Brisbane lockdown: Australian city to shut down over seven cases

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image caption Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the lockdown is necessary

The Australian city of Brisbane will enter another snap three-day lockdown to contain a coronavirus outbreak which has grown to seven cases.

The Queensland state capital - home to over two million residents - will begin the lockdown at 17:00 Monday local time (06:00 GMT).

In January, the city also shut down for three days due to a single case.

The city has seen very few locally acquired cases since Australia's first wave of the virus a year ago.

The Brisbane outbreak, first reported on Saturday, have seen the first cases of community transmission in Australia in almost a month.

Health officials are yet to determine how the virus leaked into the community, but say it is potentially linked to a hospital doctor who was infectious two weeks ago.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the discovery of four more local cases, reported on Monday, had raised concerns about "more community transmission".

A lockdown was necessary to help contact tracers contain the spread, she said.

"I know it is really tough. We have Easter coming up, we have school holidays coming up," she said at a press conference on Monday.

"But let's do it now and let's do it right and let's see if we can come through it at the other end."

The lockdown will affect the Greater Brisbane area, which includes the councils of Brisbane, Logan, Moreton Bay, Ipswich and Redlands.

As with previous lockdowns, people will only be able to leave their homes for four essential reasons: exercise, shopping, necessary work and caregiving.

Schools and workplaces will be closed as well as non-essential businesses and services.

Elsewhere across Queensland, residents will also have to wear face masks again in shops and on public transport, and home gatherings will be limited to 30 people.

Ms Palaszczuk said: "This is essential everyone that we do this to stop further transmission. We've seen what's happened in other countries. I don't want to see that happen to Queensland."

Australia has reported just over 29,000 cases and 909 deaths since the pandemic began - a number far lower than many nations.

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