South Australia began one of the world’s toughest lockdowns on Thursday.
South Australia began one of the world’s toughest lockdowns on Thursday with even outdoor exercise and a dog-walking ban as the state tries to contain a bevy of Covid-19 infections.
For six days, only one person in a household will be allowed to leave the house each day, and only for essential reasons, authorities said. Schools, universities, cafes and restaurants are closed, weddings and funerals are prohibited, and the wearing of masks is mandatory.
“We want to push ourselves, go early, but get out as quickly as we can,” State Prime Minister Steven Marshall said of the measures.
Twenty-three people in the state capital Adelaide were infected after a hotel cleaner used to quarantine people arriving from abroad was exposed to the virus, and health authorities say the “circuit breaker” measures are necessary to prevent a broader outbreak.
Marshall said the strain of virus that is circulating is “unpleasant,” as many of those infected do not show any symptoms. He said that it was highly likely to be transmitted from surfaces and that the incubation period was only 24 hours.
“It is a real concern, especially since people who get infected do not show the typical symptoms that we are used to,” he said.
The state of 1.7 million people, spread over a land mass five times the size of the UK, had largely eradicated community transmission of the virus after a nationwide shutdown earlier this year.
The cluster and a more severe outbreak in neighboring Victoria state that triggered a three-month lockdown in the city of Melbourne show that continued vigilance is required to control the virus, even in a nation that has escaped the scale of infections and deaths experienced in Europe and the US.
Victoria is proof that strict confinements work. The state, which posted a daily peak of around 700 infections in August, has gone 20 days with no new cases.
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