(Bloomberg) -- Australia’s Victoria state has recorded a new daily record in coronavirus deaths, with 21 fatalities in 24 hours.
The nation’s second-most populous state, which is in the midst of a six-week lockdown that’s one of the strictest in the western world, had 410 new cases in the period, according to a health department statement on Tuesday.
The outbreak in Victoria, a state responsible for about a quarter of national gross domestic product, is threatening Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s plan to reboot the recession-hit economy. Attention is also focused on outbreaks in neighboring New South Wales state, which had 22 new cases on Monday.
New Zealand health authorities on Tuesday cited the resurgence in Victoria as one of the catalysts for its own decision to place its largest city Auckland back into lockdown after recording its first coronavirus outbreak in more than three months.
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