTED: Every Sydney venue where patrons are urged to get tested

The restrictions will remain in place for Friday, Saturday and Sunday and are aimed at reducing any possible community transmission.

Authorities are still unable to determine where the couple contracted it, but genomic testing has found the strain is the same as a returned traveller.

The returned traveller came back from the United States on April 26 and entered hotel quarantine at the Park Royal in Darling Harbour, before testing positive to COVID-19 on his day one test, when he was moved to Sydney Health Accommodation on April 28.

READ MORE: Popular restaurant at busy shopping centre visited by COVID cases

"We are currently reviewing CCTV footage to look at how the transmission got from this individual to our case," Dr Chant said.

"What we're concerned about is that there is a missing link, because there is no direct contact that we've been able to establish yet."

New restrictions in place

No more than 20 people will be allowed in people's homes.

There will be no singing or dancing in indoor venues, including places of worship and entertainment venues. Weddings will be given an exception with health advice to limit patrons on the dancefloor to 20.

Mask-wearing will be compulsory at all public indoor places for the next three days.

The NSW Premier is urging Sydneysiders in particular to be cautious over the next few days, as it remained likely that unidentified cases were wandering around the city.

She urged everyone to follow the mask rules and, if going to a bar, to sit down while drinking.

"Enjoy Mother's Day – do what you would normally do," Ms Berejiklian said.

"We're actually saying to businesses, keep your doors open, just make sure you have a COVID safe plan."

She said she expected to be criticised by other state premiers for not going hard enough, but urged that it remained "business as usual" for businesses.

"Our decision is based on advice – it's proportionate," she said.

"If this was Queensland or WA or anywhere else, they would have shut down the whole city, they would have shut down businesses."

NSW's snap restrictions explained

The following measures will be effective from midday today(enforceable from 5pm) until 12.01am Monday, 10 May for the Greater Sydney region (including Wollongong, Central Coast and Blue Mountains):

• Visitors to households will be limited to 20 guests – including children;
• Masks will be compulsory on public transport and in all public indoor venues, such as retail, theatres, hospitals, aged care facilities and for front-of-house hospitality staff (except in a hospitality venue when eating or drinking);
• Drinking while standing up at indoor venues will not be allowed;
• Singing by audiences at indoor shows or by congregants at indoor places of worship will not be allowed;
• Dancing will not be allowed at indoor hospitality venues or nightclubs however, dancing is allowed at weddings with a strong recommendation that no more than 20 people should be on the dancefloor at any one time; and
• Visitors to aged care facilities will be limited to two people.

Additional restrictions for NSW Aged Care Facilities

Additional restrictions have been implemented for aged care facilities in the Greater Sydney region including Sydney, Nepean Blue Mountains and the Central Coast.

Going forward, a maximum of two visitors will be permitted per resident, per day.

All visitors and team members must wear a mask while inside the premises.

People who have been a close contact of the identified case or been at the casual contact locations will not be allowed to enter.

https://twitter.com/cokeefe9/status/1390108512466788352

'We know for sure' someone with COVID has been moving around Sydney

Ms Berejiklian has defended today's new restrictions as "reasonable" and "proportionate", saying that we know "for sure" that someone infectious with COVID-19 has been moving around in the community.

"At least one person with the virus has been going around their business and we haven't found them yet," she said.

"We don't know where they've been. We don't know if they've been to major events. We don't know who they've sat next to."

She said that today's measures, particularly around the use of masks, would help protect the community against becoming infected by those people, without unnecessarily impacting on businesses.

She said that the Blue Mountains and Wollongong had been included in the restrictions as many Sydneysiders commute there.

"Last time we were told, why were we including the Illawarra, and then the next day there was a handful of cases in the Illawarra," Ms Berejiklian said.

Locations

NSW Health advised on Thursday night a new venue of concern, XOPP restaurant, has been identified and others have been updated as part of ongoing investigations into two COVID-19 cases.

Tuesday, April 27:

– Fratelli Fresh, Westfield Sydney, F5 Pitt Street, Sydney , 1:15pm to 2:15pm

Wednesday, April 28:

– XOPP, Mezzanine level, 1 Little Pier Street in Haymarket, 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Thursday, April 29:

– Bondi Trattoria, 34 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach , 12.45pm to 1.30pm

Friday, April 30:

– District Brasserie, Chifley Square, 11am – 11:45am

– HineSight Optometrist, Sofitel Sydney, Wentworth, 12pm – 1pm

– Barbetta, Paddington, 1:30pm – 2:30pm

– Event Cinemas (not including those who attended screening of The Courier), Westfield Bondi Junction, 6pm – 8pm

– Figo Restaurant, Rushcutters Bay, 8.45pm – 11pm

Saturday, May 1:

– Joe's Barbeques & Heating, Silverwater, 1pm – 1.45pm

– Tucker Barbecues, Silverwater, 1pm – 1.45pm

– Barbeques Galore, Annandale, 2pm – 3pm

– Barbeques Galore, Casula, 3:35pm to 4:05pm

– BP Runway, Cnr Butler Road, General Holmes Dr, Mascot, 4.30pm – 5pm

Sunday, May 2:

– The Meat Store, Bondi Junction, 3pm – 4pm

Monday, May 3:

– The Stadium Club, Moore Park, 11.30am-12.30pm

– Azure Café, Moore Park, 12.30pm-1pm

– The Royal Sydney Golf Club (bridge room and club bar), Rose Bay, 5:20pm to 10:00pm

Tuesday, May 4:

– Rug Cleaning Repairs Hand Rug Wash Sydney, Brookvale, 12.30pm-1pm

– Alfresco Emporium, Collaroy, 1pm-2pm

– SMITH MADE, Balgowlah, 2.30pm-2.45pm

– Chemist Warehouse, Double Bay, 3.45pm-4pm

– Woolworths, Double Bay, 4.05pm-4.15pm

The full list of venues of concern and advice for those who attended the venues is available on the NSW Health website. People are urged to check the website regularly for updates.

An Adelaide hoon has been filmed driving 160 kilometres an hour in a 100 zone.

After the driver put lives on the line, they bragged about their racing online.

It has sparked calls in South Australia to crush the cars of dangerous drivers.

READ MORE: Hoon caught driving at 181km/h in South Australia

This incident comes after a teenager was caught driving at 181km/h.

South Australia Police Commissioner Grant Stevens is waiting for the government to finalise legislation to treat dangerous drivers as criminals.

READ MORE: Rescue after man falls on bulk carrier ship

Those laws are currently being drafted by the government.

It expects them to be finalised and ready to introduce them into the parliament in the coming weeks.