Australia's Victoria reports rise in local COVID-19 cases amid lockdown

Australia's Victoria state reported 26 locally acquired cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, up from 22 a day earlier, as the state neared a week into a hard lockdown imposed to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta virus strain.

All new cases are linked to the current outbreak, the state's health department said. Twenty-four cases were in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period.