Australian PM announces further easing of restrictions

Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that a 100-person limit on indoor gatherings will be scrapped under step three of the government's plan to further ease coronavirus restrictions.

The announcement was made following a meeting of the National Cabinet, which comprises the Prime Minister and state and territory leaders, earlier in the day, reports Xinhua news agency.

Instead venues will be required to provide at least four square meters per person indoors.

Stadiums with a capacity of up to 40,000 people will be allowed to have 10,000 people under step three while bigger venues will be required to apply for special exemptions, paving the way for crowds to return to sporting events in droves.

"It would have to be a large, open area. There would need to be seats at the appropriate distance. It would need to be ticketed, and so people would be able to understand who was in attendance at that event," Morrison told reporters.

The National Cabinet also reconfirmed the commitment to the three step framework for a COVID-safe Australia to be completed in next month.

"We reaffirmed our commitment to the three-step process to ensure that we are on track for concluding the third step of that three-step process in July," said Morrison.

The governments of Queensland and South Australia have announced plans to re-open their domestic borders on July 10 and July 20 respectively amid pressure from the federal government to do so to provide a boost for the tourism industry.

Morrison also announced a pilot program for international students but said that only states with open domestic borders would be allowed to participate.

"We'll be working closely with states and territories, firstly on a pilot basis and to enable, in a very controlled setting, for international students to be able to come to Australia but only on pre-approved plans for particular institutions worked up between federal authorities and state and territory authorities," he said.

Morrison was joined by Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Brendan Murphy who said that Australia's response to COVID-19 was in a "good place".

"We've only had 38 new cases over the last week, more than half of them are overseas returned travellers," Murphy said.

However, he reiterated warnings from the government and health experts that mass gatherings at Black Lives Matter protests could undo Australia's progress in preventing the spread of the virus.

"Despite all the attempts of organizers to try and make them safe, those sort of events where people are crowded together and where you can't, we don't know who is there, are inherently unsafe," he said.

Australia has reported a total of 7,285 COVID-19 cases with 102 deaths, according to the Department of Health.