Australia to deploy 1,000 troops to Melbourne virus outbreak
26 June, 2020
Australia's armed service announced Thursday it could send 1,000 troops to Melbourne in order to help contain the country's only significant coronavirus outbreak above fears of a second wave.
Victoria talk about has seen a spike in COVID-19 conditions, recording almost 150 new infections over the past week as new clusters have emerged in Melbourne.
Along Thursday authorities recorded at least 37 cases -- the best countrywide total since mid-April.
While the numbers remain small compared to global tallies, the outbreak has rattled Australia, which has been rolling back constraints after successfully curbing the virus spread.
Protection Minister Linda Reynolds said Thursday that 1,000 troops will be deployed to Victoria "in the coming days".
Up to 850 Australian Defense Force personnel will help monitor returned international travellers getting held in resort quarantine while about 200 others will provide logistical and medical support to COVID-19 testing facilities, she added.
Military personnel already are manning the borders of states that are closed to outside visitors and also providing planning support to health insurance and emergency operations services, including in Victoria.
Even so, the deployment of such a huge military contingent to a significant Australian city is normally unprecedented in the coronavirus crisis.
It comes just as concern ramps up in Melbourne, with additional pop-up testing centers create in virus "hot areas" and supermarkets reimposing investing in limitations amid fears of a come back of panic-buying.
Virus clusters have emerged in large family groups spread across the country's second city, in a hotel used for quarantining returned travellers and in a clothing store.
Victoria talk about Premier Daniel Andrews said 1,000 personnel were going door-to-door urging residents in the worst-affected areas to get tested, with hopes of testing 100,000 persons in 10 suburbs above 10 days.
"This suburban assessment blitz is focused on finding all those people which may have this virus, then having them quarantined within their house with appropriate support," he told reporters.
"It's about bringing additional stability to these figures. The amounts will grow, but that's accurately the approach: Find these cases."
Australia has recorded roughly 7,500 circumstances of coronavirus and 104 deaths in a populace of 25 million, with several regions thought to be effectively virus free.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
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