Australia calls in military after coronavirus cases surge in Melbourne

The Australian military has been called in to help tackle a sudden rise in coronavirus cases in Victoria’s capital, Melbourne, as the state recorded a double-digit increase in daily news cases for the past few days. Australia had successfully curbed the virus spread but the recent surge has triggered fear of another wave due to apparent community transmission.

Australia has reported 7,521 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 103 deaths, so far, related to the contagious virus. Health Minister Greg Hunt reportedly said that the federal government had offered military support to help tackle the fresh outbreak and other four states offered to help with contact tracing.

Too early to predict

During a press conference of June 22, Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy had said that the authorities always expected to see some continuing cases in Victoria, given the peak that occurred towards the end of last week. He said that it was still too early to predict the course of the outbreak but exuded confidence in Victoria’s public health response.

“There is substantial testing happening in those hotspot areas, they are tracing very large numbers of contacts...and are responding in a way that I have every confidence they are doing everything they can to bring these outbreaks under control,” added Murphy.

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Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned of a "new and dangerous phase" of the pandemic. During a media briefing, the WHO Director-General said that the pandemic still poses a major threat even countries are eager to open up their societies and economies. 

“But the virus is still spreading fast, it’s still deadly & most people are still susceptible," said the top WHO official.

According to the latest report, over 9.3 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed worldwide with around 480,000 deaths, overwhelming the health care facilities across the globe. The United States, Brazil, and Russia are the worst-hit countries while India reporting a sharp rise in the coronavirus cases.

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(Representational Image: Twitter / @AustralianArmy)