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Melbourne locks down as Victoria’s virus crisis sparks alarm

Travellers were still waiting in line to cross the NSW-Victorian border, on Wednesday, hours after it was locked down to try to curb Victoria’s coronavirus surge.

On Wednesday night, millions of people across Melbourne and one regional Victorian shire will return to a stage-three lockdown as authorities take drastic measures to quell the spread of the deadly virus across the city.

Last Sunday, thousands of people in nine public housing towers had already been forced into a hard lock down. That followed the return of movement restrictions for nearly 400,000 people in 10 city postcodes identified as COVID hotspots.

Victorians ignoring social distancing are considered largely to blame for the spike, according to experts – who warn a similar surge could easily happen in other states and territories.

Jul 08, 2020, updated Jul 08, 2020
1/18Police outside the locked-down Melbourne high-rise towers on Monday.
2/18Workers in full protective equipment head into the Melbourne high-rise towers that are locked down.
3/18Outside a Melbourne housing estate as the hard lockdown entered its second day.
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4/18Outside the high-rise towers that are the focus of the hardest restrictions in Melbourne
5/18A police van outside one of the locked-down public housing towers on Sunday.
6/18Police had one of Melbourne's locked-down housing estates on Monday.
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7/18Residents of the high-rise towers at 13 Racecourse Road have been locked in as mass testing continues.
8/18A couple of pies left for a resident inside a North Melbourne public housing block.
9/18One resident was given just four sausage rolls over 48 hours under lockdown.
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10/18A sign in a window at one of the public housing towers on Racecourse Road in Flemington, Melbourne.
11/18Firefighters in PPE prepare to deliver supplies to one of the housing towers. Photo: AAP
12/18Protesters demonstrating against the conditions for thousands in the housing towers.
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13/18Blockades in Mildura on Tuesday night, stopping non-exempt people from crossing into NSW.
14/18The scene outside the housing estates as the lockdowns began on Sunday, July 5.
15/18From Wednesday, anyone who crosses into NSW from Victoria must self-isolate.
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16/18Lower speed limits have been imposed on roads leading to border checkpoints.
17/18A sign displays COVID-19 restrictions in the NSW-Victoria border town of Albury.
18/18Border checkpoints have become impassable obstacles for some.
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