Victoria, Australia eliminates COVID-19 after border closure, going 28 days with 0 new infections

FILE - commuter sits on a tram bench next to an LCD screen with an Australian Government directive regarding Coronavirus and social distancing.

Victoria, Australia has reported 28 consecutive days without a new case of COVID-19, according to the Victoria State Government’s Department of Health and Human Services.

Victoria, which is located at the southernmost tip of the Australian continent, reported the positive milestone on Nov. 26, but three days prior, the state was already reporting zero cases, zero new infections and zero deaths.

So far, the state has reported a total of 20,345 COVID-19 cases since the onset of the pandemic, according to the health and human services website.

After having other states in Australia shut their borders to Victoria, the state had decided to close its border with neighboring South Australia, which was experiencing a new spike in cases.

Victoria went through a prolonged surge of the virus in which the city of Melbourne was locked down, overnight curfews imposed and bans imposed on family gatherings and extended travel outside the city.

Of Australia's more than 900 coronavirus deaths, 819 have occurred in Victoria.

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Victoria established a “hard border” with South Australia that allowed only emergency or medical cases and truck drivers carrying freight to pass through. It was the first time Victoria shut its border to any state.

Despite the good news in one part of Australia, cases elsewhere are surging as a dreaded new wave of COVID-19 infections looms.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world topped 60 million on Wednesday, as the number of new infections in the U.S. alone hit new records heading into the holidays and flu season.

Globally, more than 1.4 million deaths had been blamed on the virus, data compiled on Nov. 25 by Johns Hopkins University showed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.