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  • Coronavirus - Melbourne residents confined for six weeks

Suddenly, without warning, 500 policemen surrounded the nine social housing towers in Melbourne on Saturday. They are located in the suburbs of Flemington and North Melbourne. Suddenly, the 3,000 residents who live there were confined to their homes . Some were caught by the blockade even taking down the trash and officers threatened to stop them if they crossed the gate. They are under the tightest closure that has been seen in Australia since the start of the pandemic.

The residents of the towers are people with low resources. Many are migrants who came from African countries, Vietnam or China. There are also young couples and pensioners. The strict quarantine came after 23 residents tested positive for coronavirus late last week. These days that number has risen to 72 infected.

"This is like a house arrest," said a neighbor in a telephone interview on local television. She complained that there was no need for their homes to be subject to such extreme police surveillance, as if they were criminals. And more after confinement was decreed throughout the city on Tuesday, although no other complex suffers the hard blockade of the nine towers.

Other neighbors are passing these days restless due to the lack of essential supplies. The social workers have been leaving some packages of food in the foyers on the ground floors. And several community groups have organized around the towers to offer their help. These have also protested what they consider an excessive presence of agents, who in some cases do not leave them or leave food. Even yesterday a man was arrested after arguing with a policeman at the entrance to one of the towers.

A new coronavirus outbreak appeared in Australia in mid-June. Specifically in the state of Victoria, the second most populated, where the city of Melbourne is located. A month earlier, Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government had announced its plan to downgrade the measures after 6,900 infections and 100 deaths. The new normal was already installed. But the pandemic returned with force.

Yesterday, the head of the Victoria State Executive, Daniel Andrews , announced that the five million residents of Melbourne were to be confined for the next six weeks. Until now, only the residents of the nine towers remained locked up. Still, those who live in social housing experience strict confinement. Despite the city blockade, the rest of the inhabitants can go out to work, exercise and buy food.

The closure announcement came after 191 new infections were registered in Victoria, the highest number in a single day since the pandemic began. This morning, authorities have reported 134 new cases. It is the third day in a row that this state has over a hundred infections . Coronavirus tests and test stations, which already exceed one million tests in this area, are multiplying to try to contain the outbreak. In total, 8,755 infections have been registered across the country, of which 2,942 have been reported in Melbourne.

Another measure that has been taken to prevent a possible spread of the coronavirus to other regions has been the closure of the Victoria border with the state of New South Wales. It is the first time in 101 years that this has happened in the country's two main territories, which host more than 50% of the entire population. Authorities have already deployed the army across the borders of both states . Even drone surveillance patrols are being organized. And the 44,000 people who live and work along the border have had to ask for special permission to move.

Melbourne authorities attributed the new spike in cases to non-compliance with restriction measures at established quarantine centers, mostly hotels, for city-resident travelers arriving from other countries. Specifically, the scandal jumped a few days ago due to an investigation that the Police is carrying out in one of these hotels. There, the guards allegedly even had sex with travelers who were to be quarantined.

A couple of weeks ago, before the closings, Defense Minister Linda Reynolds announced that 850 Defense Force personnel would help monitor travelers ending their quarantine at the hotel, while another 200 soldiers would provide logistical and medical support in the facilities where coronavirus tests are performed.

This Wednesday, the head of the Australian Treasury office, Josh Frydenberg , has detailed that the new confinement will cost the country about 6,000 million Australian dollars ( 3,695 million euros ). The state of Victoria represents 23% of the national GDP. This is another blow to the prolonged depression in a country that is on its way to its first recession in 30 years.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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