Authorities ordered a snap, five-day lockdown in Melbourne on Friday to contain a new coronavirus outbreak, meaning the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament, which began in the city this week, will have to go ahead without fans.

Under the restrictions, some five million people in Australia’s second-biggest city will have to remain at home for five days from midnight, except for a limited number of permitted essential activities.

Premier Daniel Andrews of Victoria state, which includes Melbourne, said the lockdown was necessary to halt an outbreak of the “hyper-infectious” UK strain of Covid-19, which leaked from a quarantine hotel at the city airport.

Continue reading this article on Sports Desk, the sports website by Times of Malta

 

 

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