Three new local cases, Victoria could close border completely with UK

Victoria’s public health team is set to review plans that would see more office workers return to Melbourne's CBD.

Melbourne’s CBD could remain closed to office workers for longer with a planned return to work now in jeopardy.

More office workers were set to return to their city offices from Monday but the state government has asked health officials to review Victoria’s current return to work schedule.

The state government requested the review because of the current outbreak in Victoria, linked to the ongoing situation in NSW.

Public servants were set to begin returning to work from Monday, with 50 per cent due back in offices by February 8.

Commercial offices were set to continue a phased return to onsite work.

Other offices were dueto increase from 25 per cent to up to 50 per cent from 11 January.

Opposition leader Michael O’Brien said any delay to a return to work should be avoided.

“Our CBD is on life support as it is. Delaying the return of office workers will only hurt jobs and see more small businesses killed off,” he said.

“It’s time for the Andrews Labor Government to back its own contact tracing teams and stop trying to keep us locked down”.

Parking Australian chief Stuart Norman said any delay to workers returning to the CBD would continue to cripple businesses including the carparking industry.

“Should the Government look to delay the return of workers to the CBD further Parking Australia will seek further relief from the Victorian Congestion Levy,” he said.

“The Government announced a 25% waiver of the levy back in September for the 2020 calendar year. It is our hope that the Government will hold to the dates they’ve announced.”

NEW HIGH RISK SITES

The risk level on a number of venues has been escalated on the state’s list of exposure sites.

The Nike Company in South Melbourne, Abbotsford’s Bodriggy brewery, the Keysborough Sikh temple and the Ikea restaurant in Springvale are among the sites now subject to 14-day quarantine orders.

This means anyone who was at those venues during the exposure time frame must be tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from the exposure period.

Other sites added to the list include:

— Culture Kings Melbourne on December 30 between 12 and 12.45 pm;

— Springvale Shopping Centre on December 29 between 11am and 12.30pm;

— Tamarind 8 restaurant in Narre Warren on December 30, 6.30 - 7pm.

Anyone who attended the latter of these sites between the indicated times must get tested and isolate themselves immediately until they return a negative result while those at Culture Kings should monitor for symptoms.

It comes as Victoria recorded three new locally acquired cases of coronavirus on Monday — all linked to the Black Rock cluster.

The Department of Health also confirmed one new case in returned flight crew.

There are 38 active COVID-19 cases across the state, with 32,544 Victorians were tested in the past 24 hours.

The Black Rock cluster has grown to 27 cases across 14 households.

Victoria’s coronavirus testing commander, Jeroen Weimar revealed all community transmission of the virus occurred at the Smile Buffalo Thai Restaurant on December 21, or in household contacts of those positive cases.

12 of the positive cases in the cluster dined at the restaurant on December 21.

900 primary contacts and 400 secondary contacts are currently isolating.

Mr Weimar also said a ‘targeted response was being mounted at a Keysborough Sikh temple, after a positive case visited the temple on January 1 between 3pm and 5pm.

“I urge you if you have been to the temple, please get in touch with the DHHS, come and get tested and isolate immediately, or speak to the leadership of the temple and they’ll support you,” Mr Weimar said.

The average waiting time at testing sites is 60 minutes, but Mr Weimar said there was variability across sites.

“At the any of the busier locations, we’re redirecting people to the less busy stations but we’re seeing a good performance across the network as a whole,” Mr Weimar said.

“If you need to get tested today if you have symptoms or concerns for your health, perhaps you tried to get tested a couple of days ago, having returned from New South Wales and found it very hard to do so, I apologise for that but I urge you to come back and try again today.”

The Bodriggy brew pub at Abbotsford.

Mr Weimar said further restrictions weren’t being actively considered.

“At this point we don’t see any other settings that need to change right now,” Mr Weimar.

Police Minister Lisa Neville said the latest cases gave health authorities confidence the cluster was under control.

