[ad_1]
SYDNEY (AFP, BLOOMBERG) – Authorities ordered a five-day quick shutdown in Melbourne on Friday (February 12) to contain a new coronavirus outbreak, meaning the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament, which began in town this week, will have to go on without fans.
Under the restrictions, some five million people in Australia’s second-largest city will have to stay home for five days from midnight, except for a limited number of permitted activities.
Supermarkets will remain open, but other retailers, gyms, and entertainment venues will close and people will not be able to travel more than 5 km from their homes.
Prime Minister Daniel Andrews of the state of Victoria, which includes Melbourne, said the shutdown was necessary to stop an outbreak of the British “hyper-infectious” strain of Covid-19, which leaked from a quarantine hotel in Melbourne, capital of the Victoria state.
“These restrictions have to do with making sure that we respond appropriately to the most infectious and fastest moving strain of coronavirus that we have seen,” he said.
“I’m sure this short, sharp circuit breaker will be effective. We can put this down. We can prevent it from slipping away.”
Andrews said the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the season that started on Monday and has attracted most of the world’s best players, can go ahead without crowds.
He said that the tennis Open venue would be considered a “workplace” capable of operating with a strictly limited staff.
The organizers of the Open did not immediately comment on the new development, which came during the controversy over the two-week forced quarantine many players had to undergo upon arrival in Australia.
The outbreak leaked from an airport hotel that housed international travelers in mandatory quarantine and has so far infected 13 people, including hotel staff and their families.
Overnight, it was learned that an infected person had spent several hours in a cafe in the airport terminal, potentially infecting travelers heading to other parts of Australia.
Andrews acknowledged that the spread of the outbreak had so far been limited to hotel staff and their families.
But he said the UK strain was “so hyper-infectious and moving so fast, it presents a very, very real challenge to our state, our security, our stay open, our precious thing that we have built.” “
Melbourne spent more than 100 days under lock and key last year to crush a previous coronavirus outbreak that infected thousands and killed about 800 people.
That blockade ended at the end of October.
Two other Australian state capitals, Brisbane in the east and Perth in the west, recently underwent similar sudden closures in response to leaks of the UK strain from a hotel quarantine.
In both cases, the outbreak was quickly contained.
Australia has been among the most successful countries in the world in containing the coronavirus, with some 900 deaths for a population of 25 million.
[ad_2]
