Melbourne locked down again as virus plague spirals as Victoria records 191 new virus cases
Defence Force personnel and police officers will surround Melbourne to enforce new lockdown restrictions, which have been reintroduced amid warnings of catastrophic outcomes as authorities warn coronavirus is spreading beyond containment lines.
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More than 5.2 million Victorians will be forced back into harsh lockdown conditions for at least six weeks, as the state’s coronavirus tally spirals out of control.
Defence Force personnel and police officers will surround Melbourne to enforce the new lockdown, which comes into force from 11.59pm on Wednesday night.
Residents of metropolitan Melbourne, and Mitchell Shire north of the city, will be banned from leaving home except for one of four essential reasons: to shop for food and essential goods and services; for care or compassionate reasons; to exercise outdoors; or for work or study — if it can’t be done from home.
The strict stay-at-home orders are being reintroduced as authorities warn the virus is spreading beyond containment lines.
Premier Daniel Andrews issued a grim summary of the situation in Victoria saying “we know we are on the cusp of something very, very bad”.
“It is simply impossible with case rates at this level … to suppress and contain this virus, without taking significant steps,” he said.
“If we were to fail to take those steps, then it won’t be a couple of hundred cases per day it will be many more than that and it will quickly spiral well and truly out of control.”
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said we would see deaths from the cases already occurring every day.
“It’s painful to have to say it and go through it and to flag we’ve got six very difficult weeks ahead of us,” he said.
“But we have been through this before and we did it successfully. We turned the tide with our first of infections in Victoria and we drove infections right down again.
“We’re facing as significant a situation this time around. But there is a unanimous view this is to avoid catastrophic outcomes. thousands of cases per day and I know we will already see deaths from the cases we have occurring every day.”
The only reason people in the locked down areas will be allowed to leave their homes will be for shopping for essential items and food, medical reasons and caregiving, work and study, and exercise.
No visitors are allowed in people’s houses, public gatherings will be restricted to two people outside your household and school holidays have been extended by one week for Prep to Year 10 students.
Pupils in Year 11 and 12, as well as special needs students, will return to school on Monday, July 13.
Victoria Police will be responsible for manning roadblocks between metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.
“There will be every chance you’ll be stopped and asked. If you don’t have a lawful excuse, then there are significant penalties that will apply,” Mr Andrews said.
More booze bus-style arrangements will be established by police to monitor movement between areas.
Mr Andrews has requested an additional 260 Australian Defence Force personnel to assist with ground support, including staging areas, transport, roadblocks and command centre support.
When asked about JobKeeper for Victorians, Mr Andrews said he was confident Prime Minister Scott Morrison knew there would be different forms of hardship in differnt parts of the county, different industries and different sectors.
“I’m confident the Prime Minister knows that and that he and his colleagues are looking to design whatever the next series of decisions that they make, whatever those new or different policy settings are,” he said.
“I think he is going to be guided by that hardship just as we are. Where there is hardship, you have to have a response that is appropriate to that and that means that you have got a set of policy, a set of tools that where they’re needed most they will make the most difference.
“Given our circumstances, that may well be of additional benefit because we have additional need now and of course into the future.”
FRUSTRATION LEADS TO RULE BREAKERS
Mr Andrews said the government was left with no choice but to reimpose the tough rules.
“I think a sense of complacency has crept into us as we let our frustrations get the better of us,” he said.
“We have to be, clear with each other, that this is not over. And pretending that it is because we all wanted to be over, is not the answer.
“We can’t just go back to normal, despite the fact we all want to. We have got to find a COVID-19 normal.
“That means you can’t pick and choose which rules you follow. You can’t let your frustration get the better of you. We’ve all got to do the right thing, otherwise we will not just have tragedy but we will certainly have a prolonged period of really impactful restrictions.”
More than 5000 Victorians are already in isolation after coming into contact with the virus.
There are now 772 active cases in Victoria.
Every Victorian knows at least one person who hasn’t been following the rules, Mr Andrews said.
“We have allowed our frustration to get the better of us and that means that regardless of what the index case is, regardless of who patient zero is and how they became infected, the virus then spreads,” he said.
“I’ll take you back to an example: a person gets infected, they’re in a family of six, seven or eight or 10 people, they then go home, they’re unwell. They don’t get tested for quite some time. They’re wildly infectious and go and visit other families.
