Australia’s second-most populous city will enter a five-day snap coronavirus lockdown, authorities said on Friday, barring spectators for much of the Australian Open tennis tournament.

A fresh COVID-19 cluster linked to a quarantine hotel in Melbourne, reached 13 cases as of Thursday midnight, as authorities rushed to quash the virus’ spread. All of those infections were linked to the highly contagious UK variant.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews announced the lockdown for the state, starting at midnight on Friday, calling it a “short, sharp circuit breaker” banning public gatherings, home auctions, weddings, and religious gatherings.

“We must assume that there are further cases in the community than we have positive results for and that it is moving at a velocity that has not been seen anywhere in our country over the course of these last 12 months,” Ms. Andrews told reporters.

She noted that the spread of the virus’ UK variant was faster than previous outbreaks in the country.

Asked about the Australian Open, which runs through February 21, the premier said the Grand Slam event was considered a workplace, subject to lockdown restrictions.

“There are no fans. There are no crowds. These people are essentially at their workplace,” he said. “The minimum number of staff for it to be run safely – not just for the virus but other reasons – will be there.”

The event had already been limited to 50 percent of the usual capacity.

Event organisers confirmed the tournament would proceed without crowds over the next five days with no fans allowed at the match sites.

However, spectators would be able to attend games scheduled for Thursday while those who had bought tickets to restricted events would get a refund, the organisers said in a statement.

“Australian Open sessions today and tonight will continue as planned with COVID safe protocols in place,” it said.

Victoria endured one of the world’s strictest and longest lockdowns last year after an outbreak that killed more than 800 in the state, the vast majority of the national death toll.

Australia and neighbouring New Zealand have generally succeeded in containing the coronavirus’s domestic spread, thanks to hard border restrictions.

Since March, Australia has reported more than 22,000 local infections of the virus that causes COVID-19 cases and 909 deaths.

(Reuters/NAN)