Australia's Victoria state on Friday reported the new daily record of 288 coronavirus cases, which also reflects a record number of tests exceeding 37,500.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the number of citizens and permanent residents allowed to return to Australia each week will be reduced by more than 4,000 from next week.
Sydney, Australia’s largest city, has been carrying a disproportionate burden of hotel quarantine that is currently paid for by the New South Wales state government.
Commuters wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the new coronavirus walk through a subway station in Beijing, Thursday, July 9, 2020. (AP PhotoMark Schiefelbein)
Victoria, to the south, has banned international arrivals after breaches of hotel quarantine in Melbourne were been blamed for Australia’s only widespread transmission of COVID-19.
Vicotoria’s Chief Helath Officer Breet Sutton said “certainly, 288 new cases today is a pretty ugly number.”
Victoria has become the first state to recommend its residents wear masks if they can’t maintain 1.5 meters (5 feet) social distancing such as when they’re on public transport or in supermarkets.
Commuters with face mask as a precaution against the coronavirus wait for a bus in Kolkata, India, Thursday, July 9, 2020. India has overtaken Russia to become the third worst-affected nation by the coronavirus pandemic. (AP PhotoBikas Das)
Queensland, to the north, charges travelers 2,800 Australian dollars ($1,900) for their two weeks in hotel quarantine, making Sydney are more attractive destination for Queenslanders to land from overseas.
Morrison said other states are moving to charge for hotel quarantine as well given that Australia has been urging citizens for weeks to return as soon as possible. Outside Victoria, most of Australia’s COVID-19 cases have been detected in hotel quarantine.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
— South Korea has reported 45 new cases of the coronavirus as health authorities scramble to stem infections in major cities across the country. The figures bring the national caseload to 13,338, including 288 deaths. Twenty-three of the new cases came from the Seoul metropolitan area, which has been at the center of a virus resurgence since late May. Infections were also reported in other major cities such as Gwangju and Daejeon. Health authorities say they are stuck in a difficult game of “whack-a-mole” with new clusters popping up in various places — including churches, restaurants, nightspots and office buildings.
— China on Friday reported four newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus, all of them brought from overseas. No new deaths were reported and 342 people remain in treatment. Another 121 people are in isolation and being monitored as being suspected cases or for testing positive for the virus without showing any symptoms. China has reported 4,634 deaths from COVID-19 among 83,585 cases since the virus was first detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan.
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