567 new cases, major restrictions to remain in Victoria even after 80pc jab target is hit

An outbreak at Victoria Police headquarters has forced several members into isolation, while a major Victorian university has told staff and students to get jabbed or risk a campus ban.

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Top-ranking detectives have been forced into isolation over a COVID-19 cluster linked to police headquarters.

Several members based at Melbourne West police station on Spencer St tested positive to coronavirus on Friday.

One of the infected members visited a coffee shop located inside the Victoria Police Centre.

The coffee shop has been deemed a tier 1 site, forcing a significant number of police off the beat and into 14 days isolation.

The Victoria Police Centre is home to the force’s most elite police members, including the homicide squad, missing person squad and armed crime squad.

In a second blow to the force, Coffee Rush, located next to police headquarters, has also been deemed a tier 1 site.

“Given the close proximity of the Victoria Police Centre to the site all staff have been notified and anyone who attended the location on 15, 16 or 17 September will get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days in line with public health advice,” a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.

“For operational reasons we will not be providing numbers on how many employees are on unplanned leave, including those currently in quarantine either as a precautionary measure or if anyone was to test positive to coronavirus.

“The community can be assured that service delivery to the public will remain unaffected during this time.”

The force is already stretched thin with hundreds of police redeployed to various coronavirus operations, including hotel quarantine and enforcement of lockdown restrictions.

It comes as upmarket food retailer Boccaccio Cellars in Balwyn North told customers it is a Tier 1 exposure site.

The news signals the spread of the virus to the eastern suburbs, which have recently been relatively covid-free since an outbreak at Trinity Grammar some months ago.

The family-owned IGA supermarket has announced a delivery driver who has since tested positive visited the store last Tuesday and Thursday and had close contact with a staff member on Friday who has also now tested positive.

Anyone who visted the store on Tuesday, September 14 between 1pm and 1.30pm, Thursday, September 16 between 12pm and 12.3pm or Friday, September 17 between 7am and 4pm should get tested and isolate for 14 days.

An instagram message from the store reads: “DHHS will contact you via text message if you were in store and what to do. We closing now for a deep clean and reopen tomorrow as per usual. All staff that have been contact with the positive case will be isolating for two weeks. Once we have any further updates, we will let our customers know. Thank you for all the support during this time.”

‘NO ISSUE’ WITH PFIZER SUPPLY

Australia will receive more mRNA vaccine doses in October than September, with Health Minister Greg Hunt maintaining there is no issue with the nation’s Pfizer supplies.

Speaking after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews raised concerns about next month’s Pfizer deliveries, Mr Hunt said an issue was discussed at last Friday’s national cabinet meeting about one shipment due in October.

“We’ve been able to resolve that over the weekend,” Mr Hunt said.

About 10 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna will be available in September, with more than 11 million due to arrive in October.

Mr Hunt said every state would receive their promised allocation, and that all contracted deliveries were expected in full.

It comes after Premier Daniel Andrews flagged a potential looming shortfall of Pfizer jabs.

Mr Andrews encouraged people to avoid the possible shortage by coming forward for whatever vaccines were available.

“On Friday, at the national cabinet, it was indicated that there is a problem ... I don’t know how big the problem is, but there is an issue with Pfizer vaccine supply in October,” he said.

“That is not the federal government’s fault, I’m not blaming anyone, I’m just making a point.”

The Premier urged people not to wait for their vaccines of choice.

“As I’ve said so many times, don’t wait for something that has not arrived yet. Please don’t wait and defer for something that may not happen,” Mr Andrews said.

“There may be an international global supply chain problem, there could be all sorts of variables.

“AstraZeneca is available now. AstraZeneca is safe for the vast majority of people who will go through that process and the Moderna vaccine is available from later this week also and there is a lot of it.”

A spokesman for Operation Covid Shield said October deliveries were currently being finalised with Pfizer.

“(We) will be releasing an updated Allocations Horizons once October deliveries are confirmed,” he said.

Meanwhile, Victorians will still be living under tough restrictions even after 80 per cent of the state is fully vaccinated.

The state’s plan has been dubbed a “roadmap of roadblocks”, with Melbourne’s lockdown to continue for another five weeks, until at least October 26.

It comes as 567 new Covid cases were announced on Monday, along with one death.

There are 5675 active cases in the state and nearly 40,000 vaccines were administered on Sunday.

