Aust halves weekly quota of returnees

SYDNEY/MELBOURNE: Australia will halve the number of citizens allowed to return home from overseas each week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday, as authorities struggle to contain a Covid19 outbreak in Melbourne.

The state of Victoria reported 288 new cases yesterday, a record daily increase for any part of the country since the pandemic began, raising alarm bells about community transmission in a country where most cases have involved returned travellers.

‘‘The news from Victoria remains very concerning,’’ Morrison said.

Since March, Australia has allowed only citizens and permanent residents to enter, and once they arrive, they enter a mandatory 14day quarantine.

Morrison said that from Monday, Australia would cap the figures at 4000 people a week, about half the number that have been returning. Those who return will also have to pay for their quarantine stays.

‘‘The decision that we took . . . was to ensure that we could put our focus on the resources needed to do the testing and tracing and not have to have resources diverted to other tasks,’’ Morrison said.

The flareup in Melbourne has forced 5 million Australians to stay home for all but essential business, led the rest of Australia’s states to ban Victorians from entering, and dealt a blow to Australia’s economic recovery.

The announcement of new travel restrictions comes days after Victoria reimposed lockdowns in Melbourne.

The lockdown will last for six weeks following a surge in coronavirus cases linked to social distancing breaches in hotels where returned travellers were held in quarantine.

Victoria’s chief health officer warned there would be a sharp rise in hospital admissions, intensive care cases and deaths in the coming days.

‘‘This is a challenging day. It may get worse before it gets better,’’ state premier Daniel Andrews said.

In an effort to control the outbreak, Victoria also became the first state in the country to urge people to wear masks when they leave home.

To ease the pain for businesses in Melbourne forced to shut again and holiday spots hit by cancellations, the Victorian government said yesterday it would provide a further $A534 million, on top of $A6 billion already provided.

‘‘This is us saying: ‘We’re here with you all the way through what will be a very traumatic, a very distressing and a very difficult time for all Victorians’,’’ state treasurer Tim Pallas said.

The state, which makes up about a quarter of Australia’s economy, expects unemployment

to peak at 11%, up from 6.9% now. Its economy is expected to shrink by 14% and take two to three years to recover, Pallas said.

Despite surging case numbers, Victoria has relaxed restrictions on most of the 3000 people who were locked down in nine publichousing towers in Melbourne. One of the nine towers will remain in a hard lockdown for another eight days. — Reuters