SYDNEY:Australia's Victoria state said on Monday it had gone 24 hours without detecting any new COVID-19 cases, a milestone last achieved four months ago, raising hopes that a stringent lockdown of Melbourne will be eased.<br /> <br /> Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday delayed the reopening of the city - home to 5 million people - amid an outbreak in Melbourne's north.<br /> <br /> Officials said they had tested about 15,000 people in the area and all had come back negative.<br /> <br /> "This is one of the best outcomes we could hope to see," said Jeroen Weimar, Commander of Testing and Community Engagement for Victoria.<br /> <br /> Andrews is under intense pressure to lift Melbourne's lockdown, imposed in July. Businesses and the federal government argue it will delay Australia's economic rebound.<br /> <br /> Australia's economy shrank 7% in the three months to the end of June, the biggest quarterly shrinkage since records began in 1959. The unemployment rate hit a 22-year high of 7.5% in July as businesses and borders closed to deal with the coronavirus.<br /> <br /> Prime Minister Scott Morrison has highlighted the fact that neighbouring New South Wales state has much looser restrictions despite regularly reporting higher daily case numbers.<br /> <br /> Australia has so far recorded just over 27,500 COVID-19 infections, far fewer than many other developed countries.<br /> <br /> Victoria, which accounts for more than 90% of the 905 deaths nationally, did not record any new deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours.<gdiv id="ginger-floatingG-container" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px;"><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG ginger-floatingG-closed" style="display: none;"><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-disabled-main"><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-bar-tool-tooltip">Enable Ginger</gdiv></gdiv><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-offline-main"><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-bar-tool-tooltip"><em>Cannot connect to Ginger</em> Check your internet connection<br /> or reload the browser</gdiv></gdiv><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-enabled-main"><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-bar"><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-bar-tool ginger-floatingG-bar-tool-disable"><ga></ga><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-bar-tool-tooltip">Disable in this text field</gdiv></gdiv><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-bar-tool"><ga class="ginger-floatingG-bar-tool-edit">Edit</ga><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-bar-tool-tooltip">Edit in Ginger</gdiv></gdiv><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-bar-tool ginger-floatingG-bar-tool-mistakes"><ga></ga><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-bar-tool-tooltip">Edit in Ginger</gdiv></gdiv></gdiv></gdiv><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-contentPopup"><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-contentPopup-wrap"><ga class="ginger-floatingG-contentPopup-close">×</ga><gdiv class="ginger-floatingG-contentPopup-frame"><iframe scrolling="no"></iframe></gdiv></gdiv></gdiv></gdiv></gdiv>