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Germany, France and Italy have this morning become the latest countries to suspend use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine over reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients, though the company and European regulators have said there is no evidence the shot is to blame.

Germany's health minister said the decision was taken on the advice of the country's vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which called for further investigation into seven reported cases of clots in the brains of people who had been vaccinated.

"Today's decision is a purely precautionary measure," Jens Spahn said.

READ MORE: What we know about the AstraZeneca vaccine

French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would likewise suspend shots at least until Tuesday afternoon, when the European Union's drug regulatory agency will weigh in on the vaccine. He said France hopes to resume using the formula soon.

Italy's medicines regulator, Aifa, also announced a precautionary, temporary ban.

The announcement followed by a day the latest known death of a person in Italy shortly after receiving the vaccine. A 57-year-old clarinet teacher, who received the vaccine in the northern Piedmont region on Saturday evening, as part of a national rollout for teachers, died at home early Sunday morning.

Autopsies have been ordered for that death, as well as to a handful of other deaths last week of others in Italy who had received the vaccine.

AstraZeneca: 37 reports in 17 million people

AstraZeneca said on its website that there have been 37 reports of blood clots out of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the 27-country European Union and Britain. The drugmaker said there is no evidence the vaccine carries an increased risk of clots.

In fact, it said the incidence of clots is much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of this size and is similar to that of other licensed COVID-19 vaccines.

READ MORE: 'No reason' for Australia to pause AstraZeneca vaccine rollout: expert

The European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organisation have also said that the data does not suggest the vaccine caused the clots and that people should continue to be immunised.

The AstraZeneca shot has become a key tool in European countries' efforts to vaccinate their citizens against COVID-19. But Pfizer's and Moderna's vaccines are also used on the continent, and Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine has been authorised but not yet delivered.

In the US, which relies on the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, AstraZeneca is expected to apply any day now for authorisation.

Blood clots can travel through the body and cause heart attacks, strokes and deadly blockages in the lungs. AstraZeneca reported 15 cases of deep vein thrombosis, or a type of clot that often develops in the legs, and 22 instances of pulmonary embolisms, or clots in the lungs.

Australia, Britain standing by vaccine

Denmark last week became the first country to temporarily halt use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in recent days to investigate. It said one person developed clots and died 10 days after receiving at least one dose. The other countries include Ireland, Thailand, the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Congo and Bulgaria.

Last week, Germany and France were among the nations that stuck by the shot, while Italy suspended only a specific batch of the vaccine. Australia and Britain have said they are standing by AstraZeneca's vaccine for now.

Spahn, the German health minister, said of the decision to suspend the AstraZeneca shot: "The most important thing for confidence is transparency." He said both first and second doses of the vaccine would be affected by the suspension.

German authorities have encouraged anyone who feels increasingly ill more than four days after receiving the shot — for example, with persistent headaches or dot-shaped bruises — to seek medical attention.

Germany has received slightly over 3 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Spahn said about 1.6 million doses of the shot have so far been administered in the country.

Q&A: What we know about the AstraZeneca vaccine

Is Australia planning to use the AstraZeneca vaccine?

Yes. Australia has secured about 54 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine with 50 million of them to be produced locally in Melbourne.The first shipment arrived in Australia at the end of February.

I'm Australian, which vaccine will I get?

Australia has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine. You will not be given a choice about which vaccine you get.

What does the government think about these blood clot developments?

Scott Morrison has moved to reassure Australians that the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is safe.He said there was no need for Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to reconsider the vaccine.The AstraZeneca vaccine was approved for use last month.

Myanmar's ruling junta has declared martial law in a wide area of the country's largest city, as security forces killed dozens of protesters over the weekend in an increasingly lethal crackdown on resistance to last month's military coup.

The developments were the latest setback to hopes of resolving the crisis that started with the military's February 1 seizure of power that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. A grassroots movement has sprung up across the country to challenge the takeover with almost daily protests that the army has tried to crush with increasingly deadly violence

State broadcaster MRTV said Monday that the Yangon townships of North Dagon, South Dagon, Dagon Seikkan and North Okkalapa have been put under martial law. That was in addition to two others — Hlaing Thar Yar and neighbouring Shwepyitha — announced late Sunday.

READ MORE: Australia suspends defence program with Myanmar over coup, violence

More violence was reported around the country on Monday, with at least eight protesters in four cities or towns killed, according to the independent broadcaster and news service Democratic Voice of Burma.

Photos and videos posted on social media showed long convoys of trucks entering Yangon.

At least 38 people were killed Sunday and dozens were injured in one of the deadliest days of the crackdown on anti-coup protesters, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent group tracking the toll of the violence. Death tolls compiled by other credible sources were almost twice that.

