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New South Wales and Victoria have thrown their borders back open to all of New Zealand, after Australia's Chief Medical Officer declared Auckland no longer a COVID-19 hotspot.

From 12.01am on Friday, March 12, travellers who have been in New Zealand's biggest city during the past 14 days are no longer subject to hotel quarantine when flying into Sydney or Melbourne. 

However, they must still undergo a PCR test for COVID-19 soon after arrival and self-isolate in their own accommodation awaiting a negative result, as well as quarantining on return to New Zealand.

Travellers from New Zealand to most other states and territories — including Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia — must still complete two weeks' hotel quarantine, according to the state health departments' websites.

The loosening of restrictions was introduced after Australia's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, announced Auckland' was no longer a COVID-19 hotspot, effective midnight on Friday.

"Some jurisdictions may implement conditions or arrangements which differ to those above," a federal Department of Health media release said, on Tuesday.

"All travellers are advised to check the arrangements in both their place of arrival and place of final destination before they travel."

Professor Kelly said the situation in New Zealand had "improved greatly" and contact tracing showed a recent case, unrelated to the Auckland cluster, "posed a low risk of COVID-19 spreading in Australia."

Auckland went into a snap seven-day lockdown after a mystery local case of the more-infectious UK strain was discovered at the end of February.

The move prompted NSW, Victoria and Queensland to impose new restrictions, imposing hotel quarantine on either anyone travelling from New Zealand or just those arriving from Auckland.

For NSW and Victoria, that requirement ended at midnight on Friday, replaced with requirements for anyone travelling from Auckland to get tested and self-isolate until they had a negative result..

NSW Health said staff would follow up with any arrivals from Auckland if they did not present a negative test but anyone who had only flown through Auckland Airport on the way from another part of the country would not have to quarantine or self-isolate in NSW.

"New Zealand is considered to present a low risk of COVID-19, with no more new cases reported in the recent Auckland cluster since 28 February," the Thursday night statement said.

"A case in an air crew member was reported by New Zealand authorities on 7 March but this person is thought to be of low risk to the Auckland community."

Victoria's Department of Health and Human Services said Auckland, except for the airport, would become an "orange" zone under the state's traffic light system, while travellers from the rest of the country would only need a "green" zone permit.

Queensland Health is yet to update its travel advice.

Emboldened by their majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats are making a new push to enact the first major new gun control laws in the US in more than two decades — starting with stricter background checks.

The House is poised to pass two bills on Thursday that would require background checks on all firearms sales and transfers and also allow an expanded 10-day review for gun purchases. Similar bills were passed by the House in 2019, shortly after Democrats won the majority, but languished in the GOP-controlled Senate for the next two years.

Democrats now hold the Senate, as well, giving the party hope that the legislation will at least be considered. But the bills would need significant bipartisan support to pass.

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The renewed push is the latest effort by Democrats – and some Republicans – who have repeatedly tried, and failed, to pass tougher gun control laws since the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that killed 20 children and six educators. While enhanced background checks are generally popular with the American public, even with some conservatives, Congress has so far not been able to find compromise on the issue. It is unclear whether Senate Democrats could find deep enough support among Republicans to pass new gun control legislation in a 50-50 Senate, as they would need 60 votes to do so.

Still, the bills are part of an effort by Democrats to move on several major legislative priorities while they hold both chambers of Congress and the White House. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she and her colleagues have promised survivors of shootings and family members of those who have died that "we are not going away" until the background checks legislation passes.

"The gun violence crisis in America is a challenge to the conscience of our country – one that demands that we act," Pelosi said during floor debate on the bills Wednesday. "These solutions will save lives."

President Joe Biden has called for Congress to strengthen gun laws, including requiring the background checks on all gun sales and banning assault weapons.

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At a speech in February, he said there was no time to wait.

"We owe it to all those we've lost and to all those left behind to grieve to make a change," Biden said as he marked the three-year anniversary of the Parkland school shooting massacre in Florida, which killed 17. "The time to act is now."

The first bill is designed to close loopholes to ensure that background checks are extended to private and online sales that often go undetected, including at gun shows. The legislation includes limited exceptions allowing temporary transfers to prevent imminent harm, for use at a target range and for gifts from family, among others.

The second bill would extend the review period for background checks from three to 10 days. South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, the No. 3 Democrat in the House, introduced the legislation after a shooter killed nine people at a Charleston, S.C., church in 2015. The FBI said a background check examiner never saw the shooter's previous arrest report because the wrong arresting agency was listed in state criminal history records, and the gun dealer was legally permitted to complete the transaction after a deadline of three days.

While the House bills have Republican cosponsors, most of their GOP colleagues are opposed to the changes. During the Wednesday floor debate, Republicans argued that the background checks would not stop most mass shootings and would mistakenly prevent some lawful gun owners from purchasing firearms.

Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry said the bill would lead to more crime because there would be "less people out there defending themselves."

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Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who has introduced a companion bill expanding background checks in the Senate, said he still believes there could be unity around the gun issue, and that a "growing anti-gun violence movement, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, is demanding change."

