Australia to resume non-urgent surgeries

Australia will resume non-urgent surgeries beginning next week as health authorities grow more confident hospitals won't be overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said state and federal leaders agreed at a meeting on Tuesday elective operations and medical procedures including in vitro fertilization would restart gradually for the first time since March 27.

The reasons for lifting the suspension of all but emergency procedures include the amount of personal protective equipment available to hospital staff, a slowing coronavirus infection rate and an improving testing system.

In Wollongong, 49 crew members disembarked the Ruby Princess cruise ship which has been docked in Port Kembla for more than two weeks, and reparations were being made to fly them to their home countries in the next few days, according to local media.

There are still over 1,000 crew members onboard the ship which has been at the center of the country's largest virus outbreak, according to local media.

On Monday, some beaches in Sydney's eastern suburbs were reopened only for exercising in the water or on the sand, with social distancing measures remaining in place.

Only 13 new infections were detected in Australia over the 24 hours leading into Tuesday morning.

There have been 6,625 patients who tested positive, and 71 have died.

More than 434,000 people have been tested among Australia's population of 25.5 million people.

(Representative Image)