Australia's capital Canberra enters 7-day lockdown

Australia the Penal Colony.

I think you're a few hundred years out of date, cobber.

Australia, truly behind the times as usual.

Next month, a preventive lock-down ...just in case.

What is a 7-day lockdown suppose to achieve ?

Past generations went on with their lives despite polio and whole list of far more deadlier diseases and we stop living because of a virus that has a survival rate of 99%. Embarrassing and cowardly.

More of the same sledgehammer approach. This will likely never end

Maybe if we locked the politicians away instead, never to be heard from again, the situation would improve almost overnight. These people are just testing how much BS the public will put up with.

A lot, by the look of it.

"This is the most serious public health risk that we are faced in the territory this year. Really, since the beginning of the pandemic," 

After 1 case

What absolute scaremongering nonsense. How many people die on the road every day? This is the most serious public health risk we've seen all year!

I have no idea how state governments can afford to continue doing it. Hitting up the Federal purse. The Prime Minister should cut off all funding for these lockdowns. Costing the country literally billions every day with half the country under some sort of lockdown.

And for those that are vaccinated, why do we bother? The Prime Minister said we should have greater freedoms, where are they? I support the NSW premier. She is going to break this nonsense once and for all.

No more lockdowns.

Some Australian knew:

“I can't get to sleep

I think about the implications

Of diving in too deep

And possibly the complications

Especially at night

I worry over situations that

I know will be all right

It's just overkill”

Men at Work, 1983.

At least they still live in a free country

I hope it was not a false positive...but then again there could have been false negatives as well...if you get my drift.

No, that’s exactly something that has to be done, a big step into the right direction. I wouldn’t go so far to say they exactly know what to do, but they feel it and then just do it, with harsh strict and time limited measures. The whole Australia, New Zealand and Oceania / Pacific islands region is the only real shining example of how to handle that pandemic and the low numbers in comparison as well as even some islands completely freed from corona virus prove it. The rest of the globe demonstrates an incompetence that is just only outrageous and they all should better learn a first little slice from them instead of constantly complaining.

What an awful country to live in.

From BBC - No country was untouched by the 1918 pandemic, although the scale of its impact, and of government efforts to protect their populations, varied widely.

I can’t intelligently comment on the measures taken during the 1918 Spanish but that disease killed over 50 million people world wide. We still do not have a clear distinction between the numbers of people who have died from Covid and those who have died with Covid…and there is a difference.

We still do not have a clear distinction between the numbers of people who have died from Covid and those who have died with Covid…and there is a difference.

No, there isn't.

Australia has a huge advantage in that public transport is almost non existent and they still can't get on top of it with lockdowns. To try and eradicate covid in countries who rely heavily on public transport like Japan does is crazy thinking.

Meanwhile the police are "out in force", probably hosting the virus themselves and marching it all around town.

You get what you vote for. Imagine voting for controlling authoritarians and then being shocked at the results.

Bill Shorten just had to keep his mouth shut, and Labor would have won the last election. Instead, he proposed abolishing negative gearing and franking credits, which resulted in all the Boomers choosing the "lesser evil" of Scumo based on the fear of deflating the property bubble and reducing intergenerational inequality. Never underestimate the "F*** you, I got mine" attitude of the Australian boomer.

I support the NSW premier. She is going to break this nonsense once and for all.

Umm - how exactly is Premier Berejiklian "going to break this nonsense once and for all"? She has repeatedly stated lockdowns will be used until at least 70% of the population is fully vaccinated. This is not projected to happen until November some time.

Some would actually say she is largely responsible for this nonsense, after the hapless Scott "Vaccination is not a race" Morrison, of course. The horrible conservative gov't has us almost last in the OECD for vaccinations.

△as soon as your essential workers travel your lockdown loses it's teeth

Meanwhile, in nations that refuse to lock down, new cases are in the tens of thousands, and deaths are sky-rocketing, including little children. Australia is very serious about dealing with the disease, which is why cases are few and deaths equally so. They lead, while most other nations fail.

More businesses closing, more bankruptcies, more people with no income

And this is where the insanely (literally) absurd fear of Covid will ultimately take you. Unnecessary lockdowns, mask-wearing fanaticism, and compulsory medication. Goodbye all freedom and common sense. You were warned ...

