MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, will begin its third lockdown on Friday due to a rapidly spreading COVID-19 cluster around hotel quarantine.
The five-day lockdown will be enforced in the state of Victoria to prevent the virus from spreading from the state capital, Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said.
The Australian Open tennis tournament may continue, but without spectators, he said.
Only international flights already in the air when the lockdown was announced are allowed to land at Melbourne Airport. Schools and many businesses are closed. Residents must stay at home except for sports and essential purposes.
A population of 6.5 million will be incarcerated from 11:59 PM until the same time on Wednesday because of an infectious British variant of the virus first discovered in a Melbourne Airport hotel that has infected 13 people.
Andrews said the speed of the spread required drastic measures to prevent another wave in Melbourne.
“The game has changed. This thing is not the 2020 virus. It’s very different. It is much faster. It spreads much more easily, ”Andrews told reporters. “I am convinced that this short, sharp circuit breaker will be effective. We will be able to smother this. ”
Melbourne came out of a 111-day lockdown in October following another wave of infections peaking at 725 cases per day. It was largely due to lax infection control procedures at two Melbourne hotels, where international travelers had to be quarantined for 14 days.
At the time, the rest of Australia eased restrictions due to the low number of cases following an initial nationwide lockdown.
Some Australian states have imposed border restrictions on travelers from Melbourne. Federal lawmakers rushed to the national capital of Canberra on Friday to attend parliament, fearing the Australian Capital Territory government will restrict their access.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Secretary of Health Greg Hunt were in Melbourne to visit the plant of biotechnology company CSL Ltd. inspect where a local version of the AstraZeneca vaccine is being manufactured.
Morrison said before the lockdown was announced he was confident the state government could tackle the cluster.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have faith,” Morrison told reporters. ‘I just flew out of Sydney today. That is why I am here. It’s normal to be here in Melbourne today. “