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A pre-Christmas coronavirus outbreak in Sydney is believed to have spread to the city of Melbourne, breaking its two month run of zero community infections.
Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, endured a heavily-policed lockdown from July to October which succeeded in eradicating a second wave.
But on Thursday, officials reported six new cases with a “potential link” to a traveller from New South Wales (NSW), of which Sydney is the state capital.
Authorities have vowed to act quickly.
A mandatory mask-wearing order and gathering limits have been reimposed on Melbourne by officials in the state of Victoria, who described the outbreak as a “very serious situation”.
“Victorians who have sacrificed so much are not going to go back to a situation where we face what we did in the past winter,” said state health minister Martin Foley.
More on Melbourne’s Covid experience:
“Now that we have links to the New South Wales outbreaks in Victoria, we are having to respond really quickly to get on top of that.”
Since 21 December, every Australian state and territory has had a travel ban on people from Sydney. However, the new Melbourne cases are believed to be linked to a woman who visited before the restrictions came in, Victorian officials said.
What’s the latest in Sydney?
Australia has 163 active local infections, with almost all of them tied to the outbreak in Sydney, which has worsened in recent days.
The re-emergence of the virus there two weeks ago prompted the NSW state government to impose swift restrictions on its capital, including limiting gatherings and locking down a section of the city.
These measures had appeared to be working, with the city reporting only single-digit daily case increases amid intense contact tracing efforts.
However on Wednesday, NSW officials reported a new cluster of infections in a separate part of the city believed to be tied to Christmas gatherings, prompting alarm and further restrictions.
The government has urged residents to limit their New Year’s Eve activity, however experts fear that the holiday will become a super-spreader event.
NSW reported 10 new cases on Thursday, including one not linked to known clusters.
The NSW government is facing increasing pressure to make mask-wearing mandatory in public spaces. Authorities have urged mask use but resisted imposing an order.
“This is a very unpredictable, contagious disease, but we also appreciate that we don’t want to put more burdens on our citizens than we need to. It’s a very fine line,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters.
On Thursday, South Australia joined Western Australia in also enacting a travel ban on anyone coming from the entire state of NSW.
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