All it took was missteps in the handling of travelers returning from overseas and complacency in a handful of neighborhoods to plunge Australia’s second-largest city into lockdown for the second time in four months.
Even as life in most of the nation returns to normal with offices, schools and bars all open, from midnight Wednesday the 5 million residents of Melbourne will be back under stay-at-home orders that were first imposed in March. The capital of Victoria state is responsible for the vast majority of Australia’s new COVID-19 cases in the past month, plagued by a level of community transmission previously unseen in the country.
The six-week lockdown will cause "enormous amounts of damage” to the economy and people’s welfare, state Premier Daniel Andrews conceded as he announced Tuesday that residents will be forced to stay at home except for essential work, study, medical care or shopping.
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