Uh oh it’s lockdown time for us again

nana8 viruses do mutate and who knows how this strain of the virus arrived in Melbourne or if it even mutated spontaneously. Has it been established yet?

WHO definition: Plague is an infectious disease caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria, usually found in small mammals and their fleas. The disease is transmitted between animals via their fleas and, as it is a zoonotic bacterium, it can also transmit from animals to humans.

Covid is a respiratory disease caused by a virus.

And please read my post properly if you're going to comment on it.

What would you call Covid then if not a plague ? Just curious. I think you are arguing for argument sake. Of course those coming into the country brought the virus in unless of course it was bats or birds. Or perhaps fish ? And ,no, I personally think all the expats should wait until the vaccination has been brought in before they come home. Unlike the UK, no one here has been vaccinated and we don’t have the vaccine available. I have absolutely no idea about and have never heard of it being called the northern English virus or whatever. As far as we have been told it is the UK variant of the virus. Is that wrong? Perhaps it is from France?

For nanna8…
Having spent several happy years in Australia I know first-hand about the tendency among some Aussies to blame the Poms at any opportunity. So when the brother of one of the posters here refers to the latest cases being due to “tourists from the North East of England”, there is a real life example. The idea that it’s people with frivolous reasons for travelling that have brought the latest cases to Australia. The Pom blaming I was talking about has nothing to do with the so-called “UK Strain”.

You did indeed say “plague hotels”. But for some reason you seem to think that’s an OK phrase to use? Its not a plague, and people are not sent to these hotels because they are unclean. Referring to the quarantine hotels like this again marginalises the people who have to stay there. If you think there is a problem with the operation of these hotels then say so. Don’t refer to them in such derogatory terms.

Nobody is saying people aren't arriving in Australia or not. Obviously they are. And it seems to me that people already in Australia are more than happy to blame such people for all their troubles when in the most part the travellers are probably Aussies trying to get home. The tennis players are a distraction, but a nice convenient one.

In NZ, Auckland they are hoping to track and trace any contacts to get a hold on the virus. DD said they are pretty successful in doing this so hopefully their lockdown will be over quickly.

The same cannot be said for the UK.

Well the U.K. strain came from somewhere we didn’t grow it or did we?
nZ Auckland gone into a 3 day lockdown as they have 3 new cases

Of course people have come in from overseas for the tennis. It is called the UK strain here but where it comes from I wouldn’t know except that it would be Europe. There is also the South African strain but we haven’t got that yet. No Pom knocking going on just frustrated that we haven’t even got a vaccine but we are letting people carrying Covid into the country. I said plague hotel not plague hospital ( Chinese whispers syndrome) and that seems to be what that particular hotel is. Compare it with those dreadful ships, it even looks like them. Not even any balconies and shared aircon. Duh. Until today people were landing here from Europe. Mostly returning after years away because they want to. They are still coming into the rest of Australia whether you believe it or not.

I see why they had to leave partway through now, Spice101.

Riverwalk There are still people coming into Australia. Victoria has on average about 1100 per week arrive from overseas and other States are also allowing a similar number of arrivals. They are not travellers as such but they have travelled to Australia from places where the virus is more active.

Among others arriving from overseas there are those associated with the tennis,
business people,
a French politician arrived in South Australia during the week with an exemption from quarantine,
Australian citizens/residents returning home - as is their right-, many after several false starts,
some "celebrities" come in. Matt Damon arrived last week Tom Hanks arrived not too long ago and there have been others,
the Indian cricket team were here and there have been various other exceptions.
So, the borders have not been closed totally as many think and are led to believe.

Callistermon I agree with you but under our lockdown laws we can only travel 5 kilometers from home, had the people at the tennis been able to stay beyond midnight they in many cases would have been in breech of those rules. Yes an exception could have been made but than you would have others wanting their activity exempted too.

BlueBelle
It matters little what the virus is called however, our authorities and others throughout the world are using the term UK strain I'm sure this is not meant to be a slight to the people of UK but it identifies the strain as being different to the one we had been dealing with. It was not Australia who named it as such or NZ

Yes, hands up they could not have been tourists but were probably returning Australian citizens. The quarantine hotels themselves, the vetting and supervision of staff therein has been an issue though and we would do well to take heed before ours (UK) open on Monday.
I am already hearing reports (rumours) that hotel chains will decide on their own regulations regarding letting out 'guests' for fresh air and fag breaks.
I also heard there would be severe fines. Really? What is the point of fining people once they've been allowed to pass the virus on? Talk about shutting the stable door...