U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener condemned the "continuing bloodshed," which has frustrated calls from the Security Council and other parties for restraint and dialogue.

"The ongoing brutality, including against medical personnel and destruction of public infrastructure, severely undermines any prospects for peace and stability," she said.

READ MORE: YouTube pulls Myanmar military channels, UN to meet on crisis

Complicating efforts to organise new protests, as well as media coverage of the crisis, cellphone internet service has been cut, although access is still available through fixed broadband connections.

Mobile data service had been used to stream live video coverage of protests, often showing security forces attacking demonstrators. It previously had been turned off only from 1am to 9am for several weeks, with no official explanation.

The blockage of internet service forced postponement of a court hearing in the capital, Natpyitaw, for Myanmar's detained leader Suu Kyi, who was supposed to take part via a video conference, said her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw. Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained during the coup, and have been charged with several criminal offences that their supporters believe are politically motivated to keep them locked up.

Since the takeover, Myanmar has been under a nationwide state of emergency, with military leaders in charge of all government. But Sunday's announcement was the first use of martial law since the coup and suggested more direct handling of security by the military instead of police.

READ MORE: Six journalists arrested covering Myanmar protests face possible jail

Sunday's announcement said the junta, formally called the State Administrative Council, acted to enhance security and restore law and order, and that the Yangon regional commander has been entrusted with administrative, judicial and military powers in the area under his command. The orders cover six of Yangon's 33 townships, all of which suffered major violence in recent days.

Thirty-four of Sunday's deaths were in Yangon. At least 22 occurred in Hlaing Thar Yar township, an industrial area with many factories that supply the garment industry, a major export earner for Myanmar. Several of the factories, many of which are Chinese-owned, were set aflame Sunday by unknown perpetrators.

The torching earned protesters a rebuke from the Chinese Embassy, which in turn received an outpouring of scorn on social media for expressing concern about factories but not mentioning the dozens of people killed by Myanmar's security forces.

Four other deaths were reported in the cities of Bago, Mandalay, and Hpakant, according to the AAPP and local media.

Protesters in the past week in response to increased police violence have begun taking a more aggressive approach to self-defence, burning tires at barricades and pushing back when they can against attacks.

READ MORE: 'Deep concern' after Australian detained in Myanmar

A statement issued Sunday by the Committee Representing Pyihtaungsu Hluttaw, the elected members of Parliament who were not allowed to take their seats, announced that the general public has the legal right to self-defence against the junta's security forces.

The group, which operates underground inside the country and with representatives abroad, has established itself as a shadow government that claims to be the sole legitimate representative body of Myanmar's citizens. It has been declared treasonous by the junta.

A small respite from the latest violence came before dawn Monday, when several dozen anti-coup protesters in southern Myanmar held candlelight vigils with calls for the end of the military government and a return to democracy.

In Kyae Nupyin village, in Launglone township, villagers read Buddhist texts and prayed for the safety and security of all those risking their lives in the face of the increasingly lethal response of the security forces.

The area around the small city of Dawei has become a hot spot for resistance to the military takeover. On nearby country roads, a long convoy of motorcyclists carried the protest message through villages.

In Dawei itself, demonstrators built barricades out of rocks to hinder police on the main roads. There were marches, both in the morning and the afternoon, to try to keep up the momentum of weeks of resistance to the takeover.

A review of quarantine hotel CCTV footage has left NSW health authorities baffled as to how a security guard was exposed to the coronavirus.

The footage appeared to show every protocol had been followed before the 47-year-old became infected, likely from a returned traveller while working on the 11th floor of the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth.

NSW Health on Monday released new hotspot locations amid fears the guard could have passed on a more infectious UK strain of the coronavirus at a leisure centre and a Coles supermarket in Sydney's south-west.

AS IT HAPPENED: Brisbane quarantine hotel in lockdown

The guard's diagnosis broke the state's 55-day run without a locally acquired infection, but the news on Monday that no further cases had been detected raised hopes the potential outbreak had been contained.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said a review of CCTV footage showed the guard was always masked, at least 1.5 metres from the infected traveller's unopened door, and wasn't involved in their transfer to hospital quarantine.

"At the moment there is not a clear and obvious breach that explains it," Dr Chant said.

Despite no new cases being detected on Monday, authorities are pushing for mass testing, with the Hurstville Aquatic Leisure Centre and the Coles at Hurstville station added to the public health alert risk.

Anyone who in the stadium and gymnasium area of the leisure centre on Wednesday, March 10, between 4.15pm and 5.30pm should monitor for symptoms.

