41 cases, seven deaths, as Melbourne prepares to take first step out of restrictions
Politicians are on standby to be tested for coronavirus and parliament is closed for emergency cleaning after a security guard was infected last week. It comes as Premier Daniel Andrews poured cold water on the possibility of an early release from restrictions as the state prepares to take its first step from lockdown on Sunday night.
Geelong
Don't miss out on the headlines from Geelong. Followed categories will be added to My News.
This coronavirus article is unlocked and free to read in the interest of community health and safety. Get full digital access to trusted news from the Herald Sun and Leader for just $1 a week for the first 12 weeks.
Victoria’s parliament has been closed for emergency cleaning after a security guard has tested positive and politicians await advice on whether they need to undergo testing.
The Herald Sun has confirmed the guard returned a positive result on Thursday, but it is not yet known whether he was working when parliament was sitting earlier this month.
Staff are working with the Department of Health and Human Services on advice currently as to whether individual members should be tested for the virus, but it is understood some are doing so already as a precaution.
“The person who tested positive, a contracted security guard, stayed home on the day and started to feel unwell,” said a letter issued by Speaker Colin Brooks and President Nazih Elasmar.
“Contact tracing by the Department of Health and Human Services has commenced.”
SLIGHT SPIKE IN CASES
Victoria has recorded 41 new virus cases on Sunday after the state recorded the lowest number in three months a day earlier.
On the day strict lockdown measures were originally drafted to ease, seven deaths have also been reported.
The deaths include a man and woman in their 70s, a woman in her 80s and four women in their 90s. All but one of those deaths are linked to aged-care outbreaks.
“Mystery” cases continue to drop, with a decrease of 11. Currently, there are 1157 active cases statewide — 52 in regional Victoria, none new.
Premier Daniel Andrews also flagged regional Victorian cases were now at a 4.1 case average and hinted they would be moving out of lockdown hopefully sometime this week.
To allay fears, Mr Andrews said a case reported in Horsham was actually a person living and working in Melbourne, who had not been to the area but still had a residential address in the region.
But he also said it was “highly unlikely” Victoria would be moving out of lockdown early.
Following days of hinting the recovery milestones were not locked in stone, the Premier squashed hopes of early release, saying it was unlikely the thresholds would be met early.
“You can’t make the numbers low until you first get the numbers low,” Mr Andrews said. “The stakes are very high.”
There are also 10 active cases in disability facilities and 572 active cases in aged-care.
On Saturday, Victoria recorded 37 new coronavirus infections, which was the lowest daily increase since June 26.
The Sunday tally is lower than Friday’s 43, which fell from 51 the day before.
Sunday, September 13, was the date Victoria’s harsh six-week lockdown was supposed to end, and some changes will come into effect from 11.59pm.
Talking to case numbers, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the majority of the daily cases were now coming from aged care or known outbreaks while “10 to 20 per cent are unknown acquisitions”.
Mr Andrews said it would be “a summer that will be like no other”.
“It will be a very different end of this year, and 2021 will be a very different year than 2020 has been,” he said.
“That’s our aim and that’s exactly what we will deliver with the amazing help and support of every single Victorian.”
It comes as hundreds of protesters are in a tense standoff with police after gathering at Queen Victoria Market around 11am in a second day of demonstrations.
Conspiracy theorists, anti-lockdown advocates and coronavirus deniers are rallying at Peel St,
within the fruit section of Queen Victoria Market, along with more than 100 officers, including Public Order Response, CIRT and mounted police.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Greg Hunt has again asked the Victorian government to redo to road map following a week of promising daily case numbers.
Mr Hunt said the improvements in contact tracing including the digitalisation of some processes following earlier issues added to the case for relaxing restrictions sooner.
“The contact tracing, we know that there were challenges, significant challenges in Victoria. It’s improved significantly,” Mr Hunt told Sky news.
“What that does is it increases the capacity to deal with outbreaks and it therefore increases the ability to give people back hope, to give people back freedoms of movement and therefore to support their mental health.
