Regional Victoria to exit lockdown amid 221 new cases in Melbourne
A top cop has warned Melburnians they will be caught if they try to flout the rules as restrictions get set to ease across regional Victoria — except Shepparton — from Friday.
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Lockdown will be lifted in all parts of regional Victoria except Shepparton from Friday, with some students to go back to school next week.
But a top cop has warned Melburnians who are keen for a pub meal to stay away from the regions, warning hundreds of police would be patrolling the state’s metro-regional border.
The five reasons to leave home will be removed from 11.59pm on Thursday night, and there will be no limit on the distance regional Victorians can travel.
However, they will not be allowed to enter Melbourne.
Prep to grade 2 students, as well as year 12 students, will return to the classroom.
The authorised worker list will no longer apply in the regions, paving the way for most businesses and venues to reopen.
Twenty mourners will be allowed at funerals and 10 at weddings.
Restaurants and cafes, retail, hairdressers and entertainment venues can reopen for seated service, although strict patron caps will be in place.
Businesses in regional Victoria will need to check the identification of everyone they serve.
Victoria Police will be out in force protecting the metro-regional divide to ensure the virus doesn’t leak into the regions.
Officers will carry out spot checks to ensure visitors from metropolitan Melbourne are only there for authorised reasons. Anyone caught flouting these rules will cop a fine of $5452 for breaching the chief health officer’s directions.
TOP COP’S WARNING TO MELBURNIANS
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent said as many as 200 police would be deployed to work on Operation Guardian from 11.59pm on Thursday in an effort to prevent Melburnians flocking to regional Victoria as restrictions ease.
“We are committed to ensuring that Victoria Police protects regional Victoria so we don’t get the spread of the virus,” Mr Nugent said on Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s a $5452 fine, that’s a huge fine just for heading into the regional areas for a pub meal,” he said. “$5452 is a lot to pay.”
He said the police would be “highly visible” on both main arterials, as well as back roads, and the force would use booze buses, random checkpoints, numberplate technology and roving patrols to protect regional Victoria as they emerge from lockdown on Friday.
Mr Nugent confirmed the ring of steel used during Melbourne’s second lockdown in 2020 was no longer operational, saying the more flexible roving patrols were favoured by police and considered more effective.
He implored Melburnians to do the right thing, saying he was grateful to the majority of the community for their continued obedience.
“It has been really difficult during multiple lockdowns,” Mr Nugent said.
“The community has been outstanding, having said that we still come across people that chose to ignore the rules.
“We’re not seeing any exodus to holiday homes at the moment, we did early in the pandemic. We’re mindful of it (people flocking to holiday homes), we’re actively patrolling those areas.”
Mr Nugent said Operation Guardian officers would be made up of regional police, transit police, PSOs and some from Operation Sentinel.
NEW REGIONAL CASES, MELB RULES REMAIN
The only change to Melbourne’s lockdown will be that single parents will now be able to access childcare.
Victoria reported 221 new local cases, with 123 new mystery infections in the past 24 hours.
The total number of active cases across the state is now 1920.
There are 120 people in hospital with coronavirus, 33 of those are in intensive care and 15 are on a ventilator.
None of the Victorians in hospital were fully vaccinated.
It comes on a day where 42,419 Victorians got tested, and more than 36,700 vaccine doses were administered.
Of the 221 local cases, just 98 have so far been epidemiologically linked.
Five new Covid cases were detected in regional Victoria on Wednesday, including a metropolitan Melbourne resident in Mildura.
The exact movements of the Mildura case, who normally lives in Melbourne, is currently being investigated.
A case was also picked up in the Latrobe Valley, but health authorities believe that infection was likely acquired in Melbourne.
The close household contacts of that case have so far tested negative, chief health officer Brett Sutton said.
Meanwhile, two cases in Mitchell Shire and Bellarine have been linked to construction site outbreaks in Melbourne.
And a new case in Moorabool is being investigated by contact tracers.
Chief health officer Brett Sutton urged everyone in regional Victoria to continue following the rules so the virus did not spread.
He said the example of Shepparton showed how quickly the virus could take hold.
“Nobody wants to be the person that shuts down the Shire or an LTA or a town in regional Victoria because they haven’t followed the rules,” he said.
However, Mr Andrews said if every class opened at every school, and further restrictions in hospitality and other areas were eased, cases in regional Victoria would blow up.
“We would see cases explode in regional Victoria and then the whole place would have to be shut down again.”
The Premier said Shepparton, which is still working to fully contain an outbreak there, would not be released from lockdown.
He said he hoped restrictions could be eased there next week.
INSIDE PFIZER’S DEALING WITH AUSTRALIA
Pfizer offered Health Minister Greg Hunt a meeting with its top officials in June last year, claiming it could supply “millions of vaccine doses” by the end of 2020.
But new documents obtained under Freedom of Information reveal Mr Hunt’s office did not become directly involved in talks for more than a month.
Labor has lashed the Morrison government over the delay, saying it had failed the vaccine rollout.
“While other countries were signing Pfizer deals, our government couldn’t even be bothered arranging a meeting,” Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said.
