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Australia's Delta outbreak appears to have levelled off, with more than half the country in extended lockdowns and vaccination rates starting to approach national targets, Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Monday.

Hunt said 80% of Australians will have had their first COVID-19 jabs this week, while the overall battle against the virus has been boosted by the arrival in recent days of 15,000 additional doses of treatment drug sotrovimab.

The Australian government wants all COVID-19 restrictions, including travel bans, to be lifted when 80% of the population above 16 is fully vaccinated. It expects that target will be reached in mid-November.

"There are important reasons for hope," Hunt told reporters in a televised press conference, pointing to a steep fall in new cases in New South Wales state, home to Australia's biggest city Sydney.

"Victoria, yes, it is a big challenge ... But we are beginning to see the flattening of the curve in Victoria," he said.

New South Wales on Monday reported 623 new cases and six deaths, down from more than 900 cases a day a week ago.

Victoria state reported 1,377 new COVID-19 infections, up from 1,220 on Sunday, but off a record high of 1,488 on Saturday. There were four new deaths.

Officials have blamed a recent spike in Victoria's cases on Australian Rules football final parties, in breach of strict lockdown rules the previous weekend. Nearly half of the new cases on Monday were people between the ages of 10 and 29.

The state's capital Melbourne, in the midst of its sixth lockdown, on Sunday reached a cumulative total of 245 days of restrictions since March last year, overtaking Buenos Aires as the city under the longest lockdown, according to local media.

Despite the current downtrend, experts have warned that cases are likely to rise again once the country emerges from lockdown, replicating the experience in other countries that vaccinated earlier.

New South Wales is due to start easing curbs from Oct. 11, the first Monday after it expects 70% of its population over 16 to be fully vaccinated, up from 67% now.

Victoria hopes to reach the 70% target, up from about 52% now, by Oct. 26.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) and Vir Biotechnology's (VIR.O) sotrovimab has been shown to be effective in reducing hospitalization and death among high-risk COVID-19 patients when given early in the disease. read more

Hunt said he hoped another COVID-19 drug, a pill being tested by Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N), would be available in Australia in the first quarter of 2022. (Reuters)

New Zealand on Monday abandoned its long-standing strategy of eliminating coronavirus amid a persistent Delta outbreak, and will instead look to live with the virus and control its spread as its vaccination rate rises.

The Pacific nation was among just a handful of countries to bring COVID-19 cases down to zero last year and largely stayed virus-free until an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant in mid-August frustrated efforts to stamp out transmission.

"With this outbreak and Delta the return to zero is incredibly difficult," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference in a major policy shift.

"This is a change in approach we were always going to make over time. Our Delta outbreak has accelerated this transition. Vaccines will support it," she said.

Ardern said a lockdown affecting 1.7 million people in the biggest city Auckland will be scaled back in phases, with some freedoms introduced from Wednesday.

The change of direction came as the country recorded 29 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the total number in the current outbreak to 1,357. Most cases are in Auckland, which has been in lockdown for nearly 50 days.

Amid mounting pressure, Ardern has said her strategy was never to have zero cases, but to aggressively stamp out the virus. She said strict lockdowns will end once 90% of the eligible population is vaccinated.

About two million New Zealanders have so far been fully vaccinated, or about 48% of the eligible population.

Ardern said the Delta variant felt like "a tentacle that has been incredibly hard to shake".

"It's clear that a long period of heavy restrictions has not got us to zero cases. But its ok ... elimination was important because we didn't have vaccinations. Now we do. So we can begin to change the way we do things," she said.

People in Auckland will be able to leave their homes to connect with loved ones outdoors from Wednesday, with a limit of 10 people, as well as go to beaches and parks.

Worldwide deaths related to COVID-19 surpassed 5 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, with unvaccinated people particularly exposed to the virulent Delta strain.

CHEERS AND WARNINGS

Ardern used strict lockdowns and New Zealand's geographic isolation to eliminate coronavirus last year, a feat that helped her secure an historic election victory.

But a sluggish vaccine rollout and the persistent Delta outbreak this year has dented her popularity.

Aucklanders turned to social media after the announcement, with many cheering the decision while others expressed concern.

"I think if we'd been at 1-2 unlinked cases a day and/or no infections in community and no spread outside Auckland (and higher vaccination) I'd be cheering right now," one Aucklander said on Twitter.

University of Auckland professor Shaun Hendy, who has been modelling the spread of COVID-19, said the new freedoms were likely to lead to greater spread and higher case numbers in coming weeks.

"The government will be hoping that any growth in cases that result is slow enough that vaccination can get ahead of the outbreak, before it puts significant strain on our testing and tracing system, not to mention our hospitals," Hendy said.

Political parties on both sides slammed the move.