“In short, the modellers from the University of Melbourne said yesterday that their model shouldn’t be used to justify zero cases as the basis for the road map, and they’ve encouraged Victoria to redo the road map.
“The improvements in contact tracing and the statements from the University of Melbourne mean we really have the opportunity now to work with Victoria, for them to work with the business community, the academic and medical communities and the Commonwealth, to redo the road map, to have achievable targets which will help people with their mental health and their social wellbeing and their economic wellbeing.”
THE RESTRICTIONS CHANGING OVERNIGHT
Metropolitan Melbourne will remain in stage-four restrictions but with some small changes as a first step on the road map out of lockdown.
Curfew will be eased slightly to allow people to stay out an extra hour. It will become 9pm to 5am. Before, it had been 8pm to 5am.
People can still only leave their homes during daylight hours to exercise, shop for essential items, caregiving or medical treatment, or essential work.
Restrictions for outside exercise have eased slightly, meaning people can be outside for two hours a day instead of just one hour. That can be a continuous period, or two smaller blocks.
Single people will have some relief, with one nominated visitor now allowed into a single person, or single parent home.
Melburnians are now looking to September 28 as the date of further restrictions easing, where more than 100,000 workers will go back to work in construction, manufacturing, and maintenance workers.
Dog groomers will also be able to reopen on September 28, with beauty and hair salons looking to October 28 as the day for their reopening.
In regional Victoria, restrictions will ease even further from stage three to stage two, with up to five people able to gather together in outdoor public places with a maximum of two households.
Outdoor pools and playgrounds in regional Victoria will also reopen, and religious services can be conducted outside with a maximum of five people, plus a faith leader.
The reasons for leaving the home remain the same: to exercise, shop for essential items, caregiving or medical treatment, and essential work.
There will be no limit on exercising outside for regional Victorians who have not been forced into curfews or limiting their outdoor time.
Regional Victorians are being told to work from home if they can, but construction, manufacturing, warehousing and wholesale, postal services, repairs and cleaning services can open with a COVID-safe plan. Meat and seafood processing remains heavily restricted.
FUSSY BABY’S PARENTS FINED
A couple who took a 185km road trip from Sale to Dandenong to buy “specific vegetables” for their baby are among the latest Victorians to be fined for breaching stay-at-home orders.
Victoria Police issued 200 fines over the past 24 hours including 48 for curfew breaches, 16 for failing to wear a mask and nine at vehicle checkpoints.
Among the rulebreakers was a Gembrook family who told officers they were going to Warragul hospital to sign paperwork.
Cluey police noticed their boot was packed full of items and when officers attempted to call the hospital, the driver had a change of mind and did a U-turn.
$3B RELIEF PACKAGE UNVEILED
A new $3 billion relief package has been unveiled for Victoria ahead of the extended lockdown from Monday.
The Premier revealed the $1.1 billion grant program and a third round of the current business Support Fund on Sunday and up to 75,000 businesses will be eligible for payroll grants.
To support hospitality, a $251 million fund will be set up to support bars, clubs, pubs, hotels and reception centres that are worst hit in the road map to recovery.
Ski resorts will be given support grants of $20,000 to offset lost revenue over the ski season.
Additional support will include:
• Hospitality business cash grants between $10,000 to $30,000;
• $27 million in liquor licensing fees will be waived;
• Stamp duty cut by 50 per cent for commercial and industrial properties sold in Victoria;
• Vacant Residential Land tax in 2020 will be waived;
• $540 million of payroll tax refunds;
• Deferred payroll tax for businesses with payroll up to $10 million; and
• A $15.7 million export recovery package.
Industry Support Minister Martin Pakula said the package was the result of business consultation in the last few weeks.
He also flagged support for sole traders saying “the finishing touches” were currently being put together and would be forthcoming.
“We will be looking to move swiftly,” Mr Pakula said, with applications for support to open on the state government’s business portal this week.
Treasurer Tim Pallas said the new package was designed to respond directly to the need a of Victorian businesses impacted by the virus.
“The support we are putting in place will help make sure we gets through this together,” he said.
“We know we have to fight the virus first because we can’t get the economy working without confidence.
