Melbourne locked down for third time
MELBOURNE: Australia ordered more than six million people into an emergency coronavirus lockdown on Friday, throwing a showpiece tennis tournament into disarray as the Covid-19 pandemic’s economic cost was laid bare in badly hit Britain.
The decision to confine the people of Melbourne and surrounding areas to their homes for five days illustrates the tough choices faced by many nations as they struggle to balance reopening and keeping infections under control.
The move comes as the Covid-19 death toll heads towards 2.4 million, with 107 million people sickened since the virus emerged in China a little over a year ago. Victoria state’s premier Daniel Andrews said the lockdown was needed to halt an outbreak of the “hyper-infectious” UK strain of the coronavirus, which leaked from a quarantine hotel at Melbourne airport. “I am confident that this short, sharp circuit-breaker will be effective. We will be able to smother this,” he said.
Melbourne business owners were left distraught at being forced to close over Valentine’s Day weekend, when many had hoped to recoup losses following the brutal 100-day lockdown last year.
Shock for UK economy
On the other side of the world, the UK - which has Europe’s highest virus death toll after a heavily criticised initial response to the pandemic - reported a record contraction in its economy. Finance minister Rishi Sunak admitted the impact would be a “serious shock” and warned, “We should expect the economy to get worse before it gets better.”
Official data released on Friday showed the economy shrank by a record 9.9% last year on the fallout from the coronavirus crisis, despite a one percent gain in the fourth quarter.
Much of the UK re-entered lockdown in early January to curb the more transmissible Covid-19 variant, with restrictions similar to initial curbs imposed in late March last year.
There were financial woes elsewhere in Europe, with top Dutch bank ING announcing that profits had plummeted 48% due to the pandemic.
The British data came one week after the Bank of England forecast economic recovery on the back of the UK’s successful ongoing vaccines rollout.
US vaccination target
In the United States - the world’s hardest-hit country with more than 470,000 deaths - President Joe Biden announced plans to vaccinate nearly all American citizens by the end of July.
On Thursday, he said deals had been struck for 100 million more Moderna and 100 million more Pfizer vaccines. With the latest vaccine purchases, the US is on track “to have enough supply for 300 million Americans by the end of July”, Biden said, meaning enough inoculations for all eligible people.
America’s immunisation campaign had gotten off to a shaky start in December, and even as recently as Thursday, Los Angeles moved to temporarily close five major inoculation centres including its giant Dodger Stadium site, due to vaccine shortage.
Cases in Eastern Europe surpass 10 million
The number of Covid-19 cases in eastern Europe surpassed 10 million on Friday, according to Reuters tally, as countries across the region aim to increase vaccine procurements from multiple suppliers to accelerate inoculation programmes.
Countries in eastern Europe have reported over 10.02 million cases and 214,691 deaths since the pandemic started. However, daily average new cases in the region have declined by about 31% in past 30 days as compared with the previous 30 days.