'We've come out very much stronger' - Australia's Covid-19 success story

The Australasian approach to combating Covid-19 has been the subject of many column inches in the British and Irish press over the past year, much of which has been focused on New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who has received praise high and wide for her approach to the pandemic.

The no-nonsense methods adopted by the region, which has seen international travel banned for all but exceptional circumstances, has meant, bar the occasional short-term localised lockdown, life has returned to relative normality in Australasia.

Anzac Day (April 25) always attracts bumper attendances at sporting fixtures, and a crowd of 78,113 packed into the Melbourne Cricket Ground for an Australian rules match between Collingwood and Essendon last week. This, at the time of writing, is the highest attendance at a sports stadium anywhere in the world since the start of the pandemic.