At present, 72 per cent of eligible Victorians have received a Covid vaccine, with 43.9 per cent fully vaccinated.

Premier Daniel Andrews said 85 per cent of Monday’s cases were aged under 50.

The single death recorded is a woman in her 70s from Moreland.

There are 209 in hospital, with 59 in intensive care and 40 people on a ventilator.

A total 86 per cent of those in hospital are not vaccinated. Only three are fully vaccinated.

There are now 50 cases linked to the Fitzroy Community School, with day 13 testing for many to be done on Wednesday.

La Trobe University is giving eligible staff and students until early December to get jabbed or risk being banned from campus. Picture: Zizi Averill

LA TROBE UNI TO MAKE JABS MANDATORY

One of Victoria’s biggest universities will make vaccinations mandatory for all on-campus visitors as part of a two-stage plan to reopen.

La Trobe University is giving eligible staff and students until early December to get vaccinated or risk being banned from campus.

Stage one of the plan will see the university continue to support and encourage staff and students to get vaccinated until the end of November.

Staff will be offered leave to get the jab while a vaccination hub is scheduled to open at the university’s Bundoora campus, in partnership with Austin Health.

The university is exploring similar on-campus vaccination hubs for their regional locations, which include Shepparton, Mildura and Albury-Wodonga.

Stage two of the vaccination plan will commence in early December and will require anyone attending campus, including staff, students, contractors and visitors, to be fully vaccinated.

Head of La Trobe Public Health Department associate professor Melissa Graham said vaccination is the “most important thing” staff and students can do to protect themselves and the community.

“Our university’s two-stage plan is consistent with public health principles and will help keep us all safe when we return to campus,” Ms Graham said.

La Trobe University vice-chancellor Professor John Dewar said staff and students who remained unvaccinated by choice may not be able to have special arrangements made for them, which could impact their work and study.

“This is to enable the university to discharge its health and safety obligations to those on campus, and to reassure staff and students who are already vaccinated that they will not be placing their health at risk by coming onto campus,” Mr Dewar said.

“The university leadership believes these measures are essential to the safe reopening of our campuses so that we can return to the campus experience that our staff and students love so much, and that we have all sorely missed.”

The university will continue to monitor the pace of the vaccine rollout and adjust these dates if necessary.

MODERNA PRIORITY SUBURBS REVEALED

Five pharmacies in Covid hotspots will be the first to receive deliveries of the Moderna vaccine on Monday.

As the rollout of the new mRNA jab begins, pharmacies in Altona, Braybrook, Sunshine, Cairnlea and Deer Park will be prioritised.

They will receive between 100 and 500 doses a week, depending on how many they have ordered.

Nationwide, 1800 pharmacies will receive Moderna supplies this week, with another 1800 coming online next week.

More than 700 of those are in Victoria, including 230 in hotspot areas.

The first pharmacies are:

• Chemcare Wellness Pharmacy

• Chemist Warehouse Braybrook — Home Co

• Terrywhite Chemmart Sunshine

• Priceline Pharmacy Cairnlea

• Deer Park Pharmacy

WHERE TODAY’S CASES EMERGED

• 87 per cent of all cases are in Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs

• 357 cases across the north in locations including Craigieburn, Roxburgh Park and Broadmeadows

• 137 in the western suburbs in locations including Tarneit, Truganina and Altona North

• 45 cases in the south-eastern suburbs in Dandenong, Rowville and Pakenham

• 12 cases in the eastern suburbs including Doncaster at Ringwood North

• 14 cases in regional Victoria

SPOTSWOOD BUILDING SITES ON ALERT

Outbreaks in regional Victoria are believed to be linked to construction sites in Melbourne.

A significant building site at Spotswood in Melbourne’s west has been linked to five cases in recent days.

There are about 80 primary close contacts from the site, as well as overlaps with another worksite at Lara, near Geelong.

Two significant rail construction sites — one in Gunnawarra — have had 13 positive cases.

It’s also connected to a major rail construction site at Lilydale, where there have been four linked cases.

A construction warehouse in Craigieburn has identified nine positive cases. There are 32 primary close contacts, a number of whom are in the Mitchell shire.

There are 14 cases in regional Victoria and two more cases are expected to be confirmed on Monday afternoon.

Five cases are in Ballarat, which now has 17 cases. Four of those cases are from one household connected to a Lilydale construction site.

Two cases in Moorabool, just outside of Geelong, are being investigated.