“Small, large, north, south, doesn’t matter where it happened but you have a virus out there and it runs so quickly that even the delay in taking a test and getting it processed is enough to see a doubling and a doubling again.”
The mildness of the virus is the real devil, Mr Andrews said.
“The fact that so many people can have it and not even feel unwell or if they do, the symptoms are so mild they’re not a prompt to go and get tested,” he said.
“This is binary. It is life and death … And I don’t want to hear any more of this stuff from younger people or healthy people regardless of their age, that ‘it won’t affect me’.”
Prof Sutton said authorities had hoped restrictions on gathering size would help to stabilise the spike in cases but over the last few days it became apparent that was not succeeding.
SCHOOLS OUT EXCEPT FOR VCE STUDENTS
School holidays will be extended by a week for all students except those in VCE or special schools as work continues on whether a return to remote learning will be needed.
Mr Andrews said older students were returning as they were able to be much more careful getting to and from school, as well as keeping physical distance,
“They can continue to get to school on their own and won’t need parents taking them and picking them up,” he said.
“That’s seen as a much lower risk and every day at school is important for those Year 11 and Year 12 students we want to make sure their VCE is not any more disrupted than it already has been.”
While students from Prep to Year 10 will be given five pupil free days for what should’ve been the first week back, their teachers will be at work preparing for whatever the rest of the term will require.
Any children in metro Melbourne or Mitchell who were unable to remain at home next week will be able to attend campuses, as with the first shut down of schools.
“Before the end of this week, we will finalise what our plans are for flexible and remote learning at the very latest early into next week,” Mr Andrews said.
The decision to return to remote learning across the 32 local government areas impacted by the lockdown will not be made lightly, the Premier said.
“A lot of data and thinking is going into it to this point,” Mr Andrews said.
“We’re not quite ready to be able to make that call, we know how impactful and serious that is.”
Catholic and independent schools have been consulted over the changes, with Mr Andrews expected a broad agreement for schools right across the state.
The restrictions only apply to schools in locked down areas.
Prof Sutton said he was surprised to see so many cases in schools.
“The great majority of cases that turned up in those schools were from kids who acquired it at home or outside of school and then be subsequently identified and the schools closed as a result,” he said.
“Al-Taqwa college is a different example. There seems to have been transmission in the school that was quite substantial.”
PARAMEDICS TEST POSITIVE TO VIRUS
Two paramedics have tested positive for coronavirus.
Ambulance Victoria on Tuesday night confirmed the officers were in isolation and contact tracing had started.
Four ambulance officers have tested positive since late January.
Ambulance Victoria’s CEO Tony Walker said paramedics always wore personal protective equipment to protect patients and themselves.
“We take every precaution to minimise the rate of infection amongst our frontline workforce and we remind the community of their vital role in stopping the spread of COVID-19. This means staying at home, getting tested if you’re unwell, washing your hands, and if you must go out, keeping a safe 1.5m distance from others,” Mr Walker said.
“We are all in this together, and I ask all Victorians to stay united in our efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.”
IMPACT TO ECONOMY UNKNOWN
Cafes, pubs, bars and restaurants will be forced to revert back to takeaway only.
Identification will become key to policing the state’s partial lockdown.
Mr Andrews said venues in areas outside the lockdown would ask for ID to determine if someone was a local or not.
“That will become a feature of the way those restaurants, cafes, bars, the food service parts of pubs will have to operate,” he said.
No modelling has been done on the economy yet, with Mr Andrews saying the public health response has to be at the forefront.
Support to repair the economic damage done by the virus will come after, Mr Andrews said.
“Life is more important and not having that tragedy visited on any more families than we possibly can,” he said.
“I’m very sorry that we find ourselves in this position. I would, with the greatest of respect, put it to you getting this virus and dying from it is very onerous too.”
But the Premier urged Victorians not to see the situation as an inconvenience.
“It’s a pandemic. And it will kill thousands of people if it gets completely away from us. That will be more than inconvenient. It will be tragic,” he said.
WORST DAY FOR STATE SINCE PANDEMIC STARTED
In a statement from the Department of Health, the overall tally increased by 164 and 27 cases were reclassified.
Of the new cases, 37 have been linked to outbreaks and 154 are under investigation.
The state’s death toll remains at 22.
