1903 new Covid cases, seven deaths; big change to home quarantine

Pubs, restaurants and cafes have been warned to expect infected patrons at their venues when Melbourne reopens later this week.

• This coronavirus article is unlocked and free to read in the interest of community health and safety. Tap here for our latest great value offer and instantly access trusted news from the Herald Sun and Leader.

The hospitality industry has been warned to expect Covid cases at their venues after Melbourne opens up on Friday.

Covid commander Jeroen Weimar said the city’s reopening could be a “daunting moment” and urged businesses to follow Covid-safe measures and “bubble” workplaces in the event a cohort is forced into isolation.

“Maintain those important Covid-safe principles, the segregation or bubbling of your workplaces and workforces, so you can manage the impact because there will be positive cases in circulation,” he said.

“We have 22,000 positive cases in circulation in Victoria, it is exceptionally likely come Thursday there will still be 22,000 positive cases in the state.

“There will be cases in hospitality settings and it will be down to those systems to impact the imposition on people around them at the time.”

He hinted that tight isolation rules could be eased on a case-by-case situation after successfully easing quarantine requirements in supermarkets.

Melbourne venues are preparing to reopen this week. Picture: David Geraghty

“There are alternative things we can do — we have done work with the supermarkets, we are not seeing significant numbers of workplace transmission taking place because we have principles around good ventilation, good workforce arrangements, good distancing, making sure the staff are vaccinated and keeping the distance and wearing a mask,” Mr Weimar said.

“Those things are making a difference and that has allowed us with supermarkets to reduce quarantine for primary close contacts and reduce the number of close contacts.”

It comes as Victoria recorded 1903 Covid cases and seven deaths overnight, days from the lifting of lockdown in Melbourne.

Outdoor trading has been given a $54.5 million boost as the state emerges from lockdown.

Minister Jaala Pulford said the investment was aimed at businesses as they prepared to recover and rebuild, but also for local councils to support businesses post-lockdown.

“The package will support a broad range of businesses, broader than the support last year, which was focused predominantly on hospitality,” she told reporters on Monday.

“So retailers, hair and beauty, dance studios and gyms, among others, will be able to explore new options to take some, if not all, of their trade outdoors.

“This is in addition to the bars, cafes and restaurants who were part of last year’s successful outdoor eating and entertainment program.”

A $14.5 million Covid-safe outdoor activation voucher program would also provide more than 7000 Victorian businesses, community organisations, not-for-profit and trader associations with $2000 grants when they spend at least that amount to support outdoor trading initiatives.

Melbourne is set to reopen on Friday. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

VICTORIANS ALLOWED IN QLD FOR CHRISTMAS

Queensland’s borders are set to be fully reopened in time for Christmas after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today released her long-awaited Covid road map.

Ms Palaszczuk has set a target of December 17 for the borders to be fully reopened, but it could happen sooner if vaccination rates increase.

All arrivals from hotspots will be allowed to quarantine at home from November 19, when 70 per cent of the population over 16 have been fully vaccinated.

Once the 80 per cent target is reached, which is expected on December 17, fully vaccinated travellers will not have to quarantine.

Read the full story here.

SLOW VACCINE UPTAKE IN MELBOURNE SUBURBS

Health authorities have identified about 25,000 people they would like to see get the Covid-19 jab as Victoria nears its vaccination targets and its reopening date.

Mr Weimar said if those individuals got their first doses, health officials would have greater confidence in community protection.

He also said there were a number of northern and inner suburbs where vaccine take-up was lower than other parts of Melbourne.

“The range of reasons is around individual groups not wanting to come forward and get vaccinated,” he said.

“As we see the rest of the city go beyond 85 and go to 90 per cent (first dose) those remaining islands of lack of vaccine uptake are becoming identified and becoming clear.

“That is why we have been driving at those locations with pop-ups and other community-based pop-ups, we will keep doing that because we want everyone to have no excuse not to get vaccinated over the days and weeks ahead.”