But change does not come easy in the Senate as many in the GOP base are still viscerally opposed to any new gun control. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a moderate, have worked together for years to find a compromise on background checks but have yet to propose anything that will pass.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said this week that his committee plans to have hearings on gun policy in the next several weeks.

Democrats will "test the waters and see what the sentiment is in the Senate," Durbin said.

Denmark is suspending the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for two weeks as it investigates reports of some patients developing blood clots after being inoculated, days after several other EU countries suspended use of a specific batch of the vaccine.

Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said Thursday authorities were looking into "signs of a possible serious side effect in the form of fatal blood clots," though he made clear it was a "precautionary measure," saying it was not possible yet to conclude whether the clots were linked to the vaccine.

"We act early. It needs to be thoroughly investigated," he said in a tweet.

READ MORE: Australia facing extended COVID-19 vaccine rollout after delays

The Danish Health Authority also confirmed the suspension in a statement, saying its investigation would include looking into one death in Denmark.

"We are in the middle of the largest and most important vaccination rollout in Danish history. And right now we need all the vaccines we can get," National Board of Health director Søren Brostrøm said in a statement.

"Therefore, putting one of the vaccines on pause is not an easy decision.

"But precisely because we vaccinate so many, we also need to respond with timely care when there is knowledge of possible serious side effects.

"We need to clarify this before we can continue to use the vaccine from AstraZeneca.

"It is important to emphasise that we have not opted out of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but that we are putting it on hold.

"There is good evidence that the vaccine is both safe and effective.

"But both we and the Danish Medicines Agency have to react to reports of possible serious side effects, both from Denmark and other European countries. It shows that the monitoring system works. "

https://twitter.com/Heunicke/status/1369941582196133890

The Danish Medicines Agency said it was working with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the other EU pharmaceutical authorities to investigate several reports of blood clotting.

Earlier this week, Austria suspended the use of one specific batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine — batch ABV5300 — after "a person was diagnosed with multiple thrombosis," according to the EMA.

As of Tuesday, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Latvia had also suspended use of batch ABV5300.

It has not been specified if the Danish death was connected to this batch.

The EMA said Wednesday there was "currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine."

"Batch ABV5300 was delivered to 17 EU countries and comprises 1 million doses of the vaccine," the EMA said in a statement.

"Some EU countries have also subsequently suspended this batch as a precautionary measure, while a full investigation is ongoing.

"Although a quality defect is considered unlikely at this stage, the batch quality is being investigated."

Australia's vaccine rollout plan

Australia has secured 53.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine — 50 million of those to be manufactured locally — 20 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's shot and 51 million doses of the Novavax jab. Unused doses are to be distributed to regional neighbours.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has provisionally approved the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines but is yet to grant approval for Novavax.

Italy banned the export of 250,000 doses of the AstraZeneca shot to Australia last week in an effort to protect its national supplies. France said it would also consider banning exports, as concerns of vaccine nationalism rise.

The investigation is the latest trouble in Europe for the British-Swedish drugmaker, which has come under pressure to produce more vaccines after it fell tens of millions of doses short in deliveries to the European Union.

The company has also faced resistance in the bloc, where regulatory bodies in member countries have been slow or hesitated to recommend the vaccine in people over the age of 65, citing a lack of data.

Regulatory bodies in several countries, including Germany and France, have since changed recommendations to include over-65s as real-world data has since shown that the AstraZeneca vaccine is highly effective at preventing hospitalisation in older populations. France limits the shot to people under the age of 74.

Anecdotal reports suggest people in some EU countries, however, are still choosing not to take the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The European Medicines Agency on Thursday (Friday AEDT) authorised Johnson & Johnson's one-dose vaccine, will speed efforts to immunise the world against COVID-19.

Prince William has defended Britain's monarchy against accusations of bigotry made by his brother, Prince Harry, and sister-in-law, Meghan, insisting the family is not racist.

In comments made during a visit to an east London school on Thursday (Friday morning AEDT), William became the first royal to directly address Harry and Meghan's explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey broadcast on Sunday in the US (Monday morning AEDT).

"We're very much not a racist family," he said as his wife, Kate, walked by his side.

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Harry and Meghan's allegations of racism and mistreatment have rocked the royal family. Buckingham Palace sought to respond to them in a 61-word statement on Tuesday but failed to quell the controversy.

William, second in line to the throne after his father, Prince Charles, said he hadn't spoken to Harry in the aftermath of the interview, "but I will do.''

Meghan, who is biracial, said in the interview she was so isolated and miserable as a working member of the royal family that she had suicidal thoughts.

She also said Harry told her there were "concerns and conversations" by a royal family member about the colour of her baby's skin when she was pregnant with their son, Archie.

Hers and Harry's comments have touched off conversations around the world about racism, mental health and even the relationship between Britain and its former colonies.

William and Kate toured School21 in Stratford, east London, as children returned to classes. The visit was meant to mark the rollout to secondary schools of a mental health project Kate launched in primary schools in 2018.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.