MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, will begin its third blockade 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 capital, Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said.
The Australian Open tennis tournament will be able to continue but without spectators, he said.
International flights that were already in the air when the blockade was announced will only be allowed to land at Melbourne Airport. Schools and many companies will be closed. Residents are asked to stay at home, except for exercise and for essential purposes.
A population of 6.5 million will close from 11:59 pm until the same time on Wednesday due to a contagious British variant of the virus first detected in a Melbourne airport hotel that has infected 13 people.
Andrews said the spread rate required drastic action to prevent a further rise in Melbourne.
“The game has changed. This is not the 2020 virus. It is very different. It’s much faster. It spreads much more easily, ”Andrews told reporters. “I am sure that this short and strong switch will be effective. We can stifle that. ”
Melbourne came out of a 111-day shutdown in October after a new wave of infections peaked at 725 cases a day. He was largely blamed for lax infection control procedures at two Melbourne hotels where international travelers had to quarantine for 14 days.
At the time, the rest of Australia was easing restrictions due to the low number of cases after an initial nationwide closure.
Some Australian states have imposed border restrictions on Melbourne travelers. Federal lawmakers were quick to arrive in the national capital of Canberra on Friday to attend parliament on Monday for fear that the Australian capital’s territorial government would restrict their entry.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Health Minister Greg Hunt were in Melbourne to inspect the plant of biotech company CSL Ltd., where a local version of the AstraZeneca vaccine is manufactured.
Morrison said before announcing the closure that he was sure the state government could manage the cluster.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have confidence,” Morrison told reporters. “I just flew in from Sydney today. That’s why I’m here. As usual, I’m here in Melbourne today. “