Coronavirus Melbourne: Police crackdown as crisis linked to hotel quarantine deepens
Police will use drones as part of patrols in Melbourne, as checks ramp up across 36 locked-down suburbs amid the ongoing debacle over hotel quarantine.
Opposition leaders have called for the state's health minister to be sacked over the debacle, after a contracted security guard claimed he was only given five minutes of training on how to look after isolated travellers.
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A woman gets a Covid-19 test in Melbourne, Australia as lockdowns kicked in across Melbourne. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
The hundreds of new coronavirus cases in the city - including another 77 yesterday - have been linked back to quarantine workers taking the virus out of hotels.
A case in Sydney and another in the NT have now been linked back to the hotel quarantine blunder in the city.
An elderly man gets a Covid-19 test at a testing site at the shopping precinct in the locked down suburb of Dallas on July 02, 2020 in Melbourne Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
The Sydney case confirmed yesterday has sparked fears at a Balmain Woolworths after a worker was allowed out of isolation early in Melbourne, with 50 staff sent home.
At another supermarket chain, Coles, more restrictions have been imposed in Victoria after an outbreak at a distribution centre.
The Police Minister Lisa Neville has refused to blame anybody for the failures, saying, she's "not going to throw anyone under the bus here," adding, "This is why we have an inquiry."
Cihad Demir, owner of Dallas big fresh fruit and vegetable shop in the locked down suburb of Dallas on July 02, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Mr Demir says 'there has been a lot of confusion,' over the new lockdown. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
There are fears the quarantined postcodes in Melbourne could be expanded.
Student-to-student transmission in schools was confirmed for the first time in Victoria yesterday.
Fines of up to $1600 can be issued to anybody who breaks the rules, with drones being used to monitor gatherings of people.
Passengers arriving from Melbourne collect their baggage at Sydney domestic airport as, the NSW state government rolls out checks after banning anybody from Melbourne virus-hit suburbs from entering NSW. Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
Meanwhile, checks are now under way on trains and planes coming in to NSW from Victoria.
Travellers are banned from entering the state if they have been in any of the affected postcodes - with one woman found on a train to Sydney yesterday while sick and awaiting Covid-19 test results.
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