BigYen, you being offended is of no concern to me. Obviously not EVERY pensioner voted Liberal, but the voting trends by age are clear. Boomer greed is what won (and lost) that election.

Australia's capital Canberra enters 7-day lockdown after 1 virus case detected

The Australian government has gone officially insane.

Yukijin - Australia has a huge advantage in that public transport is almost non existent

Thats an uninformed load of rot!

This article needs to be updated. There are four confirmed cases in Canberra.

I can’t believe some of the garbage in many of these posts. These lockdowns are not as bad as the drama queens and internet warriors attempt to make out with their fictional opinions. The lockdowns are effective in controlling the virus if whole population abides by the restrictions. It’s only the selfish acts of a few who are spreading the virus. This persistence will stop the virus in the next few weeks (as it has before) and life will be back to normal.

How many cases in Tokyo today? 5,000? Ha! Ha!

BigYen, as you correctly pointed out, I was making a gross generalization. I usually don't apologize for my trolling on JT, but your passionate dislike of Scott Morrison has won me over. My apologies to you, good sir.

Yep, Do the hustle, there are some drama queens on this site that’s for sure! Armchair critics who obviously have not set foot in Australia since this all began. I’ve tried to explain to a few posters as I’m seeing it first hand but give up now.

I’m not saying we are doing everything right and yes our measures may seem draconian but look at our numbers, our hospitals have not collapsed and people are for the most part on board.

The issue is now getting the populace vaccinated as soon as possible so lockdowns can be a thing of the past.

Of course lockdowns work but it takes only a few selfish, inconsiderate buttheads to ruin it. NSW didn't lockdown til 10 days after alarm bells went off and STILL won't enforce a 'hard' lockdown. It's not working out for them at all. Most of the regional cases in NSW have been spread by people travelling illegally out of hotspots because they 'dont believe in Covid' as one idiot put it a few days ago. Now he and both his kids are in hospital. How many have they infected as they travelled around busy tourism areas? Now, how about Japan? What a terrible mess they made of the Olympics simply by not wanting to stap on any toes and making 'suggestions' that bars stop serving alcohol after 8pm etc. Soft as soap and the sight of all those empty stadiums and venues should have woken some of you up.

Where I live in QLD (a small city of around 170000 people) we had just 2 cases and had a 3 day lockdown. Think of it as a circuit breaker.

Some people think the army is ruling the streets of NSW but in truth they are there to enable police to go back to policing - it's not like they're running around with weapons drawn. Too many entitled people running around with scant regard as to what happens if we let this virus have its head. How many of you guys will volunteer to work 80+ hrs a week in hospitals and health centres whilst wearing full PPE?

They’re fining people $1,000 for breaching quarantine. At the same time there’s a fortnightly $1,500 ‘reward’ for anyone who loses over twenty hours work per week due to their being pinged on an app and asked to undertake two weeks quarantine on the off chance that they test positive on one of those flaky PCR test invites to binge on Netflix and Uber Eat pizzas. Lockdown Australia style, to the tune of ‘We’re in the money’

In generations from now, people will shake their heads looking back at such stupidity. Lockdowns are dumb, period.

@Zaphod

The Australian government has gone officially insane.

This is Canberra - a city (not a country). It is not controlled by the 'Australian' government.

Here, in regional WA, where I live: We have not had a single lock-down since the pandemic began. Masks have never been mandatory. No army, no police on the street, nil restrictions. I'm a bit sick of hearing about how the 'Australian Government' is this/or that. Australia is a big country - if a city is in lock-down; it doesn't mean Australia is in lock-down.

I'm getting quite annoyed at people making completely uninformed judgements about an entire country from the briefest of news stories - particularly when they have never set foot in that country. Where I live: Life has been almost entirely un-impacted by Covid due to the actions of places like Canberra 'locking-down' in a timely manner.

In generations from now, people will shake their heads looking back at such stupidity. Lockdowns are dumb, period.

Possibly.

I’m more sure of the future generations laughing at anti-science hysterical morons reading the likes of Alex Berenson.

They’ll look at these people in the way we look at trepanning.

