Rolling coverage: Two new cases, no deaths as measure used in other states could’ve stopped regional virus outbreak
Daniel Andrews has offered Victorians a much-needed sliver of hope that Sunday will see a “significant” easing of restrictions, but he also confirmed which rules will be staying in place. It comes as QR codes and digital heat mapping technology will likely be introduced to speed up contact tracing.
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Victoria has recorded just two new cases of coronavirus and zero deaths in the past 24 hours.
The Metro Melbourne 14-day rolling average now sits at 8.7, with 17 unknown cases in the past fortnight, while the regional average remains at 0.6.
Victoria now has 157 active cases, with one of the new infections being linked to a known cluster and the other under investigation.
Both new infections are from Melbourne — one in Dandenong, linked to a known case, and another located in Knox.
There are 14 people are in hospital with coronavirus, with none receiving intensive care.
Ten healthcare workers are among the state’s active cases.
The low infection rate comes after a week of pinballing new cases which ultimately stopped the state from reaching its Step Three reopening target.
Last Saturday saw 14 new cases with 12 on Sunday, 15 on Monday, 12 on Tuesday, seven on Wednesday and six on Thursday.
Ninety-six per cent of Shepparton test results have been returned and the town currently has three active cases.
Friday’s new case count is Victoria’s lowest since June 8 when zero infections were recorded.
DIGITAL CHECK-INS PLANNED FOR VENUES
Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged that digital check-ins for many venues and retail stores will likely be used once the state reopens.
The move will allow for quicker contact tracing with smaller infection numbers.
Mr Andrews backed a hotel industry plan to introduce mandatory digital tracing of their venues’ patrons when they reopened.
But he stopped short of saying QR codes to be scanned by pub visitors would speed up a return to business for the sector.
“We’ll get them open when it’s safe to get them open, and when we can be certain that when we get them open we can keep them open,” he said.
“On the issue of whether technology makes it faster, I just say pubs in regional Victoria are already required, for instance, to do it the old-fashioned way but some are using technology.
“This will be about trying to standardise that.”
Mr Andrews said there would be work done to determine whether a similar scheme could be rolled out in retail outlets or other shops where people visited once the state reopened.
Digital heat mapping technology to track emerging clusters of shoppers will also be used.
Vicinity Centres, which owns half of Chadstone along with 60 other centres nationally, noted foot traffic at its sites outside of Victoria was back running at 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
As well as hand sanitiser, increased cleaning and signage, Vicinity will use real time digital heat mapping technology at its major centres to identify emerging busy zones, allowing these areas to be proactively managed.
“Generally, our centres are busiest during the middle of the day, which is why as retail reopens and restrictions ease we’re asking customers to plan their visit to our centres especially as we approach the peak trading period and lead up to Christmas,” said Vicinity’s premium assets director, Fiona Mackenzie.
“This includes considering coming outside of that peak middle-of-the-day period to help ensure everyone can move around the centre safely.”
ANDREWS ‘ON THE OUTER’ WITH HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
Prominent restaurant operator Chris Lucas said the industry would be very disappointed if there was no easing of restrictions to allow indoor dining soon.
“Premier Daniel Andrews is finding himself even further on the outer with the mood of Victorians,” he said.
“He’s finding himself more and more isolated.”
Mr Lucas, who owns Chin Chin among other top eateries, said the industry will assess what’s announced on Sunday, and then take any necessary steps.
“The longer he keeps us locked up the more damage, both economic and mental health-related, and the longer the jobless queues,” he said.
NORTHERN TERRITORY TO WELCOME AUSSIES HOME
A quarantine facility in the Northern Territory is expected to welcome more than 5000 Australians wanting to return from overseas over the next six months.
The federal government has locked in eight new flights with Qantas over the coming weeks from London, Johannesburg and New Delhi, which will carry 175 passengers each.
More than 29,000 Australians are still trying to fly home, including about 3000 who are considered vulnerable because of their medical or financial circumstances.
Scott Morrison confirmed on Friday that the Howard Springs facility, southeast of Darwin, would be used to bolster Australia’s capacity to take in more overseas arrivals.
Individuals will have to pay $2500 for their 14-day stay, while families will be charged $5000.
The Prime Minister said he had also held talks with Daniel Andrews to reopen Melbourne’s problem-plagued hotel quarantine system soon.