In Mitchell Shire, there are three new infections, bringing the cluster to 22 active cases.

There is also a case at Mt Alexander, which is related to a western suburbs worksite, and a single case in the Moira shire in the state’s north, believed to be connected to Ballarat.

Two cases are under investigation — one at South Gippsland and one in the Macedon Ranges.

PHARMACIES READY FOR RAMP-UP

Victorian Pharmacy Guild president Anthony Tassone said from this week, more than 400 pharmacies would receive supplies of the Moderna vaccine to administer.

“It’s the same eligibility as other RNA vaccines that we have for Australia’s, being the Pfizer vaccine, 12 to 59 years old,” he said.

“This is great news for patients and another option for families to protect themselves in the community.”

“We’ve got a game plan now, we’ve got the targets.”

Mr Tassone challenged the energy of grand final week to hammer home the message.

“We know what we need to do — we need to get vaccinated. Don’t wait,” he said.

“Take the first option. Kick a goal for Victoria this week.”

VICTORIA’S ROADMAP OUT OF LOCKDOWN

Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday unveiled the long-awaited plan to freedom, which will delay the reopening of classrooms for most students, force retailers to operate outdoors and limit pubs and cafes to “restrictive” customer caps.

Premier Daniel Andrews announces Victoria’s roadmap out of lockdown. Picture: Luis Ascui

The state will only begin to open gradually once restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria align at 80 per cent vaccination coverage – expected to be November 5.

And in a further blow, people in NSW will be able to visit family and friends in their home at 70 per cent double dose, while Victorians will have to reach 80 per cent to do the same.

But Mr Andrews insisted his plan was about opening up the state.

“Make no mistake, we are opening up, no doubt about that, and there will be no turning back,” he said.

“We have got to normalise this, we have got to pass through and beyond this pandemic. We cannot permanently suppress this virus.”

The Burnet Institute modelling – which drove the roadmap – predicted the state’s case numbers would peak at 4500 on December 15, with the total Covid-19 related deaths to reach 2200 by January.

Mr Andrews said a “catastrophic” number of people would become very ill if the state opened too soon.

“These are sobering numbers,” he said. “The notion of opening this place up very quickly at 70 per cent or 60 per cent, or today, simply cannot be done.”

NSW used the same modelling but allowed more freedoms at 70 per cent, while Victoria is waiting to reach 80 per cent.

Sydney’s Everest race will run in front of up to 5000 fans, while a crowd is not guaranteed for the spring racing carnival. This is despite Victoria on Sunday recording 507 new Covid-19 cases and one death, while NSW had 1083 cases and 13 deaths.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp said Victorian traders would be “looking longingly” at the “more generous freedoms” given to NSW, while Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the measures appeared to be “too harsh for too long”.

“To have no real path back in any meaningful time … is unfathomable for many families in this state,” Mr Guy said.

Federal health minister Greg Hunt said Victoria’s plan was a “very cautious road map”.

“I know there will be differing views,” he said.

Assistant treasurer Michael Sukkar, another Victorian frontbencher, said that “36 more days of lockdown and ongoing harsh restrictions thereafter” did not provide the hope Victorians needed.

“Families are suffering, businesses are hanging on by a thread and our children need to be back at school,” he said.

Melbourne’s lockdown is to continue for another five weeks, until at least October 26. Picture: Luis Ascui

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra questioned the “fundamentally different” plan for each state.

“Every Victorian business was looking for a path to prosperity but what we got delivered was a roadmap of roadblocks,” Mr Guerra said.

“We need a path out of this and today’s announcement has not given the clarity, the certainty or the hope we need to get out of the current situation.”

A supercharged vaccination program would be the only way to end lockdown early, but the Premier warned Australia’s Pfizer supply was “uncertain” next month.

Victorian nurses’ union boss Lisa Fitzpatrick welcomed the roadmap.

“We are reassured the roadmap can be paused to prevent Covid patients overwhelming our health system and our workforce so that we are not making impossible decisions about who gets a hospital bed,” she said.

Chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton said the roadmap provided a “tightrope between ensuring our health system is not overwhelmed (and protecting) us from those other harms that come from lockdown”.

Melbourne theatre producer and artist Katie Rowe said her sector faced a more uncertain future. “I think it won’t be until 2022 when things properly start, which is devastating,” she said.

