Australian authorities are scrambling to contain a coronavirus outbreak that has broken Melbourne’s 61-day run without local transmission and threatens one of the world’s most successful efforts to suppress the pandemic.
Officials reported 15 total infections in Sydney and Melbourne on Thursday, pushing the total number of cases identified since an outbreak detected in Sydney on December 3 beyond 140.
Authorities have reimposed social distancing restrictions in the nation’s most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria, cancelled New Year’s Eve fireworks in Melbourne and scaled back celebrations nationwide. The Victoria state government also said on Thursday afternoon it would close its border with NSW from 11.59pm on Friday.
However, Sydney will host a shortened fireworks display on and is planning to allow spectators at an Australia-India cricket match beginning on January 7 — a decision that has been criticised by epidemiologists and the opposition Labor party.
Australia’s decision early in the pandemic to close its international borders and impose strict lockdowns has been praised by health experts for limiting the number of deaths to 909, a fraction of the death toll in the UK, US and smaller European countries such as Belgium.
The country had gone more than three weeks without reporting a single case of the virus outside of the mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine for international arrivals before the latest outbreak. Authorities suspect the new clusters are linked to overseas travellers, although they warn the exact cause may never be identified.
The spread of the virus to Melbourne has alarmed health experts, many of whom had unsuccessfully advocated for the NSW government to impose tougher social distancing rules and mandatory mask wearing.
Images of hundreds of backpackers partying on Sydney’s Bronte beach on Christmas Day enraged the federal government, which has threatened to deport foreign citizens deemed to be threatening public safety by ignoring distancing rules.
This week, the NSW government persuaded Cricket Australia to push ahead with plans to hold the traditional New Year’s Test match in Sydney despite the new outbreak.
“We stand by our decision to make sure we’re able to provide a Covid-safe event,” Gladys Berejiklian, NSW premier, told reporters when asked about Labor’s call to host the Test match without spectators.
Hassan Vally, an epidemiologist as La Trobe University, said the situation in NSW was concerning because of the gaps in understanding of the epidemiology of the new Covid-19 clusters.
“Given recent developments, and from a purely health perspective, I’m not comfortable with the Sydney Test match going ahead with the measures currently in place,” he said.