Rolling coverage: Victoria shuts border to parts of WA
Parts of Western Australia have been deemed red zones under Victoria’s “traffic light” travel permit system, leaving people stranded.
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Parts of Western Australia have been deemed red zones under Victoria’s “traffic light” travel permit system, leaving people stranded.
Anyone who has visited the Perth metropolitan area, the Peel region and the South West region of Western Australia since January 25 will not be allowed to enter Victoria.
Perth was on Sunday afternoon plunged into five-day lockdown after a hotel quarantine security guard contracted COVID-19 then went to a large number of locations in the community, not knowing he had it.
At least one flight has landed at Melbourne Airport since the annoucement, but it’s not yet clear if people must quarantine in Victoria if they have already arrived.
The rest of Western Australia outside of the red zone areas of the Perth metropolitan area, the Peel region and the South West region will remain green zones.
WA Premier Mark McGowan held an emergency press conference on Sunday afternoon, revealing WA’s first locally-acquired case in almost 10 months.
He said the male guard aged in his 20s had been working at Four Points by Sheraton in the CBD where there were four active cases, including two of the UK variant and one of the South African mutant strain.
The Maylands resident had tested negative on January 15, 17 and 23 but developed symptoms on Thursday, January 28.
Mr McGowan said it was suspected the man had the highly contagious UK variant as he had worked on the same floor as a case of that strain.
“Exactly how the infection was acquired remains under investigation,” the Premier said.
“We suspect he contracted the illness on the Tuesday or the Wednesday.
“We are advised that he may have been a driver for one of the rideshare companies.
“The last day he worked in the hotel was Wednesday, but we are advised, and this is being carefully followed up, that he did not do any other work in the time since.”
WA Health Minister Roger Cook said the man was potentially infectious while out in the community, listing multiple businesses in Maylands he had been to as well as the Perth Convention Centre.
“Something did go wrong and we do need to get to the bottom of it,” Mr Cook said.
“It is a serious situation and that is why we invite everyone to undertake the measures that we are all familiar with, that we undertook during March and April last year.
“For five days … just make sure that we take the opportunity to get on top of this situation.”
The man shares a unit with three other people who have so far returned negative results - but that will likely change.
“We put them into hotel quarantine, because the chances are they will subsequently term positive,” Mr McGowan said.
WA chief health officer Andy Robertson said the man was probably infectious from January 26.
The lockdown applies to the Perth, Peel and South West regions and begins at 6pm WST on Sunday, running until 6pm on Friday.
“People in the Perth, Peel and South West regions need to stay inside their region for the next five days, unless for an essential reason,” the Premier said.
Those are: shopping for essentials like groceries and medicine, to receive medical care, exercising within your neighbourhood with one other person for one hour per day and working when doing so from home is not possible.
Wearing a mask at all times outside, while working indoors and on public transport is mandatory.
Mr McGowan strongly encouraged anyone currently in the Perth, Peel and South West areas who are from another WA region to stay put.
“Do not travel further outside of this area until the lockdown is over,” he said.
“If you do need to travel outside the region you are in now, that can only occur if you need to return to your place of residence.”
Pubs, bars and clubs, gyms, indoor sporting venues, playgrounds, skate parks, outdoor recreational facilities, places of worship, libraries and the Crown casino are among venues that must close.
Restaurants and cafes can provide takeaway service only and just 10 people can attend funerals.
Weddings are cancelled.
No visitors are permitted to homes unless caring for someone vulnerable or in an emergency, and no visitors will be allowed into aged care homes and hospitals unless there are exceptional circumstances.
School was due to start on Monday but that has now been put on hold.
Mr McGowan said international arrivals would continue for now.
“We currently have half capacity, 512 Australians returning per week,” he said.
“It alleviated the pressure on our hotels.
“In this circumstance it didn’t help us.
“Obviously we’ll see what happens over the course of the coming week, whether we need to make a request to the federal government for that continued reduction to continue for a longer period of time.”
Perth residents immediately descended on shops, with large queues forming outside pharmacists.
“Do not do panic shopping,” WA Police commissioner Chris Dawson urged.
25 DAYS OF NO CASES IN VIC
Victoria has recorded its 25th day in a row of no new coronavirus cases, as health authorities investigate an indeterminate test result.