“That can give us confidence we’re still managing the outbreaks and the contact tracing that is showing a direct link back to that particular cluster,” she said.

Meanwhile, the risk level on a number of venues has been escalated on the state’s list of exposure sites.

Abbotsford’s Bodriggy brewery, the Keysborough Sikh temple and the Ikea restaurant in Springvale are among the sites now subject to 14-day quarantine orders.

This means anyone who was at those venues during the exposure time frame must be tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from the exposure period.

Springvale Shopping Centre has also been added to the list of exposure sites after a positive case shopped at the mall on December 29.

Anyone who attended the shopping centre between 11am and 12.30pm that day must get tested and isolate themselves immediately until they return a negative result.

More than 1000 primary and secondary contacts are self-isolating in Victoria.

Ms Neville acknowledged that delays remained at many testing sites across the state, but wait times were now averaging 60 to 90 minutes.

Concerns have also been raised after eight of around 1000 flight crew who entered Vitoria in the past fortnight tested positive to coronavirus.

“I would be today saying to the other states, this is such a high risk for all of us, for the country, everyone needs to follow the lead around quarantining and testing of flight crew,” she said.

“It is absolutely critical, given the numbers that we’re seeing. Any risk of this getting out, that was a major issue and one of the issues I think that was identified through New South Wales a few weeks ago.”

Meanwhile, NSW has recorded four new locally acquired cases, plus another recorded after 8pm Monday.

FLIGHT CANNED AS CREW MEMBER TESTS POSITIVE

A flight from Melbourne Airport was cancelled on Monday night after a crew member who was preparing to depart tested positive for coronavirus.

The Qatar Airways flight bound for Doha was scheduled to leave Melbourne with around 50 passengers at 10.30pm but instead took off with just crew after one employee tested positive for the virus.

A spokeswoman for COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria confirmed that the infected crew member has been taken to a health hotel after the positive result.

“The positive test result was received while the crew member, who had been in mandatory quarantine, was at Melbourne Airport preparing to depart Australia,” the spokeswoman said.

“The rest of the flight crew had all tested negative and later boarded a flight without passengers to their home port.”

WEIMAR DEFENDS CONTACT TRACING SYSTEM

Mr Weimar defended business owners who claimed they weren’t notified that their venue had been listed as an exposure site.

“There’s absolutely occasions where either, you know, customers at a venue or staff members working at a venue will let their venue know before we do they have had an exposure.

“And again, from my point of view, that’s not a problem. This is all about belt and braces.

“If we’ve got people turning positive, who are reaching out of their own bat to where they’ve been before, or to their employer, to say, hey, this is what is going on, that’s a really positive development.

“The more we can encourage that kind of behaviour, we’re getting to people as quickly as we possibly can.”

Mr Weimar stressed that venues listed at exposure sites were cooperating with DHHS.

“It’s not the fault of the venue that virus has come calling,” he said.

“In the vast majority of times, the people who are listed on the exposure sites have done nothing

wrong.

“It’s an accident of geography a number of people crossed over at a certain location and that’s where a transmission happened.”

CHANGES TO EXPOSURE SITES EXPLAINED

Mr Weimar apologised for potentially incorrect information being listed on the exposure sites list.

“If we’ve got something massively wrong, where we have directed a whole bunch of people down the wrong rabbit hole, I think we’ll be up-front about them,” he said.

“I’m up-front about where we’re not always getting it right.

“There’s exposure sites on the website for this outbreak that have been unchanged since the very beginning, and there’s exposure sites we have changed six times over, as more information has come to light.”

2800 BORDER EXEMPTION APPLICATIONS STILL PENDING

Mr Weimar said work was underway to process 2800 border exemption applications.

“We’ve been in touch with 1100 people this morning out of those 2800 to progress their applications and to understand them. We have 630 of the exemptions where we’re awaiting more information for the applicants to establish their case,” he said.

