- Home parties to watch sports event behind spike in cases
- 98% cases in Sydney and Melbourne out of Australia’s 2,400
- Federal govt to wind down emergency business payments
Melbourne’s COVID-19 cases surged to record levels on Thursday with officials blaming illegal home gatherings to watch a key sporting event for the spike as a hard lockdown to combat the spread of the Delta variant neared two months.
Authorities in Victoria, home to Melbourne, estimated nearly a third of Thursday’s 1,438 new infections could be traced back to home parties last weekend to watch the Australian Rules Football Grand Final on television.
“Many of these cases were completely avoidable … I’m not trying to blame anyone, I’m simply trying to explain because a lot of people will be scratching their heads – how could it have gone up by so much, so fast,” state Premier Daniel Andrews said during a media briefing.
Officials admitted Thursday’s numbers, a 50% jump to Wednesday’s 950 cases, is a “major setback” in managing the flare-up, as they race to vaccinate the state’s 5.5 million adult population.
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