Record infections driven by US, Brazil, India; Melbourne stops residents from nine tower blocks leaving home; England reopens pubs. Follow the latest updates
- Local lockdowns ordered in Melbourne and northern Spain
- Trump claims ‘victory’ as US sees case records in multiple states
- ‘We feel totally safe’: east London drinkers savour taste of freedom
- WHO says trials show malaria and HIV drugs don’t cut hospital deaths
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Australian Associated Press in Canberra reports that the Australian Medical Association is calling for a temporary pause in the easing of all Covid-19 restrictions in Australia until Victoria gets the current outbreak in Melbourne under control.
Victoria recorded 108 new cases on Saturday, the second-highest daily tally since the pandemic began, after more than two weeks of double-digit daily rises.
It prompted an emergency meeting of the nation’s top medical officials on Saturday night and an unprecedented lockdown of nine Melbourne public housing towers.
The president of the Australian Medical Association, Tony Bartone, said the new outbreaks in Melbourne were a stark reminder that the battle against Covid-19 was far from over and Australians would need to learn to live with the virus in the community.
“These new outbreaks send a strong signal that the other states should rethink the pace of easing of their Covid-19 restrictions until community transmission in Melbourne is under control to avoid the risk of a similar situation playing out in their own communities,” Bartone said in a statement on Sunday.
“Before rushing back to the pub, the footy crowds, or the big weddings and parties, Australia should pause and play it safe.
A Kansas newspaper whose publisher is a county Republican chairman posted a cartoon on its Facebook page likening an order from the state’s governor requiring people to wear masks in public to the round-up and murder of millions of Jews during the Holocaust, reports Associated Press.
The cartoon on the Anderson County Review’s Facebook page depicts Democratic governor Laura Kelly wearing a mask with a Jewish Star of David on it, next to people being loaded on to train cars. Its caption is: “Lockdown Laura says: Put on your mask ... and step on to the cattle car.”
The cartoon drew several hundred comments, many strongly critical.
Continue reading...July 05, 2020 at 06:08AM
