Face Masks Now Compulsory in Melbourne

Melbourne, the capital of Victoria state and Australia's second-biggest city, implemented on Thursday a new law making face coverings compulsory, in an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus.

Anyone venturing out in Melbourne was ordered Thursday to wear a mask as authorities struggled to contain multiple coronavirus clusters in the country's southeast.

Most people were spotted wearing masks in the second week of a six-week local lockdown. Victoria recorded 422 coronavirus cases on Thursday -- a dip from a record peak of 484 on Wednesday, but its 18th consecutive day of triple-digit rises.

Police will issue fines totaling Aus $200 ($140) to anyone who refuses to cover their face in public, although previous lockdown rules have generally been enforced with warnings.

The state's leader said the lockdown restrictions had helped stabilize infection numbers, but the next step was driving them down.

However, elsewhere in Australia, masks are rare, but the rising number of cases in Victoria has heightened calls for tighter restrictions as the outbreak dampens hopes of a speedy recovery from the pandemic.

Victoria has effectively been locked from the rest of the country in an effort to stem the spread of the virus, but new cases have been detected in neighbouring New South Wales state – sparking tighter restrictions in its capital, Sydney.

So far, Australia has recorded over 13,300 confirmed cases and 133 deaths among its population of about 25 million.

Melbourne was not the only city to bring in a mask law this week, as a similar initiative in the US capital was put into force. The mayor of Washington ordered city residents to don face coverings as soon as they leave their home.

The novel coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China, and has infected more than one million people and killed over 234,139 worldwide. It also hit several celebrities and top political figures around the world.

The virus is a new member of the Coronaviruses group, which was never identified in humans. The viruses’ family also includes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), which cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases.

Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Humans and animals such as mammals and birds can be affected by the disease.

The name is derived from the Latin corona, meaning “crown” or “halo”.

On February 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official name for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus is Covid-19, taken from the words “corona”, “virus” and “disease”.

In December 2019, an outbreak was reported in Wuhan, China. On 31 December 2019, the outbreak was traced to a novel strain of coronavirus, which was given the interim name 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization (WHO), it was later renamed SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.

On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic as the new virus has rapidly spread to more than 800,000 people from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.

Transmission of viruses between humans happens when someone comes into contact with an infected person’s secretions, such as droplets in a cough.

Coronavirus can also be transmitted by coming into contact with something an infected person has touched and then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.

It is known that older people appear to be more vulnerable to the effects of the emerging virus.

The virus caused complete paralysis in all activities and events with large gatherings worldwide due to concerns over the spread of the virus.

People across the globe partake in self-isolation for 14 days as an effective precautionary measure to protect those around them and themselves from contracting COVID-19.