More than five million people on Tuesday received orders from local authorities to remain confined to Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, following an outbreak of new coronavirus. This confinement will take effect from midnight Tuesday to Wednesday, for a period of at least six weeks, said the Prime Minister of the State of Victoria, Daniel Andrews.
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The announcement was made while this city in southeast Australia reported 191 new cases in 24 hours, making it difficult to trace contacts of people infected with the virus. "These are figures that cannot last," he said. While acknowledging that "nobody wanted to find themselves in such a situation", he considered that "it will be very difficult" for the population.
Fear of "thousands more"
Most of the pupils will again follow distance education, while restaurants and cafes will only be able to serve take-out meals. According to him, this is the only possible alternative because if not, "potentially", there will be "thousands and thousands of cases" more, he said to the press. These measures concern the metropolis of Melbourne while since midnight Tuesday, the State of Victoria is isolated from the rest of the country after the closure of its borders.
Police and military guard dozens of crossings with other states while drones and planes have been deployed. Last week, around 30 Melbourne neighborhoods were confined, a measure that affected more than 300,000 residents. It must remain in effect until July 29. Since then, it has been extended to other parts of the city.
Very strict measures
On Saturday, around 3,000 residents living in several apartment buildings were ordered to stay locked up in their homes for at least five days after the outbreak of an epidemic outbreak in a tower. This is the most stringent measure ever in force in Australia since the start of the pandemic.
Australia has recorded almost 9,000 cases of coronavirus and 106 deaths. The majority of new daily cases are now recorded in Melbourne, while most of the other regions benefit from a relaxation of the measures.