More than 30 districts in the north and west of the city will be closed to curb the outbreak of the new coronavirus in Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne.
Australia has largely managed to bring the pandemic under control, with the exception of the state of Victoria, where 233 new infections have been reported since Thursday, most of them in Melbourne.
Victoria Prime Minister Daniel Andrew has announced that more than 30 Melbourne districts will be closed from midnight on Wednesday until July 29.
These areas are home to around 300,000 people who will be allowed to leave their homes just to go to work or school, play sports or buy food and other basic necessities.
Melbourne residents from other areas will be barred from entering closed areas where police will patrol.
“These are extraordinary steps,” Andrew said.
“But that’s the nature of the virus, it’s so contagious that if we don’t take these steps now, we’ll be in a situation where, instead of closing ten zip codes, we’re closing them all,” Andrew said, adding that he didn’t want to. to experience.
He revealed that he had also asked the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to redirect international flights from Melbourne to other cities.
In Australia, the new coronavirus has so far been found in around 7,800 people, 104 of whom have died from the disease caused by the virus, Covid-19.
Several regions of Australia are said to have not yet been affected by the virus, and the states have gradually eased the restrictions imposed in the fight against the pandemic at the end of March.
The state of Victoria also gradually eased restrictions until last week, when an outbreak of the new coronavirus was detected in Melbourne.
Given the deteriorating situation in the state of Victoria, the neighboring state of South Australia decided on Tuesday to postpone the planned opening of the border with the state of Victoria.
The state of Queensland announced on Tuesday that it will open its borders from July 10 to all Australians except those who have been to Victoria for the past 14 days.
The state of New South Wales has also warned its people not to visit places where the virus has broken out.
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