Australia’s Victoria state yesterday reported a record daily increase in COVID-19 cases, while neighboring New South Wales said that it was banning dancing, singing and mingling at weddings, as authorities struggle to contain a new wave of infections.
Victoria, which has forced nearly 5 million people in the nation’s second-most populous state into a partial lockdown for more than a week, said that it had recorded 428 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours, most from community transmission.
Such is the size of the Victoria outbreak, Australia yesterday posted its second-biggest daily rise in new COVID-19 infections, with 438 cases.
Photo: EPA-EFE
It was largest 24-hour spike since late March, when most cases detected in Australia were people returning from overseas.
The findings stoked expectations that Victoria would be forced to implement tougher restrictions on its residents, which in turn would damage Australia’s economy.
“We are in the fight of our lives,” Victoria Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos told reporters in Melbourne.
Australia has recorded 11,235 cases of COVID-19. The death toll rose to 116 after three people died in Victoria yesterday, still well below many other nations.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that his government would provide any assistance needed, as he urged against panic.
“We would not have expected to see the results of the lockdown measures put in place in Victoria as yet,” Morrison told reporters.
The surge in COVID-19 cases in Victoria has stirred concerns of a national second wave, with Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews urging all state residents to wear masks when outside.
Previously only those around the state capital, Melbourne, were asked to cover their face.
“These are large numbers today, that is disturbing,” Acting Australian Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told reporters in Canberra. “Be patient ... we are starting to get on top of the situation in Victoria.”
Neighboring states have closed internal borders and renewed social distancing requirements.
New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, said that it had recorded eight cases of COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours, mostly from community transmissions believed to have emanated from Victoria.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that new restrictions would be imposed from next week.
Funerals and places of worship would be allowed no more than 100 people. Venues would also have to ensure they have 4m2 of space per patron.
Weddings in the state would be capped at 150 people, Berejiklian said, and they would have to remain seated.
“No dancing, no singing, no mingling,” Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.
Less than a month ago, Australia was widely heralded as a global leader in combating COVID-19, but security lapses in Victoria led to people returning from overseas and spreading the virus, prompting an inquiry into how the state went from the brink of eradicating the virus to soaring infection numbers.
Andrews is under mounting pressure, with one of Australia’s biggest-selling newspapers running a front page with the headline: “Dan-made disaster.”
The surge in COVID-19 cases dents any hope of a quick economic rebound in Australia.
Damaged by national social distancing requirements imposed in March, Australia is on course for its first recession in nearly three decades, while unemployment has hit a 22-year high, data showed on Thursday.
Australia’s hopes of beginning a “travel bubble” with neighboring New Zealand also appear to be in tatters.
Australia and New Zealand had hoped to open their borders to each other in September.
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