Australia's hotspot sees second-highest tally

Australia's hotspot state of Victoria reported 374 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, second-highest daily tally country has ever recorded.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews anunced three more deaths in state, bringing national toll 126.

Andrews said a six-week lockdown that began two weeks ago in Australia's second-largest city Melbourne and neighbouring semi-rural Mitchell Shire was having an impact.

"You'd like to see numbers coming down. At end of day though, we're t seeing doubling and doubling again" of cases, Andrews told reporters in Melbourne.

"So, what that says to me ... is that sorts of measures we've put in place are having a direct impact," he added.

Since a record 428 cases were reported on Friday, Victoria has recorded 217, 363 and 275 cases on consecutive days.

Tighter regulations will come into force on state border with New South Wales on Wednesday that will only allow border communities to cross for essential work, health and education reasons.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australian military personnel were helping Victorian health authorities deal with growing caseload.

Meanwhile, 13 new cases were reported in New South Wales, including two people who attended services late last week at Our Lady of Leban Maronite Co-Cadral in Sydney, where a pop-up testing clinic was set up on Tuesday for parishioners to be tested.