Australian authorities were preparing to close the border between the nation’s two largest states, as its second-largest city, Melbourne, yesterday recorded two COVID-19 deaths and its highest-ever daily increase in infections.
The border between the states of New South Wales (NSW) — home to Sydney — and Victoria — home to Melbourne — is due to be shut after 11:59pm today.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian was a critic of states that closed their borders to her state when Sydney had Australia’s largest number of COVID-19 cases. However, she said she changed her stance because the situation in Melbourne was unprecedented and indicated the pandemic was in a new phase.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The overwhelming majority of new infections detected in Melbourne in recent weeks were from community transmission.
Everywhere else in Australia, the vast majority of people who tested positive for the virus were infected overseas or had been infected by a returned traveler, Berejiklian said.
“What is occurring in Victoria has not yet occurred anywhere else in Australia,” she said. “It’s a new part of the pandemic and, as such, it requires a new type of response.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Victorian government locked down 36 of the most virus-prone Melbourne suburbs last week and at the weekend added another four suburbs because of the spread of the disease.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said of the 127 new cases recorded overnight, 53 were among 3,000 people who have been confined by police to their apartments in nine public housing blocks since Saturday.
Australian Acting Chief Medical Officer Paulk Kelly has described the high-rises as “vertical cruise ships” because of the high risk of virus spread.
Police allege a 32-year-old man bit a police officer yesterday as he attempted to leave a high-rise in the suburb of Flemington.
He would be charged with assault, resisting police and attempting to breach a pandemic order, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said.
The infections announced yesterday surpassed the first surge of infections in Melbourne that peaked on March 28 at 111 cases recorded in a day.
Daniels said he agreed with Berejiklian and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a Sydney resident, that the border needed to close.
Three in five Australian residents live in Sydney or Melbourne and the air services between the two cities before the pandemic were among the busiest in the world.
“I think it is the smart call, the right call at this time, given the significant challenges we face in containing this virus,” Andrews said.
Australian Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd confirmed that federal authorities agreed with the closure.
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