The Latest: Brisbane, Australia will go into lockdown

The Latest: Brisbane, Australia will go into lockdown

Australia’s third-largest city Brisbane will enter a three-day lockdown Monday evening after the coronavirus was found spreading in the community

By The Associated Press

March 29, 2021, 12:13 AM

• 12 min read

Lighted candles are placed on empty pews as Catholic priest presides over a Palm Sunday mass to prevent the spread of the coronavirus at the Saint Peter Parish Church in Quezon city, Philippines on March 28, 2021. The government banned religious activities during the Holy Week as it enters into stricter lockdown measures starting next week while the country struggles to control an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

BRISBANE, Australia — Australia’s third-largest city Brisbane will enter a three-day lockdown Monday evening after the coronavirus was found spreading in the community.

Queensland State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters that health authorities had identified four new cases of community transmission overnight and the lockdown was necessary for them to get on top of contact tracing.

Australia has so far been largely successful in stamping out the spread of the virus. However, vaccination efforts have only just begun with less than 1% of the nation’s population vaccinated.

Authorities are requiring people in Brisbane to stay home except for essential purposes and to wear masks. Brisbane, the capital of Queensland state, is home to more than 2.5 million people.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— UK variant hunters lead global race to stay ahead of COVID-19.

— Did COVID-19 stress, uncertainty stall anti-smoking push?

— Longest-serving bookseller among 25,000 Czech virus victims.

— UK to further ease lockdown; nervously eyes European virus surge

— Albania starts mass COVID vaccinations before tourist season

— Mexico’s real COVID-19 death toll now stands at over 321,000.

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— Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

BUCHAREST, Romania — A 104-year-old Romanian woman has received her second vaccine against COVID-19, becoming the oldest person in Romania’s capital of Bucharest to be fully inoculated.

Accompanied by family members into Bucharest’s Children’s Palace, Zoea Baltag, born in 1916, welcomed her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and declared it the only way to combat COVID-19.

“A vaccine is the only way to get rid of this virus,” Baltag said.

The pandemic had forced the centenarian — whose granddaughter is a doctor and convinced her to get vaccinated — to spend around a year physically distancing from her close relatives,

“I missed very much my great-grandson, I want to see him growing up. I’ve not been able to be with my grandchildren because I stayed isolated from them until now in order to not risk catching the virus. Everyone in the family is vaccinated now we can now spend the holidays together,” she said.

Baltag, who was born two years before the Spanish Flu pandemic, appeared sharp of mind and did not report any side-effects after receiving her first Pfizer vaccine. She waited the usual 15 minutes after her second dose in case of any adverse effects.

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BERLIN — Authorities in Austria say people living in much of the western region of Tyrol will need to take a coronavirus test before traveling elsewhere, because of concerns about variant cases detected there.

Officials said Sunday that in the Kufstein district of Tyrol there have been 216 confirmed cases of a virus variant first detected in Britain that has since gained a further mutation which could make it more resistant to vaccines.

The same mutation — known as E484K — is also found in variants first detected in South Africa and Brazil.

People wanting to leave Kufstein district will need to provide a negative PCR test result between March 31 and April 14.

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PRISTINA, Kosovo — The first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines from the Covax facility arrived Sunday in Kosovo, the last country in the continent yet to start inoculation.

Authorities said they got 24,000 vaccines through the Covax system which will be used for medical personnel, elderly people and those with chronic diseases.

“We need much more and fast,” Prime Minister Albin Kurti told The Associated Press at the international airport after the arrival of the vaccines.

Kosovar health authorities have reported 87,981 total confirmed cases and 1,840 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 as of Monday.

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