“I absolutely understand and appreciate there will be people right now, who are concerned, particularly if you have a medical emergency, or hardship grounds, please, I know it’s been an upsetting and distressing couple of days to understand how the border closure would impact you, I urge you to get in touch with us through our website or contact centre, so we can assist you as quickly as possible.”

Mr Weimar defended advice telling people travelling down to Victoria to only make short stops.

“What we’re trying to discourage is people exposing themselves to risk on a long and arduous journey,” Mr Weimar said.

Mr Weimar said some people were getting in early with border exemption requests, especially for those wishing to come back for the start of the school year in late January.

VICTORIA COULD SLAM DOOR SHUT ON UK

Victoria could move to shut its border to the UK amid fears over the country’s super COVID-19 strain.

Police and emergency services minister Lisa Neville said on Tuesday the situation in the UK, which has moved to a third lockdown with 50,000 new cases a day, was very concerning.

Ms Neville said Victorian deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng would raise the issue at an AHPPC meeting today and seek national agreement to undertake a risk assessment of the situation.

Any decision to close the border to the UK would be based on the subsequent public health advice, she said.

It comes after Victoria called for an urgent meeting of national cabinet over the threat of the UK’s super COVID-19 strain, amid fears the mutant bug could devastate Australia.

The variant of the coronavirus, described by a senior state government source as “radioactive, toxic material, wildly infectious” is up to 50 per cent more infectious the type which caused Victoria’s second wave.

It can also be revealed that the government wants an urgent national cabinet meeting to again push for pre-flight testing of anyone travelling from the UK.

It is understood there are also concerns that other states’ hotel quarantine testing regimes are not as rigorous as in Victoria, which screens every staff member daily and families weekly.

Read the full story here.

WHY AUSTRALIA ISN’T RUSHING COVID VACCINE

Australia can “afford to wait” and properly test the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, one of Victoria’s top health experts says.

It comes as paperwork hold-ups jeopardise the federal government’s intended March rollout of coronavirus jabs.

Deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng said safety and effectiveness tests are key factors being considered before the rollout of the vaccine in Australia, despite it being available in other countries.

Read the full story here.

STRANDED VICTORIANS FACE WEEKS-LONG WAIT

Thousands of Victorians stranded in NSW have made a desperate plea to come home, as some wait weeks to have their applications assessed.

Almost 300 applications have now been accepted to cross the closed border, and more than 2000 applications are still being processed.

Of the 293 accepted applications, 139 were approved while 153 did not need formal approval because they were either essential workers or had existing transit permits.

Priority is being given to those with emergency or compassionate grounds, meaning others have been pushed to the back of the queue despite applying before Christmas.

In one case, a family was forced to postpone their move to Melbourne as they await the verdict on their application.

The family applied for an exemption when restrictions were first announced and limited to the greater Sydney area but are still waiting for the application to be assessed.

Hume Freeway check point on the Victorian side of the border near Wodonga

“Ever since then I’ve called every day only to be told there is nothing that can be done,” the father, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Herald Sun.

“My pets are now in Victoria and my belongings are on the way, my children are supposed to start school at the end of the month and we have no idea what to do,” he said.

“I have people moving into my house in Sydney, so we’re effectively homeless.

“It’s an utter debacle. They clearly have no capability to manage the rules they put in place.”

The man said unlike many holiday-makers who ignored advice about going to Sydney, his family’s moving plans had been a year in the making.

Acting Premier Jacinta Allan said extra staff would be employed to fast track the process. “There are additional resources being pushed out on the team that is examining each and every one of these applications,” she said.

“You can understand that the detail has to be examined about what’s on the application.

“Each case is being case managed with individual attention, that takes a bit of time to work through.

“It’s also important to note that there are immediate exemptions for people facing medical emergencies.”

Tim Roberts and Renee Roberts travelled home from NSW on New Year’s Eve

She would not be drawn on a potential threshold for easing the border restrictions.

Ms Allan said Victoria first needed to get back to consecutive days without local transmissions.

“It is also not just dependent on the cases here in Victoria, it does depend on what’s happening in other states,” she said.

