Arrests made at anti-lockdown rallies in Australia
05 September, 2020
The state of Victoria reported 76 new coronavirus infections and 11 deaths on Saturday, as trends in Australia's hot spot for the disease continued to slowly but surely improve after practically five weeks of a difficult lockdown in the state's capital Melbourne.
State premier Daniel Andrews is because of outline plans on Sunday for easing Melbourne's stage 4 restrictions which shut large elements of the economy, required everyone to stay home except for essential business, and imposed a nighttime curfew.
Frustration with the prolonged lockdown resulted in demands protests in Melbourne on Saturday, which are illegitimate beneath the stage 4 restrictions, and police were out in force.
Police had urged persons to stick to restrictions on community movement. Four men were arrested and charged with incitement over the so-called “Freedom Day” protests planned for several Melbourne locations.
Police also dispersed about 80 people against attending the rallies as they enforce Victoria’s lockdown rules.
Victoria's daily new cases were below 100 of all days this week, down from a peak of 725 new infections on Aug 5, but remain higher than health officials had hoped five weeks into a six-week hard lockdown.
"The tail of the second wave is a stubborn thing," Andrews said during a televised media conference on Saturday.
Australia's government and businesses have urged Victoria, making up in regards to a quarter of the nation's economy, to lift the restrictions as the united states has sunk into its first recession since 1991.
"This is a medical condition in the beginning and until you fix medical problem, there may be no financial repair," Andrews said .
Victoria's total 19,479 cases now account for about 75% of Australia's tally, as the state's 661 total fatalities constitute practically 90% of the country's deaths from the virus.
Australia's spike in COVID-19 cases in the last two months has centered on Melbourne, mostly because of community transmission of the virus found from returned travellers who were in hotel quarantine in-may and June.
"It isn't safe, it isn't smart, it isn't lawful. In fact, it is absolutely selfish for folks to be out there protesting," Andrews said.
In neighboring New Zealand, a former prime minister of the Cook Islands, Joseph Williams, died of COVID-19. His was the second coronavirus-related death in the country in two days, following an outbreak in the country's major city, Auckland, taking the country's total to 24 deaths.
Source: japantoday.com
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