MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, will start its third exclusion on Friday due to a rapidly spreading COVID-19 group that is on the hotel quarantine.
Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said the five-day lock-in should be applied across Victoria State to spread the virus out of the capital.
The Australian Open tennis tournament will continue, but without spectators, he said.
Only international flights that were already in the air when the shutdown was announced may land at Melbourne Airport. Schools and many businesses will be closed. Residents are advised to stay at home, except to exercise and for essential purposes.
A population of 6.5 million is locked up from 23:59 until the same Wednesday due to a contagious British variant of the virus that was first detected in a hotel in Melbourne that infected 13 people.
Andrews said the pace of proliferation required drastic action to avoid a new boom in Melbourne.
“The game has changed. This thing is not the 2020 virus. It’s very different. It’s much faster. It spreads much easier, “Andrews told reporters. ‘I am confident that this short, sharp circuit breaker will be effective. We’ll be able to suffocate it. ”
Melbourne came out of a 111-day exclusion in October after a new wave of infections reached 725 cases a day. It was largely blamed for lax infestation procedures at two hotels in Melbourne where international travelers had to be quarantined for 14 days.
At the time, the rest of Australia was easing restrictions due to low numbers following an initial nationwide exclusion.
Some Australian states have imposed border restrictions on travelers from Melbourne. Federal lawmakers rushed to the national capital, Canberra, on Friday to attend parliament on Monday for fear that the Australian capital’s government would restrict their entry.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Health Minister Greg Hunt were in Melbourne to launch the biotechnology company CSL Ltd. to investigate where a local version of the AstraZeneca vaccine is manufactured.
Morrison announced before the closing that he was confident the state government could handle the group.
“I would not be here if I were not confident,” Morrison told reporters. ‘I just flew out of Sydney today. That’s why I’m here. As usual I’m here in Melbourne today. ”