Australia's most populous state of New South Wales (NSW), epicenter of the country's current COVID-19 outbreak, announced on Friday that it will extend the lockdown on Greater Sydney until the end of September and to impose curfew on certain areas of concern. 

For affected residents and businesses, the curfew will be introduced from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. except for authorized workers, emergencies or medical care from Monday August 23.

The decision came after NSW recorded 642 new infections.

(With input from Xinhua)