The Australian state of Victoria is imposing a four-week lockdown on several suburbs of Melbourne, the country’s second city.
As of Wednesday night, people in ten parts of the city can be fined for leaving their home for things other than work, school, sports, groceries, or to receive or care.
Companies that have to close receive compensation from the government.
64 new cases of infection were discovered on Tuesday in Victoria, bringing the daily number of new cases to above 10 for two weeks.
The rapid increase in infections in the poorer, multicultural suburbs of Melbourne is in contrast to the trend in other federal states, wherein some cases no contamination has been detected for weeks, despite the easing.
Several states keep the borders with Victoria closed for the time being and do not yet consider allowing visitors from other states.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the coronavirus has been diagnosed in 7,834 people in Australia. 104 of them died.