Rules once lifted are reimposed to try to curb new outbreaks

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Virus restrictions once lifted are being reimposed, shutting businesses and curbing people's social lives as communities try to curb a disease resurgence before it spins out of control.

Residents of Australia’s second-largest city were warned on Wednesday to comply with lockdown regulations or face tougher restrictions. Melbourne's 5 million people and part of the city's semi-rural surrounds are a week into a new, six-week lockdown to contain a new outbreak there.

“The time for warnings, the time for cutting people slack is over,” Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews said. “Where we are is in a very serious and deadly position.”

Victoria reported 238 new cases, which authorities say may indicate a stabilizing trend underway in Melbourne's outbreak.

Renewed restrictions took effect in Hong Kong on Wednesday, with public gatherings limited to four people, restaurants limited to takeout after 6 p.m., and a one-week closure for gyms, karaoke bars, and selected other businesses. Masks also are being mandated on public transit for the first time, with the non-compliant being fined.

Sammi Li, the owner of the Mibrows salon, said small businesses such as hers are at the mercy of such mandatory closures as there is little they can do to prepare. She expects the cycle of reopening and closing to continue until a vaccine is found.

“We’ll just try to work as much as we can when we are open, to prepare for another closure,” she said.

Of the nearly two dozen possible COVID-19 vaccines in progress, candidates from the U.S., China and Britain are entering final testing stages. The first one tested in the U.S. revved up people’s immune systems just the way scientists had hoped, researchers reported Tuesday as the shots are poised to...