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Brisbane locks down as new COVID-19 virus strain put Australia on high alert - ABC

Australia's third-largest city of Brisbane was in its first day of a snap lockdown on Saturday (Jan 9), with officials elsewhere on "high alert" over the emergence of more contagious strain of COVID-19. The usually bustling shopping strip in the city centre was eerily quiet on Saturday, with only a small number of masked locals venturing out for essential reasons after officials announced a three-day lockdown from Friday evening.

"Quite surreal, like something from a movie set," local man Scott told AFP, in an empty city street.

"It's necessary - hopefully we will get through the next few days without any cases, that will allow us just to start to get back to normal."

The stay-at-home order for Brisbane's more than 2 million residents was triggered after the UK strain of the virus spread from a returned traveller to a cleaner at a quarantine hotel - Australia's first recorded local case of the variant.

The UK strain is among several emerging variants around the world believed to be more infectious than those which have spread previously.

Authorities also issued a warning for passengers of a flight that arrived in Brisbane from Melbourne earlier this month, after a woman tested positive for the UK strain despite already undergoing a period of isolation//CNA