SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA) – In a bid to stifle a new cluster of coronavirus infections, Australian authorities undertook mass tests on Tuesday and placed 4,000 people in quarantine.
Social distancing curbs were reintroduced in the state of South Australia on Monday after 21 cases, mostly local transmissions, were reported.
It is the first case of local transmissions in nine days in the country.
South Australia Premier Steven Marshall said over the past 24 hours, five new cases were identified and 14 people are suspected to be infected and their results are awaited.
“We are not out of the woods. We are just at the beginning stages of dealing with this particular very nasty cluster,” Marshall told the media in Adelaide.
He said all the cases are linked to one Australian who arrived in the state from abroad on November 2 and went into compulsory quarantine in a hotel.
After coming into contact with a contaminated surface, hotel workers became infected, said Marshall.
According to authorities, the virus could have spread beyond hotel workers and their contacts. That made them place 4,000 people under quarantine.
“This is a very, very worrying situation. I’m not going to underestimate the concern that I’ve got about this,” said Nicola Spurrier, South Australia’s chief public health officer.
So far, the country has recorded about 27,800 novel coronavirus cases and 906 fatalities.