PORT ALLEN - Bars in West Baton Rouge must close back down this week as the area sees a surge in new coronavirus cases.

The parish council released a statement Wednesday acknowledging that all bars in the parish must cease on-site consumption of alcohol immediately due to the parish's coronavirus positivity rate exceeding 10 percent for the past two weeks.

The parish must now hit a positivity rate of five percent or lower for two consecutive weeks if it hopes to reopen those businesses.

It's the second parish in the capital area that's been forced to close bars back down after reopening them in phase 3. Ascension Parish had to close bars last week after it too reported climbing COVID-19 cases.