Australia’s Victoria state to return to lockdown

The city that was once Australia’s worst COVID-19 hot spot on Thursday announced a seven-day lockdown, it's fourth since the pandemic began.

The lockdown for Melbourne and the rest of Victoria state comes after a new cluster in the city rose to 26 infections, including a person who was in intensive care.

Victoria Acting Premier James Merlino said: “Unless something changes, this will be increasingly uncontrollable.”

The new Melbourne cluster was found after a traveler from India became infected with a more contagious variant of the virus while in hotel quarantine in South Australia state earlier this month. The traveler was not diagnosed until he returned home to Melbourne.

Australia’s second-largest city last year underwent a second wave of infections that peaked at 725 new cases on a single August day at a time when community spread had been virtually eliminated elsewhere in the country.

That lockdown lasted for 111 days. A third lockdown that lasted for five days in February was triggered by a cluster of 13 cases linked to hotel quarantine near Melbourne Airport. Victoria accounts for 820 of Australia’s 910 coronavirus deaths during the pandemic.

Source: UNB