Coronavirus – Melbourne: Relax the world’s biggest lockdown – Panzourism overnight

In the pubs, restaurants and hairdressers of the city, its inhabitants rushed Melbourne in the early hours of Friday (22/10) after relaxation of the largest lockdown times in the world aimed at halting its pandemic coronavirus.

Australia’s second largest city of 5 million has been severely restricted so far. for 262 days, almost nine months, during six different lockdown which have been declared since March 2020. This is the longest lockdown period in the world. In the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, 234 consecutive days of lockdown were imposed last year, as reported by APE-MPE.

But now that the vaccination rate against covid-19 in Melbourne and the state of Victoria reached 70% the easing of restrictions imposed on 5 August was announced.

At 23:59 on Thursday night, the lockdown in Melbourne just arrived the residents went out on their balconies and started applauding and shouting, while on the streets car horns could also be heard.

Many restaurants, cafes and hairdressers, opened after midnight to celebrate the event.

Coronavirus – Australia: Queues outside salons even at night

“I had forgotten how it is”said George, a Melbourne resident who sat in a cafe months later. «We were waiting to celebrate it “, he added.

“It’s awesome to be back today. “It’s a sunny day, so everything is amazing,” commented Ryan Malliri, a hairdresser who has been working since the beginning of August.

Another hairdresser in Melbourne said clients started doing it queue outside his store at 4:30 p.m.

“People are going crazy, trying to close a table”, explained Marcella Rodrεςguez, co-owner of the restaurant Vamos Fitzroy. “Now we have to be very careful with the number of customers and respect all the rules, so it is a challenge,” he added.

Although Melbourne residents now have more freedom, still unable to leave their city, while the shops remain closed until 80% of those who can be vaccinated against covid-19 are immunized, something that is expected to happen in the coming days. After all, from November 1, fully immunized travelers arriving from abroad to Sydney and Melbourne will not be required to remain in quarantine.

Despite the fact that since the end of June there has been an outbreak of the covid-19 epidemic in Australia, mainly due to the highly contagious Delta strain, the country has managed to avoid a large spread of the coronavirus. In total, it has recorded about 152,000 cases of covid-19 and 1,590 deaths, out of a total population of 25 million.