Covid Australia update: Perth joins Sydney and Darwin in lockdown as AstraZeneca offered to under 60s

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10.50pm BST

You know what Australia really doesn’t need right now. More mice.

And yet, it seems scientists can’t help themselves and keep discovering more species of them. (To be clear I’m kidding, I’m about to share so very exciting biodiversity news).

The resurrection of this species brings good news in the face of the disproportionally high rate of native rodent extinction.

It is exciting that Gould’s mouse is still around, but its disappearance from the mainland highlights how quickly this species went from being distributed across most of Australia, to only surviving on offshore islands in Western Australia...

It’s a huge population collapse.

10.39pm BST

The spread of the more infectious Delta variant of Covid-19 throughout Australia can be contained with a combination of strong adherence to public health guidelines and good luck, infectious diseases and virology experts say.

On Monday the number of locally acquired cases in New South Wales grew to 130, with 124 of those linked to the Bondi cluster. In Queensland, premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the next 48 hours would prove crucial, as the number of local cases grew to 10. The Northern Territory health minister, Natasha Fyles, said authorities expected more cases, with the total there at six, while two cases have emerged in Western Australia since Sunday.

Related: Can Australia contain the Covid Delta variant?

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