An urgent investigation has been launched after two returned travellers who never crossed paths are feared to have somehow passed the UK coronavirus variant between them at the Park Royal Hotel in Melbourne.

The potential transmission took place is between January 20 and January 28 and involves a family of five and a woman on the same floor within the quarantine hotel.

"The viral load of the room of the family of five was so high that just opening the door to pick up food saw the virus travel into the corridor," head of COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria Lisa Neville Neville said.

READ MORE: Australian Open hotel quarantine worker tests positive to coronavirus

The family, which includes a man in his 40s, a woman in her 40s, and three children aged one, four and seven, arrived in Melbourne from Nigeria on January 20 and were placed on the same floor as the woman.

"The family tested positive on January 24 following their day three swabs and were moved to a health hotel and subsequently tested positive to the coronavirus UK variant," a government statement reads.

The woman, who is aged in her 60s, arrived in Melbourne from Malaysia via Singapore on January 11 and previously tested negative for the virus on her day three and 11 tests, but tested positive to the UK variant on January 28.

She was moved to a health hotel and her husband has tested negative to his day three and 11 swabs, but will continue to undergo further testing as an additional precaution.

Ms Neville said there was "an exceptionally low risk" of community transmission after the spread was identified.

READ MORE: Melbourne COVID-19 exposure sites revealed after hotel quarantine worker contracts coronavirus

"This is a hotel transmission," Ms Neville said.  

"It is not community transmission."

Ms Neville, who is also the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, said nobody at the hotel had broken any rules and all cases were asymptomatic but the strain was highly contagious.

"The viral load of the room of the family of five was so high that just opening the door to pick up food saw the virus travel into the corridor," Ms Neville said.

Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer Melanie Van Twest said there is no indication anyone else on the floor or staff have been infected but test results over the coming days would provide more clarity.

Professor Van Twest said the positive cases were being investigated and could be "a perfect storm of events that have happened to line up".

READ MORE: Victoria restrictions reintroduced – what you need to know

All of the residents with positive results are now at the Alfred Health hotel in Melbourne.

More than 12,000 people have gone through hotel quarantine since the program began.

The investigation comes as up to 600 people associated with the Australian Open have been told to isolate after being identified as casual contacts of a worker at a different quarantine hotel, who has tested positive to coronavirus.

Britain's health chief says a new study supports the government's strategy of delaying the second shot so more doses can be delivered to more people.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock's comments came after Oxford released a study showing that a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca provides a high level of protection for 12 weeks.

The vaccine cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds and prevented severe disease.

READ MORE: A scientist, lawyer and GP answer your vaccine questions

The study has not been peer-reviewed yet, but it was greeted with excitement by UK officials under pressure to justify their decision to delay the second dose.

"That reduction in transmission, as well as the fact there is no hospitalisations, the combination of that is very good news," Mr Hancock told Sky News on Wednesday.

"And it categorically supports the strategy we've been taking on having a 12-week gap between the doses."

One of the lead researchers on the project, Dr Andrew Pollard from Oxford University, said Oxford scientists believe the vaccine will continue to offer protection against new variants of COVID-19, although they are still waiting for data on this.

Even if the virus adapts, "that doesn't mean that we won't still have protection against severe disease.''

"If we do need to update the vaccines, then it is actually a relatively straightforward process it only takes a matter of months, rather than the huge efforts that everyone went through last year to get the very large-scale trials run," he told the BBC.

A deaf World War II veteran was allegedly targeted by teen thugs during a violent carjacking as he was on his way to visit his dying wife.

Pasquale Marasea was about to get in his car to go see his wife in hospital when he was allegedly set upon outside his Altona home on Friday morning.

Police say the alleged thieves ripped the 94-year-old from his car and threw him to the ground, leaving him bruised and battered on the side of the road.

"From the knees down it's black — he's struggling to walk and he's got a bruised hand," Sam Marasea, the victim's son told 9News.

"I'm just surprised how lucky he is after what happened — that he hasn't broken a hip or got run over."

Police said earlier in the night the thieves allegedly raided homes in Truganina and Altona North, taking off with two other cars which were crashed on Blackshaws Road before Mr Marasea was targeted.

The teens allegedly took the elderly man's car on a four hour joyride before dumping it on Eldridge Street in Footscray.

A short time later, police arrested three boys, aged 14 and 16 at a nearby bus stop.

They have since been charged and are expected to front court at a later date.

"It's just disgusting, I hope it doesn't happen again – I hope they get the punishment they deserve," Sam Marasea said.

Despite what happened to him, his father's focus now is to spend as much time with his wife in the time she has left.

When Nell Henry returned to her Perth property today, there was nothing but the burnt remains of a building she once called home.

"Everything is black," Ms Henry said as he stared at the ashes of her farmhouse at Wooroloo.

"This is my house or what was my house."

READ MORE: Perth residents told to leave amid 'extremely dangerous' blaze

READ MORE: Perth residents told to leave amid 'extremely dangerous' blaze

Families fled their properties at the peak of the blaze at Wooroloo, a desperate drive as flames circled their properties.

