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MELBOURNE: The state of Victoria reported 76 new coronavirus infections and 11 deaths on Saturday (September 5), as trends in Australia’s disease hotspot continued to gradually improve after nearly five weeks of a harsh lockdown in the state capital, Melbourne.
State Prime Minister Daniel Andrews is due to outline plans Sunday to ease Melbourne’s stage 4 restrictions that shut down much of the economy, required everyone to stay home except for essential business and imposed a nightly curfew. .
Frustration with the prolonged lockdown has led to calls for protests in Melbourne on Saturday, which would be illegal under stage 4 restrictions, and police were in effect.
Victoria’s new daily cases were below 100 most days this week, down from a peak of 725 new infections on Aug.5, but still higher than health officials expected five weeks later. from a six-week hard block
“The tail of the second wave is kind of stubborn,” Andrews said during a televised news conference Saturday.
Australia’s government and businesses have urged Victoria, which makes up about a quarter of the country’s economy, to lift restrictions as the country has plunged into its first recession since 1991.
“This is a health problem in the first place and until the health problem is solved, there can be no financial redress,” Andrews said.
READ: Australia’s Q2 GDP Shrinks at Record Rate As COVID-19 Pushes Country Into Recession
Victoria’s total of 19,479 cases now accounts for around 75 percent of Australia’s count, while the state’s 661 total deaths account for nearly 90 percent of the country’s deaths from the virus.
Australia’s surge in COVID-19 cases in the past two months has been focused on Melbourne, primarily due to community transmission of the virus detected by returning travelers who were in hotel quarantine in May and June.
“It’s not safe, it’s not smart, it’s not legal. In fact, it’s absolutely selfish that people are protesting,” Andrews said.
In neighboring New Zealand, a former Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Joseph Williams, died of COVID-19. His was the second coronavirus-related death in the country in two days, following an outbreak in the country’s largest city, Auckland, bringing the country’s total to 24 deaths.
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