PHOTO: ReutersA five-day snap lockdown in Australia's Victoria state will end on Wednesday, officials said as they reported no new cases in a cluster linked to a quarantine hotel in the city of Melbourne. The lifting of restrictions will allow at least some spectators at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, where players have competed in empty stadiums during the lockdown. Officials had allowed 30,000 spectators for each of the first eight days of the event - about half the normal attendance. Prior to the lockdown, crowd numbers at the tournament were restricted to 25,000 and that could be reduced further for the final four days of the tournament, Andrews said. The lockdown in Victoria, Australia's second-most populous state, was sparked by the discovery of COVID-19 cases in a Melbourne quarantine hotel.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 17, 2021 01:07 UTC