LATEST COVID-19 DEVELOPMENTS:

* Greater Brisbane’s lockdown could still end before the Easter holidays after just two new coronavirus cases emerged in the community.

* The cases were reported after 33,408 tests were conducted in the 24 hours to 9am on Wednesday.

* One is a nurse from Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, who had received her first vaccine dose, and the other is her housemate.

* Another case of community transmission linked to the Brisbane clusters was also reported in the northern NSW town of Byron Bay on Wednesday.

* Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said a decision on extending the Greater Brisbane lockdown, which is due to end at 5pm on Thursday, will be made in the next 24 hours.

* Health Minister Greg Hunt has stepped in as peacemaker between the states and some of his federal colleagues after they engaged in a stoush over the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

* Federal ministers Dan Tehan and David Littleproud sparked outrage from NSW and Queensland with their criticism of the speed of the rollout and the warehousing of doses.

* NSW has used only half of its 190,610 received doses and Queensland was at 55 per cent usage, according to leaked federal figures.

* NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the reports are “not true”, while Ms Palaszczuk wants federal authorities to publish daily figures on vaccinations and the supply of vaccines to each state and territory.

* A music festival due to draw thousands of revellers to Byron Bay has been cancelled amid growing fears of a COVID-19 outbreak in the area.

* NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard signed a public health order cancelling Bluesfest on Wednesday, less than 24 hours before it was due to begin.

* The move came after NSW diagnosed its first case linked to clusters in southeast Queensland, resulting in restrictions for four local councils near the border.

* The Victorian government refused to apologise to Brisbane flight arrivals who claim health officials told them they would not be forced into hotel quarantine.

* Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner returned a negative COVID-19 test after coming into contact with family members visiting from Queensland and developing cold-like symptoms.

* South Australia eased some COVID-19 restrictions on Wednesday despite the growing virus outbreak in Queensland.

SPORT:

* The NRL rushed to remove Gold Coast players out of Queensland after making the call to replace this weekend’s games in the state with a Sydney double-header.

* The Brisbane Lions are working towards securing government exemptions to allow more AFL players to leave Queensland and boost their travel party in Victoria.

* Supercars have made the decision to delay the Tasmania SuperSprint event by a week following Queensland’s COVID-19 outbreak.

AUSTRALIAN CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS:

* Australia reported two new locally acquired cases of the coronavirus in Queensland on Wednesday, with a further local case in NSW to be tallied on Thursday. There were eight overseas-acquired cases reported in hotel quarantine; four in Western Australia, three in NSW, and one in Queensland.

* The national death toll is 909: Victoria 820, NSW 56, Tasmania 13, WA 9, Queensland 6, SA 4, ACT 3 (Two Queensland residents who died in NSW have been included in the official tolls of both states).

GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS:

* Cases: at least 128,224,000

* Deaths: at least 2,803,000

* Recovered: at least 72,739,000.

Data current as of 1800 AEDT on March 31, taking in federal and state/territory government updates and Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre figures.