SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia s second most populous state of Victoria will enter a one-week COVID-19 lockdown, forcing its near seven million residents to remain home except for essential business in a bid to contain a fresh virus cluster. Victoria state Acting Premier James Merlino told reporters in Melbourne that starting from 11:59 pm (1359 GMT) local time Thursday, people will only be allowed to leave their homes for essential work, healthcare, grocery shopping or exercise. (Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
SEOUL, South Korea â South Korea is allowing younger adults who arenât yet eligible to get coronavirus vaccines to use smartphone apps to sign up for spare doses as officials try to speed up vaccination.
Health officials didnât immediately say how many people applied for leftover vaccines after the services went live on Thursday afternoon. But a flood of requests temporarily forced mobile chat service Kakao to reboot its servers, said Kim Ki-nam, an official from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
Anyone 30 years or older could also use the mobile services of Naver, the countryâs biggest website, to register on standby lists.
Melbourne lockdown looms as cluster of cases spikes again
(Photo / AAP) Thu, 27 May 2021, 11:02AM
Speculation is mounting that Melbourne will be forced back into lockdown, after the latest cluster increased by 11 cases overnight.
The state s health authorities spent the night debating whether to impose a lockdown of up to seven days. It would be the fourth time Melbourne has been placed in a lockdown.
Victoria s Covid-19 outbreak has risen significantly overnight, with the state s cluster now at 26 cases.
One of the 12 cases confirmed by the Department of Health was reported on Tuesday, meaning there were 11 new infections recorded overnight.
There has been ongoing speculation about whether parts of the state will be plunged into a lockdown today, with some reports suggesting a five or even 10-day lockdown could be on the cards.