‘Goodbye Covid, hello dancing’: Lady Gaga responds to viral clip of Australians dancing after pandemic restrictions ease in Melbourne

Melbourne has not recorded a new locally acquired case for nearly three weeks

Lady Gaga has reacted to a video of unmasked revellers in a bar in Melbourne, Australia, who were filmed dancing to her 2020 pop hit “Replay”.

At the time of writing, there had been no new locally acquired cases of coronavirus registered in the city for the past 20 days. 

The video posted by Twitter user @bloomthisway showed people dancing, purportedly in a Melbourne venue, alongside the caption: “Australia managed to go Covid-free so now the gays finally get to club to Chromatica.”

Gaga (real name Stefani Germanotta) then responded to the tweet, writing: “GOODBYE COVID HELLO DANCING.

“Happy for Australia! Praying for the rest of the world that we all can be dancing together soon.”

The tweet Gaga responded too, however, was inaccurate: Australia is not “Covid-free”, and different states and territories are subject to different lockdown rules.

The current Covid-19 guidelines for Victoria, the state in which Melbourne is situated, have allowed for nightclubs to re-open. Rules on mask-wearing and social distancing in different types of venue can vary depending on their size.

Victoria’s gradual lifting of lockdown restrictions comes as other countries, including the UK, remain devastated by the ongoing spread of the disease.

The latest ONS figures show that a total of 7,245 deaths in England and Wales for the week ending 15 January mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate.

The statistic represents the highest weekly number since April 2020. 

Another viral video, possibly from the same video, showed fans enjoying Gaga’s other songs, “Chromatica” and “911”.

The pop star’s album Chromatica was released last year to critical praise. Read The Independent’s review here.