Australia's Victoria reports 278 new coronavirus cases, 8 deaths

Australia's second-most populous state of Victoria on Thursday said eight people had died from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, a day after recording the deadliest day of the pandemic with 21 casualties. The state reported 278 new daily infections compared with 410 on Wednesday.

A cluster of infections in Melbourne, the Victorian capital and Australia's second-largest city, forced authorities last week to impose a night curfew, tighten restrictions on people's daily movements and order large parts of state economy to close.