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SYDNEY: Australia’s leading medical group says the New South Wales state government has put the rest of the country at risk for its decision not to act “vigorously and early” in its response to the COVID-19 outbreak on beaches north of Sydney, which is suspected of causing new cases in neighboring Victoria as well.
On Saturday (January 2), Victoria registered 10 new local cases, bringing active cases in the state to 29. Tracing tests have linked Melbourne’s novel coronavirus cluster to the outbreak in New South Wales.
Australian Medical Association Vice President Chris Moy said the New South Wales government was “playing the odds” by relying heavily on its contact tracing system rather than imposing a quick lockdown to stop the spread. in Sydney.
“They have put themselves and the rest of the country at risk,” Moy told Fairfax Media. “I can fully understand why Victoria has reacted by closing the border very quickly, because they are very concerned about this.”
READ: Australia steps up testing to curb COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney
Victoria recently weathered a second wave, which forced night curfews, closures of Melbourne and other areas and killed more than 800 people out of Australia’s 909 death toll. The state had gone more than two months without a new case until the new shoots during the past week.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has resisted pressure to force Sydney to shut down, demand masks and ban crowds from some sporting events despite the number of cases in her state rising from none to 170 in two weeks .
Tony Blakely, an epidemiologist at the University of Melbourne, said the New South Wales government should have closed the North Beaches outbreak 48 to 72 hours earlier than it did.
“They were slow,” he said, adding that he was also among many experts in Australia scratching their heads over why the state was unwilling to require masks.
On Saturday, Berejiklian gave up a bit on the mask policy. Starting at midnight on Saturday, masks will be mandatory in shopping malls, on public transportation, in entertainment venues such as a movie theater, and the fines will go into effect on Monday.
In December, many states freely opened their borders to other states, and the hope was to have Australia fully open by Christmas, except for international travelers. But the outbreak of Sydney’s North Beaches has new restrictions.
The most recent occurred at midnight Friday when Victoria closed its border with New South Wales, causing traffic jams as people ran to get through the closure. Once in Victoria, COVID-19 testing sites saw long lines as travelers lined up for mandatory testing. Anyone unable to return before that deadline would face 14-day quarantines.
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