This archive report was first published on 7 July 2020.
On July 8, 2020, the state of Victoria in Australia was on high alert as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to spread. The city of Melbourne, the country's second-largest, was at the epicenter of the crisis, with 191 new cases detected in 24 hours.
State Premier Daniel Andrews warned residents that the lockdown would begin at midnight and last at least six weeks, citing 'unsustainably high numbers' of virus cases. He emphasized that there was 'no alternative' to the lockdown, which would prevent thousands of cases and potential deaths.
Under the new restrictions, most school students would return to remote learning, while restaurants and cafes would be limited to serving takeaway food. The entire state of Victoria would effectively be sealed off from the rest of the country, with state borders closed and police and military patrolling dozens of border crossings.
Health officials had previously shut off some 300,000 Melbourne residents to the rest of the city until the end of July, but this measure had now been extended beyond their neighborhoods. Roughly 3,000 people were also locked in their homes on Saturday in Australia's strictest COVID-19 response to date after a cluster emerged in a high-rise public housing estate.
So far, 69 cases had been recorded across the nine densely populated towers, with concerns that the virus could spread widely due to the crowded conditions. Australia had recorded almost 9,000 cases of COVID-19 and 106 deaths from the virus, with almost all new daily cases detected in Melbourne.