“There is a reason to be optimistic, but we do have to be cautious in our optimism … this is a dangerous and difficult virus, and it can move very, very quickly.”

Federal MP for Gippsland Darren Chester urged state authorities to show compassion and help Victorians stuck in NSW get home.

The Nationals MP on Monday said the “chaotic” snap border closure on January 1 should not have occurred.

“If I had my way those border closures would not have happened, but I can’t make premiers do something they don’t want to do,” he said.

“I’d be urging Victorian health authorities to show some compassion here to work with these people who did nothing wrong.

“Don’t blame them for going on a holiday when they’ve been locked up for months … you find a way to get them home.”

Cars backing up on the Hume Freeway to cross the border into Victoria on New Year’s Eve. Picture: Simon Dallinger

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was hopeful Victorians stranded behind the locked NSW border would find a way home soon.

Mr Morrison revealed he had spoken on Monday night with Premier Daniel Andrews about the border situation.

“We will see if we can get a better pathway home for Victorians as soon as possible,” he told 3AW.

He said both NSW and Victoria had shown success in containing the latest outbreaks.

“What we have seen in relation to both of these outbreaks … they are getting on top of this the system is working.

“That should hopefully mean that we can restore settings to where they were before the outbreak as soon as possible.”

Mr Morrison also defended Mr Andrews for remaining on leave during the latest outbreak, saying he knew the Premier was “close to what is going on” and focusing on the issues.

Dave Rosier and Kim Cullen with their children Sean, 9 months and Hugh, 2, were among the Victorians who rushed home from NSW. Picture: Simon Dallinger

FAMILY STUCK AFTER STUMBLING ACROSS BORDER

A Melbourne family stranded in NSW after mistakenly crossing the border while enjoying a day trip on the Murray River is desperate to get home.

The family of 13, who had travelled to Echuca in three cars, were looking for a cafe when they unknowingly crossed a bridge into NSW last Saturday afternoon.

“We were looking for a place to have lunch and then we just Googled the place … and followed the GPS,” father-of-two Dharmsh Patel said.

“The police stopped us there; they said ‘no, no, you can’t go back to Victoria,” he said.

“By mistake we didn’t know that we are in NSW.”

The family mistakenly crossed into NSW near Echuca.

Mr Patel, who was with extended family as well as his wife Purvi and their daughter Swara, 16, and son Manav, 12, said there was “no warning” sign about the border closure when they drove across the Echuca-Moama bridge.

He pleaded with officers that they “did not realise we made a mistake” and were only visiting the area including having boarded the popular paddle-steamer earlier in the day but “they didn’t want to listen”.

“(Police) said ‘no, no, you’re coming from New South Wales so you can’t enter into Victoria because your address is in Melbourne’.”

The family of Heatherton, in Melbourne’s southeast, successfully applied for a permit but were again turned away by officers who said it had expired.

By this stage, Mr Patel said: “The kids were crying, everyone was exhausted.”

The whole family have been staying in rooms at the Riverpark Motel in Moama with no spare clothes until they ordered more online.

A Hume Freeway checkpoint on the Victorian side of the border near Wodonga. Picture: Simon Dallinger

Feeling for their dilemma, the hotel’s manager Michael Aquino kindly offered to reduce their stay by up to $65 per night.

Mr Aquino also provided the family with bread, coffee, cereal milk and other essentials.

“We do everything possible to make it more pleasant,” Mr Aquino said.

“They came in here about nine o’clock. We were already closed so (they) said ‘we’ve got nowhere to go.’ And I said ‘look, come in we’ve got rooms available’.”

He said two children with asthma were also without their medication.

Meanwhile, Mr Patel said he had waited for up to two hours to speak with the Victorian health department and was finally told their application would be processed.

On Monday, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesman said: “We have granted an exemption to a Victorian family who inadvertently crossed the border into NSW at Echuca over the weekend, but were refused re-entry to Victoria as they are not residents of a border LGA.”