The border between Australia’s most populous states will be locked from Tuesday.
Prime Minister Daniel Andrews of Victoria has decided to do so because of a new coronavirus outbreak in his state. The border with New South Wales closes indefinitely on Tuesday at 11:59 PM, he said on Monday.
In Victoria, with Melbourne as its capital, 127 new infections have been diagnosed in the past day.
That is the highest number since the coronavirus pandemic began. Also, in the past 24 hours, a person has died from the effects of the virus.
This brings the death toll of all of Australia to 105.
In Victoria, as in the rest of Australia, restrictions had eased considerably. For example, outside meetings with up to 20 people were allowed again.
Still, the Prime Minister felt compelled to reintroduce restrictions at the end of last month due to the increasing number of corona infections.