PM backs tough steps as lockdown returns
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed to throw everything at stopping Melbourne’s coronavirus outbreak spreading across Australia.
The Victorian capital reentered lockdown for six weeks at midnight last night, with the state recording 134 new cases, bringing the total to 2942, of which about 850 remain active.
Morrison warned yesterday that the highly contagious disease could spread without tough measures.
‘‘There’s always the risk it could happen in other cities, and every step is being taken to seek to prevent that wherever possible,’’ he said.
The federal government is looking at slowing down international arrivals to Australia after states called for pressure to be eased on hotel quarantine.
Six more cases in Victoria have been linked to an outbreak at nine locked-down public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne, bringing the total to 75. Testing of all 3000 residents will be completed soon.
Residents in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire, north of the city, have now reentered stage three lockdown. People can only leave their homes to get food and supplies, receive or provide care, exercise, and study or work if they cannot do so from home.
‘‘I am not pleased to be in this set of circumstances. I apologise for the inconvenience, the great challenge that many Victorian families are going to have to experience over these next six weeks,’’ state Premier Daniel Andrews said.
More than 250 members of the Australian Defence Force will join Victoria Police in enforcing the state’s second lockdown.
On-the-spot fines of up to A$1652 (NZ$1750) will be issued to individuals breaching the rules.
‘‘We’ve done this before in restrictions we’ve been through. People know what to do. They know what to expect,’’ Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said.
The NSW state government will consider establishing a border north of Albury to protect the state from the escalating Covid-19 outbreak in Victoria.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday urged residents in Albury and other border towns not to travel to other parts of the state. She said her government would consider either establishing a border north of Albury or making exemption permits more difficult to obtain. More than 50,000 exemption permits have been issued for people living in NSW-Victoria border communities, allowing them to cross between the two.
The NSW state government is also looking at making hotel quarantine mandatory for residents returning from Victoria.
The Northern Territory yesterday declared all of Victoria a coronavirus hotspot and closed its borders to the southern state.
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