If symptoms appear, they should immediately get tested and isolate until a negative result is received, NSW Health said. If symptoms reappear, get tested again.

https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1371336051176869891

The same warning applies for anyone at the Coles at Hurstville station on Saturday, March 13, between 7.30am and 7.40am

Anyone at the same Coles on Wednesday, March 10, between 9.15pm and 9.46pm must also monitor for symptoms and get tested if they appear.

Earlier, it was reported NSW recorded no further new cases of locally acquired COVID-19 after a security guard in the hotel quarantine system was diagnosed yesterday. 

"We are relieved to say this morning that there are not any further cases of community transmission," Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1371251486672359425

"There were more than 8000 people tested, notwithstanding it was over the weekend.  

"We are pleased about those numbers and encourage anybody with the mildest of symptoms to come forward." 

The 47-year-old man works in security at two quarantine hotels, the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth and the Mantra Hotel in Haymarket and worked while infectious.

NSW Health today confirmed the security guard tested positive to the UK strain. Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said he most likely became infected at the Sofitel hotel.

He is the one locally acquired case recorded in Monday's coronavirus figures.

NSW Health has reviewed CCTV footage of the man's shift to establish a source point. 

Other overseas travellers quarantining on floor 11 of the Sofitel will now have their quarantine extended until March 23 while contact tracers establish the exact source of the infection.

State health authorities have also issued a series of health alerts for possible exposure sites around Sydney, including a pancake house in Bexley now considered a high-risk venue.

Anyone who attended the Pancakes On The Rocks at Beverly Hills on March 13 between 10.45am and 12pm is now considered a close contact and has been ordered to self-isolate for 14 days regardless of a negative test result.

9News understands the positive case has been removed from the Sofitel Wentworth hotel.

NSW is due to ease COVID-19 restrictions further this week after going 55 days with no community transmission before the security guard tested positive.

NSW reaches vaccine target

NSW has surpassed its initial goal of vaccinating 35,000 frontline health workers in the first three weeks of the rollout.

So far, more than 37,000 people have received a jab with a further 80,000 people to be vaccinated over the next three-week period.

Almost half of those 80,000 will be receiving their follow-up or second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. 

Some 30,000 of those recipients will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine. 

As many as 99 vaccine hubs will be in operation in regional and rural NSW to vaccinate high-risk individuals and key health workers. 

A disqualified driver has been charged after allegedly crashing a car on a test drive and fleeing the scene while a man lay trapped in an overturned car in Sydney today.

The 42-year-old Sydney man was test driving a Toyota Celica along Frazer Avenue in the south-west suburb of Lurnea when he collided with a Chery hatchback travelling along Graham Avenue.

The crash sent the hatchback spinning and flipping onto its roof, not far from where a jogger had run past less than 30 seconds earlier, captured on a neighbour's security camera.

Police said the 56-year-old passenger in the flipped car was briefly trapped before being treated for suspected neck and back injuries and taken to Liverpool Hospital. 

The driver, a 43-year-old woman, was uninjured and the Celica driver left the scene before police arrived, they said.

After making inquiries, police discovered the vehicle had been on a test drive and arrested the 42-year-old man at his house in nearby Casula.

He was charged with negligent driving, not giving way, providing his details to the other driver and driving while disqualified.

He was refused bail to appear in Liverpool Local Court on Tuesday.

Three months after former Rebels bikie boss Nick Martin was shot dead in Perth, detectives have raided a property in Waikiki.

Officers swooped on the residence in Shoalhaven Place, with forensics paying special attention to a boat parked out front.

Several properties were raided today in Perth's southern suburbs.

READ MORE: Video obtained of moments before Rebels bikie shooting

They are believed to be connected to the case.

Police have vowed to stop at nothing to catch the killer.

Martin was at the Kwinana Motorplex arena with his family and hundreds of other people on a December weekend last year when he was targeted in what police believe was a sniper attack from more than 300 metres away.

The bullet went straight through the 51-year-old's chest and into his son-in-law, Ricky Chapman, who was sitting behind him in the stands.

A young boy known to the family was also injured during the shooting but did not require hospital attention.

The shot travelled between 300 and 340 metres to hit its target, with detectives at the time locating flattened grass on the perimeter of the Perth Motorplex where they believe the sniper was positioned.

A great-grandmother accused of pulling a rifle out on a group of youths in Darwin faced court today for the first time.

Lorraine Welch, 75, is currently facing a Northern Territory court over the allegation.

She's accused of pulling out a gun on a group of youths during their Friday night car cruise at East Arm boat ramp in Darwin, last month.

