MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, will begin its third block on Friday due to a rapidly expanding COVID-19 cluster centered on hotel quarantine.
The five-day blockade will be applied across the state of Victoria to prevent the virus from spreading from the state’s capital, said Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
The Australian Open tennis tournament may continue, but without spectators, he said.
Only international flights that were already in the air when the blockade was announced will be allowed to land at Melbourne airport. Schools and many businesses will be closed. Residents are required to stay at home, except for exercise and essential purposes.
A population of 6.5 million will be stranded from 11:59 pm until the same time on Wednesday because of a contagious British variant of the virus first detected in a Melbourne airport hotel that infected 13 people.
Andrews said the spread rate requires drastic action to prevent a further increase in Melbourne.
“The game has changed. This thing is not the virus 2020. It is very different. It is much faster. It spreads much more easily, ”Andrews told reporters. “I am confident that this short, sharp circuit breaker will be effective. We will be able to stifle that. ”
Melbourne emerged from a 111-day block in October, following a new wave of infections that peaked at 725 cases a day. The blame was largely attributed to loose infection control procedures at two Melbourne hotels, where international travelers were forced to quarantine for 14 days.
At the time, the rest of Australia was easing restrictions due to the low number of cases following an initial blockade across the country.
Some Australian states have imposed border restrictions on Melbourne travelers. On Friday, federal lawmakers rushed to reach the national capital, Canberra, to appear in parliament on Monday, for fear that the Australian Capital Territory government would restrict their entry.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Health Minister Greg Hunt were in Melbourne to inspect the biotech company CSL Ltd.’s factory, where a local version of the AstraZeneca vaccine is being manufactured.
Morrison said before the blockade was announced that he was confident that the state government could take care of the cluster.
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t confident,” Morrison told reporters. “I just arrived from Sydney today. That’s why I’m here. Business as usual for me to be in Melbourne here today. “