Australia Locks Down High-Rise Homes, Affecting 3,000 Residents
(Bloomberg) --
Australia's second-most populous state ordered nine public-housing towers with about 3,000 residents to be quarantined in an effort to contain coronavirus hot spots that led to a spike of new cases.
Only returning residents will be allowed to enter the buildings in Flemington and North Melbourne for at least five days while authorities test everyone who lives there, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said at a press conference on Saturday afternoon.
“There will be a massive logistical task to make sure those people are fed, given the support they need,” Andrews said.
The state recorded 108 new cases on Saturday, the second-highest daily increase, bringing the total to 509. Earlier in the week, Melbourne instituted a lockdown across sections of the city to contain the outbreak.
The length of the restrictions depends on the success at testing and tracking, Andrews said in a statement. Police will enforce the restrictions, it said.
Following a ban announced earlier this week on international flights into Melbourne, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Friday capped overseas arrivals into Sydney at 450 people a day from July 4 to July 17 due to strains on quarantine facilities.
Meanwhile, in Queensland, thousands of protesters were expected to join a Black Lives Matter march through the capital of Brisbane on Saturday as limits on public gatherings were eased in the state, according to the AAP.
Read more: Hotel Quarantine Lapses Probed in Australia's Virus-Hit City
Nationwide, virus cases have now climbed to 8,362, including Saturday's total of 113, Australia's Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said at a separate briefing.
Top state and federal health officials plan to hold an emergency teleconference Saturday evening to respond to the case surge, Kelly said.
“This has been a trend now for the last week or more, and the number of cases rising in the northern and northwestern part of Melbourne is of great concern,” he said.
In addition to the quarantine at the public housing towers, Victoria also issued stay-at-home orders for North Melbourne postal codes covering suburbs including Flemington and Kensington.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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