Brisbane, Australia – Australia’s third-largest city was shut down and borders were set to tighten across the country on Friday, after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel British coronavirus strain which according to officials is more contagious. More than two million residents in the Greater Brisbane area will have to stay home for at least three days from Friday night, authorities said.
“If we want to stop the spread of this contagious strain, this British strain, we must act immediately,” Queensland Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk told the media.
Huge lines formed at shops around town, prompting officials to urge people to stop buying in a panic. Incoming restrictions still allow residents to leave the home to purchase basic supplies.
On Brisbane’s central shopping district, Queen Street Mall, people expressed widespread support for the measures – eager to avoid the rising numbers of businesses that variant takes place in Great Britain.
Andy McPhee, 51, a Brisbane resident who works for an international company, said the lockdown paled in comparison to what his colleagues abroad experienced.
“I don’t think a three-day lockdown won’t hurt us at all. I think it’s absolutely necessary to eradicate the virus,” McPhee told AFP. “One case becomes two and two cases becomes 10, so before you know it, things can get a little out of hand.”
British officials have said the variant, which first warned in the UK last month, appears to be between 50% and 70% more contagious than other COVID-19 strains more commonly found in Australia.
Several British and South African variant cases have been discovered in recent weeks in travelers currently in quarantine in Australia.
But the Queensland case was the first to be locally contracted and is believed to have spread to a returning traveller’s cleaner who was isolated in a Brisbane quarantine hotel.
New rules across the country
The confinement of the city marked a return of the restrictions that had been unseen since March. Residents have been instructed to stay at home and wear masks when leaving for essential reasons.
Following the announcement, authorities across the country have restricted travel to and from Brisbane and tightened already strict rules for international arrivals.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said all international travelers must now undergo tests before flying to Australia.
The already low number of arrivals would also be temporarily reduced by 50 percent and a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all travelers would be maintained.
The new varieties
“There are many unknowns and uncertainties regarding the new species, and so this precautionary approach is, in our opinion, very sensible,” said Morrison.
Researchers are struggling to determine how much more contagious the British variety – known as B.1.1.7 – is. Data outside of Great Britain is limited.
Another important question is whether existing vaccines work against the new strain, with Pfizer reporting on Friday that the preliminary findings were positive and the vaccines seemed to work.
Summer normal, interrupted
Before the announcement, Brisbane was among a number of Australian cities that enjoyed a return to relative normalcy during the summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
The state of Queensland did not register any new cases of community transmission on Friday.
Jono Searle / Getty
But recent outbreaks in Sydney and Melbourne had forced travel across state lines to be tightly restrained again, despite mounting pressure on officials to speed up the vaccine rollout.
On Thursday, Morrison announced plans to advance the planned vaccine rollout by weeks. They now start in February.
Australia has recorded more than 28,500 COVID-19 cases and 909 deaths related to the virus, out of a population of about 25 million.