Government officials already discussing prospect of extending lockdown for another week

As lockdown 6 enters its second week talks are under way to extend it even further, which would push Melbourne’s total days in lockdown beyond 200.

Melburnians will have endured 200 days stuck in their homes by next Thursday, the revised end to the city’s sixth lockdown.

But the Herald Sun can reveal that government officials are already discussing the prospect of extending the shutdown another week.

A leading epidemiologist warned “everything would have to work out perfectly” for the seven-day ­extension to end on time.

As Victoria’s capital approaches 200 days under stay-at-home orders, lockdown numbers based on the best available data show that out of the world’s leading cities, only Londoners appear have been confined to their homes for longer.

Not only have Melburnians been locked down longer than most people in the world, they’ve also been subjected to some of the world’s strictest rules.

Premier, Daniel Andrews on Wednesday extended Melbourne’s lockdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Geraghty

It has contributed to Melbourne sliding six places down the list of the world’s most liveable cities to eighth.

The UK’s third national lockdown, instituted in January, allowed people to leave home for exercise once a day with their household or one other outside person.

Britons were asked to remain in their “local area” but there was no strict 5km limit – and there was no time constraint, nor any curfew.

But the UK’s capital is now enjoying greater freedom, with virtually all restrictions relaxed last month after fully vaccinating more than 60 per cent of adults.

Wuhan – where Covid-19 originated – was never placed under a curfew and was only locked down for 76 days. New York, Auckland and Moscow were never placed under curfews.

No other Australian city, including Sydney, which is entering its 99th day of lockdown, has experienced night-time curfews, either.

Victoria’s battered economy is preparing to take another $1bn hit, as traders are told they could expect more support from Thursday.

Confirming Melbourne’s lockdown – initially due to end on Thursday night – would be extended until 11.59pm on August 19, Daniel Andrews said there were still “too many unanswered questions and too many mysteries” to ease restrictions.

“There are too many cases, the origins of which are not clear to us, too many unanswered questions, too many mysteries for us to safely come out of lockdown now,” the Premier said.

“The extreme infectivity of this virus, and the fact that within a very short space of time, if we were to open, we would see cases akin to what’s happening tragically in Sydney right now.”

Twenty-one new infections, including four mystery cases, were announced on Thursday.

Of those cases, 15 had been in isolation for their full infectious period.

It comes one day after five new mystery infections put health authorities on alert.

Melbourne’s empty streets during its sixth lockdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Chief health officer Brett Sutton said while he was confident contact tracers were “at the heels” of the outbreak, it was clear the risks were far too great to open up Melbourne.

“An issue anywhere in Melbourne is potentially an issue anywhere,” he said.

“We need people to be isolating from right now … because mystery cases were not known, they were not identified as primary close contacts, they will not be isolating. They will be limiting their movement, as is everyone, but they will not be isolating fully. We do not want any more of those.”

Prof Sutton said while he hoped a seven-day extension would be enough to suppress the virus, it was impossible to know “what the days will bring” and there was no “magic number” of cases that would need to be achieved to comfortably exit lockdown.

Government officials have already considered that another extension, which would take this lockdown to three weeks, could be needed if community cases continue.

Professor Nancy Baxter, an epidemiologist and head of Melbourne University’s School of Population and Global Health, said it was “unlikely” a seven-day extension would be enough.

“Those 14 cases in isolation gave them a ray of hope, but I still think everything would need to be perfect to come out in a week,” she said.

“There’s not a zero chance that we could get out on time, but there are a number of things that concern me, and we know that you don’t have a margin of error with Delta.”

There remain just five reasons Melburnians can leave their home – to get food and essential supplies, to exercise for up to two hours, for care or care-giving, permitted work or education, if they cannot be done from home, or to get vaccinated at the nearest possible location.

Shopping and exercise must also be done within 5km and face masks remain mandatory outdoors and inside non-home settings. Schools will remain closed.

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said the state government needed to take a “proportionate” approach to locking down metropolitan Melbourne.

“We understand the need for the further continuation of lockdown, but we do ask the question, why is everyone in Melbourne – every one of those five million people – subject to this lockdown,” Mr O’Brien said.

“There are large slabs of greater Melbourne that have no cases, no exposure sites.”

Victoria is set to again ramp up its vaccine rollout, with Mr Andrews foreshadowing changes to expand access to the AstraZeneca jab at mass vaccinations hubs.

It comes as South Australia becomes the first state to make Pfizer available to all people aged 16-39 from Monday.

NSW recorded 344 cases and two deaths on Wednesday, as West Australian Premier Mark McGowan slammed counterpart Gladys Berejiklian for her handling of the state’s outbreak.

“By allowing the virus to run rampant throughout NSW, they’re risking the lives of their citizens and they’re risking everyone else,” Mr McGowan said.

“I do not understand why … they don’t have the backbone to do what is required.”

It comes as industry leaders predicted Victoria’s economy would take another $1bn hit, with struggling businesses assured further financial support would be announced on Thursday.

Moonee Ponds couple Roy and Diane Habibis, who own D’artagnan Interiors, said the extension was “gut wrenching”.

“Small businesses like mine and the people they support are bearing the brunt of the government’s destructive policy towards Covid,” Mr Habibis said.

“They are destroying what we have taken a lifetime to build.”