“This is the single biggest package of its kind in the history of the state of Victoria.”
In total, the state government forecast a $6 billion investment for business during the Covid crisis.
“This is the equivalent of 25 per cent of Victoria’s annual tax revenue,” he said.
Mr Andrews announced the business package, saying it was the “biggest in this state’s history”.
“This is a massive invent of both cash grants, deferred taxes and tax cuts. It’s significant but it’s what’s needed,” he said.
When asked whether this will save businesses from closing, Mr Andrews said the goal was to have as many people employed as possible.
“It’s hard to try and figure out exactly where individual businesses will end up,” he said.
Employment is still on track to peak at 11 per cent with Mr Andrews saying he believed that had not changed.
He also said once restrictions had lifted he was confident Victorians would be travelling locally at some point in the future to help regional Victorian tourism.
Mr Andrews flagged more announcements for funding in the coming days.
MORRISON WELCOMES BUSINESS SUPPORT
Prime Minister Scott Morrison welcomed the Victorian business support measures, noting additional help was required for the state because of the scale of the second wave and its impact on the economy.
He said more than 1.3 million Victorians were expected to be receiving the federal government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme between October and December, totalling $10.9 billion.
“Victoria is where the need is greatest at the moment because of the scale of the outbreak that has occurred and that is why the majority of payments will be made in Victoria,” the Prime Minister said.
“Where additional support is needed above the considerable support already provided by the federal government, this should be done by those states directly.
“That is why we also welcome and commend the additional commitments made by the Victorian Government today.”
Mr Morrison flagged further economic supports would be announced in coming weeks, including extensions to existing schemes and entirely new programs.
“All of these will further aid not just the Victorian economy, but the national economy more broadly, keeping Australians in jobs and businesses in business,” Mr Morrison said.
Mr Morrison spoke with Mr Andrews on Sunday afternoon.
Josh Frydenberg said businesses had been “really hurting” and pointed out that Victorians would soon account for more than half of all JobKeeper recipients.
“We welcome the Victorian Government’s announcement of additional economic support for businesses who are really hurting as a result of Victoria’s second wave,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“With the expansion and extension of JobKeeper around $11 billion will go to Victorians in the December quarter from that one program alone, and there will be more Victorians on JobKeeper than from all the other states and territories combined.”
— Tamsin Rose
RULE CHANGE THAT COULD SAVE CBD
The 5km lockdown rule is hurting inner city businesses and must be doubled to 10km, Deputy Lord Mayor Arron Wood said.
“Restaurants, cafes and bars in the City of Melbourne had their hopes and optimism crushed last Sunday by the protracted return to dine-in, and the extension of the 5km radius that people are permitted their leave homes,” he said.
“If we just extended it to 10km, this would open up a whole new clientele for our city businesses to serve residents of suburbs like Footscray, Port Melbourne and Prahran who are currently not allowed to travel in to the city.”
Mr Wood, who is running for Lord Mayor at next month’s city council election, said that places like Queen Victoria Market would benefit from the change.
“Market traders are doing it tough because almost two-thirds of their regular customers live outside the 5km radius,” he said.
“With school holidays coming up, it would also offer up more options for families who live between five and 10km from the CBD; they could go for a COVID-safe walk through some of our renowned gardens, and then pick up lunch or dinner before heading home.”
Team Wood’s policies include bringing people back to work safely in shifts or weekly rotations to support traders and enhance employees’ mental health.
‘OPTIMISM’ AS OXFORD VACCINE TRIAL RESUMES
There is reason for “genuine hope and optimism” following the resumption of the Oxford University coronavirus vaccine trial overnight.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said he was increasingly optimistic Australia would see a vaccine rollout begin in the first few months of next year.
“There is genuine cause for hope and optimism for Australians on the path to a vaccine,” Mr Hunt told Sky News.
“We have been very cautious and that’s why we were able to look very carefully before choosing our vaccine candidate.
“We’ll continue to review the evidence.
“But each day I’m quietly becoming more hopeful and more optimistic about the prospect for vaccines for Australians in the first half of 2021, with the earliest available in the first quarter of 2021.”
Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca confirmed the vaccine trial had resumed after a UK trial participant fell ill last week.
In a statement, the university confirmed the clinical trials had restarted following clearance from safety regulatory agencies.
Mr Hunt said it was important to pause the trial to ensure its safety.
“For us the number one is safety, that trumps everything,” Mr Hunt said.
“These are very heartening steps for Australia and for the road out.”
ROAD MAP ‘WIPES OUT’ EVENTS INDUSTRY
Victoria’s major events industry was on the brink of destruction due to lack of planning by the state government, says a key player.
Head of events and hospitality outfit The Big Group, Bruce Keebaugh, said that Brand Victoria was in danger of losing its hard-won global reputation amid the state’s harsh lockdowns.
“We are the major events capital of Australia, and every month this goes on without the ability to plan we just destroy 30 years of great work,” Mr Keebaugh said.
“The emotional turmoil is just massive, the depression, employee fatigue — the mental health issues are just snowballing.”
Mr Keebaugh said the hospitality events sector was worth $35bn and provided 300,000 jobs for the state economy, with services such as major sports events, weddings, festivals and philanthropy.
“The current road map wipes out all trade for the next three months, crashing businesses and forcing people to move their events for a second or third time,” he said.
“We’ve got 684 brides on our books, and they need answers about how many people they can have at their wedding.”
“There’s got to be some direction from government to actually take this fear away or give them some certainty about what they are or are not doing.”
Mr Keebaugh said the industry feared that many events would be lost to states such as Queensland, so the government had to allow operators to start planing according to specific crowd density limits.
“We are a flexible and adaptable industry, but without any goalposts we don’t know where to kick the ball,” he said.
“Why not put 1000 people in the middle of the MCG as recognition of Victoria’s many years of holding the Grand Final?
“We’ve got warehouses full of marquees, tables, chairs, fencing — we can create unbelievable fun things for the summer season where people can be in a COVID-safe environment and have some joy and some experiences.”
Mr Keebaugh said that JobKeeper needed to be extended to the end of 2021 to help the industry survive.
PLAYGROUNDS REOPEN FOR FIRST TIME IN MONTHS
The reopening of Melbourne playgrounds on Monday will end one of the longest play-free lockdowns in the world.
Some children have been unable to play at playgrounds for more than 120 days — three times longer than many similar countries, international data show.
While thousands of play spaces around the city will be open for the first time in months, some will remain closed a bit longer as operators battle to meet COVID safety requirements.
Barbara Champion, the executive director of Play Australia, welcomed the opening up of playgrounds. “We encourage Victorian families to get outside and play as often as possible,” she said. “Children have been seriously affected by not being able to play outside with their friends.”
The International Play Association compared the policy measures that prohibited the ability of children in 25 countries to play.
When Melbourne Stage 3 and Stage 4 lockdown figures are taken into account, it shows children here have had their play restricted for about 18 weeks — the highest of all countries surveyed and three times higher than the rest of Australia and countries such as Germany, the US and Canada.
Lead author Tim Gill said children who have been unable to play outside have been “denied one of the simplest and most effective ways to maintain their physical, emotional and mental health and wellbeing”.
Nillumbik Shire Council mayor Karen Egan said the council was thrilled to be able to reopen playgrounds across the shire, including the Eltham North Adventure Playground.
“It’s been a long winter, and I know the kids — and their relieved parents — have been counting down the days to when they can get out and play again,” she said.
But one playground that will remain closed for little longer is The Venny, a beloved play space for children in Kensington.
Community development manager Danni von der Borch said the adventure playground staff were still working out how to adhere to COVID-safe compliance measures.
MORE NEWS
WHY VIRUS MODELLING DOESN’T TELL THE WHOLE STORY
TROOPS TOO ‘DAUNTING’ FOR HOTEL QUARANTINE GUESTS
WHY GRAND FINAL HOLIDAY SHOULD BE POSTPONED
Originally published as 41 cases, seven deaths, as Melbourne prepares to take first step out of restrictions