SYDNEY (AP) – The beaches of northern Sydney will enter a closure similar to that imposed during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, as a group of cases in the area rose to 41.
From Saturday afternoon through midnight on Wednesday, residents will only be able to leave home for five basic reasons: medical care, exercise, grocery store, work, or compassionate care.
An additional 23 cases were registered in the 24 hours, including 10 already announced, bringing the new cases to 41. All but two belong to the so-called Avalon cluster, which bears the name of a community of about 10,000 people in the northern beaches 40 kilometers (25 miles) from central Sydney.
New South Wales State Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian says restrictions are essential if Sydney has any hope of a semi-normal Christmas.
“We hope this gives us enough time to get over the virus, so we can relax for Christmas and New Year,” he said.
The new cases came when health officials asked hundreds of gymnasts on the beaches of northern Sydney to be tested and isolated immediately. The gym is added to a long list of venues, including a grass bowling club, visited by confirmed cases released by authorities on Friday.
Other states acted to prevent cases from crossing borders, with more barriers for New South Wales residents established by Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Most involved in 14-day quarantine periods for people on the northern beaches traveling to these states.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region:
– Long queues meandered through coronavirus testing sites in the South Korean capital Seoul, as the country reported 1,053 more cases, the fourth consecutive day of more than 1,000. The viral resurgence has raised questions about the management of the outbreak by the government. Authorities continue to decide whether to increase social distancing to maximum levels, for fear it could further strain the economy. The numbers released Saturday by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency raised the national number of cases to 48,570, with nearly 7,000 cases added just last week. Fourteen COVID-19 patients have died in the last 24 hours to raise the death toll to 659. There is concern that the death toll will continue to rise due to the shortage of intensive care beds in the Seoul metropolitan area more affected. The KDCA said at least 275 of 13,577 active patients are in serious or critical condition, most since the onset of the pandemic. Officials say at least six have died at home or in long-term care centers because hospitals ran out of beds. Thousands of people have lined up at test centers in front of Seoul City Hall and other public spaces as health authorities expand a massive testing program to detect more carriers of the virus. Authorities are temporarily providing free tests to anyone in the capital area, regardless of whether they have clear symptoms or reasons to suspect the infection.
– Coronavirus cases in India have crossed 10 million, with new infections falling to their lowest levels in three months, as the country prepares for a massive vaccination against COVID-19 in the new year. Additional cases in the last 24 hours fell to 25,152, from a high of about 100,000 in mid-September. The epidemic has infected nearly 1% of India’s more than 1.3 billion people, after the worst-hit United States. A government health expert says India keeps its fingers crossed as cases tend to increase during the winter months. India is home to some of the largest vaccine manufacturers in the world and there are five vaccinated candidates in different stages of testing in the country. India aims to provide vaccines to 250 million people by July 2021.
– China says coronavirus inoculation for health care, transportation and border control workers will soon begin. The deputy minister of the National Health Commission says the government gives priority to those most at risk. Logistics and market workers selling fresh meat and seafood would also be on the list of people receiving vaccines, along with the elderly and people with underlying medical conditions. Vaccines produced by Chinese companies are pending approval in Turkey, Indonesia and Brazil, as manufacturers continue to test vaccines in more than a dozen countries, including Russia, Egypt and Mexico. The UAE announced last week that the vaccine was 86% effective in the first publication of this information. Even before final market approval, more than a million people have received vaccines in a program that critics say has not been transparent about safety, efficacy, or scientific merit.
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