Rolling coverage: The restrictions likely to be lifted on Friday

With the Holiday Inn cluster under control, restrictions are expected to be eased on Friday. These are the likely changes.

• This coronavirus article is unlocked and free to read in the interest of community health and safety. Click here for full digital access to trusted news from the Herald Sun and Leader for just $1 for the first 28 days.

Relaxed mask rules and a lift of on limits indoor and outdoor gatherings are likely to be announced on Friday, with the Andrews Government to consider a plan to return Victoria to the same restrictions it had on Christmas.

Senior ministers and the state’s public health team will meet in the morning to consider a proposal to return to COVIDSafe summer conditions which were in place before the Black Rock cluster.

Among the likely changes on the table will be larger amounts of visitors allowed at home and adjustments to the situations in which masks are required to be worn inside.

This could include a return to wearing masks only at indoor shopping centres, and other retailers where social distancing is difficult, and on public transport and in rideshare vehicles.

Premier Dan Andrews.

Premier Daniel Andrews said he expected to make an announcement before midday Friday, but it was not yet clear if the changes would be introduced from midnight or earlier.

“The current rules don’t expire until 11.59pm tomorrow night,” he said.

“I will try to give people as much notice as possible and I will try to get the setting back as close to, not New Year’s Eve, but to Christmas.

That’s what everyone’s working towards and that’s what Victorians have been able to produce, a much greater likelihood of that.

“I won’t commit to anything today because the advice has to come from the Chief Health Officer.”

The final rules are still open to change during the meeting but it’s understood the state’s run of days without cases, combined with a 14 day gap between the Holiday Inn cluster, has given officials more confidence to wind back restrictions significantly.

Further debate will focus on when a plan to revive a plan to send back 75 per cent workers back to offices, with discussions underway as to when to boost the limit on private and public sector staff.

QUEENSLAND TO REOPEN BORDERS

Queensland will reopen its borders this weekend, as Victoria records its sixth consecutive day of no new locally acquired cases.

The Sunshine State slammed the border closed earlier this month when greater Melbourne was declared a hotspot, but these restrictions will be eased from 1am on Saturday.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told parliament on Thursday morning the state’s chief health officer had given the green light for visitors to safely travel into Queensland.

On Thursday, there were 16 active cases in Victoria and 18,282 tests.

Premier Daniel Andrews, giving a COVID update at a press conference, all but confirmed a significant easing of restrictions on Friday, saying it will be a “positive day” for Victorians.

The Premier refused to be drawn on the planned easing of restrictions, saying important meetings with public health officials would be held ahead of the announcement.

But he said following a run of consecutive days of no new local cases he was confident of significant changes.

“No state’s been through as much as our state. Tomorrow will be a positive day,” he said.

Mr Andrews said 2000 Victorians have already had the vaccine jab.

“We are at the beginning of the end but it’s not over yet there is still a long way to go,” he added.

Premier Daniel Andrews gives a coronavirus update on Thursday.

PREMIER QUIZZED ON HEALTHCARE AUSTRALIA LINK

Mr Andrews was quizzed on links between the case in Queensland that saw two elderly aged care residents given four times the recommended dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and Victoria’s hotel quarantine program.

Healthcare Australia has been linked to the approval of a return traveller’s use of a nebuliser while in quarantine, which has since been identified as the cause of the Holiday Inn outbreak that plunged Victorians into a strict, five-day lockdown.

Healthcare Australia has also been linked to the Queensland vaccine incidents.

Mr Andrews refused to comment in detail, saying it was a federal government issue.

“An error made by a doctor in Queensland is not something that should be a cause of links being drawn with that company and any other work they are doing,” he said.

“There’s some links being drawn ... but it happened in Queensland. We are not rolling out vaccines in private aged care, the Commonwealth are.

“I wouldn’t be drawing any links with Victoria beyond that.”

The news comes as credentials of all Victorian doctors and nurses involved in the vaccine rollout are being urgently reviewed after two aged-care residents were mistakenly jabbed with four times the standard dose.

The untrained Queensland doctor was immediately stood down when the nurse working with him saw he had given the two elderly residents the incorrect dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

After claiming it was a case of human error and the doctor had been trained, Health Minister Greg Hunt later conceded a review had found he had not completed the required online modules.

The federal health department will independently check all contracted staff have completed required modules, following the serious breach on day two of the rollout.

“Healthcare Australia has now advised that the doctor had not completed the required training,” Mr Hunt said.

“This is being investigated by Healthcare Australia and we are expecting a report.”

