Covid: Melbourne and Auckland snap lockdowns to end

BBC News

Melbourne
Spectators have been banned from the Grand Slam the past five days Reuters Via BBC

Authorities in Australia said they had gained control of a hotel quarantine cluster in Melbourne, which prompted a five-day lockdown.

New Zealand will lift curbs put in place in Auckland three days ago, despite three new local cases.

Both countries, known for their strict measures, have seen relatively few deaths and cases during the pandemic.

What's happened in Australia?

The state of Victoria recently saw a cluster of 19 cases emerge after a person working at a Melbourne hotel housing quarantined cases unknowingly caught the UK variant of the virus and carried it into the community.

No additional locally acquired cases were found on Wednesday. But the state government is now under pressure to explain how the virus escaped hotel quarantine, after similar breaches nationally in recent times.

Publish : 2021-02-17 12:12:00

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