Victoria records one new coronavirus case and no deaths as suburban business revolts
A barber shop in Melbourne’s southeast has been shut down by police after defying stage four restrictions and reopening. It comes as Victoria recorded just one new case and zero deaths from coronavirus in the past 24 hours.
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 has recorded just one new case and zero deaths from coronavirus in the past 24 hours.
The dip marks the state’s lowest daily tally since June 8 and sees Melbourne’s 14-day rolling average drop to 8.1 while regional Victoria’s is now 0.7.
There are 13 Victorians in hospital, none are in intensive care.
The state now has 148 active cases of coronavirus with the newest infection linked to a known outbreak.
It comes as optimism is growing about the Shepparton outbreak after a testing blitz revealed no additional spread of the disease.
Eleven healthcare workers have coronavirus and there are 13 active cases in aged care.
BUSINESSES BITE BACK TO PROLONGED RESTRICTIONS
Adam and Weave barber shop owners have been slapped with a $9913 fine for breaking Melbourne’s stage four lockdown when they opened for business this morning.
Victoria Police spokeswoman Belinda Batty said they empathise with closed businesses but after several warnings they had to take action.
“Victoria Police understands the difficulties facing many businesses at the moment and made every effort to see today’s matter resolved without the need for a fine to be issued,” she said.
“However, after repeated warnings and consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services the business owner was issued a fine for $9,913.
“Victoria Police would like to commend the vast majority of Victorians who continue to adhere to restrictions.”
A man was also arrested outside the business and was given an infringement notice for failing to comply with the Chief Health Officer’s directions.
Adam and Weave Barber Shop attended to its first customers in months at 8.30am after annoucing the plans on taking to social media.
But just hours later Victoria Police had forced the business to shut and issued its owners with a fine.
Police were earlier standing out the front of the barber while customers waited in line to be served.
On Friday night, Adam and Weave posted a video sending a message to supporters and critics alike.
Adam and Weave Jomana Najem said Victoria Police had earlier been in contact to “dissuade” them from opening.
“We just had a call from Victoria Police basically trying to dissuade us from opening tomorrow morning and telling us that they are going to be here tomorrow morning and that we could possibly be issued a $10,000 fine,” she said in the clip.
“Can you please stop calling and being annoying, we are going to open after that whether you say so or not. Whoever that troll or bully is just stop, don’t waste your time.”
Ms Najem said the salon has been flooded with bookings and called for new barbers to help with increasing demand.
- Grace McKinnon
ANDREWS TAKES AIM AT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Daniel Andrews has defended the government’s lengthy lockdown after Greg Hunt called for Victoria to introduce restrictions in line with New South Wales and tweeted our state had met the “epidemiological” conditions.
“If Minister Hunt is genuinely suggesting that we are keeping this lock down on because somehow we think Victorians are enjoying it or it is a choice that we are making, this is just - it’s just wrong,” he said.
“I will predict that whatever I stand up here tomorrow and announce, there will be members of that Federal Government, some who are from Victoria but I don’t think they’re for Victoria, who will be out there saying ‘It is not enough, you should have done more’.”
“There are some people who have played politics every day of this and I’m pretty sick of it.”
- Sarah Booth
ANDREWS TEMPERS EXPECTATION AHEAD OF SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Daniel Andrews acknowledged when “numbers are low, expectations get high” but said tomorrow’s announcements will not be every step “we had hoped to take”.
He told the press conference Victorians will be able to make plans with scheduled steps for next week and the following week to be released tomorrow.
“There are 17 mystery cases out there and they got it from someone,” he said.
“There’s more out there than we think.”
“We have to be conservative and careful, we have to take safe and steady steps.”
- Sarah Booth
PREMIER HITS BACK AT KIWIS IN VICTORIA
Daniel Andrews has said Victorian authorities are still waiting on Australia Border Force to provide them with the passenger details of the 17 New Zealanders who snuck into Melbourne on Friday night.
“I have written to the Prime Minister this morning and I’m very disappointed this has happened given that I had written to the Prime Minister on this very issue the previous day,” he said.
“(We’ve had) 17 people turning up on our doorstep without any notice … and we still can’t get the cards from Australian Border Force as to who these people are and where they have gone.”
“They didn’t spend very long at the airport. They left the airport within only minutes, really, of having arrived.”
“Our officers have absolutely no power to stop someone, to detain someone in those circumstances, particularly given they were coming from a very low virus part of the world.”
The Premier said without the passenger cards, his government doesn’t know where the New Zealanders are.
“We presume they’re in metropolitan Melbourne,” he said.
“It’s a lengthy period of time (to wait for passenger cards).”
- Sarah Booth
ANDREWS URGES COMPLIANCE WITH CONTACT TRACING
Daniel Andrews has hit out at people who lie about their movements when contact tracers interview them following criticism of contact tracing delays.
He said in one example, a person didn’t tell authorities about their second job “because the job was one which is not known to the ATO”.
“There’s people who go and visit regional communities and don’t tell us,” he said.
“There’s no sense of shame or stigma, you just have to give us the most complete picture.
“Talking to a contact tracer - we’ll respect your privacy, we just want the corona (information).”
The contact tracing system has come under fire this week after it emerged the truck driver who spread COVID-19 to regional Victoria may have isolated earlier if a three-ring isolation strategy - used in other states public health response - was implemented.
- Sarah Booth
‘NO SMALL THING’: PREMIER POSITIVE ABOUT CASE COUNT
Premier Daniel Andrews said on Friday Victorians had accomplished a major achievement, but more work was necessary.
“Today is a day we can be optimistic and be positive,” Mr Andrews said.
“Look at all we have achieved, we have stayed the course.
“We have made a conscious decision to defeat this second wave and we have found that in ourselves
“This is no small thing.”
Mr Andrews said mystery cases in the community were still a concern.
“They are not cases that are contained,” he said.
“There has to be at least one other person they contracted the virus from.”
The state’s chief health officer Brett Sutton confirmed a child was in the Royal Children’s Hospital with a positive COVID diagnosis.
It is not yet known how the child contracted the virus, but Prof Sutton said “there’s no particular concern around childcare”.
Authorities will have processed close to 5000 tests in Shepparton by Saturday afternoon.
On Friday, numbers dwindled at Shepparton testing sites after more than 3000 locals presented on Thursday.
There are now 233 close contacts and about 150 secondary contacts in self-isolation or being monitored.
Goulburn Valley Health chief executive Matt Sharp said about 70 healthcare staff had been furloughed as a result of the “high-risk locations”.
“There’s been no impact to our services and that’s what’s important,” Mr Sharp said.
He said he hoped for a clear picture on any further infections in the next 24 to 48 hours.
“The nature of this outbreak and the high number of locations that we have promoted … was significant,” he said.
“An outbreak of this scale is much larger than we’ve had. (But) we’ve got a great amount of testing capability.”
MORE NEWS:
TELSTRA HANDS CRUCIAL PHONE RECORDS TO HOTEL INQUIRY