The Australian state of Victoria will enter a snap five-day lockdown from midnight Friday as COVID-19 cases linked to a quarantine hotel in the state rose to 13.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the state will return to stage 4 lockdown from 11:59 p.m. Friday night to prevent further community transmission of a highly infectious COVID-19 strain.

Under the rules, Victorian residents can only leave home for four reasons including shopping for essentials, care and caregiving, exercise and essential work.

Exercise and shopping will be limited to 5 km from home and face masks will need to be worn indoors and outdoors outside of one's home.

No home visitors will be allowed. Religious gatherings and weddings will not be permitted, and funerals will be limited to 10 people.

All non-essential retail, gyms, pools, community centers, entertainment venues and libraries will close. Cafes and restaurants will only be able to offer take-away.

"I know this is not the news Victorians wanted to hear today, I know this is not the place we want to be in ... We have to make difficult decisions to maintain what we have built," Andrews said on Friday.

"If we wait for this theory that it might be out there, there might be more cases than we know about, it would be too late, and then we would face the chance of being locked down until a vaccine is rolled out."

COVID-19 cases linked to the Holiday Inn hotel at Melbourne Airport have grown to 13, with five new cases confirmed on Thursday.

Six of the cases have been confirmed to have the more infectious variant of COVID-19 first detected in Britain, and the "working assumption" is that all 13 cases may be the same strain.

Meanwhile, the Brunetti cafe in Terminal 4 at Melbourne Airport was listed as an exposure site Friday morning after it was visited by an infected person on Feb. 9, prompting urgent responses from other states and territories.

Health authorities in the state of New South Wales (NSW) are currently contacting approximately 7,000 people who entered NSW from Victoria after attending these venues of concern, to ensure they are aware of the requirements.

NSW Health urged anyone who travelled through terminal 4 of Melbourne Airport on Feb. 9 to immediately isolate, get tested and remain isolated for 14 days regardless of the test result.

In addition, anyone who attended any terminal at Melbourne Airport on Feb. 7-8 must immediately get tested and isolate until a negative result is received.

Meanwhile, anyone in NSW who had been in Victoria after Jan. 29 should remain at their home or place of residence for the five-day period announced by the Victorian government.

Queensland has declared Greater Melbourne as a COVID-19 hotspot and will close its borders to 36 local government areas for a period of 14 days from 1:00 a.m. Saturday.

Some 1,500 people in Queensland who had travelled through terminal 4 of Melbourne Airport would need to go into 14 days quarantine.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein also declared all of Victoria "high risk" from midnight Friday and non-Tasmanian residents travelling from Victoria will be denied entry to the state.