Thousands of Australian football supporters have been ordered to self-isolate and get tested for Covid-19 after someone who attended a match in Melbourne tested positive.

Australia's second-largest city is trying to stem an outbreak of contamination that has so far amounted to 15 cases.

Among them, a fan present Sunday during the Australian football match between Collingwood and Port Adelaide at the MCG, an enclosure which had welcomed 23,415 spectators out of the 100,000 it can contain.

The Australian Football League (AFL) said the thousands of fans, sitting near the person who tested positive in the match, must self-isolate until their screening results are obtained.

At the same time, Australian authorities are analyzing images from CCTV cameras to see if other people are affected.

Race against time

The MCG is one of several Melbourne sites frequented by people who test positive. The authorities have embarked on a race against time to test as many people as possible in this city, whose five million inhabitants lived through four months of confinement last year, which dealt a serious blow to its economy. "We are concerned about the number and type of locations affected, the next twenty-four hours will be crucial if we are to take further action," said James Merlino, Acting Prime Minister of the State of Victoria.

On Tuesday, the number of people who can gather was again limited and the wearing of masks indoors became mandatory again as New Zealand suspended its air "bubble" with that state.

These are the first cases of local contamination for three months in Melbourne.

They are all said to be linked to a hotel where travelers arriving from abroad are placed in quarantine.

Australia has contained the spread of Covid-19 on its soil rather well, in particular by means of drastic border control.

However, the vaccination campaign is struggling to start with only 3.7 million doses administered to a population of 25 million inhabitants.

Australia has totaled less than 30,000 cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, a disease that has killed less than a thousand in the country.

Health

Coronavirus in Australia: Government plans to keep borders closed until end of 2022

World

Australia reconsiders threat to jail any citizen returning from India

  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus

  • Sport

  • Screening

  • Australia

  • Melbourne