‘No data’ to point to Victorian freedom day as state records 334 new Covid cases
New exposure sites have been identified in Daylesford after a positive case attended the venues. It comes as regional Victoria enjoyed its first day out of lockdown.
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New exposure sites have been identified in Daylesford on the first day regional Victoria exited lockdown.
A medical clinic and cafe confirmed via Facebook a positive case had visited both venues despite neither being added to the Department of Health’s exposure site list as of Friday night.
Cliffy’s Emporium said a staff member that worked on Tuesday had since tested positive, with the cafe closed on Saturday to allow other workers to get swabbed.
“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience. We will share all relevant information as it becomes available,” the post said.
“As you can imagine, it’s an awful situation for the staff member and the team to be in.”
Springs Medical Daylesford said it had been advised by health authorities a positive case visited on Wednesday, with anyone who attended between 3.15pm and 4.30pm considered a primary close contact.
The centre was closed on Friday afternoon as a deep clean took place.
Meanwhile, Melburnians’ wait for a road map out of lockdown will continue, as authorities scramble to piece together how the state will operate once vaccination targets are hit.
Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar made the confirmation in an address to the media on Friday.
“I have no data on when that road map will be released,” he said.
However, Mr Weinmar was hopeful the state will arrive at its goal for 70 per cent of adults to have at least their first jab, ahead of schedule.
“We think we’ll smash that by quite a few days,” he said.
It comes as a Victorian man in his 70s died from Covid-19, government minister Ben Carroll confirmed.
Mr Carroll – who is the Public Transport Minister – said the V-Line network had also been impacted due to a positive Covid case.
A train driver – who had been in the staffroom of the Southern Cross station – travelled to Gippsland on the V-Line network.
“This has had an impact on our V-Line driver network,” he said.
Up to 20 services have been disrupted. Five coaches have been deployed to provide relief services.
Mr Carroll said it was expected that up to 100 services would become impacted by the positive case.
“We are doing everything we can to minimise those disruptions,” he said.
It comes as Victoria recorded 334 new cases and one coronavirus death in the past 24 hours.
Of the new infections, 149 have so far been linked to known cases and outbreaks.
A total of 39,027 vaccines were administered and 42,998 test results received.
Thursday’s figure is the highest since August 14, 2020, when Victoria recorded 372 new daily cases.
None of the 127 Victorians in hospital with COVID-19 are fully vaccinated.
Just 10 per cent have received one dose. There are 33 people in ICU, with 21 on ventilators.
Victoria has now delivered over 10 million tests since the beginning of the pandemic.
Mr Weimar urged anyone experiencing symptoms to get tested immediately.
He reminded that Victorians could travel further than 5km to get tested.
But regional Victorians should not enter metropolitan Melbourne for a test.
Mr Weimar said there were 10,000 AstraZeneca appointments available, with more Pfizer doses being entered into the system.
Of Friday’s cases, 190 are centred around the northern suburbs including in Craigieburn and Roxbury Park.
Mr Weimar said he was becoming concerned with the number of cases appearing in the south east including in Noble Park.
About 8,000 people a day are applying for the $450 isolation payment after getting tested.
Mr Weimar encouraged anyone who has to lose work while isolating to apply.
CALL FOR MELBOURNE PLAN TO EXIT LOCKDOWN
Leading epidemiologists and the state opposition call for Victoria to match NSW’s road map out of lockdown when key vaccination targets are hit.
But Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday again refused to reveal what freedoms vaccinated Victorians could look forward to once 70 per cent of the population had been fully inoculated.
NSW announced that fully-vaccinated people would be allowed to visit friends’ homes, gather in groups of up to 20 outdoors and head to restaurants, pubs, stores, cinemas and theatres from the Monday after it met the threshold.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison backed the plan as “careful and safe”, while state Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said it should be examined, adding Victoria could not “hide under the doona” forever.
“We’ve got to have plans to get out of this. We can’t just exist, we’ve got to live,” he said.
“(NSW) have put a road map forward about how they’re going to get business out of lockdown, not just humans but business as well. I support a lot of what the NSW government has said. Victoria could have a good look at it.”
Former World Health Organisation epidemiologist and University of South Australia professor Adrian Esterman said the decision to lift stay-at-home orders for fully vaccinated adults was a move Victoria should consider.
“Victoria should be doing the same thing and thinking ‘what (restrictions) can we relax?’,” Professor Esterman said.
“We are going to have to open up some time, but it needs to be done in a very careful way.”
The Herald Sun on Thursday also revealed a Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry plan to have Melbourne pubs, restaurants and retailers reopened at 25 per cent of indoor capacity when first-dose vaccination rates hit 80 per cent – projected to be on October 1.
Mr Guy praised the idea, saying: “It’s about time we saw a similar plan from the state government to get small business (and) to get our hospitality sectors back on their feet.”
Deakin University’s chair in epidemiology Catherine Bennett said opening up at 80 per cent first-dosed was “a bit more risky” than waiting to hit the 70 per cent double vaccination target.
“One dose is only half as good at reducing your risk when it comes to infection,” Professor Bennett said.
