Victoria’s coronavirus cases stabilise, another 12 people die
Sunny weather across Victoria this weekend is expected to attract surfers to some of the state’s most famous beaches - but they have been told the ADF will be out in force with police. The warning comes as new virus case numbers remain stable.
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Australian Defence Force personnel will join patrols of popular Surf Coast beaches this weekend.
With good surf and weather predicted, police have announced they will be supported by the ADF in patrolling beaches along the Surf Coast, west of Melbourne - including Bells Beach, Torquay, Anglesea and Lorne - to ensure people follow COVID restrictions.
Surfers drawn to the area are likely to be a focus of the operation.
Victoria Police’s Surf Coast local area commander, Inspector Monique Leffanue, said: “Our community safety patrols will include all beach areas and car parks, in the company of ADF personnel. These patrols will be highly visible and tasked to ensure strict COVID compliance.
“This tasking complements a number of initiatives with Surf Coast Shire - all aimed at ensuring our community is as safe as possible during stage three restrictions.”
Melbourne surfers have for more than a month been banned from riding the waves of the Torquay area and beaches further afield.
Some boardriders have been hit with $1652 fines after running the gauntlet.
There have also been fines issued on the other side of Port Phillip Heads.
There was friction among locals in July over who should surf on the Mornington Peninsula.
Some locals erected a sign and scrawled graffiti at Gunnamatta Beach telling visitors to stay away.
Melbourne will be sunny on Saturday and Sunday with tops of 17C and 19C.
MASKED SINGER OUTBREAK STABILISES
All the test results from The Masked Singer have been returned and no new coronavirus cases have been recorded.
The total number of positive cases was 17 after the outbreak forced the show to be shut down last weekend. Seven dancers initially tested positive and nine more followed this week.
Host Osher Gunsberg, panellists Dave Hughes, Dannii Minogue, Urzila Carlson and Jackie O all returned negative tests. They remain in isolation with the finale still to be recorded.
Network 10 has said it will proceed with filming in some form, with more details to come next week.
DAILY VIRUS NUMBERS REMAIN STABLE
Victoria’s daily COVID-19 increase has remained stable, with another 113 new cases detected.
The figure matches Thursday’s increase, and is the equal lowest increase since July 5 when 74 cases were reported.
Authorities have admitted the number is slightly ahead of early projections, with confidence in how the state is tracking.
Sadly, another 12 people died from COVID-19, bringing Victoria’s total death toll to 497.
All of the Victorians who have died in the past 24 hours were linked to aged care.
Their ages ranged from a man in his 70s to eight people in their 90s.
There are 513 Victorians in hospital, including 17 in ICU and 29 on ventilators.
In the past 24 hours, 19,863 people were tested for coronavirus.
Active cases among healthcare workers rose to 449, an increase of 134, but much of this is believed to be from new data methods, with disability workers now classified in these figures.
There are 1362 active cases linked to aged care and 45 to the disability sector.
Regional Victoria accounts for 187 active infections.
Authorities have listed an additional 46 infections as mystery cases, taking the state’s total to 4197.
PM PEGS PLAN FOR MELBOURNE TO EXIT LOCKDOWN
It comes as Scott Morrison has called for a road map for Melbourne to move out of lockdown that is transparent and location-specific.
The Prime Minister will on Friday call for a “principles-based approach to easing restrictions” and shifting out of stage four, with decisions that are driven by data, well communicated to the public, and “co-designed with industry where appropriate”.
It comes after Premier Dan Andrews on Thursday flagged a road map to recovery would be revealed “soon”, but offered no detail on what post-lockdown life would look like.
Amid increasing pressure from struggling businesses demanding some certainty, Mr Andrews said: “When I am ready to make those announcements then I will make those announcements.
“We quite soon hope to be able to give people a road map, a clear plan about what coming out of stage four looks like, what opening up looks like, what finding COVID-normal looks like.
“I am not in a position to be able to do that, but what I am foreshadowing is we will give people as much notice as we possibly can.”
Mr Andrews said numbers were “stabilising” and even admitted “we are probably ahead of where we might have expected”.
But he still declined to provide clarity about when people could return to work and leave their homes.
The state government is also looking increasingly likely to clinch a six-month extension on the controversial extension of the state of emergency, which expires on September 13.
It had originally wanted a year-long extension, which would have given the Premier and Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton the ongoing power to impose restrictions, including to wear masks or to stay at home, without parliament’s approval until September 2021.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos has compromised by offering a six-month deal amid intense backlash from the public and crossbench MPs, some of whose support the government needs to pass the Bill.
It is understood Animal Justice Party’s Andy Meddick, Reason party MP Fiona Patten, independent Catherine Cumming and two Justice Party MPs have indicated they are open to negotiating with the government.
But Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien hit out at Mr Andrews for keeping Victorians in the dark while seeking to extend his power.
“Victorians want to see a plan to get us out of this state of emergency but Daniel Andrews has only got a plan to keep us in lockdown,” Mr O’Brien said.
He also raised concern the proposed amendments would allow the government to keep restrictions in place, even if the state had no active cases of COVID-19.
According to the latest data, Victoria has 3308 active COVID-19 cases.
NEW TWIST IN AGED CARE OUTBREAKS REVEALED
Longer wait times for coronavirus tests may have contributed to outbreaks through some aged care facilities, with the head of one Catholic provider revealing some his staff waited two to three days for a result.
Speaking before a parliamentary inquiry into the government’s COVID-19 response, Mercy Health Aged Care Group chief executive Stephen Cornelissen said it was difficult to point to one single cause to why the virus had spread so quickly through the sector.
But when pushed for ways the system could be improved, Mr Cornelissen said there had been longer waits than expected for staff who were getting tested early on in the pandemic.
“I want to be clear I don’t think I’ve got many workers that came to work sick,” he said.
“They were very concerned about what they may bring into the state … Most were asymptomatic.
“(But) some of those first test results may have been a bit slow getting to them.
“That may be because aged care workers weren’t seen as healthcare workers, or didn’t identify themselves as a health care worker.
“During those two to three days of first response and contact tracing, that’s the difference between catching it early or it catching you.”
Mr Cornelissen said the aged care facilities had set up plans for the virus but that improvements could be made in the way governments and agencies communicated.
“They were never going to be foolproof,” he said.
“The problem was that … It seemed like we were asked by five or six different agencies to provide the same document.
“Aged care is a very thinly managed organisation and one manager responding to all those is a concern.
“If that could be co-ordinated I think that would be an improvement.”
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