Australia's 2nd largest city foils nation's pandemic success

Australia has been among world's most successful countries in containing its coronavirus outbreak — with one exception.

souastern state of Victoria h some of nation's toughest pandemic measures and was among most reluctant to lift its restrictions when worst of its outbreak seemed to have passed.

But as most of country emerges from pandemic restrictions, virus has resumed spreing at an alarming rate in Victoria's capital, Melbourne. city is buckling down with more extreme and divisive measures that have ignited anger and arguments over who is to blame.

About 3,000 residents of nine public housing high-rise buildings were given just an hour’s tice before being prohibited from leaving ir apartments for at least five days.

“ amount of police officers makes us feel like we’re criminals,” said a resident of one of buildings, Na Osman. “It’s overwhelming. It’s scary. It’s like we’re cd in.”

Forty suburbs that are virus hot spots have been locked down by postal code, with result that businesses and households in some areas face restrictions while ones across street from m do t.

“ line has to be drawn somewhere and I think most people can understand that,” said Maria Iatrou, whose cafe is restricted to takeout because it is on wrong side of a suburban border.

“But that doesn’t take away any of frustration and disappointment associated with having to live with se restrictions again because we’re unlucky eugh to belong to one of se post codes,” she said.

Victoria authorities h been praised for ir aggressive testing and contact tracing. Melbourne researchers developed what y describe as world’s first saliva test for coronavirus, a less accurate but more comfortable diagstic tool than nasal swabs, in an effort to encour more people to agree to door-to-door testing.

It’s an extraordinary situation that raises questions about how Australia’s second-largest city fell so far behind rest of country.

nation of 26 million people has recorded about 8,500 cases and only 106 deaths from COVID-19.

Most if t all blame is being directed at lax controls at quarantine centers set up in two Melbourne hotels.

Australian citizens and permanent residents returning from overseas are required to spend 14 days in strict hotel quarantine. Gemic sequencing that identities which virus strains are circulating in specific clusters indicates city's expanding outbreak is emerging from hotel quarantine guards and guests.

Critics of Victoria government blame a decision to use private security contractors to enforce quarantine.

Sydney, Australia’s largest city, which in early days of pandemic h country’s highest number of daily new cases, chose to use police and military to provide hotel security, with greater apparent success.

Media reports have alleged security firms charged Victoria government for hotel guards that were t provided and that guards h sex with quarantined hotel guests and allowed families to go between rooms to play cards.

Victoria government has largely shut down public debate on what went wrong by appointing a retired judge to hold an inquiry. Government officials maintain it would t be appropriate to make public comment before judge reports her findings on Sept. 25.

But government ackwledged infection control failures and has changed its system. State prison workers w oversee hotel quarantine and international travelers are longer allowed to land at Melbourne airport.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews has defended plans to employ grounded Qantas flight crews to work with prison guards in hotel quarantine against union complaints that crews were offered little training.

“re are very few groups of people who take safety more seriously and kw and understand safety protocols and dynamic environments and need to always go by book than those who work in our aviation sector,” Andrews said.

Victoria is t only Australian state where lax quarantine security has been exposed. A 35-year-old returned traveler in Western Australia state in April became first person in country jailed for breaching a quarantine order after a security camera showed he wedged open a fire exit door to sneak out from a Perth hotel to visit a girlfriend. state but Victoria has recorded a virus cluster from such a hotel quarantine failure.

Carine Bennett, an epidemiologist at Melbourne’s Deakin University, said city could be having similar success as rest of Australia in virtually eliminating community transmission if t for hotel quarantine breaches that allowed security guards to bring virus home to ir suburbs.

“We’ve h multiple positive people take virus home at same time into extensive multi-household families just after Victoria h relaxed its restrictions,” said Bennett, who lives outside 40 shutdown suburbs.

“Luck comes into it. You just need one person positive in a setting where it can take off to have a problem. That setting probably exists in cities all around Australia,” she said.

Victoria officials wonder how many of Melbourne’s residents will continue social distancing during ir second lockdown as y see rest of Australia lift restrictions.

Iatrou said new lockdown has me a “massive difference” in earnings at her cafe in suburb of Ascot Vale.

She said businesses such as hers are t problem, but are being forced to endure a disproportionate financial burden.

mood was different in March when burden was shared in a nationwide shutdown.

“It is a very different environment this time around. It’s become a lot more of an ‘us-and-m’ situation where before it was ‘us’ only,” she said.

“It is very, very difficult t just for me personally, but for every single trer and business owner out re in one of se lockdown suburbs because it is longer a level playing field."