END OF ROLLING LOCKDOWNS

Premier Daniel Andrews vowed Victoria will not endure another lockdown, and consigned hotel quarantine to a “thing of the past” for fully vaccinated travellers.

Appearing on breakfast TV on Monday to spruik his fast-tracked easing of restrictions, the Premier said there would be no further statewide or citywide lockdowns once lockdown ended on Thursday.

“That is what the national plan says, that is what I am determined to deliver,” Mr Andrews told the ABC.

“And because these vaccination rates are so high … we can be optimistic about the future.”

Asked to explain why hospitality venues could open to patrons from Friday but retail stores could not, Mr Andrews said the health advice had warned against it.

“If we could open everything at the same time and not have our health system overrun, of course we would do that,” he said.

“And I’m very sorry that we can’t do everything at once.”

Premier Daniel Andrews announcing fast-tracked restrictions on Sunday. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

The Premier also took a swipe at federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg over criticism that Victoria was dragging its feet in opening up.

“I would just say to Josh, this is not about you, and your breathless political rants don’t work against this virus,” he said.

“His endless criticism and negativity, I just don’t think goes down very well in Victoria because it doesn’t work against this virus.”

Speaking on Channel 7’s Sunrise Mr Andrews said Victoria’s hotel quarantine program would be “a thing of the past” for vaccinated travellers.

Mr Andrews said Victoria would introduce home quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers, with a quarantine period less than 14 days.

“We want to get open, and open to the world, as fast as we can,” he said.

Close to 70,000 test results were received overnight, while more than 32,405 vaccine doses were administered at state hubs.

There are currently 22,337 active cases across the state, with 66 per cent of eligible Victorians fully vaccinated.

WHERE LATEST CASES, DEATHS OCCURRED

A man in his 50s from Brimbank in Melbourne’s west has died with coronavirus.

A woman in her 60s and another in her 90s from Whittlesea in the city’s north also died in the past 24 hours.

So too did a woman in her 70s from Moreland, along with a man in his 70s from Baw Baw, a woman in her 80s and another woman in her 90s from Casey.

There are 851 people in hospital with Covid-19 across Victoria — 155 of those are in ICU and 103 are on a ventilator.

BIG CHANGE TO ISOLATION RULES

Fully vaccinated people who visit tier 1 exposure sites will only need to quarantine for a week as part of a major overhaul of the strict isolation rules.

The changes will come into effect when the state reaches its 70 per cent double dose vaccine target at 11.59pm on Thursday.

It follows a growing recognition that thousands of people would be plunged into isolation, as the number of exposure sites is expected to surge as the state reopens.

It also comes a week after businesses pleaded for an urgent overhaul of the rigid “close contact” rule after mass staff shortages crippled public transport, parcel deliveries, GP clinics, supermarkets and other businesses.

The overhaul will only apply to non-household primary close contacts and workplace contacts that are fully vaccinated. They will be required to return negative test results on days one and six to be freed from a week’s quarantine.

Unvaccinated Victorians and household contacts of a known positive case will be required to continue to isolate for 14 days.

DIRE HEALTHCARE PREDICTION DOWNGRADED

Victoria’s supercharged vaccine rollout has halved the number of people expected to die from Covid-19 before the end of the year, as new modelling shows a much lower risk of the hospital system being overwhelmed.

The Burnet Institute on Sunday updated its modelling – used to inform Victoria’s road map – also predicting a much lower hospital admission rate than first forecast.

It found that although case numbers were likely to peak at a seven-day average of 3850 in mid-December, the chances of the healthcare system becoming overwhelmed has dropped from 63 per cent to 23 per cent.

Experts said that was in part due to younger people being infected, as they tended not to become as sick and spent less time in hospital.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton said on Sunday the fast vaccination rate had also played a big role in reducing pressure on Victorian hospitals.

“With high vaccination coverage the health system will have significant challenges but it will cope,” Prof Sutton said.

New modelling shows a much lower risk of the hospital system being overwhelmed. Picture: David Caird

Initial modelling from mid September predicted 2202 Covid patients would die between July and December but that has been revised to 1212.

