Melbourne to lockdown for 5 days from Thursday

Australia's second-largest city will lockdown for five days from Thursday night due to growing COVID-19 clusters.

Melbourne's fifth lockdown of the pandemic will apply across Victoria state, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said on Thursday.

The news came after officials announced on Wednesday that Australia's largest city, Sydney, will remain in lockdown for five weeks.

A three-week lockdown of Sydney and surrounding communities in New South Wales state had been due to end on Friday. But it will now last until July 30 at the earliest.

Health authorities are concerned by how quickly the delta variant is spreading in a vulnerable Australian population in which fewer than 13% of adults are fully vaccinated.

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