With that, we’ll be closing this blog for today.

We have started a new blog where you can continue to follow the latest developments in Australia and around the world. You can follow that here.

There’s a summary below of what has happened over the past few hours

Thanks for reading, and stay safe.

• The Australian state of Victoria recorded 37 new cases of Covid-19, the lowest for months, as it also braces for illegal anti-lockdown protests and potential arrests.
• Brazil’s death toll passed 130,000, according to the country’s health ministry. It has the second highest death toll in the world, after the US.
• France has ruled out imposing a new national lockdown despite recording more than 9,000 new cases for the second consecutive day. Instead the prime minister, Jean Gastex, announced an increase in test and trace measures and a reduction the quarantine period for those with the virus from 14 to seven days.
• Spain has reported 4,708 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours. It brings its cumulative total to 566,326 – the highest in western Europe.
• A further 3,539 people have tested positive in the UK, the largest daily figure since mid-May. It was also announced that the R value for both the UK and England is between 1 and 1.2.
• The US government’s infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said he disagrees with President Donald Trump’s assessment that the country has “rounded the corner” on the coronavirus pandemic, saying the statistics are disturbing.
• The first European pandemic “travel bubble”, created in May by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, has burst after Latvia said it was mandating a 14-day quarantine on everyone arriving from Estonia.
• Iraq has recorded another 4,254 new cases and 67 more deaths from the virus. Despite the recent surge in cases, thousands of supporters of Iraqi shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gathered at a mosque in east Baghdad for the first time since March.
• India has set another global one-day record for coronavirus infections. The country reported 96,551 new cases. Deaths have remained relatively low in the country, but are seeing an upward trend, with more than 1,000 deaths being reported every day for the last ten days.
• Global infections have passed 28.2m and deaths stand at 911,282,according to Johns Hopkins data. The first four countries in terms of infections, the US, India, Brazil and Russia, account for nearly 58% of all cases.
• Austria has expanded mandatory mask-wearing and imposed restrictions on events in response to a surge in new cases.
• In the UK, the Covid-19 smartphone app will be launched across England and Wales on 24 September.

Hi all, it’s Naaman Zhou here taking over the blog. Thanks to Nadeem Badshah for his work earlier today.

The Australian state of Victoria has just put out its Covid-19 numbers for today. The state has recorded 37 new cases and six new deaths over the past 24 hours. That’s one of the lowest new case totals for months.

Coronavirus cases in Colombia surpassed 700,000 on Friday as deaths from the virus climbed toward 23,000.

The Andean country has 702,088 confirmed cases of the virus according to the health ministry, with 22,518 reported deaths. Active cases number 95,398.

Colombia began its months-long lockdown in March. It is now in a much-looser “selective” quarantine phase and making plans to restart international flights.

Intensive care units in Bogota are at about 62% capacity, according to local health authorities. The capital is home to a third of Colombia’s cases.

Brazil’s death toll has passed 130,000, according to the country’s health ministry.

The figure has reached 130,396 in total compared to 129,522 yesterday.

The number of confirmed cases in the country has reached 4,282,164, compared to 4,238,446 yesterday.

In terms of cases, the country is the third worst affected after the US which has around 6.4 million followed by India which has 4.5 million which overtook Brazil earlier this week.

Brazil also has the second highest death toll in the world after the US.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was “optimistic” about Congress passing coronavirus relief legislation before the Nov. 3 presidential election.

“I’m optimistic. I do think that we should have an agreement,” Pelosi said in a CNN interview.

“That’s what we all want.”

It comes after Trump voiced opposition to another massive coronavirus relief package a day after the Senate failed to pass the Republican “skinny” relief bill.

Melbourne residents are experiencing some of the strictest and longest coronavirus lockdown measures in the world as Victoria continues to work to contain a second wave of Covid-19 infections. An overnight curfew from 8pm to 5am is in place, leaving the streets of a once thriving city deserted.