Melbourne Into Second Lockdown After New Infections

The Australian city of Melbourne has now begun a second shutdown due to an outbreak of new Covid-19 infections.

The five million inhabitants of Australia’s second-largest city will not be allowed to leave their homes for six weeks, unless for essential reasons, such as work, exercise, or necessary shopping.

Although shops and hairdressers will be permitted to remain open, schools will mostly revert back to distance learning and restaurants will only be open for takeaways.

Police and troops have been deployed to patrol the borders of the city using the help of drones and aircraft. They will also be performing random checks on vehicles all over the city to enforce the measures. The strict lockdown only applies to Melbourne itself, but the whole state of Victoria has been sealed off to neighbouring states.

The lockdown was announced on Tuesday by the Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews after 191 new infections were reported, much higher than numbers in the rest of the country and the highest daily number since the beginning of the pandemic.