COVID-19 Informer: Health fears grow after huge support for Black Lives Matter protests

Twenty thousand people marched in Sydney and crowds rallied in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and regional cities and towns on Saturday despite public health warnings.

Senior federal government Minister Mathias Cormann is standing by his comments that people who attended Black Lives Matter rallies in Australia were being "reckless" and "irresponsible" during a pandemic.

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also fears a COVID-19 outbreak following a mass rally in Brisbane but has thanked protesters for social distancing.

"We'll have to see how our health response goes ... to see what the results are in the next couple of weeks."

Victorian health authorities won't know for at least a week whether coronavirus cases will rise as a result of a mass protest in Melbourne.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said on Sunday the Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne increased the risk for cases.

Australia has registered just two new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

A wave of home-building and renovation work is the goal of a $444 million stimulus package unveiled by the West Australian government as it struggles to pull the state economy out of a coronavirus-induced downturn.

Tasmania has notched 22 days straight without any new cases of coronavirus. The number of cases confirmed in Tasmania remains at 226.

In the US, deaths from coronavirus have reached 109,497, with confirmed cases now totaling 1,909,077, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Almost 1,300 medical providers and public health experts have signed a petition calling for police to stop using the chemical agents - not just teargas, but also smoke bombs, pepper spray - over concerns that it will exacerbate the spread of coronavirus.

Pepper spray, like tear gas, causes tears, saliva and mucus to stream from demonstrators' eyes and noses.

Brazil's government has stopped publishing a running total of coronavirus deaths and infections in an extraordinary move that critics call an attempt to hide the true toll of the disease.

There are fears in India over what effect the coming monsoon season will have on the spread of OVID-19 cases. India's official death toll is 6,642, which is relatively low compared with the other countries, but medical authorities say the country is nowhere near its peak.

Despite there being no sign the infection curve flattening, the country will begin opening up on Monday after more than two months of the world's largest lockdown, which has involved 1.3 billion people.

The latest word on hydroxychloroquine is that it does not work against COVID-19. Experts are hoping this latest research will finally settle the question.

"If you are admitted to hospital, don't take hydroxychloroquine," said Martin Landray, deputy chief investigator of the Recovery trial and professor of medicine and epidemiology at Oxford University. "It doesn't work."

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