Night curfew in Melbourne as global cases cross 18M
dubai — The number of global Covid-19 infections surged past 18 million on Sunday, while the death toll crossed 690,445, according to global trackers.
By Sunday evening, the overall number of cases stood at 18,116,550, while total recoveries rose to 11,393,644, according to Worldometers.info.
Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019. The number of cases is now growing at an alarming rate as hardhit countries ease lockdowns.
Australia’s Victoria state declared a disaster on Sunday and imposed a nightly curfew for the capital Melbourne as part of its harshest movement restrictions to date to contain a resurgent Covid-19. Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, is already under a reimposed six-week stay-home order but struggling to rein in the disease.
melbourne — Australia imposed an overnight curfew on its second-biggest city on Sunday and banned people from moving more than five kilometres from home in a bid to control a growing coronavirus outbreak that is infecting hundreds daily.
Declaring a ‘state of disaster’, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said Melbourne would move to Stage 4 restrictions until September 13 given “unacceptably high” levels of community transmission.
The harshest rules in Australia to date will see city residents face a curfew from 8pm to 5am for the next six weeks. Only those carrying out essential work, or seeking or providing care, will be allowed out.
“The time for leniency, the time for warnings and cautions is over,” Andrews said.
“If you are not at home and you should be, if you have the virus and are just going about your business, you will be dealt with harshly. Lives are at stake.”
Melbourne residents will be limited to an hour of exercise a day, no further than five kilometres (about three miles) from home starting Sunday night.
Only one person per household will be able to shop for essential items each day, also within the same strict radius.
Most school and university students in Melbourne will go back to online learning from midnight
Wednesday, just weeks after returning to their classrooms, while weddings will also be banned.
The sweeping new measures follow a city-wide lockdown that began in early July but has failed to curb the spread of the virus, with Andrews blaming the continuing rise in cases on people flouting stay-at-home orders.
“These are the decisions made because anything short of this will not keep us safe,” Andrews said, adding anything less “will see it drag on for months and months and months”.
Additional restrictions affecting workplaces would be announced on Monday, Andrews added, suggesting that non-essential businesses will face closures.
Victoria accounts for the vast majority of active coronavirus cases in Australia, recording 671 new cases and seven deaths from the virus on Sunday.
Health authorities have linked the resurgence to security bungles at hotels used to quarantine international travellers that allowed the virus to leak back into the community.
The state’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said an estimated 20,000 cases were averted during Stage 3 restrictions, but flattening the curve to hundreds of new cases a day was “intolerable”. —