OREANDA-NEWS. In the Australian city of Melbourne, Victoria, authorities have imposed strict restrictions on citizens due to eight identified cases of COVID-19. This is reported by the Daily Mail newspaper.

For the sixth time, a lockdown has been introduced in Australia's second-largest state. All residents of Melbourne from August 5 will be required to stay at home for at least a week.

State Prime Minister Dan Andrews says he has no other choice. Despite all the measures taken to combat the virus, “mysterious” cases of infections from an unknown source of coronavirus are recorded in the city.

Also, unexplained cases of infection are recorded in Sydney, Australia's largest city. There, in one day, 262 cases of coronavirus infection were detected - this is the highest figure since the beginning of the pandemic. At the same time, most of the currently infected people complied with the prohibitions and did not leave their homes.

Earlier, scientists called on the Australian authorities to vaccinate 80 percent of citizens against coronavirus as soon as possible in order to return to normal life. As soon as 80 percent of the population is vaccinated in the country, Australia will be able to cope with COVID-19, according to the researchers. With this percentage of vaccinated people will not stop contracting the coronavirus, but severe cases will become rare.