The breakdown of new cases linked to known outbreaks are as follows;
– 13 cases relating to the North Melbourne and Flemington public housing towers, with the total now 69
– 12 new cases linked to the Al-Taqwa College outbreak, with the total now 90
– 4 new cases linked to the Northern Hospital in Epping, with the total now nine. This is made up of 8 staff and 1 household contact
– 1 case linked to Aitken Hill Primary School in Craigieburn, with the total now 10. The case is a household contact of a confirmed case.
– Remaining new cases linked to existing family clusters in Truganina, Patterson Lakes/Lysterfield, Fawkner and Sunshine West.
A staff member from the Assisi Aged Care facility in Rosanna also tested positive, but they didn’t work while infectious.
There are now 772 active cases in Victoria, with 35 people in hospital including nine in intensive care.
More than 979,00 tests have been processed and 2028 people have recovered from the virus.
Prof Sutton said it was more important than ever for all Victorians, particularly those in restricted postcodes, to follow the current health directions.
“Victorians in these locked down suburbs are being urged to do their bit in the fight against coronavirus – stick to the rules and get to a testing station,” he said.
The massive comes as the Herald Sun understands their job is being made more difficult by an increasing reluctance among sections of the west and north western community to share information about where they have been and who their close contacts are.
In some cases people have reported delays of up to five days in finding out they are a close contact of a confirmed case, during which time they may have spread coronavirus further into new communities.
Residents in the nine locked-down community housing towers will be moved to the same restrictions as the rest of Melbourne once testing has been completed.
Prof Sutton said he didn’t think the genomics would reveal how the virus got into the high-rise towers.
“We will obviously ask all of those individuals in the high-rise towers who their close contacts are, where they have been in the previous days. But the reality is there is a significant network that all of us have with our friends and extended families,” he said.
There continues to be a significant representation of the virus in the “hot zone” areas.
Victorians wanting to get tested are being advised to go to the Melbourne Airport
drive-through testing station at the T4 terminal, accessed via Airport Drive (Mercer Drive exit off the Tullamarine Freeway).
The testing facility is in the level 2 carpark.
Figures remain low across the rest of the country, with Queensland recording its first case of coronavirus in 11 days, South Australia has recorded no new cases in a week and NSW recorded another seven cases.
BORDER CLOSES FOR FIRST TIME IN 100 YEARS
For the first time in 100 years, Victorians will be physically blocked from entering NSW as the state’s second wave of COVID-19 mounts.
The Victorian-NSW border will shut at 11.59pm on Tuesday and police will patrol the 55 border crossings between the two states.
Restrictions are already in place for residents of Melbourne and its surrounds, with the final hours of the open border for regional residents only.
Hundreds of Australian Defence Force personnel will also be deployed along the state’s northern border.
The border rules have already caused chaos for national A-League soccer, with three Melbourne teams attempting to escape the state last night left grounded at Tullamarine because of fog in Canberra.
The A-League is now desperately relying on extraordinary government exemptions to allow its season to get underway with Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City and Western United stuck in Victoria.
Under the new scheme, NSW residents will be able to enter Victoria but will have to apply for a permit to return home and self-isolate for two weeks.
Everyone entering from Victoria would need to apply for and be granted a permit, with fines applying to anyone caught lying on their application.
The finer details as to who will be eligible for a permit to cross the border have not yet been revealed, but emergency services workers and freight drivers are not expected to need one, and permits are expected to be granted to those living in border communities.
The Victoria-NSW border closes in 12 hours and there's still no way to apply for a permit to cross.. https://t.co/QyQbyq7YB3 #springst #auspol
— Tom Minear (@tminear) July 7, 2020
But authorities have warned of long delays getting into NSW as the credentials of anyone trying to enter the state are verified.
Special provisions will be put in place for border communities, including Albury-Wodonga, but other residents returning to NSW from Victoria will have to quarantine for 14 days.
The closure follows crisis talks between Mr Andrews, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday morning.
“All three of us agree that this was the appropriate step to take right now,” Mr Andrews said.
“I apologise for any inconvenience that will cause people who have unavoidable travel to New South Wales.”
Mr Andrews said the closure would be enforced by NSW “so as not to be a drain on resources that are very much focused on fighting the virus right now across our state”.
“We have got quite a bit to go on with at the moment and that’s where our focus and energies have been … and will remain.”
Mr Andrews said travel to NSW would be permitted for essential work and health services reasons but holidays would be banned.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said police would use drones and check-in points to make sure there were no illegal border crossings.
Victorians from virus-plagued hot spots who try to enter NSW already face jail time and an $11,000 fine.