“That will make a big difference and we look forward to that happening as soon as that can,” Mr Morrison said.
“There remain challenges there at this point in time.”
Howard Springs will be used for the next six months, under an agreement with the Northern Territory government which can be extended if required.
Mr Morrison said that of about 4000 overseas Australians identified as vulnerable, a quarter had been able to return over the last month.
Qantas is working with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to prioritise the remaining vulnerable people on the new flights home, the cost of which will be underwritten by the government.
“We are doing everything we can to help Australians who have faced difficulty returning because of the pandemic,” Mr Morrison said.
Almost 400,000 Australians have returned home since the start of the pandemic.
PREMIER GIVES INSIGHT INTO RESTRICTIONS SET TO STAY
Melbourne’s latest coronavirus figures have come as the Premier offered hope for Victorians that Sunday will see a “significant” easing of restrictions.
“Today is a day we can be optimistic and be positive,” he said.
“Look at all we have achieved, we have stayed the course.
“I look forward to giving people a sense of what the coming weeks will look like (on Sunday).”
Mr Andrews said the steps will be “broadly in alignment with stage three, but we have to wait and see”.
And while the Premier remained tight-lipped about what exact changes will come next week, he did confirm the hard border between Melbourne and the regions would stay put.
“We will be ready with the rules that will need to be rewritten to bring those new settings on as soon as possible,” he said.
Mr Andrews also confirmed Sunday’s announcements will be “much more in the social space than in the economic space”.
In a blow to the hospitality industry, he confirmed changes to indoor dining will not take place next week.
“I’ve been very clear about that all week,” he said.
“It will not be safe for us to make those decisions (regarding opening restaurants and cafes).
“But there will be opportunities for regional Victoria.”
The news followed the Herald Sun’s report this morning that Melbourne pubs are “drowning in debt”.
“We’ll get them open when it’s safe to have them open and when they won’t then have to close again,” he said.
PM URGES PREMIER TO START MOVING FORWARD
Scott Morrison has urged Daniel Andrews to “move as far as he can possibly go” this Sunday and ease health restrictions because “Victorians have earned it”.
The Prime Minister delivered a pointed message to the Premier on Friday afternoon, saying: “At some time you’ve got to step off the shore and start moving forward again.”
“The Premier has made it clear that they have improved their tracing capability and it’s time to ensure that we can now move forward and give Victorians and Melburnians the opportunity to build back, to recover what has been so terribly lost over these recent, very difficult months,” Mr Morrison said.
“I’m looking forward to those announcements on the weekend, and I’m sure Victorians are. They’ll be, along with the rest of the country, urging the Premier to move as far as he possibly can go, because Victorians have earned it. They’ve done the right thing.They’ve kept their side of the bargain. Now it’s time, I think, for them to be able to move further forward.”
Meanwhile, Josh Frydenberg said the latest jobs data showed that while Victorians comprised 26 per cent of Australia’s population, they now make up 40 per cent of the national effective unemployment total.
“Victorians have paid a very high price for the failures in quarantine,” the Treasurer said.
“It is time for the lockdown to end and businesses to reopen in a COVID-safe way.”
HOW TRUCKIE’S REGIONAL SPREAD COULD HAVE BEEN STOPPED
A superspreader truck driver would have been prevented from seeding coronavirus in two regional areas had Victoria implemented a three-ring isolation strategy used in other states.
Both Queensland and NSW have “successfully” used the measure — which immediately isolates contacts of close contacts to an infected person — to snuff out new clusters.
Victorian authorities admitted on Thursday that had the strategy been in place, the truck driver would have isolated as soon as an employee at his son’s workplace tested positive. This would have been the day before he drove to regional Victoria, sparking outbreaks in Kilmore and Shepparton.
It comes as testing clinics in Shepparton were again overwhelmed, hitting capacity within hours of opening, as authorities scrambled to set up more sites.
Some “tired, frustrated, hungry and angry” residents languished in long queues for more than five hours.
And some who tried to repeatedly call a hotline set up to register people’s details found it was continually engaged.
The Health Department was forced to issue an urgent clarification on Thursday that contact tracers had the power to demand people’s photo data to confirm people’s movements — after Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng claimed they didn’t, in conflict with boss Brett Sutton’s comments the previous day.
