Masks Key to Reopening Australia’s Victoria, Officials Say

(Bloomberg) --

Mask-wearing will be critical to reopening Australia’s second-most populous state as it seeks to curb coronavirus infections, Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews said.

Two million masks will be ordered and distributed to “priority groups,” he said in a press conference Saturday. The state recorded 216 new coronavirus cases and one death in the past 24 hours, and he urged Victorians to stay home this weekend as much as possible.

“This is not an ordinary weekend,” Andrews said. “It is the simple stuff, the common sense, just doing the right thing, the smart thing. That’s how we will get to the other side of this.”

The state’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton on Friday called on Melbourne residents to wear masks where social distancing was difficult amid an outbreak that’s led to a six-week lockdown. Victoria’s request for mask-wearing is a departure from the health advice issued so far in Australia’s Covid-19 crisis.

Advice around masks hasn’t changed for the rest of the country, Australia’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth said in a separate press conference Saturday. He added that a vaccine may not be available for between 18 and 24 months and the nation must be able to keep the virus under control at low levels.

“We need to prepare for a world without a vaccine,” he said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.