However, Ms Welch claimed she did not point the weapon at anybody.

She claimed she climbed back into bed shortly after the alleged incident, before the police Tactical Response Group arrived.

Ms Welch has lived in a motorhome for more than three decades.

"They were pointing guns at me in the back of my truck," she told 9News.

"'Get out of that truck, get down here', and I said, 'yeah okay, I'll come, I'm coming', and I said, 'I've got to be a bit slower because I've had both hips replaced'."

Ms Welch was charged with four counts of aggravated assault, carrying a firearm in a public place, possessing a firearm under the influence, and failing to meet storage requirements.

Her lawyer told the court today Ms Welch was injured from this experience, suffering broken legs.

"I'll never, ever come back to Darwin again," Ms Welch said.

"I'll never set foot in the Territory again, I'll just drive straight through.

"I will be writing about this, and that's going to put a lot of tourists off, because these are tourist papers that I write for."

Ms Welch will attend court again next month.

From Brisbane's King George Square to the Queensland Parliament, and right around the country, they marched in their tens of thousands.

Not because they wanted to but because the moment demanded it.

"No one wants to protest," one Women's March 4 Justice protester told 9News.

"No one wants to walk the streets and demand to be respected.

"This shouldn't be a reality, but it is."

READ MORE: Tracy Grimshaw slams Prime Minister's absence from March 4 Justice rally

The movement that began with a tweet rolled into Monday as a powerful force for change as organisers registered more than 40 rallies around the country.

https://twitter.com/janine_hendry/status/1364723860126375941

They were demanding all politicians address and "put an end to the issues of sexism, misogyny, dangerous workplace cultures and lack of equality in politics and the community at large".

Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, who has alleged she was raped by a male colleague, declared the "system is broken" as she spoke to the March 4 Justice crowd in Canberra.

"We are here because it is unfathomable that we are still having to fight this same stale, tired fight," she said.

"It's time our leaders on both sides of politics stop avoiding the public and side-stepping accountability. It's time we actually address the problem."

Hours earlier, organisers in the nation's capital rejected Prime Minister Scott Morrison's offer of a meeting "behind closed doors", saying "we have already come to the front door, it's up to the Government to cross the threshold and come to us".

Federal Liberal MP Katie Allen told Today she was "disappointed" with the decision and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack refused to commit to or rule out attending the rally.

READ MORE: Women's protest organiser demands change during confrontation with Deputy PM

But in Brisbane, there was no such hesitancy, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Deputy Premier Steven Miles, Health Minister Yvette D'Ath and other senior politicians lending their support.

Marchers' banners and voices wound down rainy Edward and Charlotte streets in the CBD.

It's unclear how many protesters joined in but some said it was the largest crowd they'd ever seen.

"We don't need another survey, we don't need training, we need action now," Queensland Council of Unions assistant general secretary Jacqueline King told the assembled masses.

Further afield they took to the streets on the Sunshine Coast and in Cairns.

"All the incidents in our lives, the mistreatments, the sexual harassment, discrimination, we've had a gut full, it's over," another marcher said.

A mouse plague in western NSW is decimating crops, destroying livelihoods and leaving some businesses at breaking point.

Record rains and a bumper crop were supposed to bring farmers relief, but it also attracted millions of rodents.

The Whiteley family farm in Warren, 500 kilometres from Sydney, has been hit hard over the last few years, but last summer saw a harvest to make up for the hardship.

READ MORE: Farmers forecast to earn record $66 billion despite trade tensions, pandemic

But the plague of millions of mice running rampant across the state's central west has snatched that away.

"It's a punishment for the good season we've had, that's just nature's cycle," Tim Whiteley told 9News.

"The mice have just overrun us; we had a go at harvesting the other day but it's basically a write-off."

READ MORE: Border shutdowns to impact fruit and vegetable prices

Tim and his dad Greg believe the mice have robbed them of hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of grain.

"It's certainly the worst I've seen in my farming career," Tim said.

The Macquarie Valley Motor Inn has also been hit hard, with 97 mice chased out of just two rooms.

"Every business in town is struggling, every single one," Ben Meyer said.

The Meyers have had to cancel bookings with mice overrunning management.

"We've had two guests bitten, the wife's been bitten, and I'm fairly sure the eldest daughter is being bitten by them," he added.

CSIRO researcher Steven Henry said beyond the financial impact, the situation can also have "a significant impact on your social wellbeing and that's something that we don't really think about".

By RNZ Queenstown has gone from being described as tourism’s crown jewel to a community facing vitriol – and told it’s getting what it deserves.Businesses say it’s not just the iconic destination that’s been in the cross-hairs…