KUALA LUMPUR: Australian authorities once again imposed a lockdown in Melbourne following a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Authorities said the country's second largest city will undergo six weeks of lockdown as it detected 191 cases as of today.
Malaysians living in the city, however, told the New Straits Times that they were not surprised over the re-imposed lockdown as they observed how some city folk were taking the pandemic lightly.
Daniel Kew, 38, said he had been relieved when restrictions were lifted some time in May. However, going back into lockdown will be another challenge.
"When restrictions were lifted, it gave us some breathing space, especially when the kids are back to school.
"But now, to go back into that mode is going to be hard. It takes a toll on us and by the end of the day, we are mentally and physically drained," said the release train engineer at Monash University.
He observed that some people in the city were not into wearing face masks.
"People have been working from home. But one thing that most don't do here is wearing a face masks when they are out. I'm not quite sure why.
"We even encountered one Aussie man who asked my wife 'is Covid real?' when he saw her wiping our groceries down before we were loading it into our car boot.
"And when restrictions eased, social distancing rules went out the window. They can't wait to go out and have fun, especially in the Central Business District at the main city here.
"I hope the government makes it mandatory for people to put on face masks when they are out. We have to continously be vigilant to keep Covid-19 transmissions at bay," he said.
Another Malaysian, Marcus King, 22, concurred with Kew on people's reluctance to wear face masks.
"The residents have been taking wearing face masks lightly as they thought that people who are sick should only be wearing face masks.
"Everyone is suffering here, especially for the businesses that had just opened up after the restrictions were lifted rece
ntly. Now they have to go back into that lockdown mode.
"And everyone is doing panic buying here, so going to the store for groceries has never been difficult, but getting the things you want, is.
"Everything is just gone and we'd have to wait for days, even weeks for it to be restock," said King who felt the authorities should close the state instead of only the suburban areas.
Another Malaysian who is a permanent resident in Australia said the lockdown has gotten difficult each day, especially now with additional 6-weeks imposed.
A 22-year-old full time law student, who declined to be named said that while the government is doing its best in managing the pandemic, but relaxing restrictions was not the best idea especially as community transmissions were not entirely contained.
"Recently, the authorities imposed a 'hard' Stage 4 lockdown on public community housing buildings in Melbourne, without giving its residents the remainder of the day to get necessities. But the rest of Melbourne were given more than 24 hours when this latest lockdown stage was imposed.
"So I think, most of the residents are slightly confused on how can there be different rules for more marginalised communities.
"As the government relaxed the rules, peoples' attitudes to the pandemic changed. The week after the previous lockdown was lifted, there were tonnes of people at shopping centres, going out without wearing a face masks and did not adhere to the social distancing rules."
She said number of Covid-19 increased every day, and there was evidence that the city was in the midst of a second wave. She expected the numbers to further spiral as more people are tested.
"However, there were some people who refuse to get tested, because they have done so recently or because the people coming to test them weren't authorities, or weren't wearing appropriate personal protection equipment (PPE).
"And in the midst of this health crisis, there are a minority group of residents were somehow convinced that Covid-1
9 is a hoax," she said.
State Premier Daniel Andrews annoucend additional six-week lockdown to be imposed on Melbourne starting today, after the south-eastern city detected 191 new cases in 24 hours today.
To date, Australia has recorded almost 9,000 Covid-19 cases with 106 total number of death from the virus.
Returning back to stage three of lockdown since the virus was believed to have been surpressed countrywide in April, Daniel warned the residents saying "we can't pretend the coronavirus crisis is over".