Panic-buying makes a return

Melbourne residents stock up ahead of lengthy lockdown

Shoppers in Australia’s second-biggest city stripped supermarket shelves as millions in Melbourne prepared for a return to virus lockdown, with warnings that the new restrictions could prompt a mental health crisis.

Five million residents were ordered back into a six-week lockdown beginning midnight yesterday as soaring community transmission of the coronavirus brings more than 100 new cases daily.

A further 134 infections were detected in the past 24 hours – small in comparison to the tens of thousands in hard-hit countries such as the United States and Brazil, but considered a major spike in Australia, which had otherwise been successful in containing Covid-19.

The country’s largest supermarket chain, Woolworths, said it had reimposed buying limits on items such as pasta, vegetables and sugar after shoppers rushed to stores across Victoria state.

Experts have warned that people everywhere will have to get used to the “new normal” of on-and-off restrictions as new clusters emerge and subside, while there are also concerns over the economic and mental health impacts the measures will bring.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the Melbourne lockdown would cost the economy up to A$1bil (RM2.9bil) a week, telling public broadcaster ABC that the burden would “fall heavily on businesses”.

“This is not the situation that anybody wanted to be in, but it is the reality that we must confront,” said state Premier Daniel Andrews.

Restaurants and cafes will be limited to serving takeaway food, while gyms, beauty salons and cinemas will be forced to close again.

Residents will be restricted to their homes except for work, exercise, medical care or to buy essentials – a return to social isolation that was only recently lifted.

Prof Michael Kyrios, a clinical psychologist at Flinders University, warned that Victoria needed to brace for a “coming mental health crisis” as a result.

“This will likely place the mental health care system in a precarious situation with very limited ability to mobilise resources in response to the increased incidence of mental illness arising from the Covid-19 crisis,” he said.