Melbourne (AFP)

All non-essential businesses are to close their doors starting Thursday in Melbourne, one more measure to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in Australia's second city, where a nighttime curfew has entered into. force.

Daniel Andrews, Prime Minister of the State of Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, announced Monday that most businesses are expected to close from midnight Wednesday evening. Supermarkets, pharmacies and liquor stores are among the businesses that will benefit from an exemption.

These measures are the most restrictive taken since the start of the epidemic in Australia. Authorities hope they will save a million residents from commuting to work, as hundreds of new cases continue to be identified every day in and around Melbourne, despite an orderly containment there. has several weeks.

"It's heartbreaking to have to shut down workplaces (...) but it's what needs to be done to stop the spread of this wildly contagious virus, this deadly virus," Mr Andrews said during 'a press conference.

"These six weeks are absolutely critical."

- Police patrol -

Certain sectors such as meat production or construction will have to reduce their operations as of Friday. Slaughterhouses will only have to operate at two-thirds of their capacity.

Mr Andrews urged residents to keep calm and not go robbing supermarkets.

"I cannot guarantee that every product will be available in the quantities you want to purchase. But there will be enough to meet everyone's needs."

The authorities have imposed since Sunday evening a night curfew in Melbourne, whose inhabitants are not allowed to move more than five kilometers from their homes.

It is now mandatory to stay at home from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. every night until September 13. Only people performing essential trades, providing care or seeking to receive it can leave their homes.

Violators face a fine of 1,652 Australian dollars (1,000 euros), the police increasing the patrols

- "It's difficult" -

These drastic measures isolate Melbourne a little more on an island-continent which has generally succeeded in containing the epidemic.

The state of Victoria currently has 6,500 active coronavirus cases. It announced 429 new cases and 13 deaths on Monday.

The total number of cases in Australia since the start of the pandemic is 18,000, and the number of deaths at 221, for a population of 25 million.

In Melbourne, weddings are also prohibited, as are religious celebrations. Students should return to distance education.

"It's difficult, especially when you consider that elsewhere in Australia, people are free to go about their business, and live an almost normal life," Tracy Skilling, manager of a café, told AFP.

While the huge island-continent had rather managed to control the epidemic before, Melbourne has been experiencing a resurgence of cases since mid-June.

The new wave was blamed on breaches of the rules in hotels where travelers returning from abroad were doing their quarantine.

The five million inhabitants of Melbourne were again confined on July 9 for six weeks in order to contain the epidemic.

But the number of cases continued to increase, reaching a total of 723 new infections in 24 hours, last Thursday, in the state of Victoria alone. The previous record for new cases, the previous Monday, was much lower (+549) and covered the entire territory.

© 2020 AFP