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Australia reimposes Melbourne lockdown for six weeks after cases surge

Passengers arrive from a Qantas flight that flew from Melbourne at Sydney Airport to be met by health officials taking their temperature - Getty Images AsiaPac 
Passengers arrive from a Qantas flight that flew from Melbourne at Sydney Airport to be met by health officials taking their temperature - Getty Images AsiaPac

Melbourne’s five million residents will be under a strict lockdown as of midnight on Wednesday after Victoria’s surge in Covid-19 cases leapt by 191 on Tuesday.

Daniel Andrews, the Victorian Premier, said metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell, north of the city, will be under the restrictions for six weeks.

The announcement came as Victorians prepared for their northern border with New South Wales to be sealed for the first time in more than a century.

Mr Andrews told reporters on Tuesday that new infections would spiral completely out of control if drastic measures weren't put in place.

“It is simply impossible with case rates at this level to have enough contact-tracing staff, to have enough physical resources, no matter where they come from, no matter what uniform they wear, to continue to suppress and contain this virus without taking significant steps,” he said.

He added Victoria had suffered from complacency, saying: “I think each of us know someone who has not been following the rules as well as they should have.”

However, the state’s hotel quarantine system has been plagued by scandal, with security companies allegedly using poorly-trained sub-contractors and one guard accused of having sex with one of the quarantined residents.

Mr Andrews said his government had “no choice but to take these very, very difficult steps”.

“It was a long night and we have been working throughout the day to get all the data we possibly could to make the best evidence-based science-based decision about what the next steps should be,” he said.

An elderly woman gets a test under supervision at a Covid-19 pop up testing centre in the hotspot suburb of Brunswick West - Getty Images AsiaPac 
An elderly woman gets a test under supervision at a Covid-19 pop up testing centre in the hotspot suburb of Brunswick West - Getty Images AsiaPac

Originally restrictions applied to 300,000 residents across 36 suburbs identified as Covid-19 hotspots. The rules will now apply across the entire city.

Melbourne residents will not be allowed to leave their homes except for work, study, exercise, medical care, care duties or buying essential supplies.

Far more drastic restrictions have been placed on the 3,000 residents of nine Melbourne public housing estates. They are not permitted to leave their homes, and 500 police officers are on guard 24 hours a day maintaining the restrictions.

Tenants of the estates have organised a group, Voices from the Blocks, which has called for their buildings to be subject to the same rules as the rest of the city, with some freedom of movement.

They have also called on authorities to remove the large police contingents from inside the towers, for better hygiene standards to be implemented, and for testing sites set up outside the buildings, rather than in the foyers, to minimise the risk of spreading the coronavirus.

A sign displays Covid-19 restrictions in the NSW-Victoria border town of Albury, NSW, Australia - Shutterstock
A sign displays Covid-19 restrictions in the NSW-Victoria border town of Albury, NSW, Australia - Shutterstock

On Monday night, tenants took to social media to express shock and dismay at donated goods being intercepted by State Emergency Service (SES) workers and not allowed inside the estates.

The residents posted photos and videos that appeared to show SES workers removing bags of donations from one of the public housing towers in Flemington.

In a statement on Tuesday, Voices from the Blocks said residents “watched in horror last night as food, medicine, and essentials like nappies and baby formula were suddenly confiscated by authorised officers”.

The Department of Health and Human Services told broadcaster SBS that they were aware of “some delays with accepting donations and deliveries which caused confusion at some housing estates that are in lockdown” and that they “are currently working with the parties involved to make sure food and other supplies are being provided without further interruption”.

On the other side of Australia, Mark McGowan, the premier of Western Australia, struck a defiant tone against federal efforts to have his state’s border opened.

Mr McGowan called on the national government to withdraw its support for mining magnate Clive Palmer’s court challenge to the border closure.

“It does not make sense for the Federal Government to be supporting a border closure between New South Wales and Victoria but on the other hand challenging Western Australia's border in the High Court…  Quite frankly, the legal challenge, and especially the Commonwealth involvement in it, has now become completely ridiculous,” he said.

International arrivals in Western Australia are being capped at 525 people per week to limit strain on the state's Covid-19 hotel quarantining system.

While there is no evidence that community transmission is occurring in WA, intermittent new cases of Covid-19 have emerged among new arrivals in quarantine.

The announcement came as international arrivals in Sydney were capped at 450 per day, and all international flights are being diverted from Victoria.