“The vaccine rollout was always a race, but Australia started a lap behind because Scott Morrison’s government took a deliberate ‘wait and see’ approach to vaccine deals.”
Read the full version of this story, here.
HOME QUARANTINE TRIAL TO BEGIN
Home quarantine trials will begin for about 200 vaccinated Victorians stranded in New South Wales.
Victorians who have been residing in a NSW local government area near the border for at least two weeks from Wednesday, August 25 to Wednesday, September 8 will be able to apply for a permit to return home.
The exemptions will open for seven days from midday on Friday, September 10 and close at 6pm on Friday, September 17.
Mr Andrews said as many as 6000 Victorians had expressed interest in taking part in the home quarantine trials.
He said there would be a framework to check on the people, but flagged facial recognition technology wasn’t yet needed given the participants were deemed relatively low risk.
Returning Victorians will need to provide proof of their primary residence in Victoria, evidence of a negative Covid-19 test result 48 hours prior to their arrival and that they have received at least their first Covid jab.
Applicants will also be required to provide evidence, such as receipts and QR check-in records, to prove they have stayed within the border region and maintained minimal social contact while in NSW.
They will be able to apply for the repatriation exemption via the Service Victoria website or mobile application and applications will be assessed within 72 hours.
Successful applicants will be required to drive directly home, stopping only for a further test along the way and then isolate at their home for 14 days.
Any other household members are also required to quarantine and compliance checks from authorised officers will help ensure returnees are observing their quarantine obligations.
“It is heartbreaking to have people locked out of our state, but this is a really important first step,” Mr Andrews said.
Read the full version of this story, here.
RETIRED HEALTHCARE WORKERS GET CALL UP
Thousands of retired doctors and nurses have been given the greenlight to stand in for furloughed healthcare workers as the country braces for an increase in Covid-19 hospitalisations.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency altered the requirements of its sub-register on Wednesday, after requests were made by state and territory governments.
The sub-register was created during the onset of the pandemic to allow recently retired medical practitioners a means to express interest in returning to the workforce for a vaccine rollout.
The changes made on Tuesday allow practitioners, including nurses, midwives and pharmacists to work in any capacity that supports the Covid response.
“With the healthcare system experiencing increased demands due to outbreaks of the COVID-19 Delta variant, Ahpra and National Boards have increased their response to support efforts to respond to COVID-19 in our community,” Ahpra said in a statement.
WARNING AFTER ISOLATION BREACH
Mr Andrews urged Victorians to follow the rules, amid reports that a Covid-positive family had been caught deliberately breaching their isolation requirements.
It comes after the family of five from Newport — all infected with Covid-19 — were caught flouting their home quarantine orders.
According to reports, the family tested positive to the virus on Monday last week — but have since been photographed routinely leaving their home.
Covid-positive patients, and primary close contacts required to isolate for 14 days, must not leave their home for any reason, except an emergency.
Mr Andrews said while he hadn’t seen the footage of the family, he maintained that health authorities routinely carried out compliance checks.
“We do literally thousands of checks every day,” he said.
“There’ll always be some people who do the wrong thing.
“You are locked in so you are not a risk to other people. They’re public health orders. It’s just something you have to do.”
When asked if the family should be moved into hotel quarantine, Mr Andrews said: “I’d certainly hope it wouldn’t come to that”.
The Department of Health and the Health Minister’s office is yet to respond to Herald Sun questions on the matter.
RUSH TO VACCINATE HOTSPOT SUBURBS
Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs remain the virus battleground.
Almost 90 per cent of cases announced on Tuesday were centred around eight local government areas, including 97 in Hume, 31 in Moreland, 23 in Whittlesea and 17 in Wyndham.
A pop-up vaccination site has opened at an Islamic cultural hub in Melbourne’s west to ramp up jab numbers in one of the state’s worst-hit Covid hot spots.
The Australian Islamic Centre in Newport opened its doors to almost 300 people after health authorities and Islamic community leaders built the new hub on Monday.
Part of a locally led push to encourage Melbourne’s Muslim community to get vaccinated, all available appointments at the Blenheim Rd site were snapped up within 48 hours.
Newport Islamic Society director and principal of the Islamic College of Melbourne Abdul Kamareddina said having a clinic on site at a trusted religious centre helped eliminate any hesitancy that remained among residents about getting their vaccinations.
“Being next to a place of worship that people trust and seeing the people that they know in the place they’re familiar with, it plays a big role in increasing the confidence and also making it more convenient for people,” Dr Kamareddina said.
The site, overseen by Western Health, will open from 9am to 5pm, offering Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
There are 110 Victorians in hospital, with 30 in intensive care and 14 on ventilators, including a teenager.
Patients and staff at The Alfred hospital’s emergency department have been forced into isolation after it was a deemed a Tier 1 exposure site.
Anyone who attended the emergency department’s waiting room on September 6 between 5.37pm and 11.55pm must get tested and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.
FEARS OF HOTEL QUARANTINE LEAK
Investigators are trying to determine how a nurse working in Victoria’s hotel quarantine system contracted Covid-19, raising fresh concerns of a virus leak.
