MELBOURNE - Australia's Victoria state recorded an increase in new coronavirus cases on Saturday as officials laid out new directives to protect people in retirement homes and help contain a second wave of infections.
A cluster of infections in Melbourne, Victoria's largest city, prompted the government to impose a six-week partial lockdown and make masks mandatory for its residents, or risk a A$200 fine. "We've always known that aged care is a very challenging setting. If you get community transmission and then you have chains of transmission that are driven by staff, then you will see outbreaks," Andrews said.Victoria has also been grappling with clusters at workplaces for essential services such as health care and food distribution, which officials said would stay open even if a stricter lockdown was ordered.
"There is no magic bullet here, and there is nothing that will all of a sudden see numbers hit a zero in the next couple of weeks," Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told reporters.