Coronavirus in Australia: Eerie scenes as Australia shuts down after ban on pubs, restaurants, cafes and gyms
The country has officially shut down, as a ban on pubs, restaurant and cafe dining, gyms and entertainment venues begins.
The midday deadline to close down Australia’s pubs, entertainment venues, restaurant dining rooms and gyms has now passed on the east coast.
Scenes are beginning to emerge of the eerie new life that people across the country will now live for several months to come in a bid to slow the rapid spread of coronavirus.
At a McDonald’s on Parramatta Road in Sydney’s inner suburbs it is normally packed at this time of day, with tradies, families and office workers cramming its indoor tables.
Today, it sits empty with not a single person in sight.
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Like other restaurants and cafes, every McDonald’s moved to a takeaway only service at 12pm to comply with tough new restrictions designed to enforce social distancing.
But at the rear of the store, a long queue of cars lined the drive-through lane.
“It’s dead out front,” a staff member said. “But it’s so busy on drive-through.”
A McDonald’s spokesperson told news.com.au: “We continue to follow the directions of the Australian Government and are open for take-out, drive-through and delivery.”
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In Melbourne, the Southbank promenade is usually overflowing with people at any time of day or night.
But at midday on Monday, it was completely deserted, the restaurants and cafes that dot the famed stretch now closed to diners.
Melbourne: The usually bustling Southbank promenade eerily quiet this morning. From 12pm, restaurants, pubs and cafes will be forced to close their doors to customers who wish to dine in. Takeaway and delivery services still an option. @theheraldsun pic.twitter.com/YZPvtY3WiT
— Brianna Travers (@briannatravers) March 23, 2020
Federation Square was also eerily quiet, while Bourke Street Mall had more shops closed than it did open.
Back in Sydney at the normally bustling Queen Victoria Building, there were few customers to be seen this morning.
Some stores were shuttered, despite no formal directive from governments about retail businesses.
Staff at fast food outlets and tearooms, normally running at full steam to service hordes of city workers at lunch time, were quiet apart from staff stacking chairs onto tables.
At a MadMex outlet, witches’ hats and rope sealed off the seating area as the restaurant went takeaway only.
Starbucks in the QVB was still serving coffee and cake but the normally packed seats outside the outlet had gone.
A workman took the opportunity to paint over the scuffs on the outside of the store.
“We’ve lost 95 per cent of our customers,” Bozana, a staff member at the Little Fish Shoppe, told news.com.au.
It’s just metres from Town Hall station, one of the Australia’s busiest train interchanges.
“We had to lay off six or seven people last week. There is just three of us left.”
One cafe simply had a sign up saying: “Sorry inconvenience. Takeaway only.”
But a number of other cafes that news.com.au insisted they would remain open – at least while they still could.
Pubs that were normally preparing for busy lunch services never opened this morning, now banned from operating until further notices.
City streets across the country are becoming quieter and quieter, as more Australians come to terms with the notion of social distancing.
“Ill nostro ultimo caffe,” said Francesca Sherri, sitting in the almost deserted Pastacceria Papa, one of the inner-west’s most iconic cafes, just before midday.
In English: “This is my final coffee.”
Situated in Haberfield, Papa’s is known across Sydney for its famous ricotta cheesecake, which usually sees queues out of the door. But not today.
At midday today, the tables were pushed to one side as the famed eatery went takeaway only.
This is the heart of Sydney’s Italian community which knows, more than most, just how awful coronavirus can be.
Ms Serri has family in the northern Italian region of Emigla-Romano who have been locked down for weeks.
“We’ve seen what happened in Italy and the peak will arrive here soon. This lockdown should have been done 15 days ago in Australia.”
She rates Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s leadership as “orrend–” - horrendous.
Ms Serri told news.com.au she was puzzled by the government’s decisions.
“I don’t unders–and - Morrison closes the beaches but keep the beauticians open?”
She said she wanted to see “quarantina to–ale” - total quarantine, saying: “If not, in 10 to 15 days it could be awful. The COVID-19 bomb will explode”.
The queue for #Centrelink in #Cairns runs right around the block - never seen anything like it. @7NewsCairns #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/JLzWfDZ45Y
— Matthew Karstunen (@MKarstunen) March 22, 2020
This is Canberra, but it's happening at Centrelink offices across the country this morning. Devastating. Details will be in the live blog and full story coming: https://t.co/ndvktgiZBR @canberratimes https://t.co/xFQEdXHlf0
— Scott Hannaford (@shannaford) March 23, 2020
One service that is seeing enormous crowds today is Centrelink, as worried Australians queue to register for unemployment benefits.
The economic hit to businesses from coronavirus is already significant, particularly as tens of thousands of businesses today shut-up shop indefinitely.
Images have emerged of long lines of people spewing out the door of Centrelink offices and into the street.
In some cases, the queues stretch around the block.
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