Coronavirus crisis: What you need to know about COVID-19 from today, March 18, 2020

There are now 559 cases of COVID-19 in Australia, including 267 cases in NSW, 121 in Victoria, 94 in Queensland, 35 in WA, 32 in SA, 7 in Tasmania and 3 in the ACT.

A fifth person in NSW has died with COVID-19.

The 86-year-old man died last night in a Sydney Hospital, NSW Health said.

It is the sixth death in Australia, after a man died in Western Australia earlier this month.

The total number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Victoria rose to 121 with 27 new patients identified.

The new cases include 14 men and 13 women, with people aged from late teens to early 70s. The Department of Health and Human Services is continuing to investigate all new cases.

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in NSW's Illawarra Shoalhaven region has risen to six while in the Hunter region another four people have been diagnosed.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced this morning Australia would upgrade its travel advice to level four - "do not travel" - for every country around the world for the first time in history.

"That is a very clear instruction," the PM said. "For those of you who were thinking of going overseas in the school holidays, don't."

Yes, he mentioned schools - a topic of much conjecture.

They will stay open, the PM said, but the situation will be monitored and could change.

Tasmania's Public Health Services director Mark Veitch agreed and today has reaffirmed that the Apple Isle's schools remain open as they are a "low-risk environments". In Victoria, schools are working around government guidelines to ensure students' safety.

Mr Morrison also spoke about new guidelines for aged-care residences, the new limit on inside gatherings (now 100 people or more is banned) and the selfishness of hoarding.

Supermarkets and retailers across Australia are adjusting their opening hours as the federal government bans all non-essential indoor gatherings of more than 100 people.

Already toilet rolls, tinned goods, pasta and hand sanitiser were proving hard to come by as panic-buyers prepare for the weeks ahead.

Some towns have been forced to forced to implement a locals-only policy, after reports of out-of-town tourist buying out local supplies. But most places just need to treat with with respect, the supermarkets said. Here's a full list of shop openings and restricted items.

A Northern Tasmanian specialist has called for more aggressive measures from the state government to combat the coronavirus.

Dr Christopher Reid says Premier Peter Gutwein needs to consider closing Tasmania's air and sea terminals to stop the spread of the virus.

"That is the only way to truly lockdown the virus before it's too late. That's why Hong Kong and Singapore have managed to control it. We need Mr Gutwein to take control for our state's sake," he said.

Katherine's mayor has called for the Northern Territory border to be closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

Mayor Fay Miller says more needed to be done to reduce the potential risks of COVID-19 in the Northern Territory.

"The Territory is moving far too slowly on this matter," she said. "The NT borders need to be closed to reduce the risk of a spread.

"We only have one case here, but if it gets into our communities it could wreak havoc."

The NSW Government today announced a major $2.3 billion health boost and economic stimulus package to protect the community and help protect jobs in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak over the next six months. It's two key components are $700 million in extra health funding and $1.6 billion in tax cuts to support jobs.

Business support and jobs

He was hammered for his enthusiastic Vegemite coverage during lockdown on the Gold Coast, but Tom Hanks is back home and grateful.

Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Krishnankutty Rajesh wrote for an ACM masthead about the COVID-19 risk, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, and precautions everyone can take. Read it all here.

This is a little bit chilling:

"If, for example, you cough into your palm and then hold the handle of the shopping trolley at Woolworths or Coles the virus gets transferred to the handle and infects everyone touching the handle of that particular trolley for almost 72 hours. Can we even begin to imagine how many adults and children will touch that handle in that time?"

You may have seen these guys on TV checking out their aquarium from a different point-of-view when they went for a wander recently. Here's the choice behind-the-scenes footage and does it get any cuter than penguins walking down stairs?

Did you know you can receive this digest twice a day by email. Sign up here.

More Coronavirus stories you need to read