Thousands of Melbourne residents, living in several apartment buildings, will have to remain confined to their homes for at least five days from this Saturday, July 4, a measure by the authorities aimed at stemming the coronavirus pandemic after the appearance of new cases in the second city of the country.
Read also: Coronavirus: Catalonia confines some 200,000 people
Hundreds of police were deployed to enforce containment measures in nine high-rise buildings after the discovery of 108 new cases of coronavirus in the state of Victoria (southeast), a record daily increase for months. " There are many, many vulnerable people living in these towers, " the Prime Minister of the State of Victoria told media on Saturday. " Some of them will return home at the end of the day, knowing that they will not be able to leave for five days, " added Daniel Andrews.
Read also: Coronavirus: Australia isolates the Aborigines
The new containment measures in northern Melbourne would represent a " major logistical challenge ," according to the authorities, including sending food to around 3,000 residents and deploying at least 500 police officers on a rotational basis. " The first priority is to find every case in these towers, to avoid an explosion of infections, " said Annaliese van Diemen, deputy director of public health for the State of Victoria.
Read also: Coronavirus: Australia does not target any specific country by requesting an investigation
To contain the coronavirus epidemic, Andrews announced on Tuesday that around 30 neighborhoods in Melbourne would be confined, a measure which concerns more than 300,000 inhabitants of this city which counts 5 million, and which must remain in force until July 29. Residents will be allowed out of their homes only to go to work or school, exercise, or buy food and other necessities.
So far, Australia, which is rather a model in the fight against the coronavirus, has recorded around 7800 cases including a hundred deaths for a population of 25 million inhabitants. Several regions of the vast island continent no longer have any active cases of coronavirus, which allows many states to continue to lift the containment measures put in place from the end of March.