As of Sunday, 144 Victorians had died with the virus this year.

“In the weeks and months ahead, we will see a peak in cases and we will see a peak in the number of people who are in hospital,” Premier Daniel Andrews said.

“And we will see people lose their lives to this … They’re not numbers, they’re people.”

Mr Andrews said it was “positive” that while case numbers were higher than authorities would have liked, the average length of hospital stays and the “acuity of illness is substantially less”.

It comes as new data shows the average age of Victoria’s latest wave of Covid-19 has fallen from 85 last year to 74 this year. And despite an 85 per cent drop in fatalities overall this year, more people aged 40-49 and 50-59 died of Covid in 2021.

Prioritising elderly Australians early in the vaccine rollout has been fundamental to reducing death rates, and the average age of victims, following disastrous nursing home outbreaks last year.

High vaccine uptake has been credited with halving the number of people expected to die from Covid-19 before the end of the year

However, experts say the continued rates of death and severe illness among younger Victorians highlight the ongoing threat of Covid, even after the 80 per cent vaccination target is reached.

University of Melbourne Professor of Epidemiology Tony Blakely said Covid was increasingly spreading among younger people because “they’re not vaccinated yet, or just getting vaccinated, and they’re out there sick of complying” with restrictions.

He said modelling showed that even at 90 per cent vaccination coverage, the virus will spread “quite easily” if all restrictions such as density limits in venues and masks on public transport are lifted.

“You simply can’t get to a level with this virus, and the vaccines we currently have, where transmission is stopped. It’s just impossible,” he said.

While restrictions will be further eased at 70 per cent than originally planned, the Burnet Institute modelling showed if all freedoms planned for 80 per cent were brought forward, cases could peak at 4900 on December 12.

It would also increase the chance of the hospital system being overrun to 40 per cent, and the number of deaths would increase to 1373.

MORE ‘FREEDOMS’ ON WAY AT LAST

Melburnians will finally be allowed visitors at home and travel across the city as the lockdown ends on Friday.

With 70 per cent of Victorians 16 and over due to be fully-vaccinated — well before the predicted October 26 — Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday issued a revised road map.

By Friday, Melburnians will have endured 263 days under strict stay-at-home orders since the pandemic began, making it the most locked down city in the world.

Promised freedoms including an end to the controversial 9pm curfew and part-time school returns for years 3-11 will be brought forward to 11.59pm Thursday.

After intense pressure, Mr Andrews also detailed extra freedoms, with up to 10 visitors allowed to homes, outdoor gatherings of 15 people and pubs, cafes and restaurants able to host 20 vaccinated people indoors.

Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed Melbourne’s lockdown will end early. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

But in a major disappointment for long-suffering retailers, rules restricting them to outdoor trade remain unchanged. It comes despite indoor retail, bigger outdoor gatherings, the reopening of gyms, indoor pools and cinemas all being permitted in Sydney when NSW hit the 70 per cent vaccinated target.

Masks were also ditched outdoors in Sydney.

Under the revised Melbourne road map, residents will also be able travel freely across the metropolitan area with the 15km limit scrapped, and proposed 25km restriction shelved. Regional Victoria remains off limits.

Authorities have “strongly recommended” gatherings be limited to fully vaccinated people, but Mr Andrews admitted “that’s not something that we can necessarily enforce”.

He praised the five millions Victorians who turned out to get a vaccine in “record speed”.

“I could not be more proud of our community for coming forward and making these decisions to protect themselves, to protect the people they love, and to protect all of us against this global pandemic,” he said.

“To be this closely aligned to NSW, to be only just a couple of weeks behind NSW when we know and understand just how much vaccine went there, it’s a credit to every single Victorian.”

Josh Frydenberg on Sunday repeated his calls for restrictions in Victorian to be aligned with NSW

“Some progress today, but a long way to go before Victorians, who have given up so much, get the same freedoms as NSW,” the Treasurer said.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the outdoor mask mandate, retail closures and work from home edicts needed immediate review.

“It is important and positive that the government is starting to move, but I think we can do more,” he said.

