Victoria to exit snap lockdown at midnight, no new cases

Victoria will exit its snap lockdown tonight but masks and some other rules will stay in place as the next nine days prove critical to stopping the latest outbreak.

• This coronavirus article is unlocked and free to read in the interest of community health and safety.

• Click here for full digital access to trusted news from the Herald Sun and Leader for just $1 for the first 28 days.

Victoria is set to end its five-day snap lockdown after no new cases of coronavirus were recorded in the state overnight, with no new cases in hotel quarantine.

Premier Daniel Andrews announced almost all restrictions would come off at midnight on Wednesday, saying “we have been able to contain this outbreak”.

“This will be a five-day short sharp circuit breaker, restrictions will come off — almost all of them — at midnight tonight,” Mr Andrews said.

However, the Premier said there were still nine days to go until the last positive case finished their 14 days of quarantine.

The following changes will come into effect from 11.59pm on Wednesday:

• Schools will reopen on Thursday

• The 5km limit on travel will be lifted

• Masks will be required indoors and outdoors where people cannot socially distance;

• Five visitors will be allowed in homes until Friday week

• Up 20 people will be allowed at public gatherings

• Schools will reopen from Thursday

• Public and private sector can return to 50 per cent capacity

• Visitors to hospitals or care facilities will be limited to one household per day

• Religious gatherings and ceremonies will be able to resume with the density limits that previously applied

• Funerals and weddings will have no limits on numbers but will need to meet the venue’s density limits indoors and outdoors

• Sport and recreation activities can resume again, with density quotas in place

• Retail and hospitality will return to the same density rules that previously applied

Read about Victoria’s new restrictions from Thursday

Daniel Andrews announces the lifting of lockdown, with Testing Commander Jeroen Weimar and Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Andrews said he would not foreshadow any changes to these rules between now and Friday, February 26.

“That is not to say we are not going to make them better or worse,” he said.

Masks will remain mandatory indoors and outdoors as “an ongoing insurance policy”.

He said “the urgent nature and the rapid nature of these decisions speaks to the rapid infectivity of this virus”.

Further announcements about large major events, including the Australian Open, will be made later today.

Mr Andrews said: “It is not a simple process, we go through quite an exhaustive process to make sure that those events are viable and can happen but are safe”.

HUGE TURNOUT FOR TESTING

There are now 25 active cases across the state with 3400 people in isolation.

Nearly 40,000 Victorians were tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday.

Mr Andrews thanked Victorians for getting tested.

“To see so many people go and get tested is proof positive we know what to do,” he said.

“I want to thank all Victorians for understanding this is often about making difficult choices — it’s not easy, nobody takes it lightly.”

Testing Commander Jeroen Weimar said the 130,000 people who got tested in the past five days was “a phenomenal result”.

He said authorities would continue checking in with the 3400 primary close contacts in isolation to ensure they were getting their day 11 test and, in some cases, their day 14 test.

CHO BACKS ‘FOURTH RING OF PROTECTION’

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has said specific challenges in the Holiday Inn outbreak meant the “fourth ring of protection” — the circuit-breaker lockdown — had to be in consideration.

“We don’t know what might have happened in an alternative universe without all of the things we have put into play here,” he said.

“But I’m sure the accusation would have been there that we should have gone earlier or we should have done a circuit breaker if we’d seen cases emerge in casual exposure sites, or multiple locations where people were exposed.

“Masks have almost certainly stopped some transmission that would have occurred otherwise. The actions of people to test and to quarantine, knowing they were at those exposure sites, I’m sure, has made a difference.”

Meanwhile, Daniel Andrews said he would not rule out the possibility of future snap lockdowns.

”If I’m asked to rule out doing something that I’m told is necessary, I simply won’t,” he said.

“That would not be responsible and that would be quite different to what I offer.”

“I can provide no guarantees because I’m not prepared to pretend to the Victorian community that this is over — there can be some notice period but we don’t have the luxury of giving people a month’s notice,” he said.

“The only thing that suits all of us is to keep control of this.”

WA EASES BORDER RULES FOR VICTORIANS

The Western Australian border will be open to people travelling from Victoria on Saturday but all arrivals must quarantine at a private residence for 14 days.

The move was announced by the WA government on Wednesday night and was described as a ‘cautious approach’.

The easing of travel restrictions comes into effect at 12.01am Saturday, February 20, pending no further outbreaks in Victoria.

Everyone arriving in the state from Victoria will be ordered to self-quarantine for 14 days in a suitable premise and get a COVID-19 test on day 11.

All other states and territories apart from Victoria are classified as ‘very low risk’, with no self-quarantine requirements.

WA Premier Mark McGowan said in a statement on Wednesday: “People in Victoria have endured a lot over the past year and our thoughts are with them as they continue to take a careful approach with their restrictions but it is pleasing they have managed to get on top of their situation quickly.”

