Australia's 2nd largest city foils nation's pandemic success

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia has been among the world's most successful countries in containing its coronavirus outbreak — with one exception.

The southeastern state of Victoria had some of the nation's toughest pandemic measures and was among the most reluctant to lift its restrictions when the worst of its outbreak seemed to have passed.

But as most of the country emerges from pandemic restrictions, the virus has resumed spreading at an alarming rate in Victoria's capital, Melbourne. The city is buckling down with more extreme and divisive measures that have ignited anger and arguments over who is to blame.

About 3,000 residents of nine public housing high-rise buildings were given just an hour’s notice before being prohibited from leaving their apartments for at least five days.

“The amount of police officers makes us feel like we’re criminals,” said a resident of one of the buildings, Nada Osman. “It’s overwhelming. It’s scary. It’s like we’re caged in.”

Forty suburbs that are virus hot spots have been locked down by postal code, with the result that businesses and households in some areas face restrictions while ones across the street from them do not.

“The line has to be drawn somewhere and I think most people can understand that,” said Maria Iatrou, whose cafe is restricted to takeout because it is on the wrong side of a suburban border.

“But that doesn’t take away any of the frustration and disappointment associated with having to live with these restrictions again because we’re unlucky enough to belong to one of these post codes,” she said.

Victoria authorities had been praised for their aggressive testing and contact tracing. Melbourne researchers developed what they describe as the world’s first saliva test...