Last week, health officials effectively closed some 300,000 residents of Melbourne to the rest of the city.
Melbourne, Australia:
More than five million residents of Melbourne will be locked up for six weeks after the outbreak of coronavirus in Australia’s second city, authorities said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said the foreclosure would begin at midnight on Wednesday and last for at least six weeks as he warned residents “that we cannot pretend” that the coronavirus crisis is over.
After the southeast city detected 191 new cases in 24 hours, Andrews said there were now too many virus incidents to trace and follow.
“These are unsustainable figures,” he said. “No one wanted to be in this position. I know there will be huge amounts of damage that will be caused because of this. It will be very difficult.”
Most students in the school will return to distance learning while restaurants and cafes will be limited to serving takeout.
“There is simply no alternative but thousands and thousands of cases and potentially more,” he told reporters.
Although the foreclosure covers the metropolitan area of Melbourne, the whole state of Victoria will be effectively isolated from the rest of the country from midnight Tuesday as the state borders will be closed.
Police and military patrol dozens of border crossings and use drones and other planes to monitor the vast border with other states where the coronavirus has been successfully brought under control.
Last week, health officials effectively closed some 300,000 residents of Melbourne to the rest of the city until the end of July, but this has now been extended beyond their neighborhoods.
About 3,000 people were also locked up at home on Saturday in Australia’s strictest COVID-19 response to date after the emergence of a cluster in a public housing estate.
So far, 69 cases have been recorded in the nine densely populated towers and there are fears that the virus will spread widely, a health official comparing the crowded indoor conditions to “vertical cruise ships “.
Cruise ships have emerged as the first hot spots for coronavirus, with passengers and crew often wrapped in small cabins and at high risk of infection.
Australia has recorded almost 9,000 cases of COVID-19 and 106 deaths from the virus.
Almost all new daily cases are detected in Melbourne, while all other regions benefit from relaxed restrictions after largely curbing the spread of the virus.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