“What we witnessed with Victoria’s latest situation and WA’s recent outbreak is that international arrivals continue to be Australia’s biggest threat of COVID-19,” he said.

“We cannot and must not let our guard down, which is why I’d encourage everyone to keep up our COVID safe principles like signing in on contact registers, maintaining personal hygiene and ensuring you get tested if you have symptoms. These are so vital in keeping WA safe.”

HURDLE FOR STATE OF EMERGENCY BID

An extension to Victoria’s state of emergency is looking doubtful after negotiations with key cross benchers to have the controversial bill pass the upper house have failed.

Reason Party leader MP Fiona Patten announced on Wednesday she would vote against the bill, and urged the government to bring forward legislation specific to the pandemic.

“When the government sought a 12-month extension in September last year I rejected it,” said Ms Patten.

Read the full story here

Melbourne’s CBD was a ghost town during the five-day lockdown, with many businesses including cafes opting to completely close. Picture: Luis Ascui

OVERSEAS TRAVEL TOOK NOSEDIVE IN 2020

The number of Australians taking short trips abroad in 2020 was the lowest in 24 years — thanks to pandemic shutdowns.

A new ABS report said 2.8 million Aussies returned home last year, with 92 per cent having travelled before restrictions were introduced by the Morrison government in March.

ABS Director of Migration Statistics, Jenny Dobak, said 2020 saw a 75 per cent drop on the previous year with 8.5 million fewer trips taken by Australians.

“New Zealand continued to be the leading destination accounting for 438,700 trips in 2020. The majority of these trips occurred in early 2020 before restrictions were put in place,” she said.

Indonesia was the next most popular destination (310,300 trips), followed by the US (235,500), India (186,200) and Japan (173,000).

A separate ABS report said that in December there were 14,300 residents returning and 8820 overseas visitor arrivals.

NZ was the biggest source nation for visitor arrivals with 2520 trips, then the US (1000) and UK (880).

Victoria had 1620 visitor arrivals, down 99.5 per cent on December 2019.

The state had only 40 international student arrivals, down by 13,970 compared to the previous year.

LORD MAYOR WELCOMES END OF LOCKDOWN

Lord Mayor Sally Capp welcomed the the Premier’s announcement, saying staying open would be critical for the city’s economic recovery.

“Thousands of small businesses have endured an incredibly difficult 12 months,” she said.

“The pain and anguish is real, and I’m calling on all levels of government for targeted support for these local businesses.”

“We have all worked together during this most recent lockdown and we need to continue this collaboration to reboot our economic recovery.”

Ms Capp said that city employers could play a critical role to support businesses by resuming their return to workplace plans.

“This isn’t just about profits or balance sheets, it’s about supporting people who have put everything into their passion to start a business,” she said.

Property Council state executive director Danni Hunter said it was sensible to allow 50 per cent of Victorians to return to offices to aid economic recovery.

“This decision will be critically important in getting us back to a COVID-normal way of life and will help to support thousands of small businesses who have had to shut their doors for the past five days, after the pain of 2020,” she said.

VACCINE ROLLS OFF PRODUCTION LINE

Meanwhile, the first vials of locally made vials coronavirus vaccine came off the line in Broadmeadows on Tuesday in preparation for Victoria’s planned rollout.

The initial substance for the AstraZeneca jab is being manufactured at CSL Behring, in the city’s north, and is then transferred and carefully formulated at Seqirus Parkville.

On Tuesday, those involved in the process celebrated the first vials of the vaccine being bottled and coming off the line.

It’s understood they still have to undergo critical quality testing checks but the first doses of the Melbourne-made jab are expected to be administered towards the end of March.

The first intake will see two million doses given in one week and a further one million every week thereafter.

It comes as two new infections emerged on Tuesday, both connected to a family function in Coburg on February 6 and already in isolation as close contacts of existing cases.

They had previously tested negative, before developing symptoms, prompting authorities to re-test all those at the event.

Almost 60 close contacts linked to the Holiday Inn outbreak were isolating, along with 499 hotel staff and residents.

Another 1189 primary close contacts linked to various exposure sites and 1991 travellers who passed through terminal 4 — where an infected Brunetti staffer worked — are also isolating.

EXPERTS HAVE THEIR SAY ON VIC LOCKDOWN

Top epidemiologists have backed a reopening, saying the majority of cases were likely to have already been identified.

Deakin University Chair of Epidemiology, Professor Catherine Bennett, said low case numbers in recent days should give the government confidence “they have contained it”.

She said it had been about 10 days since the last spreading event and, with symptoms likely to show within five days, most cases should have already been reported.

“We’ve had two spreading events – one within the (Holiday Inn) hotel and one at this private family function (in Coburg),” Prof Bennett said.

“Everything that we have seen to date has been linked to one of those. That’s really good.

“The chance of seeing cases outside these inner rings is diminishing by the day.”

Read the full story.

Originally published as Victoria to exit snap lockdown at midnight, no new cases