1. Australia triples access to Pfizer vaccines

The federal government has secured a deal with Pfizer to supply about one million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine each week from July 19 according to The Australian. This is triple the weekly supply from the past two months and will see Australia receive 2.8 million doses in July and over 4.5 million in August.

2. Sydney lockdown could be extended again

Health officials in NSW have warned that the lockdown in Sydney could be extended further with case numbers over the weekend expected to be key to any decision. Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that while the state was still aiming for an end to the lockdown next Friday, that was "dependent on all of us doing the right thing".

3. Spectators banned from Tokyo Olympics

The Japanese Olympic Committee has announced that all spectators will be banned from Olympic events held in Tokyo and three nearby prefectures. A small number of venues outside these areas will still allow spectators at a limited capacity. Japan has declared its fourth state of emergency due to COVID-19 from July 12 to August 22, while the Olympics will run from July 23 to August 8.

4. Woman attempts to order McDonald's during police pursuit

While leading police on a chase in a stolen vehicle on Tuesday morning, a women from Worcester, Massachusetts turned into the drive-thru of a McDonald's to try and order food. The woman was arrested after she collided with police vehicles near the restaurant and the stolen vehicle became stuck.

5. Wall Street stocks close lower on Thursday

All three major indexes in the US closed lower overnight. The Dow Jones was down 259.86 points or 0.75% to 34,421.93, the S&P 500 slid 37.31 points or 0.86% to 4,320.82 and the Nasdaq dropped 105.82 points or 0.72% to 14,559.78.