MELBOURNE – More than six million people were ordered into a snap five-day lockdown today to contain a new coronavirus outbreak in Australia’s second-most-populous state, forcing the Australian Open tennis tournament here to shut fans out.
The lockdown across Victoria state from midnight (1300 GMT) was ordered out of fear a small outbreak of the “hyper-infectious” British strain of the virus would undo Australia’s so-far successful battle to contain the pandemic, said state Prime Minister Daniel Andrews.
It deals another blow to the year’s first Grand Slam, which started three weeks late to allow international players to quarantine and has already welcomed tens of thousands of socially distanced fans in the biggest crowds seen in tennis since the pandemic.
Under the lockdown restrictions, people will be allowed to leave their homes only for a limited number of “essential” activities, like shopping and exercise, and public gatherings are prohibited. Masks are mandatory when outside the home.
It is a devastating setback for residents and businesses that underwent a similar lockdown in and around the city here for more than 100 days late last year, in a successful effort to contain an outbreak that infected thousands and killed about 800.
Small business owners are all the more distraught as the measures come over the Valentine’s Day weekend, when they were counting on big profits to help recover from the earlier lockdown.
“These restrictions are all about making sure that we respond appropriately to the fastest-moving, most infectious strain of the coronavirus that we have seen,” Andrews told a hastily organised press conference today after the number of cases linked to a quarantine hotel at Melbourne airport rose overnight.
“I am confident that this short, sharp circuit-breaker will be effective.
“We will be able to smother this.”
Australian Open director Craig Tiley gave an assurance that the tournament will continue, with players deemed essential workers exempted from the lockdown, competing in a “bubble form”.
“The players have all been very good about it. They understand. They have been through a rigorous programme already.” – AFP, February 12, 2021