“We will be able to ease some things but we need to be careful about how we do it.
“Half a dose helps with containing the outbreak, but letting businesses open up is a bit more risky.”
Mr Andrews said no decisions had been made on what Victoria’s road out of lockdown could look like.
But he acknowledged: “I will almost certainly have to do what (NSW Premier) Gladys (Berejiklian) did today, and say ‘here’s the plan, but the plan is subject to the case numbers’.
“It’s not a matter of rushing something out. The modellers need a fair fight as well. They need to see days and data and work out whether things we are seeing are a validated trend.”
A decision on the next steps could be made by next week, Mr Andrews hinted.
Melburnians have been promised only minor reprieves, including an extension of the travel limit from 5km to 10km, once 70 per cent of Victorians are single-dosed.
Melbourne parents and schoolchildren are also waiting to hear when they will return to classroom learning, with Mr Andrews last Thursday promising to reveal the plan for term four this week.
Children have now endured more than 150 days of homeschooling across six terms, with increasing concerns for their welfare and progress.
And areas on the city’s outer edge are begging to be freed from lockdown, in line with regional Victoria.
Business owners in outer Cardinia Shire, on the Mornington Peninsula and in the Yarra Valley – all metro zones under Covid rules – are growing increasingly frustrated.
Garfield business owner David Rushton said communities were being “divided”.
“It hurts the community a lot being at the border. It’s so tough on families. Freedom is so close yet so far,” he said.
The Yarra Valley is in the same predicament.
Yarra Ranges Mayor Fiona McAllister said being classified as a metropolitan council area made sense only for suburban areas like Mooroolbark, Lilydale, Chirnside or Kilsyth.
“Warburton, Millgrove and our outer areas are about as far from metropolitan as you can get,” Ms McAllister said.
“Our mix of urban, hills and regional towns in the Yarra Valley makes our municipality one of the most unique in the state, which is something we’re very proud of.
“Unfortunately, it also means that our regional areas have been unfairly swept into the metropolitan classification for Covid-19 restrictions.”
Victoria recorded its biggest spike in case numbers in over a year on Thursday with 324 new infections.
None of the 111 Victorians in hospital – including 32 in ICU and 19 on ventilators – was fully vaccinated, with 89 per cent yet to receive one dose.
Most of the new cases were in Melbourne’s north and west.
FOLEY BACKS CALL FOR MORE VACCINE SUPPLIES
Australia will have enough vaccine supplies by the middle of October to give every eligible adult two doses, as authorities concede “more needs to be done” to target Melbourne’s Covid-hit north and west.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley on Thursday backed a community call for the government to boost vaccine supply and access around hot spot suburbs.
It comes after the Herald Sun revealed an alliance of 30 local medics and community leaders, including former Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour, were appealing for an urgent injection.
The City of Hume has the state’s second lowest vaccination rates, despite having the most active Covid cases.
Mr Foley said the state government had distributed half the amount of available vaccines to Melbourne’s north and western suburbs.
“That has meant disproportionately shifting (supply) from the state-run centres into the north and the west,” he said.
“We know, however, that more has to be done.
“We will be doing all we can, within our available stocks to reprioritise even more vaccines, but we would also support the call for the commonwealth to deliver as much as it possibly can into the north and west.”
Islamic Museum of Australia founder and director Moustafa Fahour said more vaccine supply was needed, in addition to more culturally appropriate service providers.
He said he would be happy for the Islamic Museum in Thornbury to be used as a pop-up vaccination hub.
“We are open. We are ready. As Victorians, as Australians to reach the vaccination target,” he said.
Scott Morrison said Australia would now have enough supplies by the middle of next month to give every eligible adult two doses.
The Prime Minister said that while the rollout had suffered some setbacks, the government had been able to “catch up the ground” by striking several deals with other countries to boost supplies.
“There are still some irons in the fire that I’m working on,” Mr Morrison said.
The country is now halfway to the 80 per cent target for fully vaccinated adults.
TWO-WEEK JAB EXTENSION FOR AGED CARE WORKERS
Victorian aged care staff have been given an extra fortnight to get at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose before they are banned from working in nursing homes.
Chief health officer Brett Sutton’s public health order, issued this week, requires all aged care workers to have had at least one jab by October 1.
The national cabinet had previously set September 17 as the deadline but, under the state order, all workers must have either had a shot or have booked in an appointment by that date.
As of Wednesday, 90.9 per cent of aged care workers in Victoria had received at least one dose, while 72.6 per cent were fully vaccinated. This was above the national average of 88.6 per cent at least partially vaccinated.
But vaccination rates are still perilously low at some aged care facilities, according to data published by the federal government.
Between 50 and 59 per cent of staff have had one dose at Lifeview Willow Wood, Polish Retirement Home and Royal Freemasons Bacchus Marsh.
In-reach vaccination clinics are operating across the state to ensure workers are ready for the new rules.
Under Victoria’s rules, all aged care providers must detail the vaccination status of their staff by September 17. All workers will be required to be fully vaccinated by November 15.
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