Rolling COVID coverage: No new cases as Victoria’s vaccine rollout ramps up

Victoria’s state of emergency looks set to be extended following parliamentary negotiations as the state’s rollout ramps up.

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Victoria’s state of emergency looks set to be extended following successful negotiations with the Greens and key cross benchers.

A raft of government amendments will tonight be considered by Cabinet that would secure enough support for the extension of the emergency powers, the Herald Sun has been told.

Legislation to extend the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (State of Emergency Extension) Bill is set to be debated in the upper house on Tuesday.

It has already passed the lower house.

Leader of the Opposition in the upper house, David Davis, said the opposition was still in the dark about the amendments.

“It’s clear that the Andrews Government is locked deep in secret negotiations,” Mr Davis said.

“I believe some sort of deal has been done, but the government has refused to produce the house amendments despite the bill going to the floor of the house at 1 o’clock on Tuesday,” he said.

“What sort of dirty grubby side deal has been done.”

Victoria has been in a continuous state of emergency since March 16 last year, but under current legislation cannot exceed March 16.

It gives Victoria’s Chief Health Officer extraordinary powers to do whatever is necessary to contain the spread of COVID-19 and reduce the risk to the health of Victorians.

The government was forced to rush through legislation last year increasing the maximum total period for a State of Emergency from six months to 12 months.

The government faced intense backlash over its original proposal, which would have given Premier Daniel Andrew 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.

VICTORIA’S VACCINE ROLLOUT RAMPS UP

No adverse reactions have been reported after almost 1000 COVID vaccinations at Melbourne Airport’s makeshift hospital as the first international doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine touched down in Australia.

Meanwhile, the state has recorded no new COVID cases for the third consecutive day, with Victoria’s active caseload dropping to 11.

About 900 airline crew members, Border Force personnel, quarantine and frontline health workers rolled up their sleeves at the airport last week.

Friday was the hub’s busiest day with about 200 people vaccinated.

Head of Western Health’s vaccination hubs program Lisa Smith said injections would also start at the Royal Melbourne Hospital on Monday, with healthcare workers who dealt with international travellers from that and other city hospitals first in line.

Sunshine Hospital’s vaccination hub would swing into action on March 4, while Werribee’s Mercy Hospital site opened on March 9.

Melbourne Airport’s vaccination hub. Picture: Penny Stephens

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is removed from a flight at Sydney Airport. Picture: Getty Images

Ms Smith said that while some needle-nervous patients had “felt woozy” and fainted at the airport hub, and there had been “the odd person with a sore arm”, there had been no significant vaccine side-effects reported so far.

“That may be different with the second dose because our understanding is that … you’re more likely to have a, not severe, but perhaps more than mild reaction,” she said.

Scott Morrison on Sunday celebrated the touchdown of about 300,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The Prime Minister said the first shipment marked the start of the “rollout ramp-up”, with the Oxford-developed jab to join the scheme from March 8.

“We will now be able to scale up the vaccination rollout to our priority groups, including our most vulnerable Australians and to our frontline border and health workers,” he said.

A further 50,000 Pfizer doses will be split up between the states over the next 24 hours.

Melbourne Airport’s international departure lounge has been transformed into a mini-hospital. A team of about 30 vaccination workers is based at the hub with a doctor permanently onsite.

VIRAL TRACES IN SUBURBAN SEWAGE

Residents in 10 suburbs in Melbourne’s east remain on alert for COVID symptoms after virus fragments were detected in wastewater.

Authorities urged residents or visitors to Lilydale, Chirnside Park, Coldstream, Kalorama, Olinda, Montrose, Mount Dandenong, Mount Evelyn, Yarra Glen and Yering with “even the mildest of symptoms” to get tested.

The fragments were found in wastewater collected on February 25 with no known cases in the area.

It came after fragments were detected in a sample collected on February 22 from a catchment that covers Taylors Hill, Plumpton, Hillside, Sydenham, Delahey, Caroline Springs, Burnside Heights, Kings Park, Albanvale, Burnside and Deer Park.