Contact tracers were misled by the rogue truck driver, who failed to disclose his trip to Shepparton for more than two weeks.
Authorities made no attempt to independently verify his movements. The Herald Sun can reveal Queensland contact tracers ask people for “digital records such as their timeline on Google Maps, bank records or social media”, if needed.
Professor Cheng conceded on Thursday that the truck driver “would have been picked up” had Victoria been using the third ring approach — like other states — when the Chadstone outbreak occurred.
“We weren’t doing the contact of contacts approach, but that’s something we’re doing now,” he said.
Queensland Health told the Herald Sun that the third ring approach was “instrumental” in controlling outbreaks.
“Quarantining contacts of a close contact is a tactic we have used successfully to control the few outbreaks we have had,” the department said.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews could not say why the new close contact policy had not been enacted for Chadstone cluster.
He instead blamed the spread on the driver, for failing to obey the rules.
The manager of The Butcher Club was diagnosed on September 28 and an infected apprentice — the truck driver’s son — was tested the following day.
However, he only returned a positive result on September 30, after the truck driver had left town.
The truck driver stayed in Kilmore overnight at a residential property, travelling to Shepparton and Benalla before returning home to be tested.
Up to 400 Shepparton residents that were “close contacts of close contacts” are now isolating while awaiting test results, as authorities desperately attempt to contain the outbreak.
On Wednesday, 1862 locals in the region, including 1312 in Shepparton, were tested but only 350 coronavirus results had been returned.
It was predicted at least 2000 people were tested on Thursday as GV Health confirmed 120 of its healthcare workers were among those isolating, putting huge strain on the local health workforce.
OUTBREAK HAS SHEPP FRUSTRATED, TIRED, ANGRY
TEAMS trolleyed in trailers full of bottled water as anxious residents overwhelmed testing centres for a second day in Shepparton.
Locals were again forced to line up for more than five hours with new testing sites hastily set up to try to meet demand.
There was mass anger over the superspreader truck driver who has put hundreds into isolation, including 150 healthcare workers, and forced businesses to close.
“We did everything right and then one person stuffs it up,’’ Lizzie Helman said. “It’s terrible. People are more wary now.”
There was also widespread fury over the huge queues for tests. Hospital staff handed out fresh fruit and water as hordes lined up for tests outside Goulburn Valley Health.
Damien Stevens-Todd said, while it was great to see lots of people getting tested, the five-and-a-half hour wait was onerous.
“I’m tired, frustrated, hungry and angry,” he said.
“This has to be done — but I think it all could’ve been avoided if we all just followed the rules. But Shepp will come together and win.”
Demand was so big drive-through testing sites at the showgrounds and local sports precinct had to turn away people within an hour of opening. A third drive-through site was set up at Central Park Recreation Reserve in the afternoon, with cars two abreast snaking around the footy oval.
More than 500 people in the area were on Thursday tested with more than 400 in isolation.
There were no new cases in addition to the existing three.
But Goulburn Valley Health chief executive Matt Sharp said he feared more infections due to the popularity of the locations identified as a concern.
The latest was a Caltex service station southbound on the Hume Freeway at Kalkallo.
“It is highly likely we will have more positive results,’’ Mr Sharp said. “They are high volume, high turnover locations of many people moving through those areas.”
Testing hours had been extended to avoid delays, with sites also set up as far afield as Kyabram, Numurkah and Cobram.
Shepparton Chamber of Commerce and Industry president John Anderson, a local pharmacist, said several additional businesses had been forced to shut because staff were in quarantine.
“The mood of a lot of people is they feel vulnerable that this virus could get into the town so easily’’ Mr Anderson said.
“It’s changed from aghast that this has happened to anger and frustration.
“There is a lot of anxiety about why this has happened just because of one person.”
Despite the outbreak Mr Anderson hoped restrictions would be safely eased on Sunday.
“We can’t keep locking down whole communities. We can do what we are doing now. It’s putting out the spotfires rather than a clean sweep where everything is shut down,” he said.
All staff at the Lemon Tree Cafe, which shut because of the virus, as well the Thai Orchid Restaurant had been given the all-clear.
“Everyone’s really happy and relieved,” Lemon Tree Cafe owner Leanne Stride said. “We’re just upset for all people in regional Victoria – this affects people’s businesses and their livelihoods.”