Melbourne sets Covid lockdown record

The Australian city of Melbourne on Monday set a record for the longst cumulative time a city has spent in lockdown.
Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria on the country's eastern coast, chalked up a total of 246 days living under stay-at-home orders, Australian news wire AAP reported.
It is the longest cumulative lockdown for any city in the world, broadcaster ABC reported.
The city is currently in its sixth lockdown since the coronavirus pandemic began, and the lockdown is set to continue for at least three more weeks.
Buenos Aires previously held the record.
Case numbers in Victoria state only recently overtook neighbouring New South Wales, which has seen case numbers start to drop after an apparent plateau.
Nerves are flaring in Melbourne. Last month, demonstrators took to the streets several days in a row in protest at mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations in the construction sector.
Victoria is forecast to hit 70 per cent vaccination coverage of people over 16 on October 26, triggering the end of lockdown under the state's roadmap before restrictions ease further at 80 per cent.
But state Premier Daniel Andrews has said he would not rule out amending the roadmap and extending restrictions if needed.
Australia, with a population of 25 million, long sought to eradicate the virus with a zero-Covid strategy, but after failing to contain several Delta variant outbreaks, has largely shifted to achieving vaccination targets as a way out of lockdown.
Australia has recorded 105,000 cases and more than 1,200 deaths since the pandemic began.