Hundreds of people confirmed to have Covid-19 in Australia’s worst-hit state have been caught flouting stay-at-home orders, authorities said, prompting tougher fines.

Hundreds of people confirmed to have Covid-19 in Australia’s worst-hit state have been caught flouting stay-at-home orders, authorities said, prompting tougher fines. 
The southern state of Victoria is experiencing a rise in infections over recent weeks that the government has partly blamed on people breaking rules that restrict travel. 
Residents of Melbourne, Australia’s second biggest city and the capital of Victoria, are now under an overnight curfew, non-essential businesses are closed and face coverings are mandatory as hundreds of new cases are recorded daily. 
But 800 infected people were not at home when authorities conducted recent checks, which state Premier Daniel Andrews called “completely unacceptable”. 
Mr Andrews said people infected with the coronavirus in Victoria can now be hit with on-the-spot fines of almost Aus$5,000 (€3, 026) – up from Aus$1,652 – if they are caught leaving home a second time. 
The only exception will be to seek emergency medical care. Previously, outdoor exercise was allowed. 
Police can also take serious rule-breakers to court, where fines of up to Aus$20,000 can be applied. 
Latest coronavirus stories
An additional 500 troops will also be deployed in Melbourne to help health officials go door-to-door checking on people who should be staying at home, Mr Andrews said. 
Victoria police commissioner Shane Patton said hundreds of officers were also on the streets to enforce the curfew, mask-wearing and stay-at-home orders.
He said police had observed a small but emerging trend of so-called “sovereign citizens”, who believe the laws do not apply to them and were consistently flouting the rules. 
“We’ve seen them at checkpoints baiting police, not providing a name and address,” Patton said. 
“On at least four occasions in the last week, we’ve had to smash the windows of cars and pull people out to provide details.” 
Victoria has recorded more than 12,000 of almost 19,000 total coronavirus cases across Australia, as well as 147 fatalities of the country’s total of 232. 
Philippines orders millions to stay home
Millions of people in the Philippines were ordered to stay home as global coronavirus infections kept soaring, with the World Health Organization warning against relying on a vaccine “silver bullet” to end the pandemic.
More than 18 million people worldwide have been infected with the virus since it first emerged in China late last year and it shows no sign of slowing down.
Brazil is driving a surge in Latin America and the Caribbean where infections have topped five million.  
South America’s largest country has recorded 2.75 million cases, and close to half the region’s more than 202,000 deaths.
Only the United States has been worse affected.
Desperate to contain the spread and relieve pressure on overwhelmed hospitals, some countries such as the Philippines have resorted to reimposing economically painful restrictions on travel and businesses. 
More than 27 million people on the main island of Luzon, including the capital Manila, went back into a partial lockdown for weeks from today.
People queue for buses the day before lockdown in Manila
People have been told to stay home unless they need to go out to buy essential goods, for exercise or for work after the number of recorded infections surged past 100,000.  
Trump hits back at Covid response coordinator
As the number of fatalities in the United States surpassed 155,000, President Donald Trump lashed out at his coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx after she warned the virus was “extraordinarily widespread” in the country where more than 4.6 million infections have been recorded.
Mr Trump – angered by what he sees as overly pessimistic media coverage of his handling of the epidemic – called her remarks “pathetic” and accused her of giving into pressure to sound negative about the new surge.
“Deborah took the bait & hit us. Pathetic!” Mr Trump said on Twitter.  
So Crazy Nancy Pelosi said horrible things about Dr. Deborah Birx, going after her because she was too positive on the very good job we are doing on combatting the China Virus, including Vaccines & Therapeutics. In order to counter Nancy, Deborah took the bait & hit us. Pathetic!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2020
Despite rising infection numbers in Europe, some countries are pushing ahead with plans to reopen schools and finding ways to keep their battered tourism sectors functioning.
Germany watched anxiously as 150,000 children returned to school yesterday in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the country’s first state to restart full-time classes after the summer holidays.
In France, Prime Minister Jean Castex urged the nation “not to let down its guard” as surging cases led the Riviera resort city of Nice to become the latest to mandate outside mask-wearing.
“The virus has not gone on holiday and neither have we,” Mr Castex said.