Australia Quarantines Almost 7 Million People

AUSTRALIA has been forced to quarantine over six million people as the coronavirus crisis in the region of Victoria has increased. For the first time in 100 years, it has closed the borders between New South Wales and Victoria to contain the spread of the virus.

The last time authorities took that decision was in 1919 when the country was also hit by a global pandemic, the Spanish flu. The Prime Minister of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, has agreed that “given the important challenges [Australia] faces in battling this virus, this was the most reasonable decision to take at the moment.”

Nevertheless, this is probably the toughest measure taken on by the Australian country who, for the first time in three decades, is on the brink of a recession. The number of cases in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, has increased significantly in the last few days. So much so, that they have had to enforce strict social distancing measures in 30 different residential zones.

In the last 24 hours, the state has registered 124 new cases of the coronavirus, the largest increase in 24 hours since the peak of the pandemic. They have also experienced two deaths. Although they imposed a quarantine earlier this week for around 320,000 people, this has now been extended to include 6.6 million residents in the country.