Australian city on lockdown after hotel cleaner diagnosed with UK variant of Covid-19

Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison also announced the country would be nearly halving the number of passengers allowed to arrive by plane in a bid to prevent the spread of the mutant strain.

Australia’s third-largest city, Brisbane, will lock down for three days from Friday after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel was diagnosed with the highly contagious British variant of Covid-19.

Masks will also become compulsory for the first time in Brisbane and some surrounding municipalities, the Queensland state government said.