Victoria records 1471 new cases, four deaths
The first international flight has landed in Melbourne as overseas travel returns. It comes as Victoria recorded 1471 new cases and four deaths overnight.
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Passengers from Singapore have touched down at Melbourne Airport this morning as quarantine is scrapped for returning Australians fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The flight was followed by another from Hong Kong at midday, carrying many more passengers.
It comes as Victoria recorded 1471 new cases and four deaths overnight, as the state returns to a sense of normality.
A total of 46,065 tests were recorded, 699 people are in hospital and 136 in intensive care.
91.7 per cent of Victorians have received their first dose and 80.3 per cent are fully vaccinated.
The number of active cases is now at 21,959.
As international flights began to touch down, Melbourne Airport chief executive Lyell Strambi said it was an exciting day for Australians finally coming home.
“Such a great day for them to start being able to plan that travel and hopefully bring the joy of rejoin and reunite with loved ones, which they’ve been desperate for,” he said.
“It’s so great to see a little bit of a buzz around the place again, I think it gives us tremendous energy.
“It’s just also really important for the 20,000 people who work at the airport.”
Sammy Wright and her daughter Tilly have come after being stranded in Ireland, with the girl meeting her family for the firsts time in an emotional reunion.
“We’re just happy to be here,” she tearfully said.
Andrew Moore broke down in tears as he emerged from the international arrivals hall, unable to get back home to Queensland, and separated from his son in Melbourne who has been forced into isolation after becoming exposed to the virus.
“It’s terrible you can’t even see your family,” he sobbed.
“I haven’t seen them for a couple of years.”
The first flight to touch down after the state’s border rules relaxed was SQ237 from Singapore carrying about 20 passengers aboard, which was met with a water cannon salute as it moved to the terminal.
Pilot, Jaspal Singh, said FaceTime was no substitute and he had missed his family.
“You can’t touch them, so that’s been tough,” he said.
“Australians not able to come back to Australia, that’s really tough.”
Mr Strambi said he expected the domestic market to return to up to 60 per cent of its pre-Covid traffic by Christmas.
More than 200 international passengers are expected to come through the gates on Monday from Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.
END TO DAILY COVID PRESS CONFERENCES
At the weekend, the Victorian government announced it would scrap its daily Covid press conferences after 160 consecutive appearances.
Chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton said he was looking forward to taking a backwards step.
But he said there were “a lot” of public health matters that still required his attention.
“I hate to say it, I’m not going to miss you all,” he told media on Friday.
Covid commander Jeroen Weimar said on Saturday: “The media aspect of my role is a small fragment of what I do”.
Mr Weimar said he would continue to log on at 8.15am every Saturday morning to work out daily priorities with his team.
Mr Weimar said Victoria could finally start to look towards connecting with NSW, and the rest of the world again.
NO GUARANTEE FOR AUS BORDER
As international travel returns for Australians from Monday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg concedes he cannot guarantee the border won’t be slammed shut again.
From Monday vaccinated Australians will be able to return to Australia without the need to quarantine. For those looking to go overseas, they will no longer need to apply for an exemption.
Speaking with Sunrise, the Treasurer was asked to guarantee if the borders would remain open.
TESTS BACK ON TRACK
Driving tests will restart in Melbourne from Monday, as interstate and overseas licence holders also required to change over their licences again.
People who had their licence tests cancelled because of Covid-19 restrictions will now be able to book appointments at VicRoads customer service centres across the city.
They will be contacted and given priority access for test bookings.
Licence testing, which has been taking place in regional Victoria since September, will also resume in Melbourne.
Transport department head of transport services Nick Foa said all other metro customers who wanted to lock in an appointment could do so from November 6.
“While in-person tests are returning, having an online Learners Permit Test and Hazard Perception Test has given prospective drivers a greater degree of flexibility, allowing them to take their test anytime and anywhere,” he said.
About 35,000 VicRoads licence testing appointments were cancelled between August 5 and October 22, because of the lockdown, with 20,000 of these being in-person drive tests.
Rules mandating that all interstate and overseas driver’s licence holders convert theirs into a Victorian licence within six months of living in the state, were reintroduced mid-October.
The regulations were paused for two periods during the pandemic, first in April last year for 12 months, and then again for the same period this year for six months.
Mr Foa urged new residents to make bookings to avoid “driving illegally”.
An online tool on the VicRoads website can help motorists calculate the date they need to transfer their interstate or overseas licence by.
STUDENTS RETURN TO CAMPUS
Tens of thousands of vaccinated Victorian TAFE students return to campus on Monday after spending much of the past 20 months remote learning.
The comeback will be a relief for the 55,700 students who expect to graduate from their course this year.
Enrolments at the state’s 12 TAFEs increased during the pandemic because of people seeking to retrain, the absence of a gap year overseas holiday for school leavers and more free courses being offered.
New enrolments rose by about by 11 per cent this year alone.
This year almost 260,000 Victorians were enrolled in the TAFE and training system.
Training and Skills Minister Gayle Tierney said that despite Covid-enforced disruptions the Victorian skills and training sector adapted to provide remote and flexible learning.
Pressure is expected to increase on the TAFE sector in coming years to address skills shortages created by the pandemic, especially in healthcare and hospitality.
Mandated vaccinations will also apply in the university sector with doubled-jabbed students and staff allowed to return to all campuses statewide this month.
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