Coronavirus: Victoria records three new COVID-19 cases as infections surge in Europe, US

Victoria has reported three new coronavirus cases, and as Melburnians enjoy long-awaited freedoms, European nations are set to reintroduce tough lockdown measures as infections surge. The state’s death toll to 819. It comes after Victoria recorded no new cases on Monday – the first time in 139 days – and then again on Tuesday. It prompted the government to ease restrictions where 16,200 retail stores reopened on Wednesday, along with 5800 cafes and restaurants, 1000 beauty salons and 800 pubs. Melbourne‘s 14-day rolling average is well below the safe threshold of five, falling from 2.7 to 2.4 overnight. There are four cases from an unknown source. Regional Victoria‘s 14-day rolling average remains at zero. Premier Daniel Andrews will front the media later on Thursday. VIRUS RAVAGES EUROPE, US As Australia breathed a sigh of relief after the end of Melbourne’s lockdown, there was a deepening gloom in Europe where France and Germany were set to reintroduce curbs. The pandemic has unleashed vast devastation across the global economy and in the absence of a vaccine or effective treatment, countries are being forced to impose widely unpopular COVID-19 restrictions that have sparked violent clashes in Italy. Much of the United States — the worst-hit nation in the world — is also bracing for a tough winter, but there was exhilaration and relief in Melbourne as the city’s five million people were able to return to shops and restaurants after months at home. “We’ve really been awaiting this day for very long,” department store manager Magda Combrinck said. “It’s a big day for us.” Australia’s control of its outbreak stood in stark contrast to the surging virus in Europe, with Germany regularly reporting 10,000 new infections every day, daily cases in France topping 50,000, and hospitals in Belgium nearing capacity. French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday (local time) a new lockdown aimed at halting an alarming acceleration of COVID-19 cases, to take effect from Thursday night until “at least December 1.” Mr Macron said the country was “overwhelmed” by surging numbers and warned that deaths could ultimately reach a staggering 400,000 if the virus is not contained. Bars, restaurants and non-essential businesses will be forced to close, but unlike during the two-month lockdown imposed last spring, students will continue to go to school, Mr Macron said during a televised address. Factories and farms will also be allowed to operate, Mr Macron said, and some public services will function, to limit the economic damage that would come from shutting down the country completely. “The virus is being transmitted across France at a speed that even the most pessimistic did not predict,” he said. “Like last spring, you will be able to leave your home only for work, for a doctor’s visit, to help a relative, do essential shopping or go out shortly for air,” Mr Macron said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to push for lockdown measures in crisis talks with the country’s regional leaders on Wednesday (local time). The proposed new restrictions include closing restaurants and bars and putting strict limits on private and public gatherings while keeping schools, day cares and shops open, according to the Bild daily. Media reports in France, meanwhile, said President Emmanuel Macron may extend the hours of an existing curfew, with possibly a full lockdown on weekends, or order targeted lockdowns in the hardest-hit regions. And in Russia, an order making masks mandatory at public gatherings, on public transport and in elevators is set to come into force on Wednesday, state news agency TASS reported. The new restrictions are likely to test the resolve and patience of many. Anger has already boiled over in Italy, where thousands have protested in recent days against anti-coronavirus curbs. Some of the rallies have turned violent, particularly in Milan and Turin on Monday night, where angry youths threw petrol bombs and stones at police cars and smashed up shop fronts. ‘OPTIMISM’ FOR VACCINE The coronavirus has infected close to 44 million people worldwide, with well over 1.1 million deaths, and spurred breakneck efforts to develop treatments and vaccines to help restore normality. Pharma giant Pfizer expressed measured optimism on Tuesday about the prospect of a vaccine becoming available this year, saying it could supply some 40 million doses in the United States if clinical testing proceeds as expected and regulatory approval is granted. But chief executive Albert Bourla said the company still had not reached key benchmarks in assessing vaccine efficacy. “We have reached the last mile here,” he said. “So let’s all have the patience that’s required for something so important for public health and the global economy.” Key data for the vaccine would not be released before next week’s US election, with President Donald Trump being flayed by his challenger Joe Biden over his handling of the pandemic. The US is reporting tens of thousands of new cases every day, with the overall caseload fast approaching nine million. Around 225,000 people have died. TRAVEL ‘GAME-CHANGER’ IN VICTORIA’S HANDS: PM Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Victoria allowing international arrivals will be the next travel “game-changer” and he hopes it will happen soon. Mr Morrison said the issue of when the ban on international arrivals should be lifted was something that was raised at “every National Cabinet meeting”. “We will continue to bring … Australians home through all the channels we have including the eight chartered flights and where there is a necessity for more of that it will be done as well,” Mr Morrison said. He said the next big “game-changer” would be for Victoria to allow international arrivals so that residents could return home. “The Victorian Premier has not given me a commitment on that yet and they are considering those matters now and I hope that won’t be too far away, because there are a lot of Victorians that want to come home,” he said. It comes as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian plans to invoice other states for processing returned Australians through the state’s hotel quarantine system. She has also called on other states to take on more returned travellers. “In terms of the cost of quarantine those matters the states handle and I will leave that to them,” Mr Morrison said. “One of the reasons we are examining the different options for quarantine, one of the reasons that we allowed quarantine-free travel from New Zealand into Australia was to free up those places and that has been quite effective.” About 34,000 overseas Australians have told the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that they would like to return home, Senate estimates heard on Tuesday. Following a National Cabinet meeting last Friday, Mr Morrison announced Australia would lift its arrival caps again from next month and reiterated his aim to have 26,000 stranded Australians home by Christmas. “(There will be) an additional 140 next month in Western Australia,” he said last week. “Another 150 in Queensland, but we have also got continued support out of South Australia, the ACT, and we have the arrangement with the Northern Territory that I announced last week.” AUSTRALIA ‘OUT OF RECESSION’ Australia is technically out of recession according to Reserve Bank deputy governor Guy Debelle, who says national economic growth has outstripped the “drag” caused by the Victorian coronavirus wave. Dr Debelle told a senate estimates hearing on Tuesday the bank believes the country’s first recession in almost three decades ended in the September quarter. “At the moment it looks like the September quarter for the country probably recorded positive growth rather than slightly negative,” he said. “The growth elsewhere in the country was more than the drag from Victoria and the drag from Victoria was possibly a little less than what we guessed back in August.” Australia officially entered recession in June after recording two quarters of negative growth, fuelled by the lockdown in the first coronavirus wave and ongoing international border closures. Despite a growing belief a technical recession is over, Australia’s path to recovery is far from certain according to economists concerned about the 930,000 unemployed. MORE NEWS Australians kept in dark on COVID vaccine rollout Who actually owns Australia’s iconic food brands Aussies making fast cash from thin air