Analysis: Australia's Coronavirus Lockdown Strategy Worked. Could This Be A Model For The US?

However Andrews — a Labor Social gathering politician who has run Australia’s second-largest state since 2014 — has remained common with Victorians all through the lockdown, native polls show. And this week, his hardline strategy was completely vindicated.

On Sunday, Victoria recorded simply 11 new coronavirus instances, down from over 670 on the top of the latest outbreak final month. Subsequent week, Melbourne will start lifting some restrictions if new instances stay beneath a fortnightly common of 50 per day. A nightly curfew is slated to stay in impact till October 26.

“We will do that,” Andrews tweeted Sunday, echoing his phrases at the start of the lockdown: “We’re Victorians — and we’ll get by means of this as Victorians. With grit, with guts and collectively.”

And whereas it could have provoked outrage from some parts of the Australian media, and criticism from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Victoria’s expertise reveals as soon as once more that focused lockdowns are efficient in containing the coronavirus: driving down infections, relieving stress on hospitals and medical workers, and creating area for contact tracing and mass testing.

This was first proven in China, the place the federal government imposed an intense lockdown on Wuhan, the town the place instances of the virus have been first detected late final yr. Wuhan spent 76-days beneath lockdown, which was lastly lifted because the every day caseload slowed to a trickle.

That was again in April, and now Wuhan is principally again to regular, even in a position to host huge water park raves with out a lot concern. And the mannequin has been successfully applied to other cities throughout China, including the capital Beijing, suppressing new spikes as they seem and retaining nationwide figures down.

“The Covid-19 epidemic in our nation has gone by means of 4 waves,” Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist on the Chinese language Middle for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC), mentioned Saturday. “In addition to the primary wave (in Wuhan), the opposite epidemic waves have been clusters that have been regional and small-scale and have been successfully managed.”

For some lockdown skeptics, China’s expertise was straightforward to dismiss: the nation is an authoritarian, one-party state, and its strategies couldn’t essentially be utilized in democracies.

However the scenario in Victoria proves that the lockdown technique does work elsewhere, and that, given the correct data and reassurances, individuals are keen to make the sacrifices required to comprise the virus.

With the outbreak in Victoria contained, the variety of instances all through the remainder of Australia has continued to development down. On Sunday, New South Wales, which incorporates Sydney, reported 4 new instances, whereas Queensland state reported only one.

New Zealand too, which on Monday started lowering social distancing rules after every day instances dropped to zero, has seen optimistic outcomes from lockdowns, enabling the nation to return to relative normality far sooner than nations which didn’t take such measures.

Elsewhere, nonetheless, lockdown methods have been much less profitable, with partial closures bringing with them the distress of a full lockdown whereas not actually containing infections. This might make it far tougher to introduce additional restrictions in future, corresponding to when infections spike in winter months, as most experts believe will happen.

There may be additionally appreciable political resistance to lockdowns, and even partial shutdowns, in some nations, particularly the United States, the place final week Legal professional Common William Barr mentioned a nationwide closure can be the “best intrusion on civil liberties” in historical past “apart from slavery.”

Potential lockdowns have additionally provoked backlash within the European Union and United Kingdom in current days, regardless of a spike in case numbers throughout the continent.

The US, nonetheless, stays the worst hit nation on the earth, with greater than 6.7 million coronavirus instances and nearly 200,000 deaths, in line with Johns Hopkins College. As these figures probably rise by means of winter, and with much less and fewer motive to go outdoors, some individuals could begin to rethink their anti-lockdown sentiment.

An earlier model of this story incorrectly steered that authorities in Melbourne would contemplate lifting a nighttime curfew subsequent week. The curfew is presently in impact till October 26.

CNN’s Angus Watson and Eric Cheung contributed reporting.

Source link