Coronavirus: Australia’s New South Wales at ‘Crossroads’ to Control Covid-19
Australia’s New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian urges those who visited Crossroads Hotel in Casula, Sydney, to come forward after NSW Health reported a new spike in Covid-19 cases from its pub.
Berejiklian said her state was “literally at a crossroads” in its effort to control the spread of the coronavirus.
More than 1,000 people visited the venue in the week between July 3 and 10 when an 18-year-old staff member was present and staff and patrons of the pub have been told to self-isolate for 14 days.
Berejiklian also insited on reducing overseas travelling to prevent the spread of the virus.
Australia remains wary that a second-wave of coronavirus is taking hold as authorities rush to contain an outbreak from a hotel popular with travelers while Melbourne recorded it seventh consecutive day of triple-digit infections.
New South Wales state recorded 14 new Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours, half of which were from the Crossroads Hotel in Casula on Sydney’s outskirts that’s frequented by holiday makers and truck drivers, the state’s health authorities said Monday. Meantime, Victoria state recorded 177 new coronavirus cases, more than one-third below the peak last week after it went into lockdown, the state’s chief health officer Brett Sutton said.
“It’s great that it’s lower than our peak, but it may not be our peak,” Sutton told reporters Monday. “I want to see a week of decreasing numbers before I come and say that I’ve got a greater confidence about the direction we are going in.”
The second wave of infections dashes hopes Prime Minister Scott Morrison would be able to revive a crippled economy by easing most social-distancing restrictions by end-July after it tumbled into recession in the first half of the year. Victoria state, which accounts for one-quarter of the nation’s economic output, had to reimpose lockdown orders last week as a second wave of Covid-19 sweeps the state capital.
Australians must guard against complacency and follow social-distancing measures in a bid to keep restrictions from getting tighter, keep businesses open and get life “back to normal as much as it can in a Covid world,” Morrison said on Sydney radio station 2GB Monday.
“That’s where we want to keep going,” he said. “We don’t want to have to go back.”
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