Australia's coronavirus emergency cabinet will consider limiting the number of its citizens and residents returning home from overseas, Reuters quoted Prime Minister Scott Morrison as saying.

The prime minister has further said there are no plans to reimpose restrictions across the country, after Victoria, the country's second-most populous state, enforced stay-at-home rules in metropolitan Melbourne and one regional area due to a spike in infections.

Meanwhile, as millions in Melbourne prepared for a return to virus lockdown, panicked shoppers stripped supermarket shelves, AFP reported. Australia's largest supermarket chain, Woolworths, said it had reimposed buying limits on items including pasta, vegetables and sugar after shoppers rushed to stores across Victoria state.