Anger as Melbourne reimposes lockdown
AUSTRALIA has been among the world’s most successful countries in containing its coronavirus outbreak – with the exception of Melbourne.
The south-eastern state of Victoria had some of the nation’s toughest pandemic measures and was among the most reluctant to lift its restrictions when the worst of the outbreak seemed to have passed.
But as most of the country emerges from pandemic restrictions, the virus has resumed spreading at an alarming rate in Victoria’s capital, and the nation’s secondlargest city.
Melbourne is buckling down with more extreme and divisive measures that have ignited anger and arguments over who is to blame.
Victoria’s premier Daniel Andrews said the entire city and some of its surrounding areas will be locked down again from today under tougher restrictions than were imposed during the first shutdown that started in March.
“We are in many respects in a more precarious, challenging and potentially tragic position now than we were some months ago,” Mr Andrews said.
About 3,000 residents of nine public housing high-rise buildings were given just an hour’s notice at the weekend before being prohibited from leaving their apartments for at least five days.
“The amount of police officers makes us feel like we’re criminals,” said a resident of one of the buildings, Nada Osman. “It’s overwhelming. It’s scary. It’s like we’re caged in.”
Forty suburbs that are virus hot spots have been locked down by postal code since last week, meaning that businesses and households in some areas face restrictions while ones across the street from them do not.
In China, eight new confirmed cases were reported, all of them brought from outside the country, with no new deaths.
The news comes as almost 11 million students gathered to take the crucial national university entrance exam. The National Health Council reported 403 people remained in treatment for Covid-19 while 121 people were in isolation being monitored as suspected cases or for testing positive for the virus without showing any symptoms.
China has reported a total of 4,634 deaths among 83,565 cases of Covid-19 since the virus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan late last year.
The gruelling two-day university entrance exam can be a key determinant of a student’s future and was pushed back weeks as China worked to bring down infections.
It is believed to be the first mass gathering event since the virus outbreak and administrators are enforcing strict rules to prevent infections, including proof of wellness, social distancing and the wearing of masks.
In Brazil, president Jair Bolsonaro says he has tested positive for Covid-19 after months of downplaying the severity of coronavirus.
Mr Bolsonaro confirmed the test results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters in the country’s capital Brasilia.
“I’m well, normal. I even want to take a walk around here, but I can’t due to medical recommendations,” Mr Bolsonaro said.
The president has often appeared in public to shake hands with supporters and mingle with crowds, at times without a mask. He has said that his history as an athlete would protect him from the virus, and that it would be nothing more than a “little flu” were he to contract it.
He has also repeatedly said that there is no way to prevent 70% of the population falling ill with Covid19, and that local authorities’ measures to shut down economic activity would ultimately cause more hardship than allowing the virus to run its course.
Cities and states last month began lifting restrictions that had been imposed to control the spread of the virus, as their statistical curves of deaths began to decline along with the occupation rate of its intensive-care units. Brazil, the world’s sixth most populous nation, with more than 210 million people, is one of the global hot spots of the pandemic.
Over the weekend, the Brazilian leader celebrated the US Independence Day with the nation’s ambassador to Brazil, then shared pictures on social media showing him with his arm around the ambassador alongside several ministers and aides. None wore masks, despite being in close quarters.