A coronavirus hotspot in Australia has extended its state of emergency for another six months.
As the weekly average of new infections dipped to 95 in Victoria, the state parliament’s upper chamber passed legislation by a 20-19 vote to extend its state of emergency.
The move enhances the government’s powers to impose pandemic restrictions.
The government had wanted a 12-month extension, with the current state of emergency having been due to expire on September 13.
The state health department reported 90 new infections and six deaths in the latest 24-hour period, while there were only 70 new infections on Tuesday.
But the latest seven-day average has dropped into double-digits for the first time in weeks.
The previous week’s average was 175 infections per day.
It comes as official data released on Wednesday confirmed the country is experiencing its first recession in 28 years.
Australia’s economy has suffered its sharpest quarterly drop since the Great Depression because of the pandemic, with the latest national accounts showing the economy shrank seven per cent in June, the biggest contraction since records began in 1959.
Its nearest rival was a two per cent fall in June 1974, though economists estimate a sharper fall in the early 1930s when Australian became one of the countries hardest hit by the Great Depression.
Combined with a smaller 0.3 per cent drop in the March quarter, the definition of a technical recession – two consecutive quarters of contraction – has been fulfilled.