Mr Hunt said Healthcare Australia had advised all other workers had completed the training.

“I have asked the department to take action against the company and the doctor for what is a clear breach,” he said.

It is understood the doctor could face further disciplinary action, including a probe from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

The incident is also being investigated by Australia’s deputy chief medical officer Michael Kidd who will probe how the doctor was allowed to inject patients without having his credentials checked.

Healthcare Australia — one of two companies heavily involved in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout across aged care homes — has also been placed “on notice”, according to senior federal government sources.

The company was told it could lose its contract if there was another breach. The 88-year-old man and 94-year-old woman who received the incorrect doses were both physically okay on Wednesday.

After the doctor’s blunder was picked up by a nurse working with him, he left the nursing home without apologising to the residents involved or admitting the mistake.

It is understood the Australian-trained doctor, who graduated in 2007, was sent the training information by Healthcare Australia, but did not complete it until the day after the incident.

The company itself is understood not to have checked if the doctor had completed the training before allowing him to start work.

The error was able to occur as the Pfizer vaccine is kept in multi-dose vials, while the training explained the dilution and administration process.

Jacinta Allan said the Queensland incident was unlikely to impact Victoria’s vaccine program.

St Vincent’s Care Services, which runs Holy Spirit Nursing Home where the incident occurred, said it had been a distressing situation.

“It’s also extremely concerning,” chief executive Lincoln Hopper said. “It’s caused us to question whether some of the clinicians given the job of administering the vaccine have received the appropriate training.”

Australian Medical Association federal vice president Chris Moy said it was “concerning and upsetting that it’s occurred”, but said he did not believe the blunder would deter public confidence in the vaccine program.

Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said the Queensland incident was unlikely to impact Victoria’s vaccine program. “We’re taking a very steady approach to these rollouts, because for a whole number of reasons we don’t want to see any wastage of this precious vaccine,” she said.

NZ TRAVELLER ALERT AS VICTORIA DECLARES AUCKLAND RED ZONE

Victoria has declared Auckland a red zone, meaning anyone who arrives from 11.59pm on Wednesday must spend two weeks in hotel quarantine.

The announcement was made by the Victorian Department of Health in a media release issued at 11.38pm on Wednesday.

The department said anyone who flew into Melbourne from New Zealand’s biggest city since Tuesday should get a COVID-19 test immediately and quarantine until they receive a negative test result.

Affected travellers were being contacted by Victorian health officials with advice on where to get tested.

Anyone who has flown into Melbourne from Auckland after 11.59pm on Wednesday must quarantine for two weeks.

It follows the detection of three community cases in south Auckland on Tuesday.

The New Zealand government said in an announcement on Wednesday there had been no further cases linked to that cluster.

The decision by Victoria follows similar rulings by NSW and Queensland, where the border was also being closed to Auckland.

In NSW, anyone who has flown in from Auckland since Saturday February 20 must get tested immediately and quarantine until they get a negative result.

Queensland’s rules apply to anyone who has arrived from New Zealand since February 6 and has not already had a test.

VACCINE DELAYED TWICE AT A BENDIGO NURSING HOME

A delivery of COVID-19 vaccines has been delayed twice at a Bendigo nursing home and residents are still waiting to learn when the jabs will arrive.

The 49 residents at Benetas St Laurence Court aged care home in Kangaroo Flat were due to be immunised on Monday – the first day of the national rollout – but that was pushed back until Wednesday.

Extra staff were brought in on Wednesday morning and residents were lining up ready to roll up their sleeves but at 9.15am they found out the vaccines were not coming.

Instead, they were told the vials had been sent to Benetas St Laurence Court Eaglehawk, a facility owned by the same company in a different Bendigo suburb.

Benetas Kangaroo Flat residential manager Vikki Ough said there was no explanation provided of when the vaccines would eventually arrive.

“We haven’t been advised yet on when they will be attending to administer the vaccine but they have said that we will be a priority for the next date,” she said.

“We had a 100 per cent consent rate from our residents and they are really keen to have the vaccine and the protection and a comfort against COVID-19.

“We understand that this is a big task on a tight time frame. Things happen and we are just looking forward to getting the vaccination.”

Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said almost 90 per cent of aged care homes that thought they would get the vaccine this week have not received it.

“How will the Morrison Government vaccinate 214 aged care facilities by the end of the week?

“If the vaccine rollout has already fallen this far behind how will Scott Morrison keep his promise to have four million people vaccinated by the end of March?”