Victoria ‘on track’ for 3000 cases a day as 1965 new infections and five deaths recorded
A Victorian truckie has tested positive for Covid in Yamba, as it’s revealed a Virgin cabin crew member was infected while working on flights between Melbourne and Adelaide on Monday.
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A Victorian truckie has tested positive for Covid-19 in South Australia.
The man in his 20s was en route to WA and was tested at Yamba testing site border near Renmark after crossing the border from Victoria.
He was transported to Adelaide by SA Police and placed in medi-hotel quarantine.
An investigation is underway but currently no public exposure sites have been identified.
It has also been revealed a Virgin cabin crew member had Covid-19 while working on flights between Melbourne and Adelaide on Monday.
The man in his 40s tested positive in Victoria and had worked on flight VA219, travelling from Melbourne to Adelaide on October 4 while he was infectious.
He did not enter Adelaide Airport.
SA Health has the manifest for the flight and all 25 passengers have received an SMS.
Officials are in the process of calling all individuals to determine their place of quarantine and review testing results.
It comes as Victoria is on track to record 3000 new coronavirus cases each day.
Department of Health deputy secretary Kate Matson said the grim milestone could be reached later this month.
“At this point in time, we are on track in terms of hospitalisations and new cases,” she said.
“But I will remind you there is a middle line and an upper and lower band, and we are still within that band.”
So far this week, Victoria has broken the nation’s record three times for the highest number of daily infections, posting 1965 on Saturday.
It comes after the state recorded 1965 new cases and five coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours.
The grim figure is the highest daily tally recorded anywhere in Australia since the pandemic began.
There are now 578 Victorians in hospital with 117 in ICU and 83 on ventilation.
Eighty-five per cent of eligible Victorians have received their first vaccine dose, while 57 per cent are double jabbed.
Sadly, five more Victorians have died from Covid, with four of those fatalities linked to the city’s northern suburbs.
The deaths include a woman in her 90s and a man in his 70s from Moreland, man in his 60s from Banyule and a man in his 50s from Hume.
A man in his 60s from the western suburbs also died with Covid.
There were 41,177 vaccines administered on Friday and 73,443 test results received.
The state now hosts 17,199 active cases.
The bulk of Saturday’s new Covid-19 infections are emerging from Melbourne’s north, with 735 of the latest cases linked to those suburbs.
There were 464 cases linked to the western suburbs, with a large majority in Melton.
In the south-east, there were 533 new cases, with Casey an area of concern, while just 125 cases were linked to the city’s east.
Regional Victoria had 90 new cases.
The largest numbers of those cases were:20 in Mildura; 13 in Baw Baw, 12 in the Mitchell Shire, eight in Greater Shepparton, seven in La Trobe, six in Greater Geelong and three in Ballarat.
CREATIVE INDUSTRY THROWN LIFELINE
The Victorian government will invest $15 million into the state’s struggling creative industry.
Minister Danny Pearson said $10 million would target small to medium-sized creative organisations, arts festivals and performing arts companies.
A further $5 million will go towards individual artists, creative workers and small businesses - many of whom have fallen through the gaps of other support programs.
“Over the course of the past 18 months we‘ve all missed out on going to live shows, to festivals and exhibitions and it has been difficult seeing our usually bustling, buzzing theatres, galleries, museums and entertainment venues closed,” Mr Pearson said.
“The creative sectors such as live performance were among the very first to close and they will be among the last to return to business.”
SIX FLIGHTS EXPOSED TO COVID
Six domestic flights have been exposed to coronavirus after a Virgin cabin crew member tested positive.
The employee worked while infectious from October 4 to 6.
The flights of concern are:
October 4: VA219 from Melbourne to Adelaide;
October 4: VA218 from Adelaide to Melbourne;
October 5: VA827 from Melbourne to Sydney;
October 5: VA808 from Sydney to Melbourne;
October 6: VA1593 from Melbourne to Newcastle; and
October 6: VA1594 Newcastle to Melbourne.
