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Australia has recorded zero new coronavirus deaths for the first time in two months, as a slowdown in new cases eased a crippling lockdown in its second-largest city.
Only 50 new virus cases were reported nationwide, down from peaks above 700 in late July and early August, while no deaths were reported for the first time since July 13, according to an AFP tally. .
The news came a day after Melbourne’s strict lockdown was loosened, allowing residents to spend an extra hour a day exercising outdoors and visiting friends who live alone.
In and around the state of Victoria, locals will be able to leave their homes and businesses will be able to reopen starting at midnight Wednesday after the number of rural cases dropped.
“It’s a huge thing, it’s a very positive thing,” Victoria’s Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said.
Melbourne residents still face restrictions, with non-essential businesses remaining closed and a nightly curfew in effect until October 26.
Nearly three-quarters of Australia’s nearly 27,000 cases and 90% of the 816 coronavirus deaths have occurred in the state of Victoria.
Hundreds died in nursing homes as the virus spread through the facility, infecting thousands of residents and staff.
Conglomerates in schools, slaughterhouses and hospitals also emerged after security bugs in hotels used to quarantine international travelers allowed the virus to leak back into the community.
With the number of cases under control, pressure is mounting on the government to allow thousands of Australians stranded abroad by border closures to travel home.
Limits introduced on international arrivals in the wake of the Melbourne outbreak have severely limited those who can return, with commercial airlines reportedly prioritizing first and business class passengers to recoup the accumulated losses from flying nearly empty planes.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese asked the prime minister to use his Royal Australian Air Force jet to bring citizens home, a scheme ridiculed as a “stunt” by a government minister.
Other politicians have called on the government to use immigration detention centers to house returnees, a method initially used for citizens returning from Wuhan, but abandoned once the virus spread globally.
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