The mayors of Albury and Wodonga have been left reeling by the decision.
“It is a s--t storm and we are just going to have to manage as best we can,” Albury mayor Kevin Mack said.
“The regions are being held to ransom because of poor decisions made in Melbourne.”
Wodonga mayor Anna Speedie said: “This is going to be a huge challenge for our community.
“We have 100,000 people who interact as one economy and one community. To be directly affected because a few people in Melbourne have been selfish is very frustrating.”
“We have absolutely followed the rules and now our economy is being directly affected because others have not behaved as they should have.”
Ms Berejiklian said there was no timetable on when the border closure would be lifted.
“This is unprecedented in Australia. That is why the decision of the NSW is unprecedented,” she said.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk welcomed the border closure.
“We have had to make tough decisions for the health and wellbeing of Queenslanders, which included closing our borders,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“Last week we made the decision to maintain the border closure with Victoria.”
State Opposition leader Michael O’Brien said the rest of the country had turned its back on Victoria.
“To think that Victoria alone is now locked in is devastating for families and businesses,” he said.
The border between the two states was last closed in 1919 during the Spanish flu pandemic.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS CANCEL SPORT
Principals from a dozen mid-level Catholic schools, attended by thousands of mostly male students, have abandoned plans to resume inter-school sport in Term 3.
Associated Catholic Colleges, which includes CBC St Kilda, De La Salle College, Emmanuel College, Mazenod College, Parade College, Salesian College, Simonds Catholic College and St Bede’s College, announced a busy schedule of inter-school hockey, footy, soccer, cross country, basketball and table tennis, on June 23.
“Towards the end of Term 2, there were very positive signs that the strategies in place from federal and state governments for the suppression of COVID-19 were working effectively. The recent dramatic increase in localised infection numbers, along with the return of lockdown protocols in certain areas of Melbourne, provide a clear picture that there is still a long way to go in suppressing this virus.,” the association said.
It comes as a major private school close to a number of Melbourne lockdown postcodes cancelled all upcoming winter sport, as other elite schools reconsider their sporting programs in light of rising coronavirus numbers.
Penleigh and Essendon Grammar, which is located in Keilor East, has advised parents no sport training or Associated Public Schools matches will be played by its students in July and early August.
FOOD, CRISIS SUPPORT ARRIVES AT TOWERS
Firefighters in white hazmat suits have entered the tower on 12 Sutton street.
They’re taking up trolleys full of green shopping bags with food and supplies.
A tarp has been raised at the entrance of the tower.
It’s unclear what the tarp is there for but police with face masks remain inside it.
Numerous fire engines and police cars are stationed along Sutton and Buncle street.
Crisis workers covered head-to-toe in protective clothing are preparing to enter the public housing tower on Sutton St in North Melbourne.
The workers are carrying bags of groceries to be delivered to hungry residents.
These deliveries can’t come soon enough for some residents who are anxious they won’t have enough supplies to get through the hard lockdown period.
One resident screamed out that he was hungry and had not received food on Tuesday morning.
A heavy police presence remains at each of the nine towers.
It comes as residents demand the hard lockdown be downgraded and police retreat from inside the towers.
Voices from the Blocks, a coalition of residents in the North Melbourne, Flemington and Kensington public housing estates, on Tuesday called on the Andrews government to replace the hard lockdown with Stage 3 restrictions like other hotspot suburbs.
This would mean public housing residents would be free to leave their homes for food, medical care, exercise and care-giving.
Residents have also called for police officers to withdraw from inside the housing towers and implement infection prevention measures such as cleaning communal spaces and distributing masks.
The coalition also called for COVID-19 testing sites to be located within walking distance to the towers rather than inside the buildings to reduce the risk of infection and better co-ordination in the supply of food, medical and social services.
UNREST MOUNTS AT LOCKED-DOWN TOWERS
Fed-up residents inside one of Melbourne’s quarantined housing commission towers have clashed with police after they were denied access to food donation drop-offs on Monday night.
Footage obtained by the Herald Sun shows rows of boxes stuffed with food outside the foyer of 130 Racecourse Rd, Flemington, with a desperate mother pleading with police officers to access the donations.
But she was denied, with the incident escalating into a screaming match.
A second video also shows boxes and bags of food donated by “mosques and other organisations” lined up outside the Flemington public housing tower.
A resident shooting the film says: “They’re (police) saying the food might be contaminated, and we can only take what we give you.”
