Rolling coverage: Isolating Victorians to be freed as Brisbane downgraded to orange zone

From 6pm on Thursday, Victorians isolating after returning from Brisbane will be able to leave quarantine if they’ve returned a negative virus test.

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Victorians quarantining after returning from Brisbane will be free to leave home from 6pm, provided they have returned a negative COVID test since their arrival.

The Department of Health on Thursday issued updated advice after the Queensland government ended Brisbane’s snap lockdown.

Victoria shut its border to Brisbane and declared the area a red zone, meaning Victorians returning from the area were forced into a 14-day quarantine.

But the area will be downgraded to an orange zone from 6pm.

It means people observing the red zone permit conditions will be free to end their isolation if they have returned a negative COVID test since arriving in Victoria.

However primary close contacts linked to exposure sites in Queensland and NSW must continue to self isolate for 14 days from their exposure.

There will be no change to current orange zones in the Gladstone region and NSW’s Byron Shire.

SHOPPING CENTRES TO HELP VACCINE ROLLOUT

Major shopping centres have put their hands up to help in the COVID vaccination rollout.

Chadstone, Highpoint and regional shopping centres say they are prepared to become hubs once the vaccine is available to the millions of mainstream Australians that don’t qualify for early access.

Major shopping centres have written to the nation’s chief medical officer offering their help off the back of the successful testing hubs at the height of the pandemic.

Angus Nardi, executive director of the Shopping Centre Council of Australia, wrote to Professor Paul Kelly to offer them up as vaccination hubs.

“Our letter to Professor Kelly was really on the basis of our willingness to help and the capability that we developed in assisting the Victorian Government with covid testing, the fact that we’ve stayed open the whole time and have been proven to operate COVID-safely,” he said.

Shopping hubs like Highpoint could be turned into vaccination hubs. Picture: Jay Town

“If that would assist the government, we’re happy to assist. Whether that be practical terms with the provision of space, working with GP clinics in our centres or pharmacies within our centres.

“We’ve got members in regional towns and rural areas, in addition to across the metro areas.”

Mr Nardi says the federal chief medical health office was receptive to the idea and suggested they approach each of the respective state governments.

“We had a positive response from Professor Kelly and he has encouraged us to go to the states, really where the rubber is then hitting the road at that state level,” he said.

Another incentive to have vaccination hubs in shopping centres is to assist retail workers, the largest private sector employer in the country, to get easy and quick access.

Chadstone, Highpoint, Fountain Gate, Werribee Plaza, Northland, Southland and Victoria Gardens were among the major shopping centres used as COVID testing sites last year.

COVID testing at Highpoint Shopping Centre during stage four lockdown in Melbourne. Picture: David Crosling

BRISBANE LOCKDOWN LIFTS AT 12PM

Brisbane’s lockdown will be lifted from midday after one case of local transmission was detected overnight.

But it is not yet clear if Victoria will lift its border restrictions on the Queensland capital, where tough restrictions will remain.

Greater Brisbane is a designated red zone, meaning non-Victorian residents are barred from entry without an exemption.

Returning Victorians must apply for a permit, return straight home and self-quarantine for a fortnight.

Meanwhile, Victoria has recorded 34 consecutive days since the state last recorded a case of local transmission.

More than 19,000 test results were received on Wednesday.

Brisbane residents who arrived in Melbourne from red zones shortly after the Queensland border closure on Monday will be “repatriated”. Picture: Ian Currie

QR CODE BLITZ ON VIC BUSINESSES

Supermarkets, cafes and restaurants will be targeted in a three-week COVID safety blitz to crack down on overcrowding and those flouting QR check ins.

Queen Victoria Market, retail stores and pubs will be among locations scrutinised as part of about 3900 checks — one of the biggest efforts yet.

The Herald Sun can reveal authorities will ramp up checks on high-risk business and industries across Victoria, including warehouse and distribution centres and commercial cleaning services.

The operation — coinciding with Easter and the school holidays — will check businesses have a current COVIDSafe plan and that their QR code system is working and properly used by staff and customers.

Authorised officers will also check that venues are sticking to their capacity limits and people are keeping their distance.

A COVID safety blitz will crack down on overcrowding and those flouting QR check-ins.

The blitz will begin with seafood, meat and poultry businesses in the lead-up to Easter as well as supermarkets.

Queen Victoria Market will be a focus with big crowds ­expected, while businesses identified as non-compliant in previous visits will be followed up.

Authorities stressed the ­operation was about education rather than penalising businesses found doing the wrong thing.

Fines — $1652 for individuals and $9913 for businesses — will be a last resort.

Police and Emergency Services Minister Danny Pearson said every Victorian should be proud of just how far the state had come tackling the pandemic.

“This blitz is about making sure we can keep the community safe while focusing on ­social and economic recovery,” Mr Pearson said.

“We know most businesses are doing the right thing, but we’ll be out in force over the next few weeks to make sure COVIDSafe plans are in place and being adhered to — supporting high-risk industries and workplaces to stay safe, stay open.”

Queen Victoria Market will be a focus of the crackdown.

Booking information from short-stay rental firm Airbnb — which has reported huge demand in the week starting Good Friday — has been used to help decide which areas will be targeted.

Compliance teams will this week focus on the Bass Coast, Mornington Peninsula, East Gippsland and Yarra Ranges.

They’ll then move to the Surf Coast, Geelong, Glenelg Shire, Bellarine Peninsula, Colac-Otway, Warrnambool, Ballarat, Alpine, Hepburn and Grampians regions.

An extra 500 businesses a week will be checked compared with usual levels.

Already during the pandemic more than 15,500 physical checks across Melbourne and regional Victoria have been made to ensure businesses are following their obligations under the chief health officer’s directions.

There have been more than additional 7000 inquiries over phone and email.

Statewide 825 coronavirus-related compliance notices have been issued.

Large crowds are expect at markets in the lead up to Easter.

ONLY ONE-THIRD OF AGED CARE VACCINATED

Only one-third of residential aged and disability care facilities nationwide have received COVID-19 vaccinations more than a month after the immunisation program began, as a new row erupted between the states and the commonwealth over supply ­delays.

Just 848 of 2500 residential aged care and disability care facilities have received initial doses of the vaccine and only 279 have been supplied with both Pfizer doses. Federal and state authorities continue to refuse to provide details about when the program would be complete.

The delays in the vaccination program has turned into a public brawl between the commonwealth and the states.

Read the full story here.

NSW EXPOSURE SITES GROW

Queensland’s worsening COVID-19 outbreak is causing border chaos as cases stretch to NSW, shutting down a major festival.

Victorians are nervously watching on after the northern cluster spread over state lines, with NSW recording no new cases on Thursday after one new local case was recorded on Wednesday.

The NSW man tested positive after sitting close to an infected hen’s party in Byron Bay. The case prompted the cancellation of the popular Bluesfest, set to take place from Thursday.

It comes as COVID-19 fragments were detected in the wastewater of 18 Melbourne suburbs in the southeast and outer west, including Berwick, Narre Warren, Werribee and Hoppers Crossing.

Meanwhile, a “small number” of Brisbane residents who arrived in Melbourne from red zones shortly after the Queensland border closure on Monday will be “repatriated” to the Sunshine State after an embarrassing blunder.

Fifteen travellers — including Brisbane-based man Sam — on flight QF635, which left Brisbane before the city was deemed a red zone, were detained at Melbourne Airport and thrown into hotel quarantine, despite being assured they would be required to isolate only until tested.

Sam’s partner, Harriet, told the Herald Sun he wouldn’t have flown home for Easter if Victorian authorities hadn’t confirmed “multiple times” his flight was safe to catch.