Australia's 2nd largest population state reports a lower new case count than yesterday

Victoria is Australia's 2nd largest population state with the country's 2nd largest city, Melbourne.

45 new locally transmitted cases reported for Monday

• Compared to 71 for Sunday's number and 50 reported yesterday
• Of the 45 local cases recorded, 36 are linked to current outbreaks
• 17 cases have been in quarantine throughout their infectious period

The day's numbers from NSW, the epicentre of the current wave of infections in Australia, will be published in a few hours time.

WPAC cite the poor performance of Australia re coronavirus as a factor in the AUD being the worst in the G10 this year so far:

• Westpac note near term risk of 0.70 for AUD/USD but maintain 0.78 year-end target