Today marks the official end of the second wave in the Australian state of Victoria, with zero cases recorded for the first time in 139 days, writes Hassan Vally of La Trobe University. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews today announced the most significant easing of Melbourne’s coronavirus restrictions since the state went into “stage 3” lockdown … Read more
Putting the entire state under stage four restrictions, rather than just Melbourne, would give Victoria the best chance of success, writes Siouxsie Wiles. The restrictions in place for metropolitan Melbourne now are in some ways stricter than those that were in force during New Zealand’s Covid-19 lockdown. A curfew is in place and most people … Read more
As the state of Victoria continues to record shocking new Covid-19 numbers – 671 cases today – a strict new stage 4 lockdown is being imposed. Adrian Esterman, an epidemiologist at the University of South Australia, explains what that means. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced that metropolitan Melbourne will move to “stage 4” restrictions … Read more
Crucially, Australia’s ambition has been suppression, rather than elimination. Back when Aotearoa was in lockdown, many people loudly complained that we should be following Australia’s lead in dealing with the pandemic. While our strategy was to try to eliminate Covid-19, Australia was taking another path. They would try suppressing the virus instead. That meant that … Read more
While there are increasing examples of a return to some lockdown measures, there is little evidence to demonstrate the success of a second lockdown, because it’s too early to tell, write Maximilian de Courten, Bojana Klepac Pogrmilovic and Rosemary V Calder of Victoria University, Melbourne. The World Health Organisation reported more than 230,000 new Covid-19 cases … Read more