In an effort to contain a new outbreak of the corona virus, the authorities on Friday 12th February 2020 ordered a sudden lockdown in Melbourne, which means that the current Australian Open Tennis tournament will go on without spectators. Melbourne, Australia’s 2nd largest city with approximately 5 million people is subject to restrictions that will make them stay home from midnight of the 12th February but with a limited activities. Retailers, gyms and the entertainment industry will serve under this lockdown, while supermarkets will remain open. People will only be allowed travel within 5 kilometers from their homes.
Premier Daniel Andrews of Victoria State, which includes Melbourne, said the lockdown was necessary to halt an outbreak of the “hyper-infectious” UK strain of Covid-19, which leaked from a quarantine hotel in Melbourne, capital of Victoria State. “These restrictions are all about making sure that we respond appropriately to the fastest-moving, most infectious strain of coronavirus that we have seen,” he said. “I am confident that this short, sharp circuit breaker will be effective. We will be able to smother this. We will be able to prevent it getting away from us.”
According to Premier Andrews, the Australian Open which is the first Grand Slam event which began on Monday and has attracted most of the world’s best players will go ahead without spectators. He said the tennis Open venue would be considered a “workplace” able to function with strictly limited staff. The Organizers of the Australia Open are yet to make any comments on the lockdown which in fact erupted during the dispute of the forced two week quarantine that most of the players had to face on arrival in Australia. It is reported that the outbreak of the virus leaked from the hotel in which international travelers are undergoing the mandatory quarantine quarantining and further it is reported that 13 persons are infected including hotel staff and families. It has been reported that one of the infected persons had spent many hours at a café in the airport terminal possibly infecting travelers to other parts of Australia.
Mr Andrews acknowledged that the spread of the outbreak had so far been limited to hotel staff and their families. But he said the UK strain was “so hyper-infectious, and moves so fast, that it is presenting a very, very real challenge to our status, our stay-safe, stay-open, our precious thing that we’ve built.” In 2020, Melbourne was in a state of lock down for over 100 days in an effort to quash an earlier outbreak of the virus that infected thousands and killed about 800 people. The lock down ended in October. Two other Australian state capitals, Brisbane in the east and Perth in the west, recently underwent similar snap lockdowns in response to cases of the UK strain leaking from hotel quarantine.
Similarly, two Australian State Capitals Brisbane in the East and Perth on the West also had snap lockdowns reacting to cases who had the UK strain who had left hotel quarantine. In both instances, the outbreak was quickly contained. Australia has been among the world’s most successful countries in containing the coronavirus, with some 900 deaths for a population of 25 million. With a population of 25 million people, Australia has been recognized as one the world’s most successful countries in containing the virus with about 990 deaths.
