Sunday, June 21, 2020

COVID-19 / Australia / 21st June Update

Australia and the state Victoria have suffered a significant reversal in containing the coronavirus as the number of active cases rises to 427 nationwide after months of steady declines.
A "disturbing trend" had been observed in Victoria over the past 14 days. The state has recorded 70 percent of cases reported nationally. 25 new cases of coronavirus were recorded in the past 24 hours alone, up from 13 on Friday, 18 on Thursday and 21 on Wednesday.
This concerning surge in cases has been blamed on families deliberately flouting the rules, including some Victorians who were visiting family members or going to work even after testing positive to the deadly virus.

More than half of the new cases since the end of April had come from family-to-family transmission with some family clusters blowing out to more than a dozen people.
Some of the family clusters were linked to a spate of cases among security guards at quarantine hotels, including the CBD's Stamford Plaza, where lax hygiene has been blamed for a cluster of 10 cases that medical experts expect to spread.
A cluster of 16 cases was also found to be connected to the state government's quarantine operation at Carlton's Rydges on Swanston hotel earlier this month.


















Restrictions are now being tightened in Victoria as they are eased everywhere else in Australia.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the state was on the cusp of a second wave of infections if Victorians did not act now.

Meanwhile here in NSW, five new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed bringing the total number of cases to 3149. All five are returned travellers in hotel quarantine.

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