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COVID-19 Flare Ups in Japan, Italy, Spain and Australia Prompt New Restrictions

In Melbourne, 3,000 people in are locked down, in Spain 200,000 people are under new restrictions and in Japan and Italy, government leaders are mulling clamping down again.

Authorities in the Australian city of Melbourne are prohibiting around 3,000 residents who live in nine public housing apartment blocks from leaving their homes for any reason for the next five days after 23 cases of COVID-19 were found among residents. A further 12 suburbs of the city have been put under a modified lockdown and only allowed to leave their homes for work, essential shopping and health care. In the Catalonia region of Spain, more than 210,000 people are now restricted to their cities after a spike in new coronavirus cases there, and in Japan and Italy, small clusters of cases have prompted authorities to consider new measures to avoid a second wave of infections as international travel opens amid uncertainty.