SYDNEY – Australia’s densely populated city will face a five-day shutdown of the coronavirus rash, authorities said on Friday, banning spectators for much of the Australian Open tennis tournament.
A fresh Covid-19 group linked to a quarantine hotel in Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria, reached 13 cases on Thursday at midnight as authorities lifted the spread of the virus. All of these infections have been linked to the highly contagious British variant.
Victoria’s Prime Minister Daniel Andrews has announced the expulsion of the state, which began at midnight on Friday. He calls it a ‘short circuit breaker’ that bans public gatherings, home auctions, weddings and religious gatherings.
“We have to accept that there are further cases in the community for which we have positive results, and that it is moving at a rate that has not been seen anywhere in our country during the last twelve months,” Andrews told reporters. note the high transmission speed of the British variant.
Asked about the Australian Open, which runs until February 21, the prime minister said that the Grand Slam tournament, one of the biggest events in the country’s sports calendar, was considered a workplace, subject to restrictions. .
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“There are no fans. There are no crowds. These people are actually at their workplace,” he said. “The minimum number of staff members to be able to drive safely – not only for the virus, but also for other reasons – will be there.”
The event was already limited to 50 percent of the usual capacity and was thwarted by earlier complaints from some international players who were forced to spend quarantined critical preparation time.
The organizers say the tournament will continue for the next five days without crowds without fans being allowed on the match grounds. Spectators will be able to attend matches scheduled for Friday, while those who purchased tickets for limited events will receive a refund, they said in a statement.
Victoria suspended international passenger flights from Saturday, excluding those already in transit, until further notice.
“We will continue to assess the impact of the British strain of the virus on our program and international arrivals, and will shortly provide more information on the duration of this break,” the state government said in a statement.
All states and territories, except New South Wales – which includes Sydney and is the country’s most populous state – closed their borders to Victoria on Friday, citing the high risk of transmission.
New South Wales, which recorded a 26th day without community cases on Friday, said its borders with Victoria would remain open as it monitored the situation.
Victoria endured one of the world’s most severe and longest-running exclusions last year after an outbreak that killed more than 800 people in the state, the vast majority of the national death toll.
The head of Australia’s business group has expressed frustration over the new exclusion, calling it a “bitter disappointment for the whole community”.
“This is the second exclusion caused by Victoria’s hotel quarantine system. It may not be as long and devastating as the previous time,” said Jennifer Westacott, chief executive of the business council. “We need to make the hotel quarantine work properly.”
More generally, Australia was among the world’s most successful countries in dealing with the pandemic, mainly due to decisive closures and borders sealed to all but a drop of travelers. The country recorded about 22,200 community cases and 909 deaths.
But his quarantined hotels, where all international arrivals have to spend two weeks, were a weak link in his defense, with the latest group Melbourne being another example.
Prime Minister Andrews has suggested that Australia’s civil repatriation program should be intensified only for compassionate reasons, a move that could gain support from other countries that have suffered the UK.
Ahead of the closing announcement, Prime Minister Scott Morrison offered his government full support for Victoria’s decisions to curb the outbreak.