The United States has today recorded their deadliest day on record during the Coronavirus pandemic with authorities reporting more than 2,800 COVID related deaths while hospitalisations rose above 10,000 a day. 

The US now has more people in hospital with COVID-19 than at any other point during the pandemic. 

The US death toll since the start of the pandemic stands at about 273,000.

A Chinese lunar probe has taken off from the moon carrying lunar samples and is on the first stage of its return to Earth according to Chinese state media. 

Chang’e 5 is the third Chinese spacecraft to land on the moon and the first to take off from it again. 

Beijing’s space program also has a  spacecraft en route to mars. 

The spacecraft is the first to bring lunar rocks back to earth since 1976.

There is a sad milestone today for Coronavirus globally with the global death toll from the virus reaching more than 1.5 million people. 

One death is reported every nine seconds. 

This last week more than 10,000 people died across the world every day, this number is steadily on the rise. 

The UK government is the first worldwide to temporarily authorise the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergencies. 

Forty million doses are currently being shipped to the UK and vaccinations will start as early as next week. 

Up to 20 million people could access this vaccine in the coming weeks. 

Politicians, human rights lawyers, community advocates and people seeking asylum have rallied together to sign an open letter to the CEO of Accor Group, Sebastien Bazin, to urge him to stop the use of Accor hotels to detain refugees and asylum seekers. 

Nearly 100 refugees are currently detained in prison-like conditions in the Mantra Bell City Hotel and Mercure Darwin Airport Resort. 

The letter was started by Refugee Active Collective, a grassroots organisation in Victoria that campaigns to protect refugee rights. 

New research from Carnival Cruise Lines has found that Australians are in desperate need of a holiday. 

On average, Aussies have taken less than six days of annual leave this year, with over three quarters of those surveyed saying that every day currently feels the same. 

Jennifer Vander from Carnival Cruise said that two thirds of those surveyed said they took travel for granted before COVID. 

The Queensland heatwave is expected to ramp up over the coming days with temperatures on the south east coast to rise 5-6 degrees above average on Sunday. 

Meteorologist Ricus Lombard said the overcast conditions on Thursday brought only a brief reprieve from the heat for half of Brisbane. 

He says Sunday is expected to be the hottest, with temperatures maintaining through Monday and Tuesday then dropping to 28 degrees on Wednesday.

A large bushfire on Fraser Island is moving south-west towards Lake McKenzie. 

Kingfisher bay remains on a prepare to leave warning 

The Department of Environment and Science said that firefighters are unable to use freshwater from landmarks like Lake McKenzie, due to “biosecurity and cultural” concerns. 

The ban prevents pest fish, insects, seeds or plants from being transferred which the department describes as being “catastrophic” to the island’s natural ecological balance.