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by Andrew LEESON DUBBO, Australia (AFP) — After surviving years of crippling drought, farmers in eastern Australia are locked in a months-long battle with hordes of mice that are pouring through fields and devouring hard-earned crops. Farmer Col Tink uses a broom to skittle hundreds of roving mice toward a makeshift industrial trap — essentially a large tub of water where they drown. It is a brutally simple attempt to slow the plague that has […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Five million Melbourne residents will exit lockdown Thursday after Australian authorities said their adherence to strict rules had “changed the course” of a coronavirus outbreak in the city. After two weeks under stay-at-home orders, the toughest restrictions in Australia’s second-biggest city will be lifted from 11:59 pm Thursday, after just one new virus case was recorded on Tuesday. “This is a good day. Everyone should be absolutely proud of what we […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — A coronavirus lockdown of Australia’s second-biggest city will be extended by another seven days, authorities announced Wednesday, as they attempt to stamp out a cluster of cases in Melbourne. “We have right now 60 cases and over 350 exposure sites and a variant of the virus that is quicker and more contagious than we have ever seen before,” said James Merlino, the acting premier of the state of Victoria. © Agence […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Five million weary Melbourne residents returned to lockdown Friday, straining local resolve and testing Australia’s “zero-Covid” strategy of smothering outbreaks however small. As authorities said the cluster of positive cases had grown to 39, streets in Australia’s second city emptied out for the fourth time since the pandemic began. “It’s just very difficult,” resident Gavin Catt told AFP. “This lockdown is affecting us. Many families and friends can’t work.” Melbournians have […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — More than five million people in Australia’s second-biggest city of Melbourne were ordered into a snap week-long lockdown Thursday, as officials blamed a sluggish vaccine rollout and hotel quarantine failures for another virus outbreak. Stay-at-home orders will apply to Melbourne and surrounding Victoria state from midnight for seven days, acting state Premier James Merlino told residents, as the cluster doubled to 26 cases. “In the last day, we’ve seen more evidence […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand suspended quarantine-free travel with Australia’s Victoria state over a new coronavirus cluster Tuesday, the fourth time the trans-Tasman travel bubble has been disrupted since it opened last month. Officials in Wellington said they were taking a cautious approach after Melbourne recorded nine locally acquired cases in the past two days, believed to be related to a leak from a quarantine hotel. New Zealand’s Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia will not extend a controversial ban on citizens returning from Covid-hit India, the prime minister said Friday following widespread public outrage. Scott Morrison this week barred all travel from India, fearing a large number of Covid-positive arrivals would overwhelm Australia’s already strained quarantine facilities. The move stranded an estimated 9,000 Australian citizens and threatened them with large fines and jail time if they tried to dodge the ban and return […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia is likely to remain shut to visitors until late 2022, the country’s trade and tourism minister said Friday, as another global coronavirus surge smashed hopes of a quick reopening. Minister Dan Tehan said a wave of cases on the Indian sub-continent showed Australia’s near blanket ban on arrivals was still essential to keep the country Covid-free. Since March 20, 2020, Australians have been barred from travelling overseas and a hard-to-get […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Sydney’s first local Covid-19 cases in more than a month left health authorities scrambling to trace their origins on Thursday, but they stopped short of ordering Australia’s most populous city into lockdown. A man in his 50s and his wife have tested positive for the virus, triggering warnings for a string of locations around the city that they visited while believed to be contagious. They are Sydney’s first recorded cases of […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing said Thursday it has suspended an economic agreement with Australia, an apparent tit-for-tat response to Australia scrapping a Belt and Road infrastructure pact and threat to undo a deal leasing Darwin Port to a Chinese company. The China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue deal has been suspended “based on the current attitude” of the Australian government, China’s National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement, blaming some officials of “ideological discrimination.” […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — An Australian court on Wednesday agreed to hear a challenge to the country’s controversial ban on citizens returning home from coronavirus-hit India. A federal court said it would urgently hear a case brought by a 73-year-old man living in Bangalore who wishes to return. Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week banned arrivals from India, which is recording hundreds of thousands of new coronavirus infections each day. Under the measures, Australian citizens […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Sydney was enveloped in a thick bank of hazardous bushfire smoke Monday, forcing authorities in Australia’s largest city to scale back controlled forest burning nearby. Ferries were cancelled and the city’s five million residents were told to stay indoors if necessary, as air pollution levels spiked. Levels of hazardous PM 2.5 pollution — particles that can seep deep into the lungs and cause respiratory illnesses — were among the worst in […]
