COVID-19: 50% jump in cases in Australia’s Victoria state blamed on sport fans

On Oct 1, 2021

AUSTRALIA: Australia’s Victoria state on Thursday reported a jump of more than 50% in daily COVID-19 cases, which authorities largely blame on Australian Rules Football parties last weekend that breached pandemic regulations.State capital Melbourne traditionally hosts the annual grand final which the football-obsessed city celebrates with a long weekend.

Because of Melbourne’s lockdown, two Melbourne teams played for the national premiership on Saturday in the coronavirus-free west coast city of Perth.

Contact-tracers found a third of Victoria’s 1,438 new infections reported on Thursday had broken pandemic rules by attending social gatherings on Friday (public holiday) and on game day, officials said.

Melbourne’s lockdown is set to end on October 26 when 70% of the state’s population aged 16 and older is expected to be fully vaccinated. Residents are becoming increasingly frustrated by the city’s sixth lockdown of the pandemic.

Australia’s second-most populous city will overtake Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires next week as the city that has endured the longest lockdown in the world, Melbourne’s Herald-Sun newspaper has reported. Buenos Aires stay-at-home orders lasted 245 days.

Victoria’s infection rate has overtaken neighbouring New South Wales where the spread in Sydney has plateaued with a rapidly increasing vaccination coverage. – THE HINDU