Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan has cancelled Anzac Day services across Perth and Peel in response to the state s coronavirus outbreak. The announcement was made this afternoon when Mr McGowan ordered the areas into a snap three-day lockdown as authorities combat the emerging and serious issue . I encourage everyone to take part in the driveway Dawn Service again this year and I will do that again, Mr McGowan said. Police Commissioner Chris Dawson called this weekend a precious and collaborative weekend because of Anzac Day . An almost empty Anzac Memorial at King s Park in Perth during its last lockdown in February. Picture: Tony McDonough/NCA NewsWire
Photo: AFP
Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan announced the three-day lockdown starting midnight tonight (local time), with masks have been made mandatory from 6pm.
McGowan said: We need to go back to what we know best. We need to keep ourselves safe. We have all done this before and it has kept us safe. It is crucial we are calmly and sensibly keeping the community safe.
Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said public sporting events during the same period would only be allowed to have professional players and officials in attendance. Community members will not be allowed into those venues.
Anzac Day services will be cancelled.
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SYDNEY (Reuters) -Western Australia’s capital of Perth and the neighbouring Peel region will enter a snap three-day lockdown from midnight on Friday after two people tested positive for COVID-19, the first cases of community transmission in Australia in a week.
Australia has all but stamped out the virus thanks to mandatory hotel quarantine for returning residents and citizens and snap lockdowns to arrest the infection.
The first case related to a man in Melbourne who likely contracted the disease during his two-week quarantine stay in a Perth hotel.
The second was his close contact in Perth, Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan said in a televised news conference, where he announced the lockdown.
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