Benjamin Sinkovic and his grandmother Nella Sinkovic are looking forward to having home visits again once Covid restrictions ease. Picture: Josie Hayden

“We’ve got a government that doesn’t necessarily keep to what it says it’s going to do – it chops and changes. We’re all looking for a date when this madness ends and we finally get out of this and start to live again.”

Responding to criticism he had not gone further, Mr Andrews said the government had “tried to be as fair as possible”. “When you do more, you can’t do everything … whenever you write lists, there’ll always be some people who are on the wrong side of the lines or not on the lists,” he said.

Mr Andrews pointed to even greater freedoms due to kick in at the 80 per cent double dose threshold, a target NSW met at the weekend.

Victoria is due to reach that mark later this month or early next month, with 90 per cent of people 16 and over projected to be fully vaccinated by November 9.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton warned: “The reality is a lot of people are going to be exposed to Covid-19 in coming months. Victoria on Sunday recorded another 1838 cases and seven deaths. There are currently 23,376 active cases across the state.

Brothers Leo and Max are excited about going back to school. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

NO LIMIT ON A CITY HOLIDAY

Melbourne’s holiday hot spots are bracing for an influx of visitors when city travel limits are lifted.

In an early reprieve, the travel limit will be lifted from Friday. With Melburnians still banned from the regions, Mornington Peninsula businesses are planning for a bumper weekend.

Penny and Graeme Hart, who run Hart’s Farm in Shoreham, began receiving bookings for visits to their apple orchard and farm gate soon after Sunday’s announcements.

“We’ve just had someone call to book a night just as I opened up the calendar for bookings,” Ms Hart said.

Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Despi O’Connor said small businesses “couldn’t be happier” to reopen. “We’re working really hard to find the goalposts again,” she said.

Travel across the state will resume when 80 per cent of Victorians aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated.

Victorian Tourism Industry Council chief executive Felicia Mariani said it was “critical the state powers towards 80 per cent”.

Penny and Graeme Hart of Hart’s Farm in Shoreham, look forward to welcoming visitors again when the 25km limit is scrapped. Picture: Ian Currie

CALL TO RELAX RULES ON NURSING HOME VISITS

Aged care groups are demanding visitor restrictions at nursing homes be eased so people can be reunited with their loved ones.

In Victoria, residents can have two visitors a day without a time limit. But Councils on the Ageing chief executive Ian Yates says some centres had taken a cautious approach.

“The damage done in nursing homes, by being cut off from people, is going to rival the damage that was done in Victoria last year,” Mr Yates said. “Particularly to people with dementia, who can’t understand why they have been cut off.”

Aged care groups are developing a new industry code to advise how visits should look once lockdowns end.

The availability of rapid antigen testing is expected to enable greater certainty that people – such as children under 12 – who are not vaccinated do not have Covid-19 if they visit a loved one in care.

Mr Yates said if centres enforce a vaccination policy on visitors, residents not being able to see their grandchildren was “not going to fly”.

“(Grandparents) know that they don’t have a long time to go, you don’t go into a nursing home if you’ve got plenty of time left,” he said.

Victoria is due to review the restrictions on visitors to aged care centres when it hits the 80 per cent double dose vaccination target.

EASIER TO GET GROUPS TOGETHER

Regional Victorians will be able to gather in slightly bigger outdoor groups than their metropolitan counterparts.

From 11.59pm on Thursday, public gatherings of 20 – compared with 15 in Melbourne – will be allowed.

Indoor settings – such as restaurants, cafes, cinemas and gyms – will also increase from 10 to 30 people per venue, if every guest is fully vaccinated.

Outdoor venues – currently subject to caps of just 20 people – will be able to welcome up to 100 fully vaccinated people.

If the vaccination status of someone is unknown, the venue will only be allowed to operate with 20 people.

Under the 70 per cent reopening, Melburnians are not permitted to enter regional Victoria unless they have a permitted reason.

Travel between Melbourne and regions will resume at the 80 per cent milestone, and Premier Daniel Andrews urges patience.