Well to start with keepingquiet its not a strain from the North East I don’t believe... for some strange reason they are calling it the Kent strain but to my understanding the Kent strain changed names from The South African mutation There are mutations happening all the time and I think it’s ridiculous to start calling them by place names
It’s a worldwide virus it’s not a China virus a U.K. virus or an anywhere else virus it’s a worldwide virus
What strange wording nana8 ‘plaque hospital’. horrible term ‘overseas people’ it’s those terrible ‘furreners’
NZ is the same it’s always the ‘furreners’ never them

Yes, there were but they all had to leave part way through a match.
DH said, they're all in there now, they might as well have let them finish watching the match!

Callistemon there were definitely spectators today, is the ban from tomorrow?

As soon as we get on top of it they let people in who are known to be contact with it.
I don't understand that.

nanna8

Victoria Australia is again in hard lockdown because of the virus spread from overseas people. I really can’t understand why they let them in knowing we haven’t even got the vaccine here yet. When they arrive apparently people from interstate can just walk through with no check. Overseas people get taken to a plague hotel where they are fairly likely to catch the virus if they haven’t got it already. We are furious because we had a holiday booked and paid for setting off on Sunday along with a group of 55 others. All of us had been really looking forward to getting away after a year of being more or less isolated.

Who are the 'overseas people' - I thought only citizens and residents were allowed to enter Australia?

Would you deny your fellow citizens the right to return to their own country?

GrannyGravy13

Spectators are still being allowed at the Australian Open Tennis Tournament in Melbourne according to Sky News?

No, it was reported that spectators will be barred whilst the lockdown is on, Grannygravy

Nanna8 used the phrase “plague hotel” in the initial post.

keepingquiet

I'm told by my brother in Victoria that it is the new strain taken in by tourists from the North East UK. Why on Earth are people still travelling?

How odd.
It's illegal for people in the UK to travel and it is not permitted for holidaymakers to enter Australia so how did they manage to travel there and get through immigration (stringent at the best of times)?

Australia’s borders are closed. The only people who can travel to Australia are:

Australian citizens
residents
immediate family members
travellers who have been in New Zealand for the previous 14 days (not including time in managed quarantine).

We could come but we wouldn't at the moment.

Spectators are still being allowed at the Australian Open Tennis Tournament in Melbourne according to Sky News?

JenniferEccles yes, I agree

Overseas people

Are these Australians returning home? I understood there was a ban on visitors, migrant workers and overseas students entering Australia?
It was also my understanding that arrivals were escorted by guards or police to a quarantine hotel.

Every breach of quarantine I have heard if is of guards at immigration hotels moonlighting in other jobs.

We are furious because we had a holiday booked and paid for setting off on Sunday along with a group of 55 others.
I'm not sure where you were heading but gatherings of more than 50 are not permitted in Queensland.

I'm glad they have shut State borders and I hope that remains so.

The phrase "plague hotel" was definitely used upthread.

Calling people "tourists", as someone did upthread, when they may have perfectly valid reasons for going to Australia, is not appropriate and makes other people think the travellers were being selfish, when we have no idea why they were travelling.

The tennis tournament is not the reason for the current 5-day lockdown, as far as I can see.

I agree with you about the management of quarantine hotels though.

Alegrias1

Glad to see that the creators of rumours are just as prolific in Australia as anywhere else...

Tourists from the UK? Going to Australia? Highly unlikely I would have said. But you know, blame the Poms.

Plague hotels? That's nice.

Blame the tennis players and their entourages? Try again, it was nothing to do with them.

Maybe take a look at the quarantine hotel worker who was walking around the hotel without PPE they had been told to wear.

I don't think there are any tourists from UK coming into Victoria but there are travellers coming from UK, probably Australian citizens or residents returning home and there has been people associated with the tennis that have tested positive for covid. I don't think anyone was or is blaming the "poms" at all but it is the UK strain that is identified in this new outbreak. Nor do I think anyone mentioned plague hotels however there has been major issues with quarantine hotels in Melbourne and IMO it is the responsibility of the government to sort this out so they can be effective. Yes, also IMO the people working at those hotels should be accountable for working to the relevant standard and as we both know that means wearing the necessary ppe. There should be someone making sure the workers are wearing that equipment and following all other necessary precautions. To be sure the people working as quarantine officers are maintaining the correct procedures they probably should also be housed in the hotel and not be wandering around to shopping centres and bars etc.

Our problem is the Chairman and his union mates. That and sheer incompetence. I wish we had the Federal Government in charge, too. Even Gladys from New South Wales who seems to do a better job. So many things are leaking out about a failure to observe health protocols it is alarming and to use a hideous hotel like the Holiday Inn belies belief. It looks like a giant Diamond Princess to me, all windows, no fresh air and shared air conditioning. A Petrie dish.

Isn’t this another example of how we all will have to learn to live with the virus rather than to fruitlessly try to eradicate it completely?

Unless a country is prepared to indefinitely barricade itself off from the rest of the world, cases will spring up.

Vaccination of course is the answer and we are leading the world in that respect, but outbreaks will occur until other countries have managed to vaccinate enough of their citizens.