Melbourne joins the list of areas undergoing further containment due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Australian authorities have decided to apply this measure for at least six weeks in the country's second city.
A duration which can be adjusted. More than 5 million people are affected. This confinement takes effect at midnight (4 p.m. in Paris). The decision was made due to a sharp increase in the number of new coronavirus cases. Nationwide, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University, which is a benchmark in this area, Australia has officially recorded 8,755 cases of Covid-19 since the onset of the disease. 106 people died.
The Prime Minister of the State of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, explains having made the choice of six weeks in order to fix a rather distant deadline. It does not exclude to reduce this duration according to the evolution of the disease. But on the one hand he considers that a time of several weeks is in any case necessary to observe a reflux, on the other hand, if he immediately fixes an end of confinement too close, a relaxation could occur too soon and he would be asked too soon about the end of the restrictions.
Impossible to trace. In the case of Melbourne, the region experienced the largest increase in the number of cases in 24 hours since the start of their census with 191 contaminations. "Tracing people in contact with the sick becomes impossible at this level," explains Daniel Andrews. If nothing is done, he believes that there are many hundreds of cases that would appear in the coming days and that the progression of the disease "would get out of control".
Many restrictions. The measures decided by the State of Victoria concern Melbourne and the neighboring county of Mitchell. People living in this area can only leave their homes to go shopping, for medical reasons, to go to work or study when it is impossible from a distance as well as to do physical exercise without going outside the area concerned. restrictions, says ABC. Conversely, it is impossible to enter the perimeter subject to restrictions.
It is also impossible to receive home visits. Gatherings of more than two people are prohibited outside. Weddings are limited to 5 people, burials to 10 people. People in a romantic relationship can visit each other.
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Retail stores, markets and hairdressers may remain open under certain conditions. Cafes, restaurants, pubs, nightclubs and bars can only do takeout. Establishments such as stadiums, cinemas, casinos, strip clubs, swimming pools, saunas, museums or zoos are closed.
Fishing, boating, tennis, golf and surfing are allowed. But team sports, whether indoors or outdoors, are prohibited. Religious ceremonies are held online.
Unheard of in Australia. On Saturday, about 3,000 residents living in multiple apartment buildings were ordered to stay locked up in their homes for at least five days after an epidemic outbreak appeared in a tower. AFP recalls that this measure is the strictest ever entered into force in Australia since the beginning of the pandemic.
