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MELBOURNE: The Australian state of Victoria experienced its biggest increase in new coronavirus cases in weeks on Sunday (May 3) and the state of New South Wales struggled with a group of infections in a senior care facility, a As parts of the country began to relax the distancing rules.
Thirteen new cases were reported in Victoria on Sunday, health officials said, with six of the cases related to a group of infections at a meat-processing facility in Melbourne.
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“What worries me are the unknown unknowns,” Victoria Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said in a televised conference, urging more people to get tested.
“We want to make sure that if we have positive cases in the community we can identify those people … this is how we are going to beat the virus.”
READ: Australia allows home visits, opens beaches as COVID-19 closure becomes easier
In New South Wales, there were four new cases, two of which were registered at the Newmarch Care Center for the Elderly in Sydney, where more than 60 people were infected and 14 died.
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Australia and neighboring New Zealand, which have closed borders and imposed strict social restrictions and blockades, have been hailed for containing COVID-19 outbreaks, but the measures are intended to push both economies into recession.
Australia’s success in suppressing the virus has led some states and territories to allow more outdoor activities and public gatherings earlier than planned.
Many national parks have been reopened in the state of Queensland and people were allowed to make small picnics, while the Northern Territory began lifting the restrictions with the goal of ending them in June.
New South Wales has allowed friends or neighbors to visit their homes, but in groups of no more than two, and starting next weekend, for the first time in six weeks, real estate agents will be able to conduct traditional property inspections and auctions at the place .
READ: Australian Prime Minister Says There Is No Evidence That COVID-19 Originated In China’s Laboratory, Urges Investigation
However, easing has been gradual and varied in Australia, a country with a loose federal system.
Victoria, the second most populous state, was to uphold its strict rules at least until a state of emergency expires on May 11. Mikakos said the possible relaxation of the rules after that date will depend on the number of daily infections.
Over the past week, Australia recorded an average of just 13 new cases per day, according to the health ministry, with a daily infection rate well below 1 percent, a fraction of what has been seen in many other countries.
There were 6,783 confirmed cases and 94 deaths in Australia as of Saturday night, according to health officials. Neighboring New Zealand saw two new cases on Sunday, bringing the total to 1,136. Twenty people have died so far.
READ: Australia to increase coronavirus testing with millions of new kits
The Australian government, which will meet on Friday to discuss relaxing federal social distancing rules, has hoped that its voluntary coronavirus tracking application, introduced last week, will help guide it in making decisions.
As of Saturday, 4 million Australians downloaded the COVIDSafe app, the health ministry said. This is approximately 16 percent of the country’s population of 25 million and well below the government’s initial target of 40 percent.
Despite government assurances that the app would not track location and that health data will only be accessed by health officials with the consent of users, people remained concerned about the app’s security.
“As we all know, it is very important that as many people as possible download the app,” Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said in a televised briefing on Saturday.
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