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After six more coronavirus cases were discovered overnight, Melbourne may be on the cusp of another round of lockdowns.
This Herald sun According to reports, the Victorian government is considering a five-day circuit breaker, but the decision may “take either way.”
A leading epidemiologist told news.com.au that he was “nervous” about the current level of the epidemic and might take lockdown measures.
Acting Prime Minister James Merlino (James Merlino) confirmed that there are now 15 cases related to the current cluster Across several families and one workplace, Numerous exposure sites Many different areas across Melbourne and Bendigo.
Melino told reporters today: “These cases are connected, which is a good thing, but we are very concerned about the number and types of contact locations.”
The list of potentially infectious contact locations that people visit continues to increase, including one of Melbourne’s largest shopping malls, bars, stadiums, hairdressers as well as Carlton, Epping, Coburg, Richmond, Port Melbourne and Praslin, etc. One of the popular supermarkets in the suburbs.
One contact is Is also one of more than 20,000 people Gathered at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the AFL game between Collingwood and Port Adelaide on Sunday.
So far, all the positive cases are interrelated. Although how the virus spread is still a mystery, how the virus spread from a case in Wallett City on the northern edge of the city. The virus was infected during the quarantine of hotels in South Australia.
related: The next 24 hours are crucial for Victoria
The concern of experts is that they are all infected with the more transmissible variant of B. 1.617.2, which may make it difficult to contain the virus without being targeted.
Professor Tony Blakely, professor of epidemiology at the University of Melbourne, told News.com: “This is a more infectious variant in India, so it is spreading rapidly. This is what we are seeing.”
Indian mutant authorities are “nervous”
The state’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said that the Indian variant circulating in Melbourne is a sub-lineage 2 variant, which can be transmitted as well as the British B.1.1.7 strain.
Professor Blakely said that compared with the Wuhan wild-type virus that caused Melbourne’s lockdown last year, the virus may be 50% to 100% more infectious.
Although New South Wales has shown that contact tracing can control wild-type viruses, Professor Blakely worries that keeping the new variants closed is not enough.
He said: “This may be the game we saw in Victoria.”
“We have not yet entered a lockdown state today, which shows that the chief health officer has more confidence in contact tracing. I have no reason to doubt this.
“But I will be very vigilant because it is an Indian model and I know it might get out of control.
“He was very nervous, some people said, I was also very nervous-we were very nervous.”
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some Restrictions including wearing masks Victoria has introduced this method, but Professor Blakely stated that if it is not locked, it is important to quarantine the contact and the contact’s contact, and sometimes even the contact’s contact.
He said that it was discovered that testing and isolating contacts would form a “concentric isolation ring” around the virus, thereby preventing the spread.
He said: “We have to have confidence in at least two levels, maybe even three levels are isolated.”
If new cases are discovered only in the “inner layer” of these contacts (those contacts have been quarantined), this would be a good sign.
He said: “If the system works well, then maybe we can do the job.”
Melbourne may move towards another “steel circle”
But Professor Blakely worries that this situation will suddenly appear under different circumstances, such as the workplace in Port Melbourne, where the virus has spread to several colleagues and clients with active cases.
He said: “We have seen a lot of cases, there are a lot of contact sites, we have not tested everyone who has been to these sites, so it seems that there is a problem.”
“Many contact points are scattered all over Melbourne, not just the northern suburbs.
“It’s hard to believe that we will not have or need some form of strict restrictions.”
Professor Blakely said that given the proliferation of the case, a regional blockade in the northern suburbs alone seems unlikely.
He said: “I suspect that the place we are going to is another’steel ring’ near Melbourne’s Phase 3 or 4 that has Melbourne restrictions. Unless there is a contact point there, we are prohibited from going to the Victorian area, possibly in Bendigo Travel nearby.”
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Mr. Melino told reporters today, The next 24 hours are critical Will more restrictions be announced.
In order to avoid the blockade, Professor Blakely said that all cases on the next day must be contacts who have been isolated.
If the test also shows that there are no more cases related to the exposed location, then he said he would feel more comfortable not to enter the locked state.
He said: “If the case only occurred in isolated contacts, and their contacts have been isolated, then that’s fine.”
However, he will be “extremely nervous” if certain test results in the exposed location are positive while the authorities are still waiting for testing in other affected locations.
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