Lockdown ordered in Brisbane after virus outbreak

BRISBANE, Australia: More than two million people in Brisbane were ordered into a three-day lockdown on Monday after a cluster of coronavirus cases was detected in Australia’s third-biggest city.

It is the second snap lockdown of the greater Brisbane area this year, and comes after seven people tested positive for Covid-19 -- the first significant community outbreak in Australia in weeks.

"This is the UK strain. It is highly infectious. We need to do this now to avoid a longer lockdown," Queensland state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said. "We’ve seen what’s happened in other countries. I don’t want to see that happen to Queensland, I don’t want to see that happen to Australia."

Australia has been relatively successful in curbing the spread of Covid-19, with just over 29,000 cases and 909 deaths during the pandemic to date. However, the country’s vaccine rollout has been sluggish, with just over 500,000 shots administered so far in a country of 25 million -- falling far short of a government target to vaccinate four million by the end of March.

Palaszczuk said lockdowns would "be part of the Australian way of life until everyone is vaccinated". Unlike countries such as the United States and Britain, Australia did not grant emergency approval for any vaccines and waited until late-February to begin inoculations. Progress was hampered further by delivery issues, including Italy’s landmark decision to block the export of 250,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses.

Before the announcement, Brisbane was among several Australian cities enjoying relaxed restrictions with residents able to freely attend events including concerts and sporting fixtures. The lockdown comes just ahead of the Easter long weekend beginning Friday, throwing school holiday plans into chaos as South Australia closed its border to Brisbane and other states are expected to follow.

Brisbane schools, restaurants and bars will close from 5:00pm Monday but people will still be allowed to leave home for essential work, to buy food, exercise and for medical care. Social media images showed long queues forming at supermarkets, as some shoppers stocked up ahead of the lockdown, despite authorities urging against panic buying.

Wearing masks in public is also becoming mandatory across Queensland, after one infectious person travelled to the regional town of Gladstone. The number of international flight arrivals to the state will be halved to ease pressure on hospitals, which are also dealing with a surge in Covid-19 cases from neighbouring Papua New Guinea.

Meanwhile, Indian authorities clamped down on one of the country’s biggest Hindu festivals on Monday as the country passed 12 million coronavirus cases with financial hub Mumbai recording its highest-ever rise in daily infections.

Public celebrations to mark Holi -- a popular festival where people smear colour on each other -- were banned in some states and territories, including the capital Delhi, over fears they could become ‘super-spreader’ events, with police patrolling streets in Mumbai to prevent large gatherings.

Despite the restrictions, revellers still gathered in neighbourhoods across the country, banging drums and hurling coloured powder at each other.

"We are aware of the pandemic, but we can not ignore the wishes of the people who want to celebrate the festival of colour," TV actor Debdut Ghosh, who is campaigning for an election in West Bengal state, told AFP in Kolkata. Many people also took to the streets in the northern city of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh state, the country’s Hindu heartland of 1.3 billion people.

"Had it not been a festival, I would not have stepped out," septuagenarian B.K. Tiwari told AFP as he carried his colour-smeared facemask. The muted celebrations went ahead despite a nationwide surge in coronavirus cases.

India reported 68,020 new daily infections on Monday -- a significant rise from below 9,000 in early February -- taking the total number of cases to more than 12 million. "If the outbreak grows at that pace -- about five times in five weeks -- that’s worrisome," virologist Shahid Jameel told AFP, adding that the lack of mask-wearing and social distancing was fuelling the surge.

Mumbai reported more than 6,900 new cases -- a record for the city of 20 million and more than double last year’s peak. The western state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, is mulling a full lockdown to tackle the spread of the disease after imposing a nightly curfew from Sunday.

India -- the third-most infected nation -- has shied away from harsh restrictions to combat Covid-19, after gradually lifting one of the world’s strictest lockdowns last year to revive the devastated economy. Optimism that India’s vaccine drive would ease the impact of the virus has also faltered with sluggish inoculation rates.

More than 60 million shots have been administered since mid-January, a far slower pace than needed to reach the ambitious target of vaccinating 300 million people by the end of July. India, home to the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer, has meanwhile slowed its export of shots due to the spike.