Major cities in Australia and New Zealand lifted stay-at-home orders for millions of residents after successfully using snap lockdowns to quash outbreaks of virulent strains of Covid-19.
Authorities said swift action in Melbourne and Auckland helped contain flare-ups of the highly contagious UK coronavirus variant, contrasting with the less rigorous approach taken in Europe and other infection hotspots.
Announcing the end of a five-day shutdown in Melbourne, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews hailed the tactic as a "short, sharp circuit-breaker". "If we had been open throughout this outbreak...
total case numbers would be much, much higher and it is a certainty that I would not be reporting zero cases today," he said.