Melbourne theatre producer and artist Katie Rowe says her industry faces an uncertain future. Picture: Wayne Taylor

HOW SCHOOLS’ COVID TIMETABLE WILL WORK

Most students won’t return to the classroom until late October — and only on a part-time basis. These are the days your child will be allowed at school.

Meanwhile, fully vaccinated parents can send their children to childcare from October 26, but others will have to wait until November 5, according to the roadmap announced by the Premier on Sunday.

The milestone 80 per cent double-dose vaccination, which is expected to be reached on November 5, is the trigger for the full reopening of early learning.

Read the full article here.

REGIONS LOCKED DOWN, BEACH TOWN SPLIT

Geelong, the Surf Coast and Mitchell Shire were plunged back into lockdown after new Covid cases emerged on Sunday.

The snap seven-day lockdown began at 11.59pm on Sunday with a 10km travel limit and four hours of exercise and outdoor social interaction allowed each day.

Unlike Melbourne, a curfew was not put in place.

The decision has split the beachside town of Point Lonsdale in two, leaving some unlucky residents locked down while neighbours across the road enjoy their freedom.

The Borough of Queenscliffe and City of Greater Geelong’s border runs down the centre of Point Lonsdale, splitting the town in half after lockdown restrictions were introduced in Geelong but not Queenscliffe.

“It’s a bit of bad luck,” said Joanne Wurfel, who lives on the locked-down side of town. “I am hoping it’ll be enough so we can be free soon and join the rest of town.”

Joanne Wurfel (left) is locked down, while Carol and Michael Meaney live free over the road in Point Lonsdale. Picture: Mike Dugdale

Premier Daniel Andrews announced the lockdown after four cases were identified in Geelong and the Surf Coast and seven in Mitchell Shire.

Supervisor of the Sphinx Hotel in North Geelong Rochelle Anderson said she wasn’t surprised by the announcement.

“A lot of rumours were going about but it doesn’t make it easier,” she said. “I’m over it, the mental health side of it is so hard for so many.”

It comes as the state government announced its road map plan for interstate and regional Victoria, that will allow it to open up faster than ­Melbourne.

Groups of 20 fully vaccinated people will be allowed to meet outside when 70 per cent of the state is double-dosed, while Melbourne will be capped at 10.

Pubs and cafes will also welcome greater numbers of vaccinated Victorians than their city counterparts at this level, with caps of 30 indoors and 100 outdoors.

Current restrictions mean Melburnians and residents of other locked-down areas cannot travel to the regions until the state meets its 80 per cent fully vaccinated target, while regional Victorians can travel to other parts of the state.

At 80 per cent fully vaccinated – expected on November 5 – restrictions between Melbourne and the rest of state will align with interstate travel to resume for all.

At that point, vaccinated people could be exempt from domestic border restrictions, provided a national cabinet agreement is made, paving the way for Christmas reunions.

Overseas holidays could also be back on the cards, with revised quarantine arrangements for returning Australians subject to the national plan.

It comes as Mr Andrews said opening borders was not a priority.: “Repatriating Victorians is high on my priority list but interstate travel is not”.

The chief health officer declared 66 NSW municipalities will be moved from extreme risk to a red zone under Victoria’s permit system allowing Victorians stuck in NSW to quarantine at home.

CITY’S UNWELCOME LOCKDOWN TAG

Melbourne is now guaranteed to become the most locked-down city in the world by a long margin, with stay-at-home orders extended for at least another month.

If lockdown ends as planned on October 26, Melbourne will have spent 267 days in hard lockdown since March last year – a total of nearly nine months.

It will beat the next most locked-down city in the world, Buenos Aires, by 22 days.

Previous records showed Buenos Aires had been locked down for 234 days. However, the city was plunged back into lockdown for a total of 11 days in recent months, taking its total to 245 days.

Melbourne will surpass the Argentinian city’s record as the world’s most locked-down city on Monday, October 4.

The number of days each city has spent in lockdown around the world is hard to monitor as each city has different definitions of stay-at-home orders, however, the numbers are based on the best available data.

While Buenos Aires last year endured 234 straight days of lockdown, from March until November, Melbourne’s six combined lockdowns will total the longest period in the world. Melbourne’s current lockdown will have lasted 82 days – just shy of three months – if it ends on time, compared to 111 days in the city’s second lockdown last year.

Behind Melbourne and Buenos Aires are Dublin at 227 days in lockdown and London at 207.

London marked “freedom day” on July 19, with a near complete reopening of businesses at full capacity.

