Australia PM defends Melbourne lockdown
AUSTRALIA’S prime minister said a shutdown of the nation’s secondlargest city is necessary and promised continuing financial support for businesses that fear they won’t survive a second lockdown.
The Victoria state government said Melbourne and part of its surrounds will lock down for six weeks because the rate of coronavirus spread was unsustainable.
Prime minister Scott Morrison said the federal government’s medical advice agreed with the Victorian government that the move was necessary.
“I hope it isn’t for that long. I hope it’s for a shorter period as possible,” he added.
Mr Morrison said Australia’s seven other states and territories would continue to relax pandemic restrictions.
Victoria authorities announced another 134 cases in the latest 24 hours.
Breaches of infection controls at Melbourne hotels where international travellers are required to isolate for 14 days have been blamed for much of the disease spread.
The state government last week responded by banning new arrivals at Melbourne Airport for two weeks.
Mr Morrison said he wanted to reduce the numbers of Australian citizens, permanent residents and foreigners exempt from Australia’s travel ban landing at Australian airports because of the strain on hotel quarantine.
State police said they would conduct random checks of vehicles on major roads surrounding Melbourne.
“The community can expect to see checkpoints anytime and anywhere,” Victoria state police said in a statement.
Melburnians will be allowed to leave home only for essential business for the next six weeks. Cafes, bars, restaurants and gyms will shut again. The renewed lockdown follows the closure of the country’s busiest border, between Victoria and Australia’s most populous state New South Wales, on Tuesday night.
“The rest of the country knows that the sacrifice that you’re going through right now is not just for you and your own family, but it’s for the broader Australian community,” Mr Morrison said during a televised media conference.
In Sydney, authorities were scrambling to track down 48 passengers who were allowed to disembark a flight from Melbourne overnight without being checked for Covid-19 symptoms.
The resurgence of the virus and imposition of fresh containment measures will make it tougher for the government to get the economy back on its feet as it sinks into its first recession in three decades.
Federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the border closure and Melbourne lockdown would cost the economy up to A$1 billion (£556 million) per week.