Lockdown in Australia's Victoria leads to fall in cases amid ongoing search for 'patient zero'
SYDNEY - A strict lockdown in Australia's state of Victoria appears to be successfully combating a recent surge in Covid-19 cases, but questions remain about the so-called"patient zero" who sparked the massive outbreak.
However, Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews urged residents not to be complacent, saying the current outbreak needs to be suppressed before restrictions end."You've got to crush the second wave before we open up… otherwise, you're just beginning the process of an inevitable third wave, the costs of which will be even greater."
Initially, the source of the spread was believed to be a security guard at a hotel in Melbourne where international arrivals were being quarantined. There have been reports that the guard may have had a sexual relationship with one of the hotel guests or may have shared a compromised cigarette lighter.
According to leaked Government e-mails obtained by The Age newspaper, the manager contracted the virus and spread it to five security guards, who spread it to their families. It was not clear how the manager was infected. The hotel said in a statement that the person did not pass on the virus to hotel colleagues or family.
Professor emeritus Gerry Fitzgerald, from the Queensland University of Technology, said the breach at the hotel showed that the virus is"highly infectious" but the first case could have resulted from an understandable mistake or misstep.
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