My question is? What if the world over has taken these UNproven vaccinations . Whats next booster shots? or do we get the Epsilon variant and take another shot!!! Wearing mask does not work, if you wear glasses and breath into your mask and your glasses fog up right their is proof that mask does not stop the mist or cough droplets that one spills if they are wearing a mask. Its like putting a bandage over a tattoo just to hide it but the tattoo never goes away once the bandage falls it reappears. Once the mask goes off so does the spread of the virus!!!

Lockdown from 5pm? Taking a page from Japan's playbook? Maybe find a different team to follow.

And Australia's population is only 25 million? The country is about the size of Europe--just have everyone spread out from coast to coast.

Lockdowns suppress severe cases until the vulnerable are vaccinated. They should not be used beyond that as they cause too many other problems.

There are limits to what they can do, especially in cities. People have to buy food. Utilities and supply chains have to be maintained. Animals at shelters have to be fed. Refuse has to be collected. The children of essential workers may need school placements. In the UK, hospitals were a primary infection source, so the emergency services can harbour the virus. Once you go beyond a tipping point of cases, lockdowns will not get you back to 'covid zero', especially in urban areas.

Vaccinate as fast as you can, vulnerable people first. Then open up as soon as you can, masked. After the initial hit we will all have to live with Covid as another of the many viruses that can kill us.

Australia won global praise for its successful coronavirus response in the early stages of the pandemic, and most of the country was enjoying few restrictions by late 2020.

Who was praising Australia (and NZ for that matter)? A huge island, small population--they shouldn't have any cases. No one can just walk into Australia, and they shut off entrance by air (and ship and submarine I presume), so of course they should have had minimal number of cases.

Who was praising Australia (and NZ for that matter)?

I don’t know what media bubble you were living in ( I think I have an idea ), but I read quite a few experts praising Australia’s and New Zealand’s approach.

I think Australia is now going over the top with the lockdowns, but compared to my own island nation ( UK ), they’ve done a hell of a lot better.

Get those vaccines out to the people sharpish.

JimizoToday  11:28 pm JST

I don’t know what media bubble you were living in ( I think I have an idea ), but I read quite a few experts praising Australia’s and New Zealand’s approach. 

What experts? What sources are you referring to? Living in Japan, news is generally focused on, not surprisingly, Japan.

Australia makes the news when there is a cute koala bear to show the audience.

My point though, as my post was obviously misread, is that Australia's and NZ's approaches were not novel at all; they are plain obvious. Small population, lots of land, islands--just don't let people in. At the same time, looking back at Japan, I recall its approach was also being globally praised.

Most of us knew better then, and when Australians were also not getting vaccinated (as Japanese were not either), it was easy to see where that would end up.

Thus we get 5pm lockdowns in Canberra, similar to Japan's approach of having the virus take a break after 8pm,

I wonder what those experts are saying now.

What experts? What sources are you referring to? Living in Japan, news is generally focused on, not surprisingly, Japan.

Erm, I use the Internet to get news from outside Japan. Fauci was one expert that immediately springs to mind. I can dig up more if you want. I tend to read BBC, the Independent, the Spectator, the Times, the NYT, the Nikkei to name a few.

What do you read?

Australia makes the news when there is a cute koala bear to show the audience.

Meow! A bit dismissive and hissy. Where are you from? Fine country, Australia. I have it in mind as a possible place to retire. Beautiful.

Australia’s vaccine roll out deserves criticism.

JimizoAug. 12  11:49 pm JST

Erm, I use the Internet to get news from outside Japan. Fauci was one expert that immediately springs to mind. I can dig up more if you want. I tend to read BBC, the Independent, the Spectator, the Times, the NYT, the Nikkei to name a few. 

What do you read? 

Meow! A bit dismissive and hissy. Where are you from? Fine country, Australia. I have it in mind as a possible place to retire. Beautiful. 

Australia’s vaccine roll out deserves criticism.

I don't read many news sources other than flip through Japanese-news related ones. I will watch Japanese news on tv.

But again, my post was obviously misread. Dr. Fauci, experts from the BBC, Spectator, Times or whatever--didn't really need to be an expert to see Australia had so few cases, and so they went right along and touted the success. Which wasn't really a success, rather an effect of the circumstances of geography and demographics.

