Brisbane, Australia Australia’s third largest city is on track to close and borders will be tightened nationwide on Friday after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel British coronavirus strain which according to officials is more contagious. More than two million residents in the Greater Brisbane area will have to stay home for at least three days from Friday night, authorities said.
“If we are to stop the spread of this contagious strain, this British strain, we must act immediately,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told the media.
Great lines formed at shops in the city, prompting officials to urge people not to panic anymore. The incoming restrictions will still allow residents to buy necessities.
On Brisbane’s central shopping street, Queen Street Mall, people have expressed strong support for the measures – they want to avoid the rising case numbers variant in Britain posvat.
Andy McPhee, 51, a Brisbane resident who works for an international firm, said the closure had faded compared to what his colleagues abroad had experienced.
“I do not think a three-day closure will harm us at all. I think it is essential to get rid of the virus,” McPhee told AFP. “One case becomes two and two cases become ten, so before you know it, it can get a little out of control.”
British officials said the variant, which first caused warnings in the UK last month, looked between 50% and 70% more contagious than other COVID-19 strains more commonly found in Australia.
Several cases in the United Kingdom and South Africa have been detected in recent weeks in travelers who are currently under compulsory quarantine in Australia.
But the case in Queensland was the first to be contracted locally and apparently spread to a cleaner from a returning traveler who was isolated in a quarantine hotel in Brisbane.
New rules nationwide
The closure of the city has seen a return of restrictions since March. Residents were ordered to stay at home and were told to wear masks only when leaving for essential reasons.
Following the announcement, authorities across the country restricted travel to and from Brisbane and already tightened strict rules for international arrivals.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said that all international travelers will now be required to test before flying to Australia.
The already low number of arrivals will also be temporarily reduced by 50 percent and a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all travelers will be maintained.
The new tribes
“There are a lot of unknowns and uncertainties regarding the new strain, which is why we believe this precautionary approach makes a lot of sense,” Morrison said.
Researchers are scrambling to determine how much more contagious the British variant – known as B.1.1.7 – is. Data outside Britain are limited.
Another important question is whether existing vaccines work against the new strain, and Pfizer reported on Friday that preliminary findings were positive and vaccines did work.
Summer normal, interrupted
Prior to the announcement, Brisbane was among the Australian cities that had a return to relative normalcy in the southern hemisphere during the summer.
The state of Queensland did not record any new cases of community transfer on Friday.
Jono Searle / Getty
But recent outbreaks in Sydney and Melbourne have forced tightening across state borders again amid increasing pressure on officials to speed up the explosion of the vaccine.
On Thursday, Morrison announced plans to collect the planned vaccination by weeks. They will now start in February.
Australia has recorded more than 28,500 COVID-19 cases and 909 deaths related to the virus, in a population of about 25 million.