On Wednesday, South Australia instituted a strict ban on outdoor activities, gyms, and even dog walking, as part of new restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The Australian state banned weddings and funerals, shut down schools, closed gyms and exercise places, canceled sports, and closed restaurants, according to Bloomberg. The government also told residents they could not walk dogs, jog, or engage in any other outdoor exercise.
South Australian health officials described the draconian lockdown as a “circuit breaker,” and Premier Steven Marshall insisted the restrictions are meant “to go hard, go early, but get out of it as quickly as we can” to tamp down the rising cases of the virus.
Marshall added that the virus is mutating and is worrisome because it is less obvious to the infected.
“It’s a real worry, especially because people who become infected are not showing the typical symptoms that we are used to,” he exclaimed.
This week, South Australia’s top health official, Professor Nicola Spurrier, warned of a new strain of coronavirus which has had “certain characteristics.”
“This particular strain has had certain characteristics. It has a very, very short incubation period. That means when somebody gets exposed, it is taking 24 hours or even less for that person to become infectious to others and the other characteristic of the cases we have seen so far is they have had minimal symptoms and sometimes no symptoms, but have been able to pass it to other people,” Spurrier said.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston.