Australia has fared higher than many international locations within the coronavirus pandemic. (File)
Sydney:
The border between Australia’s two most populous states will shut from Tuesday for an indefinite interval, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews stated on Monday, following an outbreak of the coronavirus in his state.
The choice marks the primary time the border with neighbouring New South Wales has been shut in 100 years – officers final blocked motion between the 2 states in 1919 in the course of the Spanish flu pandemic.
The variety of COVID-19 circumstances in Melbourne, Victoria’s capital, has surged in current days, prompting authorities to implement strict social-distancing orders in 30 suburbs and put 9 public housing towers into full lockdown.
The state reported 127 new COVID-19 infections in a single day, its greatest one-day spike because the pandemic started. It additionally reported one dying, the primary nationally in additional than two weeks, taking the nation’s complete tally to 105.
“It’s the sensible name, the proper name at the moment, given the numerous challenges we face in containing this virus,” Andrews informed reporters in Melbourne as he introduced the border closure.
The closure will, nevertheless, probably be a blow to Australia’s financial restoration because it heads into its first recession in almost three many years.
Andrews stated the choice to shut the border, efficient from 11.59 p.m. native time on Tuesday, was made collectively with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Victoria’s solely different inner border, with South Australia state, is already closed.
Australia has fared higher than many international locations within the coronavirus pandemic, with simply wanting eight,500 circumstances thus far, however the Melbourne outbreak has raised alarm bells. The nation has reported a mean of 109 circumstances every day over the previous week, in contrast with a mean of simply 9 circumstances every day over the primary week of June.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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