|
 Last Thursday's lockdown in Australia's second most populous state
was to have run until Thursday, following the detection of the first
locally acquired cases in three months, but infections rose and the
number of close contacts reached several thousand.
"If we let this thing run its course, it will explode," the state's
acting Premier James Merlino told reporters in Melbourne. "This
variant of concern will become uncontrollable and people will die."
"No one...wants to repeat last winter," he added, referring to one
of the world's strictest and longest lockdowns that the southeastern
state imposed in 2020 to leash a second wave of infections.
More than 800 people died in that outbreak, accounting for about 90%
of Australia's total deaths since the pandemic began.
Snap lockdowns, regional border curbs and tough social distancing
rules have largely helped Australia suppress prior outbreaks and
keep its COVID-19 figures relatively low, at just over 30,100 cases
and 910 deaths.
Though Victoria's daily cases have been in the single digits since
the lockdown was imposed, officials fear even minimal contact could
help spread the variant involved in the latest outbreak.
Six new locally acquired cases were reported on Wednesday, versus
nine a day earlier, taking to 60 the tally of infections in the
latest outbreak.
Health authorities have said the variant could take just one day to
pass from person to person, versus the five or six days of contact
required for transmission of earlier variants.
For now, Melbourne's five million residents face a second week of
being allowed to leave home only for essential work, healthcare,
grocery shopping, exercise or a vaccination.
[to top of second column] |
 But this restriction is likely
to be relaxed for people elsewhere in the state,
depending on any local transmission in the next
24 hours, while other measures, such as
mandatory masks, will stay.
The latest outbreak has been traced back to a
traveller who returned from overseas,
authorities have said. The individual left hotel
quarantine in the state of South Australia after
testing negative, but subsequently tested
positive in Melbourne. Casino
operator Crown Resorts Ltd, Victoria's biggest single-site employer
with 11,500 staff, had said at the start of the lockdown it would
stand down staff but pay them wages for rostered hours.
After Wednesday's extension, Crown has said it would make only a
"one-off discretionary" payment, however.
Since the early days of the pandemic, Australian employers have
relied on federal subsidies to pay staff stood down during
lockdowns, but the government ended that scheme in March.
Merlino, the acting Victoria premier, called for the federal
government to reinstate the subsidies in light of the lockdown.
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the government was open to
new support measures but would talk to officials in Victoria before
committing to specifics.
(Reporting by Renju Jose with additional reporting by Byron Kaye;
Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Clarence Fernandez)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content
 |
