Coronavirus' demographic shift: How the outbreak in Melbourne is spreading through disadvantaged communities where English is a second language
- In Australia, those returning from foreign holidays have been most infected
- But now COVID-19 is spreading through some of Melbourne's most deprived
- This is a marked demographic shift but has always been the case overseas
- The new coronavirus clusters facing lockdown have high foreign-born numbers
- Victoria is now facing an unexpected second wave of coronavirus infections
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Poorer families and ethnic minorities are being hit by the coronavirus spike in Melbourne, as the disease makes a marked demographic shift away from wealthy holidaymakers.
Data shows the areas worst hit by the spike in cases, which has seen 121 people diagnosed in a week, are more economically disadvantaged.
The coronavirus clusters also have high numbers of foreign born households, and people who speak English as a second language.
Six districts face being put under mandatory lockdown after the unexpected spike, Hume and Brimbank, in Melbourne's north and west, Casey and Cardinia in the city's southeast and Moreland and Darebin in the north.
These areas have higher proportions of foreign-born families, as well as being less affluent and less likely to speak English.
Marketing analyst Eliza Honan (pictured) had been holidaying in Aspen in early March when she caught coronavirus, but the disease is now spreading through less affluent communities
The six coronavirus hotspots in Melbourne (pictured) have high numbers of residents born overseas and those who do not speak English as a first language
On Tuesday, another 17 cases were confirmed, prompting premier Daniel Andrews to tell people to stay home and banned more than five people visiting a household.
So far during the pandemic, middle-class and well travelled Australians have been among the most infected, generally picking up the virus abroad on holiday.
This includes the roughly 600 people who became infected aboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship in March, as well as a cluster of well-heeled travellers who picked up the virus while skiing in Colorado.
But this unique trend is not the same overseas, where the most hard hit are lower socio-economic grounds, often including immigrants and people of colour.
In the UK, ethnic minorities are dying from COVID-19 at a disproportionately higher rate compared to white people.
Medical workers test locals at the Pacific Epping Shopping Centre in Victoria on Monday (pictured) amid fears the virus was hitting disadvantaged communities
A woman in a face mask is seen walking past St Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne on Sunday (pictured) as coronavirus cases rise across the city
Cars are seen queuing at the Pacific Epping shopping centre to be tested for coronavirus on Monday (pictured) after a worrying spike of cases in Melbourne
The same is evident in the United States, where in New York City black patients are nearly twice as likely to die from coronavirus as white people.
Among African American people, there are 92.3 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to 45.2 for white people.
In Brimbank, 47.9 per cent of people are born outside of Australia, with 58.4 per cent of people speaking languages other than English.
The area's average wage is just $44,455, compared to $48,360 nationally.
In neighbouring Hume, nearly 30,000 residents speak either Turkish or Arabic and 35.7 per cent of people were born overseas.
Darebin also has a high immigrant population, with 33.3 per cent born overseas, as does Casey with 38.2 per cent.
In Moreland, it's 34 per cent but in Cardinia it's 19 per cent, which is less than the national average.
Cases are expected to continue rising in the areas, with more than 1,000 close contacts of the state's 125 active cases already identified.
Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos said the government was launching an engagement campaign so the message can reach those who are from different cultures or speak different languages.
'This is designed to make sure our public health message is reaching everyone in our state, and everyone is aware about risks and their obligations,' she said.
'We're going to focus on shopping centres and train stations as well, and … there will be doorknocking and there will be roundtables with multicultural communities in hotspot areas.'
The new cases in Victoria, which has lead some state premiers to consider keeping their borders closed, have generally come from within families, officials said.
Premier Daniel Andrews said many of the new patients were from large families and had been ignoring the distancing advice.
Moreland (pictured on Monday) in Melbourne's north, is one of the country's new coronavirus clusters after a series of infections
The virus is swept through Melbourne's rich suburbs back in March after a group of skiers returned from Colorado
'[They're] making decisions that are not in accordance with the rules and are not the right thing to do,' he told reporters on Tuesday.
The state's chief health officer, Brett Sutton, agreed.
'We have made great progress in slowing the spread of coronavirus, but we are still seeing transmission in households and other settings,' he said on Monday.
'We've had more than 120 new cases in the past seven days.
'And the main cause for this increase has been through cases in families — where people have not followed our advice around physical distancing, hygiene and limiting the number of people you invite into your home.'
Black Lives Matter protesters rally in Melbourne's CBD on June 6 (pictured) with four cases linked to it so far
Socially distanced queues are seen at Cinema Nova in Carlton, Melbourne on Monday (pictured) but customers were few and far between as case numbers spike
But Islamic Council of Victoria vice-president Adel Salman said he believed people were 'aware of the advice' and health information was being widely spread.
Tuesday, marked Victoria's 17th consecutive day of double-digit infections, after the rest of Australia brought the virus under control.
'In the legal directions that have come in, we have not issued stay-at-home directions for those hotspot areas, but of course we don't rule anything out,' Ms Mikakos said.
Premiers are being encouraged to go ahead with the reopening of state borders in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia despite the rising case numbers.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged premiers to continue their plans to open up, and not use the Victorian situation as an excuse to halt the easing of restrictions.
Australians have been warned to stay away from six council in Melbourne: Hume, Casey and Brimbank, Moreland, Cardinia and Darebin
'We can't just shut everything up forever … There will be outbreaks; there will be cases,' Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday.
'What matters is that we've built the protections to deal with them. And that's why it's so important that people don't get complacent. This is … a wake-up call.'
He explained the government never planned to 'eradicate' COVID-19, as was the aim in New Zealand, but instead hoped to 'run our economy, run our lives (and) run our communities alongside this virus'.
But in Western Australia, premier Mark McGowan has already delayed the reopening of the state's border, which was planned for August 8.
South Australian premier Steven Marshall has also hinted the state's borders could remain shut if Victorian cases aren't brought under control.
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