Australians, New Zealanders observe Easter online and in backyards
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Lidia Kelly
3-4 minutes
With the coronavirus capsizing Easter traditions,
Australians and New Zealanders spent Sunday attending church services
virtually, setting up camps in backyards and where the law and weather
allowed – with physically distanced walks on beaches.
Pastor
Matt Johnson interacts with parishioners via Zoom on a laptop upon
concluding an Easter service he led which is live-streamed via the
internet for the parishioners due to social gathering restrictions
implemented to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at
One1Seven evangelical Anglican church in Sydney, Australia, April 12,
2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
The
pace of new coronavirus infections has slowed significantly in both
countries in recent weeks, with New Zealand amidst wide-ranging lockdown
measures and Australia’s rigid enforcement of social-distancing rules.
According
to Australia’s health ministry, the number of new confirmed cases rose
on Sunday by 51, the slowest rate in a month, to 6,289, while there have
been 59 deaths.
In New Zealand, the number of recovered cases
of COVID-19 continues to be higher than the number of new infections,
with 14 new cases on Sunday bringing the total to 1,049. Four people
have died so far.
“There is no place in the world I would rather
be than Australia at the moment,” Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy
said at a televised briefing on Sunday, urging, however, not to become
complacent.
“We must maintain our strong position of social distancing.”
The
popularity of New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has risen, with both leaders
hailed for their steps to contain the spread of the virus.
Unusually
hot temperatures of near 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Western
Australia have pushed people to the beach this weekend, but police said
that physical distancing was respected.
With the majority of
beaches closed to the public, however, and public gatherings over two
people banned, Australians have been forced to become creative, with
widespread local media reports of families setting up camps in their
backyards.
Churches and synagogues across Australia have offered
their services online, as places of worships have been closed due to the
pandemic.
On Sunday, with Victoria extending its state of
emergency for another four weeks, 112 Australians and New Zealanders
from the Greg Mortimer cruise ship that had been moored off Montevideo
in Uruguay, landed in Melbourne. Some 60% of passengers on the ship
tested positive for coronavirus.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told
ABC television that while there will be an uptick in unemployment and a
hit to the economy because of the virus, it would be “very dangerous” to
move ahead of medical advice and ease restrictions.
The
government committed on Sunday more than A$18 billion ($11.2 billion)
to universities this year, with Education Minister Dan Tehan saying
prices for some short courses will be slashed to enable people to “binge
on studying”.
($1 = 1.6111 Australian dollars)
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