HOW COVID WILL CHANGE MELBOURNE’S SUMMER EVENTS
Crowds will prepare to fill outdoor venues in December in a boost to Victoria’s economic revival.
The Herald Sun has been told a number of key events over summer — slated to be held in popular indoor venues like Hamer Hall — will instead be moved outdoors.
The James Bond-themed Skyfall in Concert, which was to be hosted indoors by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, has now been moved to the grassy slopes of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
Popular bands The Jungle Giants, The Cat Empire and 5 Seconds of Summer will all take to the stage later this year, while international acts Lorde, Kings of Leon, London Grammar and The Script will head down under next year.
“Our beloved Sidney Myer Music Bowl will be the first of our venues to welcome back visitors to live performance from December this year,” an Arts Centre Melbourne
spokeswoman confirmed.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp said Melbourne was an “outdoor city” and would gear up for a summer spectacle.
“This will be Melbourne like we all remember — fun, vibrant, friendly and full,” Ms Capp said.
“Our streets will be alive with food, fashion and music as we turn the city inside out.
“Outdoor trading and dining will bring back the buzz to city streets, and we are doing everything we can to ensure our traders can bounce back.”
Ms Capp said the extension of fee waivers for outdoor dining permits would accelerate the CBD’s bounce back.
“We want to help traders serve as many customers as safely as possible and a move on to the streets and into outdoor dining parklets is one way we can do that, while bringing the vibrancy back to our wonderful city,” she added.
But Australian Hotels Association chief executive Paddy O’Sullivan said Victorian pubs and hotels couldn’t go into summer with tough restrictions.
“Pubs and hotels have assessed their outdoor activation opportunities and will be looking to fully use beer gardens, rooftop terraces and other available outdoor space to best advantage,” he said.
“But if they’re bound by having vaccinated-only staff and customers, there should be no patron caps, density limits or seated-only service.”
Victorian Tourism Industry Council chief executive Felicia Mariani said holiday-makers needed to be patient with tourism and hospitality operators as they got up to speed again.
“We need to realise that these business are being asked to operate in ways they never had to before. And even though we are out of lockdown, it’s not like everything snaps back to what it was before,” she said.
“This will be a very challenging time for them as they work hard to reopen their business.”
MILDURA BACK IN LOCKDOWN
Mildura was plunged into another seven-day lockdown from midnight Friday, as Covid cases continue to climb in regional Victoria.
An extra 12 new cases forced the regional city into a snap lockdown, which include a male offender who tested positive to Covid-19 while in custody at Mildura Police Station on Wednesday.
Multiple police officers have been identified as close contacts and ordered to isolate.
A significant number of police have been redeployed to Mildura as part of the NSW border patrol operation.
Police would not confirm how many officers were in quarantine but said the station remained open.
“The Mildura community can be assured that service delivery to the public will remain unaffected during this time,” a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.
Mildura’s lockdown comes as Shepparton and Moorabool left their seven-day lockdown on Friday.
Covid cases continue to climb in regional Victoria, with 18 cases in Geelong, 15 in Colac, 11 in Baw Baw and 10 in Ballarat.
There are also new wastewater detections in seven regional cities, including Portland, Apollo Bay, Aireys Inlet, Cobram, Wonthaggi, Swan Hill and Ballarat.
Chief health officer Brett Sutton said on Friday afternoon the Mildura LGA would revert to the same restrictions as Melbourne, excluding the curfew.
“If you’re in the Mildura Rural City Council area, please follow the lockdown restrictions, get tested if you have symptoms, and get vaccinated if you haven’t already,” he said.
“We’ve seen regional communities get through an outbreak so we know it can be done — it’s vital we protect the local community and the rest of regional Victoria from significant outbreaks.”
Prof Sutton said public health teams were concerned about onward transmission in the Mildura and had determined that the seven-day lockdown was needed to limit growth in cases.
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