Asia Today: Melbourne to largely emerge from virus lockdown

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s former coronavirus hot spot Melbourne will largely emerge from a lockdown after the nation’s second-largest city on Monday recorded its first day without a new coronavirus case in more than four months.

Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews said that at midnight Tuesday, restaurants, cafes and bars will be allowed to open and outdoor contact sports can resume. At midnight on Nov. 8, Melbourne residents will no longer be restricted to traveling within 25 kilometers (16 miles) of their homes.

Melbourne has been under strict lockdown measures since early July, and the state government has been accused of inflicting unnecessary economic damage by not relaxing restrictions sooner.

The last time Victoria recorded a 24-hour period without a single case was June 9. Its last fatality was on Oct. 19, which raised the state’s death toll to 817. Only 88 people have died from COVID-19 elsewhere in Australia. Victoria’s daily infection tally peaked at 725 in early August.

In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:

— Sri Lanka’s Parliament was closed on Monday in order to disinfect the premises after a police officer at the complex tested positive for the coronavirus amid a new surge of the virus in the country. Parliament was closed for two days as a precautionary measure so the premises can be disinfected, said Narendra Fernando, the Parliament’s sergeant of arms. Close associates of the officer were also tested, with the results expected later Monday. An additional 22 Parliament staffers will be tested on Tuesday, Fernando said. Sri Lanka has seen a fresh outbreak of the virus since early this month, when a new cluster emerged centered at a garment factory near Colombo, the capital. On Monday, 351 new cases were confirmed in the Indian Ocean island nation. Most of...