Ms Henry's home is one of at least 71 lost to the raging bushfire that continues to surge through the Hills region north-east of Perth.

Firefighters caught out on the Wooroloo front by a sudden wind change on Perth's north east fringe.

Home after home was taken as flames stirred up by strong winds pushed embers more than three kilometres ahead of the front.

Hundreds on the ground did what they could, joining the fight with small tankers and garden hoses after leading their livestock to safety.

By night some stood guard on their homes, while others cleared out with hope they would have something to return to.

Ms Henry, now without a home, considers herself fortunate as her five horses all survived the blaze.

"We are very lucky," she said.

"All our animals are alive."

Jessica Blackwell was helping friends in Wooroloo when the fire took a devastating turn.

"We thought we'd have time to get back and get stuff (but) we never did," she said.

Today the mother-of-one returned to find her town torn apart.

"It's just a sick feeling — I have no words," she said.

Residents of nearby Shady Hills have been told to evacuate as the fire front edges closer to homes with air drops helping in the battle.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has made an interim decision on whether some psychoactive drugs can be used to treat mental illness in Australia.

The TGA chose not to reschedule MDMA and psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, from a prohibited substance (schedule 9) to a controlled medicine (schedule 8).

A reclassification would not mean the drugs could be taken home with a patient or change any restrictions on recreational use of the substances.

READ MORE: MDMA and psilocybin may soon be used to treat mental illness

READ MORE: Australian-first psychedelic drug trial could change how we treat mental illness

Mind Medicine Australia initially submitted the rescheduling applications to the TGA in July 2020, and now have a number of weeks to resubmit evidence.

Co-founder Peter Hunt said today he is disappointed but not discouraged.

"The beauty of this is that it is consultative," he told Nine.com.au.

"We think there are a number of mistakes in the draft reasoning and it's now incumbent on us to explain those mistakes to the regulator and to the provide the evidence."

Tania de Jong AM, also a co-founder of the charity, said people with severe treatment-resistant mental illness should not be denied a cure.

"We live in a country with some of the worst mental health statistics in the World and where an enormous number of people are suffering with treatment resistant conditions. 

"Nothing else is working for them. It is time to give all Australians, who live with multiple failed attempts at recovery, the opportunity to access treatments that will improve and save lives."

Dr Simon Longstaff AO, Executive Director of the Ethics Centre and MMA board member said one of the biggest hurdles is the stigma.

"We should not allow the prejudices of the past to deny relief in the present.

"If these medicines are safe and effective when applied in a clinical environment, as current research suggests, then Australian governments have an obligation to make them available."

NSW GP Dr Jamie Rickcord echoed these concerns yesterday before the interim decision.

"It changes the conversation, it means that the science and the medical benefit, and the potential to relieve peoples' suffering has been recognised as being more powerful than the stigma attached to these substances," he told nine.com.au.

"We totally get that lots of people aren't ready for it, but the conversation ends if they are schedule 9 compounds.

"It's not like we are going to start dosing people en masse… It's done by highly trained empathetic humans who know how to navigate the terrain."

Contact reporter Freya Noble at fr*****@******om.au.

A team of researchers will this week delve deeper into the history of Rotorua Te Arawa lakes to collect vital clues to the health of the lakes over the past 1000 years.Scientists from GNS Science, the Cawthron Institute, Victoria…

Police are still on the hunt for an arsonist who caught alight while firebombing a Gold Coast brothel last year.

Emergency crews were called to the business on Upton Street, Bundall, on November 10 after reports of smoke and flames coming from the building just before 5am.

The location was completely engulfed and detectives have released CCTV footage, hoping someone can identify the culprits.

The footage shows two offenders, wearing dark hoodies, get out of a silver Holden sedan and start pouring accelerant onto the outside walls of the building.

Another camera shows them pouring the liquid onto the ground in the front foyer of the brothel before setting it alight.

As they make a run for it, a large fire explosion erupts into the air and the flames catch onto one of the offenders' sleeves.

In a matter of seconds, the building is completely engulfed with fire and smoke billowing into the sky.

Police confirmed today this footage is the strongest lead to identifying the two and haven't ruled out an attack from a competing business or members of an organised crime group.

They also said there were no reports of anyone admitting themself to local hospitals or medical centres for burns treatment, but this may mean the fire didn't get through the person's clothes or their injury wasn't severe enough to require treatment.

Anyone with information that may help police with their investigation is urged to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.

By RNZ The first test showing elevated lead levels in Waikouaiti was received in August last year, says Dunedin City Council.Yesterday, the council issued a notice to Waikouaiti and Karitane residents to not use tap water for…

One person has died after two vehicles collided on State Highway 1 near Kinleith.A police spokeswoman said they were notified of the crash at 6.04pm. SH1 KINLEITH – ROAD CLOSED – 6:55PM Due to a serious crash #SH1 is now CLOSED…

The Myanmar community in New Zealand is reeling from news of the country’s military takeover on Monday, described by academics as an attack on democracy just as important in Myanmar as it was in the United States. Everyone is devastated…