Victoria’s lockdown restrictions to stay despite drop in cases and other states easing rules
Victoria’s classrooms will remain shut and tough lockdown rules in place despite the state only recording two new coronavirus cases overnight. It comes as other states wind back restrictions and supermarkets ease buying limits.
National
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Two new cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed in Victoria overnight as the state government continues to face pressure for choosing not to ease lockdown rules.
Premier Daniel Andrews has defended his move to continue the stay-at-home policy active in Victorian despite other states easing restrictions.
NSW residents will soon be able to visit friends and family under new changes announced by Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
The easing of the restrictions comes despite NSW having more than double the number of cases and deaths that Victoria has.
Social distancing restrictions in NSW will also be eased, allowing two adults and their children to visit other people.
Queensland and Western Australia allowed activities such as picnicking and hiking to return, with social distancing measures in place, after infection numbers fell.
It comes as supermarket giant Coles announced it would lift limits on staples like toilet paper that were introduced in the wake of panic buying last month.
Some limits still remain on items such as flour, pasta and liquid soap, but others have been removed.
But movement on isolation rules in other states has failed to convince Mr Andrews to ditch remote learning.
He said seven cases had been traced back to schools in Victoria.
“This is not about doing what’s popular, it’s about doing what’s right,” he said.
Mr Andrews announced the total number of cases in Victoria had risen to 1351 in the past 24 hours.
Currently 23 people are in hospital and 11 people are in intensive care with the death toll stable at 17.
Despite the low increase of positive diagnoses in recent days Mr Andrews said people should not be “complacent”.
“This is not over,” he said.
“This is not a time to be complacent.
“When we get to that May 11 deadline we have so many options that the rest of the world does not have.”
TESTING BLITZ BEGINS
Authorities will not look to ease restrictions until May 11 as Premier Daniel Andrews unveiled a plan to test up to 100,000 people for coronavirus before making the decision.
The blitz will almost double the amount of tests conducted in the state since the virus was discovered and provide valuable data for authorities reviewing restrictions.
Anyone with symptoms has been urged to get tested while extra resources will be used to ensure health practitioners and other essential workers are examined.
“This is about absolutely making sure that there’s not something going on out there that we’re not aware of,” Mr Andrews said.
“There will still need to be some significant restrictions in place no matter what this testing shows but there will be options for us to ease off some other rules.”
Drive-through and walk-up clinics will be used to ramp up testing over the next fortnight, as well as new mobile screening clinics to visit homes and workplaces, including shopping centre car parks.
Construction workers will get access to COVID-19 tests at some sites across Victoria in a bid to keep a lid on the virus while the economy rebuilds.
A team of GPs and nurses will run a bus that provides free tests, which will be voluntary but are strongly backed by both industry and union chiefs.
The initiative is being run by redundancy funds manager Incolink and the state government — which this week announced plans to ramp up testing — has also contributed some money.
Workers would get standard nasal and mouth swabs by doctors in the bus, with results returned within 48 hours.
If the tests are positive and an employee has to self-isolate for two weeks, COVID-19 payments of $2000 for most workers and $1000 for apprentices are available.
Incolink chief executive Erik Locke said construction was a critical part of the economy as Australia recovers from the pandemic, and up to 1200 tests a month could be done with one bus operating.
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MELBOURNE START-UP FAST-TRACKING COVID-19 TESTING
NO MEDICAL REASON FOR SCHOOLS TO STAY SHUT: HUNT
ALBERT ROAD CLINIC IN LOCKDOWN AMID VIRUS OUTBREAK
VICTORIA’S TOUGH STANCE QUESTIONED
Premier Daniel Andrews said the National Cabinet had acknowledged every state was different in how it needed to handle the virus.
“We’ve had community transmission much higher than some other states, we’ve had obviously more cases than some other states and we’re in that difficult position where the strategy is working but it’s fragile. Southeast Queensland is not the same as Melbourne,” Mr Andrews said.
State Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said it should be asked why Victoria had tougher restrictions despite recording results as positive as other states.
“Daniel Andrews took some pride in saying Victoria was going in first and hardest but he needs to understand when is the right time to review those changes,” Mr O’Brien said.
It comes as stockpiling by Department of Health and Human Services has been blamed for contributing to a national shortage of medicines needed for COVID-19.
Pharmacists say Australian hospitals are running out of key drugs needed to put coronavirus patients on ventilators and are warning “the lack of medicines, not the lack of ventilators is the biggest threat from COVID-19”.
MOVIE BUFFS STUNG FOR BREACHING RULES
Public boozers and movie buffs are the latest to be stung with fines for breaching Victoria’s stay at home orders.
Police dished out 56 fines to people breaching coronavirus restrictions in the past 24 hours.
Seven people were fined for boozing in public in addition to three males caught watching movies in a car.
Police also fined numerous people caught travelling to friends’ homes for a catch up.
More than 900 spot checks were conducted yesterday, taking the total to 31, 663 since March 21.
STUDY REVEALS REMOTE LEARNING CONCERNS
Almost half of Australian students are at risk of having their “learning and wellbeing significantly compromised” by missing large chunks of school.
New research released by the federal Department of Education last night found one in four kids from disadvantaged backgrounds did not have a desk, while 23 per cent did not have a quiet place to work and 27 per cent did not have a dictionary.
“As soon as health restrictions permit, there is an urgent need to reconnect these students to the physical context of school-based learning to support their learning and wellbeing,” the University of Tasmania report says.
A Mitchell Institute report also commissioned by the Morrison Government said internet access issues were “just the tip of the iceberg”, with just 41 per cent of mothers and 44 per cent of fathers in low-income households having completed school themselves.
– With additional reporting by Kieran Rooney, Tamsin Rose and Sue Dunlevy
Originally published as Victoria’s lockdown restrictions to stay despite drop in cases and other states easing rules