The figures will buoy optimism that a hard lockdown of the state capital Melbourne is containing the spread of the new coronavirus, which had threatened to spill across the rest of the country. Victoria reported 216 cases a day earlier, the lowest one-day rise in five weeks. A flare-up in infections in the state forced authorities two weeks ago to impose a nightly curfew in Melbourne and shut large parts of the state's economy. Australia has recorded just over 24,000 COVID-19 infections, while the death toll rose to 462 after 12 people in Victoria died from the virus.