World News | Coronavirus Cases Continue to Rise in Australia's Victoria State
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Australia's hard-hit Victoria state recorded a third daily COVID-19 tally below a record 428 cases reported last week, but the state government leader said on Monday it was too early to tell what impact a second lockdown was having.
Melbourne (Australia), Jul 20 (AP) Australia's hard-hit Victoria state recorded a third daily COVID-19 tally below a record 428 cases reported last week, but the state government leader said on Monday it was too early to tell what impact a second lockdown was having.
Since 428 cases were reported on Friday, Victoria has recorded 217, 363 and 275 cases on consecutive days.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews expected to know on Wednesday what impact a lockdown on Australia's second-largest city Melbourne and the neighouring semi-rural Mitchell Shire were having. The six-week lockdown will be two weeks old on Wednesday.
“It is a wicked enemy, it is unstable and until we bring some stability to this, I don't think we'll be able to talk about a trend,” Andrews said.
“I'm certainly much happier to be able to report a lower number than a high one.”
Victoria had conducted more than 1.3 million coronavirus tests among a population of 6.5 million, which represented one of the highest testing rates in the world, he said.
Most students in the lockdown regions returned to online schooling at home after an extended vacation.
A retired judge began an inquiry on Monday into breaches of hotel quarantine in Melbourne that have been blamed for most if not all the new virus spread.
Australian citizens and permanent residents are required to self-isolate in hotels for 14 days when they return from overseas.
New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, reported 20 news cases on Monday. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)