Regional Victoria’s lockdown could begin to ease ‘next week’ as state records 51 new cases, seven deaths
Plummeting case numbers across country Victoria could see the regions’ restrictions ease as early as next week, according to the Premier. It comes as Victoria hit a grim new milestone, surpassing 700 deaths on Thursday after seven deaths were recorded among 51 new cases.
Coronavirus
Don't miss out on the headlines from Coronavirus. 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 daily coronavirus case total has dropped, with 51 new cases recorded overnight.
But the state has hit a grim new milestone after seven deaths were recorded, with 701 total deaths.
The drop in Thursday’s cases comes after a worrying spike on Wednesday, which saw 76 new infections.
So far this week, 55 cases were recorded on Tuesday, 41 on Monday and 63 on Sunday.
The latest deaths include four men in their 70s and two women and one man in their 80s with four linked to aged-care.
There are 169 Victorians in hospital with coronavirus, 17 are in intensive care and 11 are on a ventilator.
251 healthcare workers are among those battling coronavirus, with the state hosting 1483 active cases in total.
Victoria has had 31 mystery cases in the past 24 hours with a total of 154 mystery cases in the past fortnight.
FED GOVT PUTS PRESSURE ON ANDREWS TO CHANGE PLANS
The federal government is finalising a “detailed” response to Victoria’s recovery roadmap before it is handed to Daniel Andrews in coming days.
Scott Morrison said he had been working with the federal COVID Commission and business leaders to make recommendations to the Victorian Government.
“We’ve been framing a very detailed response to go back to the Premier,” the Prime Minister said.
“We will raise that with him in the appropriate way and we hope that that will help them as they continue to adjust their plans.
“We’ve done a lot of work with industry as to how the suggestions that we can positively and constructively.”
Mr Morrison said businesses could recover and health could be safeguarded at the same time under the right plan.
“We’re going to need everybody to get us out of this and I know businesses want to be employing people again but it’s got to be done safely,” Mr Morrison said.
“The health is not to be traded off for the economy.
“You can actually achieve both when you bring them together and work through them together.”
Mr Morrison insisted he was still working well with Premier Daniel Andrews, despite public differences of opinion over the past week.
— Tamsin Rose
REGIONAL RESTRICTIONS COULD EASE ‘NEXT WEEK’
Regional Victoria’s stage three lockdown restrictions could be eased as early as next week amid falling cases numbers across the state’s non-metro areas.
The glimmer of hope comes as the regions 14-day increase stands at 4.5 new daily cases, just below the threshold to move into third step of the state government’s recovery plan.
Premier Daniel Andrews made the admission while addressing media on Thursday, adding he wants to ensure the state is ready to “pounce on outbreaks” before reopening.
“If the trend continues, and the numbers are very promising, we’ll be able to take a step, or steps, as early as toward the end of next week,” he said.
“And that then avoids having to divide the state up into regions, have police enforce all of those boundaries.”
Regional Victoria has 72 active cases and a 4.5 daily increase over the past 14 days.
Colac has 29 active cases, Greater Geelong has 11 active cases, Greater Bendigo just two active cases and no active cases in Ballarat.
CURFEW HERE TO STAY AMID BACKLASH
It comes as Premier Daniel Andrews defended the curfew as vital to driving down movement.
“If the curfew was removed tonight, the only changed would be that you could potentially go for a jog at 11pm,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it is effective.”
Deputy Chief Health Officer Professor Allen Cheng said public health officials deciding on restrictions would carefully consider their options and be flexible when needed.
“The five cases per day is not an absolute hard and fast rule,” he said.
“We need to be looking at this every day.
“We’re going to be looking at the improvements that have been made to case management and contact management.”
WHY A VACCINE MAY STILL BE FAR OFF
Australian authorities are being warned not “bank on a vaccine” by the boss of the company charged with manufacturing it.
CSL chair Brian McNamee, said it would be a mistake for Governments to assume a vaccine was going to turn up.
He stressed the Victorian government’s lockdown strategy relied on the arrival of a vaccine but that it could be a very long way off.
“If they had asked us we would have told them that drug development is a very complex thing,” Dr McNamee said.
“We can’t bank on a vaccine. I think the treatments are improving but we have to learn to live with COVID. We have to manage it.”
He also said he doubted whether antibody treatments, would prove to be of much use.
“The half-life of an antibody is usually 21 days to a month but you’re not going to get much longer than that,” he said.
Dr McNamee downplayed the halt in the trial of one of the vaccines.
Trials on the vaccine developed by the company AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University were paused after a participant developed an unexplained illness.
The federal government and CSL have contracts to produce two vaccines, including the AstraZeneca one being trialled, if they are shown to be successful.
Dr McNamee said the pause was no surprise.
“This happens quite frequently in drug development so it’s not a shock,” he said.
“If you’re giving something to 30,000 people, odd things happen that may or may not be related to the vaccine but you have to work it out.
“This is why drug development is expensive, long and complex and risky.
“We’ve said all along everyone is working incredibly hard, we’re cautiously optimistic, but there are risks and that’s why at CSL we’ve got two vaccines we could manufacture because the likelihood of both working is not high.”
— James Campbell
SHOULD MELBOURNE’S CURFEW BE DUMPED
Police were not consulted on Melbourne’s curfew and were only told about it hours before the strict stage four restriction was introduced.
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton told Neil Mitchell on 3AW: “We never requested a curfew.
“I’ve made inquiries to determine if anyone in the organisation was briefed on the matter and as best I can work out our policy area was provided a copy of the proposed guidelines for information a couple of hours before they were signed off.
“We support the directions and enforce the directions of the Chief Health Officer and use discretion where appropriate.
“Its not unreasonable for us to accept that they are the directions of the CHO because they are, they’re legally enforceable.
“On that basis, we make the presumption that the Chief Health Officer has endorsed them.
“We didn’t have discussions over the curfew.
Mr Patton said it was up to public health authorities to decide whether the restrictions was still needed.
Read thefull story here.
360 PHOTOS OF A GHOST TOWN
Melbourne, a city of 5 million people, is a ghost town.
Most Melburnians haven’t set foot in the CBD since March when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and government restrictions kicked in.
Herald Sun photographer Alex Coppel takes readers into the eerily quiet CBD to capture what the once bustling city centre has become.
CLICK HERE TO EXPERIENCE THE PHOTOS
INSOLVENCY LAW CREATES ZOMBIES
Victorian businesses entering administration fell 49.3 per cent last month — meaning there are hundreds of “zombie” businesses relying on the government to stay alive.
Nationally, administrations dropped a record 37.1 per cent in August and were tracking 59 per cent lower than the average across 2019, according to data released by digital credit agency CreditorWatch.
The figures reveal thousands of companies are using the laws preventing insolvencies, introduced by the Morrison government when the pandemic began.
CreditorWatch chief executive Patrick Coghlan said the law change was propping up businesses that should be allowed to fail.
He said the law put pressure on creditors getting back on their feet and made collections difficult for debtors. “They are literally saying to our customers who are creditors ‘we don’t have to pay our bills because the government has given us six months of safe harbour’,” he said, adding administration was an essential part of business.
“There are companies out there that need the ability to go into administration so they can renegotiate debts,” he said.
— Andrew Koubaridis
RELATED:
YOUR RESTRICTION QUESTIONS ANSWERED
ARE CASE TARGETS ON TRACK TO EASE RESTRICTIONS?
WHAT EVERY STEP OUT OF RESTRICTIONS LOOKS LIKE FOR BUSINESSES