Victorian Greens MP Ellen Sandell confirmed the disturbing incidents.
She said she was “alarmed” to hear State Emergency Service volunteers were “taking away individual food donations” at the Flemington towers and escalated the issue to the Premier’s office.
A man attempting to flee Victoria’s public housing towers has allegedly bitten police, as frustration at the unprecedented lockdown flared.
The 32-year-old man was arrested on Monday as he attempted to leave one of the Flemington high-rises, before a fight broke out and he allegedly bit the officer.
He was last night questioned over assault and resisting police, as well as breaching the coronavirus restrictions.
It came as residents of the nine towers, locked in their homes for at least five days, claimed they had not received essential supplies and were frustrated by a lack of communication from authorities.
The Herald Sun has been told essentials including baby formula, nappies, feminine hygiene products as well as milk, bread and fresh produce were in short supply.
HOW MANY ACTIVE CORONAVIRUS CASES IN YOUR AREA
Some food deliveries were dumped on doorsteps as people slept.
Flemington tower resident Steve Ulu said he was caught offguard by the immediate lockdown and had no chance to shop for groceries to see him through the five days.
As of 2pm Monday, no authority had knocked on his door and he had not been tested for the virus.
He said he was eating food from his freezer, but hadn’t received any bread or milk.
“There were limited boxes of food distributed, but there wasn’t enough for everyone,” he said.
The 38-year-old runs a carpet upholstery business and said the lockdown was “disastrous” for his livelihood.
“I’ve had to cancel all my work, it is a real setback,” he said. “I’ve been working toward saving for a house deposit so I can get out of here. It is a bummer.”
North Melbourne tower resident Ahmed Dini, 32, said a lot of people were angry and that “DHHS need to pull their socks up”.
“The criminalisation of our community is unacceptable,” he said.
“Right now we have 500 armed police officers telling us what we can’t do. We understand the situation and the need to control the spread of the virus, but we don’t need such a heavy police presence and to be treated as prisoners.”
Supermarket giant Coles has donated 2000 boxes of groceries and has repurposed its Coburg store to continue supplying groceries and care packs.
Coles chief operations officer Matt Swindells said “it’s the right thing to do”.
Facing claims that residents had been left without food, Premier Daniel Andrews said milk and bread had been delivered on Monday morning, in addition to thousands of meals and care hampers from Foodbank, FareShare and other community organisations.
“This is a massive task and the message to everybody in the towers — and indeed all our partners and everybody across the state — those staff, thousands of them, are doing the very, very best they can,” he said.
Victoria Police and the members’ union appeared at odds on Monday with association secretary Wayne Gatt casting doubt over whether there were enough officers to keep the towers locked up.
He said that despite a promise from Mr Andrews on Saturday, an officer had not been stationed on every floor.
“Look, they don’t have the resources that they need,” Mr Gatt told 3AW. “They barely have got the resources they need to secure the outside of the premises properly.’’
Mr Gatt said Victoria should consider calling in the army — a suggestion hosed down by Chief Commissioner Shane Patton just hours later.
“We have legislative power and authority to be able to conduct certain activities and that’s why we are there,” he said.
At least 500 police officers per shift have been tasked to guard the towers and block entry and exit points.
Mr Patton said the 16,000-strong force would redeploy officers from other areas as required, as it did during other emergencies such as bushfires.
“We absolutely have a clear plan,” Mr Patton said.
CALL FOR WATCHDOG TO PROBE TOWER LOCKDOWN
A leading legal expert in Victoria is calling for the state’s integrity watchdog to probe the lockdown of Melbourne housing towers amid fears unrest may rise in the coming days.
Jeremy King, principal at Robinson Gill Lawyers has called for the Victorian Ombudsman to monitor the situation closely warning people’s “liberties have been curtailed” and independent oversight was crucial.
“People’s liberties have been curtailed so quickly, someone independent definitely needs to monitor this like the Ombudsman,” Mr King said.
“My understanding is police didn’t know what was happening until the last minute and then there were 500 officers swarming the buildings.
“There may be legal consequences that arise from the conduct of police.”
Currently more than 3000 people remain in lock down in the public housing and at least one resident has already been arrested attempting to escape.
A judicial inquiry has already been announced into the bungled hotel quarantine program by retired Family Court, Children’s Court and County Court judge.
However, the latest call for the Ombudsman to investigate comes after concerns have been raised over the independence of the parliamentary committee overseeing handling of the coronavirus crisis.
