Victoria is heading back into lockdown tonight. These are the rules

Victoria is heading back into stage 4 coronavirus lockdown at midnight tonight in what’s being described by the Premier Daniel Andrews as a five-day “short, sharp circuit breaker”.

Health authorities are dealing with the UK strain of the virus which they say is hyper-infectious and moving quickly.

Many Melburnians who endured last year’s gruelling 111-day lockdown may well be asking, why is this happening again?

What’s different about the UK variant?

The 13 cases so far are all directly linked to the Melbourne Airport Holiday Inn quarantine hotel, involving either returned travellers, hotel quarantine staff or their close contacts.

But it’s the speed of transmission of the UK variant that’s deeply concerning Victoria’s health authorities.