But if you think mentioning a koala bear is being dismissive, then you might want to think twice abut retiring to Australia--they take their koalas seriously.

Speaking of which, did I actually read "hissy"?

That word is actually still used?

Allllright--on second thought, maybe the Oxford Street area would be fitting.

Headline says "Canberra" but then includes a photo that appears to be Melbourne, not Canberra.

barr seems to enjoy rule by decree, no science necessary.

Xulux

Australia won global praise for its successful coronavirus response in the early stages of the pandemic, and most of the country was enjoying few restrictions by late 2020.

Who was praising Australia (and NZ for that matter)? A huge island, small population--they shouldn't have any cases. No one can just walk into Australia, and they shut off entrance by air (and ship and submarine I presume), so of course they should have had minimal number of cases.

The same could be said of the UK, a population in the same order of magnitude and an island.

Oh, but the UK 1,913 deaths / million people and Australia has 37 deaths / million. Hence the praise.

letsberealistic

All these experts about the effectiveness of lockdowns on Japantoday.

You think lockdowns are ineffective and draconian yet none is giving any alternatives. So who did better than Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong etc. at controlling the virus by not having lockdowns?

Are you saying Japan's, or the US approach worked?

So true.

2020hindsightsToday  06:06 am JST

The same could be said of the UK, a population in the same order of magnitude and an island.

*Oh, but the UK 1,913 deaths / million people and Australia has 37 deaths / million. Hence the praise.*

I don't know what you mean by saying the UK population is in the same order of magnitude and an island compared with Australia---if that is what you are saying.

Anyway, Australia is 32 times larger than the British Isles. As I mentioned in my original post, Australia is basically the same size as Europe.

Also, the UK's population is 40 million more than Australia. So, the answer to the question, which has a higher population density, the UK or Australia, is obvious. As is the inference.

I also noted Australia shut off entrance to its country; the UK didn't, and also ease of entry into Australia--can't just drive there or hop on a short ferry ride like you can in the UK.

One similarity I see-- in the UK, the virus also does not take a hiatus after 5pm, like in Australia.

So, again, I questioned the praise then, which is being rightfully questioned now.

With Pfizer now only showing 40% effectiveness against the Delta strain and probably less again against the lambda lock downs will never end until the general population has had enough. The problem with mass "vaccination with such low efficacy is that it then encourages a more vaccine resistant strain to eventuate. As I have said all along, once the most at risk cohorts have been vaccinated they should have reopened and moved on. Continual lock downs are mentally debilitating and the increase in suicides across the globe is no coincidence.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/07/23/pfizer-shot-just-39-effective-against-delta-infection-but-largely-prevents-severe-illness-israel-study-suggests/?sh=23c5d351584f

Xulux

I don't know what you mean by saying the UK population is in the same order of magnitude and an island compared with Australia---if that is what you are saying.

The same order of magnitude means the populations are less than 10x different. The UK has between 2 and 3 times the population as Australia, so about the same.

Anyway, Australia is 32 times larger than the British Isles. As I mentioned in my original post, Australia is basically the same size as Europe.

True, but irrelevant. Pretty much everybody lives in the cities.

Also, the UK's population is 40 million more than Australia. So, the answer to the question, which has a higher population density, the UK or Australia, is obvious. As is the inference.

In the cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane (the ones with lockdowns) the population density is about the same. (Also, surprisingly, population density has no correlation with number of cases.)

I also noted Australia shut off entrance to its country; the UK didn't, and also ease of entry into Australia--can't just drive there or hop on a short ferry ride like you can in the UK.

Yes. But this is a policy decision for which they were getting praise. That's the point, they handled the coronavirus better than the UK, who closed borders way too late.

Sanjinosebleed

The problem with mass "vaccination with such low efficacy is that it then encourages a more vaccine resistant strain to eventuate.

No. It doesn't. That's not how vaccines work. Vaccines bring out the human immune system to kill the virus, that stops it replicating and therefore the chance of variants emerging is decreased. The vaccine is boosting the immune response so variants are not emerging in vaccinated people at all, it's more likely they appear in people who do not have an immune response.

https://www.euronews.com/2021/04/05/experts-debunk-claims-that-vaccines-cause-new-covid-19-variants