SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s Victoria state on Thursday reported a slight rise in locally acquired cases of COVID-19 as 5 million residents of Melbourne, the state capital, prepare to enter a second week of a hard lockdown.
A total of 21 new locally acquired cases were detected in the state, up from 20 a day earlier.
Authorities extended a lockdown in Melbourne for another seven days until Aug. 19 to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant.
(Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Leslie Adler)