At the time, 68 per cent of Britons had received two vaccination doses.

Melbourne’s lockdown has been among the strictest in the world. It contributed to the city sliding six places to eighth in the list of the world’s most-liveable cities this year.

PEAK PRESSURE ON OUR FRONTLINE

Victoria faces a peak of more than 4500 daily cases of Covid by Christmas and 2200 deaths in the new year, after restrictions are eased over the next seven weeks.

But epidemiologists behind the modelling that has guided the roadmap out of lockdown, say if Victorians “make an extra effort” to follow the rules over the next two months, the burden on the healthcare system could be significantly less.

On Sunday, Premier Daniel Andrews announced details of the staggered return of freedoms starting next weekend when 80 per cent of Victorian will have received their first vaccination dose.

More substantial restrictions are due to be lifted on November 5 when 80 per cent of eligible Victorians are fully vaccinated.

There is some concerns the health system may become overwhelmed.

The roadmap, based on modelling by Melbourne’s Burnet Institute, shows the peak seven-day average is ­expected to be reached on ­December 15. By the end of the year, 3150 people will be in ­hospital, with more than a quarter of those in intensive care.

“These are sobering numbers,” Mr Andrews said.

“There are going to be some very difficult days and weeks, perhaps longer, in our health system. We will stand with you and support you, and we will ­monitor very closely … that ­impact on you, on your ­patients, on our health ­system.”

Burnet Professor Margaret Hellard, one of the authors of the modelling, said Victorians could “individually make a difference” to the projections, based on the choices they made.

The modelling shows if the roadmap is accompanied by increased testing of vaccinated people with mild symptoms, the peak number of cases could be almost halved and about 1000 fewer people would die.

“There is fatigue, but we shouldn’t be pessimistic. We should instead be going ‘it’s the final quarter, and we’ve really got to run hard for the ball’,” Prof Hellard said. “If Victorians wear their masks, meet outdoors and don’t go to each other’s houses, if we get ­vaccinated, if we get tested when we need to, if we try our best to do all the things we’re being asked to do, we can change that.

“If the health system gets overwhelmed, people die. We don’t get to rewrite the story then, but we have the chance to rewrite it now.”

AMA Victoria president Roderick McRae said while the easing of restrictions was “premature”, it was reassuring the load on hospitals would be monitored carefully.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victorian Branch) secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick said the plan was sensibly “cautious”.

“It will be the number of ­unvaccinated Victorians that will determine whether our health system can cope or not,” Ms Fitzpatrick said.

Anna receives a Covid vaccination at Broadmeadows Town Hall. Picture: David Geraghty

NO FORCED JAB FOR 200 IN AGED CARE

More than 200 Victorian aged care workers have been given a medical exemption from a mandatory Covid-19 vaccination.

New figures also reveal that 270 federally funded nursing homes across the state hit the 100 per cent staff vaccination rate by last Friday’s deadline.

About 97.2 per cent of Victorian residential aged care workers have had at least one vaccination, while 80 per cent are fully vaccinated.

“To date, 833 exemptions have been reported nationally, of which 208 are reported from Victoria,” an Operation Covid Shield spokesman said.

More than 1300 aged care homes nationwide report vaccination rates between 90-100 per cent, and 421 of those are in Victoria.

From this week, those who have a booking to receive a Covid-19 vaccination before October 1 must wear protective equipment while working.

All workers must be fully vaccinated by November 15.

FEDS’ PFIZER SUPPLY HITS A SNAG

Victorians are being urged to book an AstraZeneca vaccination as Premier Daniel Andrews casts doubt on the federal government’s Pfizer supply arriving in October.

Mr Andrews said national cabinet on Friday was told there were “some issues”.

“I’m sure the Commonwealth government is working very hard to resolve that,” Mr Andrews said. “But it is a bit uncertain exactly how much Pfizer will come to our country, and of course, our state next month.

“That is another reason to go and book AstraZeneca today. It is available.”

The federal government’s Covid-19 vaccine taskforce is confident the nine million Pfizer doses expected in October will still arrive. However, vaccine rollout chief Lieutenant General John Frewen is understood to have told leaders Pfizer’s head office was yet to confirm exactly how many would arrive each week.

The figures, now due, mean states are unable to plan and announce bookings with certainty until the weekly allocations are updated.

Pharmacies will this week begin offering appointments for the Moderna vaccine.