Australia announces nationwide shutdown

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Daily US Times: Australia announces nationwide shutdown, meaning is the country is shutting down non-essential services across the country as coronavirus cases rise rapidly.

Places of worship, pubs, gyms, clubs, and cinemas will be shut from midday on Monday, while restaurants and cafes will have to switch to takeaway only.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the nationwide shutdown after a national cabinet meeting on Sunday.

In recent days, the number of coronavirus infection cases in the country has risen sharply, reaching 1,315.

New South Wales (NSW) is the worst-affected state where 533 cases have been confirmed so far.

Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, has reported 296 cases, while Queensland reported 259.

The new restrictions will see many businesses close but pharmacies, petrol stations, supermarkets, and home delivery services will continue running.

Mr Morrison said he wanted to keep schools open but parents would be able to keep their children at home if they wished to do so.

“I don’t want to see our children lose an entire year of their education,” he said.

So states, including Victoria have indicated that they want to close schools due to coronavirus outbreak.

Seven people have died across Australia so far from Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

The new measures come after reports came out about large crowds gathered on Sydney’s beaches including Bondi on Saturday, demolishing social distancing advice.

The Prime Minister said that the federal and state governments had decided to act like that because Australians were not obeying guidelines.

Like other countries in the world, young people are the most who ignoring social distancing advice.

Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said people, especially the young, had to realize that they needed to live “very differently” and stop going out in order to control the virus.

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