Melbourne heads back into lockdown

SYDNEY/MELBOURNE: Lockdown measures were reimposed in Australia’s second biggest city yesterday, confining Melbourne residents to their homes unless undertaking essential business for six weeks, as officials scramble to contain a coronavirus outbreak.

The decision, which affects around 4.9 million people, was announced just hours before the busy border between Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, and New South Wales is scheduled to close for the first time in a century.

From midnight today, everyone in Melbourne will be required to stay home unless travelling to work, studying, shopping for food or attending medical appointments. Restaurants, cafes and bars will be able to provide takeaway service only, gyms and hair salons closed, household gatherings limited to two people and the current school vacation extended.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said the restrictions were onerous but necessary.

“I would, with the greatest of respect, put it to you getting this virus and dying from it is very onerous too,” he said during a televised media conference.

Victoria was responsible for 191 of the 199 new cases reported nationally yesterday, the biggest one-day rise since early April. The spike has worried officials, even though the national total of almost 8,800 cases and 106 deaths is far below many other countries.

“We have to be clear with each other that this is not over,” Andrews said. “Pretending that it is because we all want it to be over is not the answer. It is indeed part of the problem.” – Reuters

GIVING AID ... A local resident reacts while helping to remove debris at his friend’s home that was effected by floods caused by heavy rain in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan yesterday. More than 50 people are feared dead in the floods. – REUTERSPIX