Australia's second largest city is back on lockdown

Australia's second biggest city was put back under lockdown on Tuesday (July 7) as Victoria state officials scramble to get a coronavirus outbreak under control.

Melbourne residents will be confined to their homes for six weeks unless they're undertaking essential business.

The call affects around 4.9 million people.

And was announced just hours before the busy border between Victoria, where Melbourne is the capital, and New South Wales is scheduled to close for the first time in a century.

From midnight Wednesday (July 8), everyone in Melbourne will be required to stay indoors, unless venturing to work, studying, shopping for food or attending medical appointments.

Restaurants, cafes and bars will only provide a takeaway service.

And non-essential outfits like gyms and salons will be closed.

Here's Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews.

"But let's not see this as simply an inconvenience. It's much more than that. It's a pandemic. And it will kill thousands of people if it gets completely away from us. And that will be more than inconvenient. That will be tragic. We don't want that. We can avoid that but we all have a part to play in that."

Victoria was responsible for the vast majority of new cases reported nationally on Tuesday.

In what was the biggest one-day rise since early April.

The spike has worried officials, despite the national total of cases and deaths being far lower than many other countries.

The border closure and reintroduction of restrictions in Melbourne deal a blow to Australia's hopes for quick economic recovery, as it speeds towards its first recession in nearly three decades.