A-LEAGUE IN CHAOS AS FOG STRANDS FLEEING MELBOURNE TEAMS
The return of the A-League has been thrown into chaos with the three Melbourne-based teams left stranded following a failed 11th-hour bid to sneak across the NSW border on Monday night.
Just nine days out from the first fixture of the remainder of the season, the A-League is now desperately relying on extraordinary government exemptions to allow its season to get back underway – with three teams stuck in coronavirus-hit Melbourne.
Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City and Western United had originally planned to fly to Sydney on Tuesday morning, ahead of the midnight border closure – which has come into effect due to the huge spike in case numbers in Victoria in the past week.
However the border lockdown shifted forward 24 hours, forcing a mad scramble from the three teams who frantically assembled their squads late on Monday night in an attempt to get them across the border – a plan which came up short.
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FAMILIES STEEL THEMSELVES FOR GREAT DIVIDE
Families will be split across the Murray River from Wednesday, as businesses on either side scramble to prepare for the looming border shutdown.
Kyra Wright owns Lé Beat Dance Academy in Lavington, in NSW, but many of her students travel from across the border.
She said the academy had only just reopened after a 12-week shutdown.
“A lot of (the students) have been wondering when we can get back to dance and now we’re just not sure,” she said.
“Kids are asking why some of their friends can and they can’t.”
Ms Wright said Victorian parents had called to ask whether their kids could still attend dance class as they worked their way through the “confusing process”.
“This year was supposed to be our big concert to celebrate our 10th anniversary, but like everything, that’s been put on hold,” she said.
Wagga Wagga man Andrew Birks said he would be separated from his son and daughter-in-law, who had a baby just four months ago.
“They are from Rutherglen so we haven’t been able to see them too much over the lockdown period, but this does split the family up,” he said.
“We had said we wanted to see them soon but then with the announcement we met up with them in Albury for lunch before saying goodbye until we can see them again.”
Wodonga resident Pam Stevens said she was “very worried” she might be cut off from her elderly parents over in Albury from Wednesday.
“I come over three or four times a week to take them to appointments, bring meals and do shopping so I will really need a permit to continue to do that,” she said.
Leigh Madgwick, from Moama in NSW, rode his bike across the border bridge into Echuca, Victoria for work this morning.
“There’s no checks there or anything,” he said of the other side of the Murray River.
From midnight, people from greater Melbourne were banned from entering NSW, with all Victorians to be cut off at midnight tonight.
Despite the restrictions, there was free passage across the bridge with a steady stream of Victorian vehicles entering NSW.
Mr Madgwick works at Woolworths in Echuca and said locals hadn’t received any information about how the border closure would work or how to get a permit to cross state lines.
“The thing is, closing these borders is just not on,” he said.
“We’ve got the hospital, we’ve got the bank (in Echuca).
“If I don’t get a permit, I might have to work at the Moama Woolworths.”
It came as NSW Health confirmed it was investigating two suspected cases of coronavirus in Albury.
“One suspected case had recently travelled to Melbourne and had returned prior to hotspot travel restrictions coming into force,” it said.
Toby Banham, from the Mornington Peninsula, hired a houseboat with his wife Michelle and two sons Ashton, 9, and Joel, 11, for the school holidays.
They’d been told by the boating company they were permitted to remain on the Murray River — the river is officially part of NSW.
“Until we’re told we can’t go on the river, we’ll keep going,” he said, from Echuca.
They were only mooring on the Victorian side of the river.
ABATTOIR WORKERS, GYMGOER TEST POSITIVE
The department’s outbreak squad will visit JBS abattoir in Brooklyn after a worker tested positive.
Pacific Meats abattoir in Thomastown has closed after a worker tested positive.
Abattoirs have become one of the most dangerous locations for COVID-19 outbreaks, with a cluster at Cedar Meats Victoria’s largest so far, infecting at least 110 workers and their close contacts.
Meanwhile, a gym in Templestowe Lower is the first in Victoria to shut because a member returned a positive COVID-19 test.
Aquarena Aquatic and Leisure Centre issued a letter on Monday saying a member who visited the gym last week had tested positive for COVID-19.
It came after the gym reopened on June 22, following a three-month closure.
— Additional reporting by Brianna Travers, Jack Paynter, Shannon Deery, Claire Heaney, Tom Minear, Ashley Argoon
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