- An esteemed doctor who helped three coronavirus-infected cruise ships says the COVID-19 “genie is out of the bottle” in Australia
- 777 new cases were recorded in Victoria over the past week, from July 2 until July 8, the majority of which were recorded in metropolitan Melbourne
- That state’s border with New South Wales was closed from midnight on Wednesday — the first time in over a century — and other states tightened restrictions on travellers coming from Victoria
- However, Dr John Parker believes this should have been done sooner, and that the damage could very well already be done
- New South Wales, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have all recorded coronavirus cases linked to the Victorian outbreak
An esteemed doctor who has helped three coronavirus-infected cruise ships says the COVID-19 “genie is out of the bottle” in Australia.
Dr John Parker has extensive experience working as a humanitarian doctor, including treating infectious diseases such as Ebola. He warned that as Australia entered winter, a second (or even third) wave was likely.
In Victoria, new cases have increasingly been recorded, particularly in metropolitan Melbourne. Over the past week, from July 2 until July 8, 777 new cases were recorded in the state. That’s compared to just 365 new cases in the previous week.
New daily cases of COVID-19 in Victoria
| July 8 | 134 |
| July 7 | 191 |
| July 6 | 127 |
| July 5 | 74 |
| July 4 | 108 |
| July 3 | 66 |
| July 2 | 77 |
In response to the outbreak, the Victoria-New South Wales border was closed from midnight on Wednesday, 8 July — the first time in over a century since the Spanish flu pandemic.
However, Dr John Parker believes the restrictions on movement across borders from Victoria should have been put in place earlier, noting that the virus can be spread before someone exhibits symptoms.
In the last 24 hours, New South Wales has recorded eight new cases, the Australian Capital Territory reported three new cases and Western Australia recorded two.
In WA, the two cases were from people who had returned from overseas. Of the ACT cases, two have returned from a Melbourne hotspot, and the other was a close contact. In NSW, at least one of the cases had returned from interstate travel.
On July 2, the Northern Territory also reported its first case in nearly three months, a man returned to the territory from a Melbourne hotspot.