Authorities were told of the test on Saturday night and are conducting follow up tests.
It’s understood the indeterminate result came after a negative saliva test a few days ago, followed by a weak positive nose test swab on Saturday.
The person is believed to be isolating as a precaution, along with their close contacts.
Public transport Minister Ben Carroll said DHHS would speak on the indeterminate result later on Sunday.
“A result that was negative a couple of days ago … has returned a weak positive,” he said.
“DHHS will have more to say about that later on.”
Precautionary public health actions are being taken, the Department of Health and Human Services said.
A total of 10,681 tests were received on Saturday.
There are 20 active cases statewide.
VIRUS FRAGMENTS DETECTED IN WASTEWATER
Fragments of coronavirus have been detected in Castlemaine, Cowes and Pakenham .
The fragments were detected in wastewater samples taken on January 27.
Anyone who has been in that area between January 25 and 27 is urged to get tested for the virus if they develop symptoms.
Fragments were also detected in Gisborne, Hamilton and Leongatha.
Anyone who was in Gisborne from 24 to 26 January, Hamilton from 25 to 27
January or Leongatha from 17 to 19 January is urged to get tested if they have any
symptoms.
DISCOUNTED FARES FOR OFF-PEAK TRAVEL
Public transport fares will be slashed by more than a dollar for those who travel off-peak under a new state government discount.
Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll confirmed a two hour full fare fee would drop from over $4 to about $2.80 when a 30 per cent off-peak discount applies from Sunday.
Those who touch on after 9.30am and before 4pm, or after 7pm, would see the drop in fees.
Meanwhile, a new website would give commuters information on how busy their train or platform was in a bid to encourage travellers to be COVID-safe.
The RideSpace website — a trial using real-time information through Myki data — was live from Sunday morning.
Mr Carroll said Myki data had been married up with new timetabling information, which included an extra 450 services, and gave colour coded information to indicate whether a service was busy (red) or quiet (green).
“RideSpace will give Victorian passengers information literally in the palm of their hand on how busy their train is or how busy their platform is,” Mr Carroll said.
He said it would give passengers “peace of mind” over density levels during the pandemic, and he called on those who had not yet returned to public transport to do so as it was “clean as a whistle”.
The new RideSpace site can be found at www.ridespace.coronavirus.vic.gov.au.
NEW TRAIN TIMES, AS WORKERS RETURN TO THE OFFICE
Thousands of extra commuters have returned to Melbourne’s public transport system over the past three weeks, with more expected as the holiday period comes to an end.
Patronage is still below half of normal levels before the pandemic but there are positive signs of recovery as authorities tip 70 per cent of passengers to return in the first half of the year.
It comes as a new timetable comes into effect on Sunday that adds hundred of extra train services throughout the week and provides cheaper fares for off-peak travel.
State government figures show on Wednesday public transport usage was about 44 per cent of normal pre-coronavirus levels.
The numbers were a sharp uptick from January 6 when this figure was at just 29 per cent.
Authorities are now preparing for a gradual increase in patronage over coming weeks and the end of school holidays is likely to motivate more people to head into the office.
Commuters are being urged to travel outside the typical rush hour to maintain public health advice such as social distancing, and have provided extra services and incentives to help.
Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll said the government would continue its extra cleaning program and install hand sanitiser stations across all modes of transport.
He said the new timetable added 450 services each week to allow passengers to physically distance.
“We’ve also added more services outside peak hours to encourage passengers to stagger their travel and are helping people to travel outside the peak with a 30 per cent discount from 9.30am – 4pm,” Mr Carroll said.
“We’ve done the work to make sure our network is, clean safe and ready – and Victorians should have every confidence to use public transport when they need it.”
Traffic on our roads has returned close to normal levels but public transport use is expected to remain at just under 70 per cent for a significant amount of time, prompting fears Melbourne congestion will worsen.
Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said the new timetable added much needed services on weekends and evenings for lines that had previously had crowding problems.
Commuters will also notice changes around the City Loop, with the Frankston line now running only to Flinders Street Station and Southern Cross Station.
“Overall it is a positive step forward,” he said.
“Week by week we’re seeing more people back on public transport so its important to have systems in place now to cater for that.”
— Kieran Rooney
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