 Australian shares closed lower on Wednesday, dragged down by the healthcare sector, as a record surge in COVID-19 cases in the country dented investor sentiment. Australia recorded 501 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, its highest since the epidemic took hold in March, with Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital, accounting for almost 97 of the new cases. The fact that metro Melbourne, which is about 5 million people, has already been in a lockdown for the last couple of weeks and still not seeing a drop in cases is probably something to be a little concerned about, said Steven Daghlian, market analyst at CommSec. 