Around 1.5 million Australian private sector workers to receive wage subsidy in virus-hit state

FILE PHOTO: An essential worker wearing a face mask walks past a 'Heroes Wear Masks' sign in Melbourne after it became the first city in Australia to enforce mask-wearing in public as part of efforts to curb a resurgence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), July 23, 2020. REUTERS/Sandra Sanders/File Photo

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Nearly half the workers at private firms in Australia's Victoria state, around 1.5 million people, will receive a federal wage subsidy as a surge of coronavirus cases forces a near total lockdown in the state, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Friday.

The figure illustrates the economic pain of a six-week lockdown of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria and the country's second largest city, which will see shops and businesses shuttered and five million inhabitants required to stay home.