A further 31 hotel quarantine workers are now isolating after working at the Flinders Lane Holiday Inn health hotel, where 151 guests with confirmed Covid-19 infections are being housed.
After testing positive on Monday the female nurse was one of 246 new local Covid cases announced on Tuesday, which included more than 150 mystery cases.
A spokesman for Alfred Health, which provides medical services and staff within the Flinders Lane health hotel, said the nurse was now in isolation and contact tracing was ongoing.
Mr Andrews said genomic sequencing hadn’t yet determined whether the nurse caught the virus at work.
He said there was every possibility, given the high levels of community transmission, that the woman caught the virus elsewhere.
“There’s no update at this stage,” he said.
But the Premier said the case was a clear example of why hotel quarantine staff were tested so frequently.
“She’s on her own Covid journey now. She’s gone from caring for Covid patients to having coronavirus herself,” he added.
Read the full story here.
WORSHIPPERS LEAVE AFTER STAND-OFF
Police surrounded an ultra-Orthodox synagogue in Ripponlea and fenced off the front entrance on Tuesday night as up to 100 worshippers refused to leave the temple.
Chanting supporters gathered around the Glen Eira Avenue synagogue as worshippers were finally cleared by police through two exits about 9pm. It was not immediately known if any arrests were made.
About a dozen police had converged on the synagogue on Tuesday as part of an investigation into an alleged breach of coronavirus public health orders during the Jewish religious holidays.
Speaking on the synagogue breach, Mr Andrews said he was grateful for the Jewish community
“This is very bad behaviour,” the Premier said.
“I don’t buy this line that people are not technologically savvy. This has been going for 20 minutes. Everyone knows about this. This is not new. It’s something we’ve all endured for a very long time.
“No one gets a leave pass. No one’s allowed to go and have gatherings like that. It’s just not fair.
“It does nothing but spread the virus, and let’s hope that from that gathering last night we don’t see cases. Let’s hope we don’t see people getting very, very unwell as a result of those choices that have been made.
“I know this has been a tough 20 months for people of faith, and for people of no faith. We’re a secular community and the rules apply to everybody. Pretending that you don’t understand there’s a global pandemic going on, I don’t buy that.”
Read the full story here.
VAN TO THE RESCUE FOR HOMELESS
Special efforts are being undertaken to find and vaccinate vulnerable Victorians who may otherwise slip through the cracks.
A fully equipped vaccination van is setting up in Melbourne’s streets and laneways to provide mobile immunisations to those experiencing homelessness, thanks to St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.
Melbourne City Mission is also taking vaccinations to the streets to help young people at risk of homelessness through its Frontyard Youth Services Program.
In partnership with the Salvation Army, Burnett Institute and Bolton Clarke Homeless Persons Program, the St Vincent’s jabs van has so far vaccinated more than 200 people who project leader Andrew Chan said had many barriers preventing them from attending clinics or vaccination hubs.
“With the van we can go anywhere,” he said.
With many young people struggling just to find somewhere to sleep, something to eat and a way to survive each day, Clinical Director of MCM’s Covid program Suzanne Peyton said getting a Covid vaccine for a long-term benefit was “the last thing on their mind”.
MOBILE JABS TO BOOST BUILDING REVIVAL
Up to 30,000 Covid-19 vaccines will be driven to construction workers to get jabs in arms and prepare the industry to supercharge Victoria’s economic recovery.
In an Australian-first, a big blue bus fitted with medical equipment will visit major CBD sites from Wednesday, with Australian Prostate Clinic staff to administer the first 1000 vaccines. The program is a partnership between industry, unions and government, and aims to eventually provide drive-through jabs at virus hot spots and rapid testing to check for asymptomatic virus carriers.
Tough health restrictions during lockdowns have slashed construction site capacities to 25 per cent.
To increase to 50 per cent, nine in 10 workers on those sites will need to be vaccinated. Master Builders Victoria chief executive Rebecca Casson said the pilot was the culmination of months of collaboration and was part of a broader campaign to encourage vaccinations.
“Our sector cannot survive on a pilot light forever. It’s time to get the jab done so Australia can re-open and we can all get back to work,” she said.
Ms Casson said construction workers were essential workers, with the industry accounting for a whopping 45 per cent of state tax revenue and acting as the “engine room of the economy”.
Participation in the pilot would be voluntary but is based on international evidence about workplace vaccinations. Workers not currently on site due to restrictions are encouraged to book in with GPs or state clinics to kickstart their return to work.
Incolink chief executive Erik Locke said the plan for 30,000 jabs would boost vaccine rates to help ease restrictions quicker.
“We all need to roll up our sleeves, get a jab and get back to a life without lockdowns,” he said.
“We don’t want this lockdown to last a minute longer than it has to.”
Plumbing and Pipe Trades Employees Union secretary Earl Setches rolled up his sleeve last week to lead by example and said “vaccination must be easily accessible and available to all workers to protect them and their families”.
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Originally published as Regional Victoria to exit lockdown amid 221 new cases in Melbourne
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