"Jacinda Ardern has no answers to problems that she and her Government promised us were under control. The situation is now, very clearly, out of control and worsening every day," Opposition National Party leader Judith Collins said in a statement.

Ardern's Labour Party coalition partner, Greens, said the move put vulnerable communities and children at risk. (Reuters)

Afghanistan is facing a breakdown of its economic and social systems that risks turning into a humanitarian catastrophe, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Sunday.

Avoiding the worst-case scenario would require the Taliban to comply with conditions that would enable more international assistance, Josep Borrell wrote in a blog post.

"Afghanistan is experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis and a socio-economic collapse is looming, which would be dangerous for Afghans, the region and international security," Borrell wrote.

Food prices in the country have jumped more than 50% since the Taliban took power in August as the freezing of $9 billion of Afghanistan's assets held in foreign central bank reserves and the withdrawal of foreign income stokes inflation.

The Afghan banking system is largely paralysed, with people unable to withdraw money, while the country's health system - which was heavily dependent on foreign aid - is close to collapse, according to Borrell.

"If the situation continues and with winter approaching, this risks turning into a humanitarian catastrophe," he wrote, adding that this could trigger mass migration into neighbouring states.

The 27-country EU has increased its humanitarian aid to Afghanistan since the Taliban took power, but halted its development assistance - a move also taken by other countries and the World Bank.

The EU response to the crisis would depend on the behaviour of the new Afghan authorities, Borrell said, and any resumption of relations would require compliance with conditions including human rights.

"This requires above all that the Taliban take the steps that will enable the international community to assist the Afghan people," he said, adding that female staff from international agencies must be able to do their job.

Widespread reports of human rights abuses and the exclusion of girls from schools have dented optimism that the Taliban's approach has changed since it first ran Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001.

Borrell met Qatari officials last week in the Qatari capital Doha, where the Taliban have a representation.

He said Qatar's contacts with the Taliban were aimed at moderating their behaviour, and urged Doha to use its contacts with them to ensure the "worst scenario" for Afghanistan could be avoided. (Reuters)

A man walks past a wall mural depicting the Taliban flag in Kabul - 

More than 1,500 Taliban supporters attended a rally on Sunday (Oct 3) in a vast field to the north of Kabul, in a show of strength as they consolidate their rule of Afghanistan.

The crowd, exclusively men and boys, heard speeches by leading Taliban officials and commanders at Kohdaman township in the hilly outskirts of the capital.

The rally was the first of its kind in the capital since the Islamist group seized control of the country seven weeks ago following a lightning offensive.

Flanked by white and black Taliban standards and fighters in combat gear carrying assault rifles, the speakers addressed an audience sat in rows of chairs under awnings.

As the event went on, more and more supporters arrived, leaving several hundred sitting to watch from chairs in the midday sun.

Mawlawi Muslim Haqqani, the deputy minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs, hailed the Islamist hardliners' takeover, saying Christians and Westerners had been defeated.

A string of men also railed against the United States, and one told the crowd to "respect elders" because they were the "mujahids who fought against the Soviets" in the 1980s.

A speaker introduced as Rahmatullah, from nearby Mir Bacha Kot, said the Taliban's victory was "the result of those youths who stood in queues to register for suicide attacks".

To kick off proceedings, a procession of fighters carrying flags and weapons - including rocket launchers - paraded around the crowd.

Some of the mainly unarmed supporters waved homemade posters, while others sported red or white Taliban headbands.

Tribal elders watched on cross-legged from the side of the stage.

As people arrived, music honouring the Taliban's victories echoed around the site as dozens of heavily armed fighters in military combat fatigues stood guard.

"America is defeated, impossible, impossible - but possible!" one song said.

Some chanted pro-Taliban slogans as they drove down the dusty road on pick-up trucks to the site, as others shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) when they walked into the shaded area in front of the stage.

At the turn-off towards the township, about 10 armed fighters lined the road beneath a large banner honouring a deceased Taliban commander and professing the "support of the people of Kohdaman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in the action of liberating the country".

Last Thursday, the Taliban had violently cracked down on a small women's rights demonstration in eastern Kabul, firing shots into the air to disperse protesters.

Then, gunmen pushed back the women protesters as they tried to continue with the demonstration, while a foreign journalist was hit with a rifle and blocked from filming.

A Taliban fighter released a brief burst of gunfire into the air with his automatic weapon, AFP journalists saw.

Isolated anti-Taliban rallies - with women at the forefront - were staged in cities around the country after the group seized power, including in the western city of Herat where two people were shot dead.

But protests have dwindled since the government issued an order banning demonstrations that did not have prior authorisation, warning of "severe legal action" for violators.

The handful that have gone ahead have been criticised as carefully orchestrated publicity stunts, including a rally at a Kabul university where hundreds of fully veiled women professed support for the new regime//CNA