Record 317 new cases, two deaths, $2b boost a bid to get Aussies back to work post-virus
Victoria has recorded the biggest rise in new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began and two more Victorians have died from the virus as the COVID-19 crisis deepens in Melbourne.
Victoria
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Victoria has recorded 317 new coronavirus cases and two men in their 80s have died overnight, with the state’s chief health officer warning that Victoria “may still not have hit our peak”.
The new deaths bring the total number of Victorian deaths to 29, while there are currently 2128 active cases in Victoria.
Of the new cases, 28 cases are linked to known outbreaks, while 289 cases are under investigation.
There are 109 Victorians in hospital, with 29 of those in intensive care.
The Premier said there were no plans to move to stage four restrictions despite the record number of cases.
“I know there’s been a lot of discussion, a lot written and said about possible stage four — there are no announcements to be made about that today,” Daniel Andrews said.
“That shouldn’t be read to mean there will be announcements made tomorrow.
“We plan for every single contingency. It’s well too early for us to be moving to a whole new stage.”
The Premier said some Victorians were continuing to make bad decisions.
“We continue to see a smaller number of people making choices, not only are they wrong, they’re not particularly smart,” Mr Andrews said.
“There’s a long, long list of nations around the world that are dealing with second waves,” he said.
“And the best way to deal with it: have settings in place that are proportionate to the challenge you face.
“And then have a very high degree of compliance across the community in recognition of what is lawful, in recognition of what actually works, and in recognition of the fact that no family will be spared the cost and the pain of this virus if we don’t get it under control.
“We’re a long way from debating what the end point is.
“We need to get within range of that before we start having any sort of discussions about whether the strategy needs to change.
“Ultimately, let’s get this stage three stay at home lockdown finished.
“Let’s see community transmission at a much, much lower rate, let’s see case numbers at a much lower rate, and then we can make decisions about what the next period looks like.”
Lockdown regulations that came into force last week are not yet expected to be reflected in the coronavirus tally.
The state’s chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton said the state’s coronavirus cases were not out-of-control.
“An out-of-control outbreak is one where no matter what you’re doing, you’re seeing an exponential increase,” he said.
“We’re seeing an increase, but it’s relatively slow.
“The rate of increase that is being modelled, it’s also coming down close to one, where we expect that plateauing of cases.
“So they’re all good signs. I think they’re a measure we’re getting it under pretty significant control.
However he urged against complacency.
“I said earlier this week, we hadn’t hit our peak,” he said.
“We may still not have hit our peak.
It’s a big number. It needs to turn around.
“In some ways, I expected it to turn around this week.
“But as I always said, it’s no guarantee. It’s upon all of us to be able to turn this number around.
“The stage three restrictions have been in place for over a week, with an average incubation period of five or six days, plus the time for notification to get the numbers in, we would really expect a plateauing in the next couple of days.”
EASTERN HEALTH BANS VISITORS
Eastern Health will ban visitors from Friday in a bid to shield patients and staff from Melbourne’s growing infection rate.
“In accordance with the current pandemic risk and the stage 3 restrictions currently in place in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitcehll Shire, from Friday July 17 at 7am, visitors will not be permitted to any Eastern Health facility or site,” an Eastern Health statement read.
“Eastern Health acknowledges the impact this is having on our patients and their families. We encourage you to communicate with your loved ones via phone or applications including Zoom and Skype.”
Eastern Health said the only exception to the crackdown would be for visitors required as an essential care giver, for patients at end of life, maternity patients and paediatric and adolescent patients.
Box Hill Hospital, Maroondah Hospital and Angliss Hospital are all part of the Eastern Health group.
ELECTIVE SURGERY PUT ON HOLD
Some elective surgeries will be put on hold as Victoria prepares to receive an influx of Coronavirus cases in hospital.
All Category 3 surgeries will be postponed in Metropolitan areas from today, while other elective surgeries will be reduced to half the normal activity, in the bid to limit the number of people moving through medical facilities.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos announced the change on Thursday and said the move would protect Victoria’s health system.
“Earlier this year we started to prepare the system for the worst-case scenario to ensure that we had the equipment and resources necessary for our hospitals and ICUs to care for the needs of very ill Coronavirus patients.”
It came as Victoria recorded a record of 317 cases overnight.
Premier Andrews also revealed two more people had died and hundreds more were currently in hospital.
He also put the message out to health workers ahead of the influx “that we are deeply grateful to each of you.”
In the bid to prepare the state for an influx of patients the former Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre now know as the St Vincent’s Hospital on the Park, will be opened up with 84 beds.
Additional beds have also been added at hospitals in Casey, Geelong, Bendigo and Shepparton.
Victoria currently has 1200 ventilators available.
Private hospitals can continue taking Category 1 elective surgery patients and urgent Category 2.
- Alex White
AGED CARE, AL-TAQWA CLUSTERS CONTINUE TO GROW
Five mobile testing teams will be deployed across Victorian aged care facilities, as state authorities consider preventing workers from moving between facilities during the lockdown.
Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said the teams would test residents and staff across Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire to identify where community transmission was occurring.
“We know Australians living in aged care are among those most vulnerable to becoming seriously unwell with COVID-19,” Mr Colbeck said.
“It remains one of the greatest challenges the sector has faced and we need to be proactive in our fight against it.”
Testing teams will begin work today, Thursday, July 16.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said aged care facilities and Victorian authorities were considering banning workers from shifting between facilities.
“Each residential aged care facility has its own plan for dealing with the pandemic and for protecting the people under their care and I know that a number of the facilities are looking at ensuring that their workers are only working in one site at this time while we are in lockdown, with serious community transmission but whether there will be broader requirements I think is something we have to wait and hear from the colleagues in Victoria,” Prof Kidd said.
The AHPPC has also updated advice for people with disabilities and disability workers across Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, urging them to wear masks for the duration of the Victorian lockdown.
There have been more than 160 outbreaks in Victoria.
Existing outbreaks have grown to a total of:
- 157 at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina;
- Six at HWL Ebsworth Lawyers in Melbourne;
- 37 at Somerville Retail Services in Tottenham;
- 31 at Menarock Aged Care in Essendon;
- Five at St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner;
- 23 at Glendale Aged Care in Werribee;
- 21 at Estia Health Aged Care in Ardeer;
- 29 at JBS abattoir in Brooklyn.
Prof Sutton said the definition of outbreaks changed depending on the setting.
“If we get one case in a staff member or a resident in an aged care facility, we call it an outbreak because of the urgency of the response that’s required,” he said.
“Other outbreaks relate to transmission between individuals in a setting outside of a home.”
Prof Sutton said it took time for an active cluster to be deemed inactive.
“We really have to go through two full incubation periods of no further cases to call it closed,” he said.
“There’s a lot that aren’t active, but they’re still on the books in terms of being called active.”
ACTIVE OUTBREAKS AT AGED CARE FACILITIES
Menarock Life Aged Care Essendon: 31 cases linked to this outbreak – 16 staff and 15 residents.
Estia Ardeer: 21 cases: 6 staff, 15 residents
Glendale ACF: 12 staff members, 5 residents and six household contacts
Embracia Aged care facility, Moonee Valley: 3 staff, 5 residents
St Basil’s Home for the Aged, Fawkner: 4 staff, 1 resident
Royal Freemasons – Gregory Lodge Flemington: 1 student, 2 residents
Rathdowne Place Aged Care Carlton ACF: 3 staff
Menarock, Templestowe: 1 staff, one resident
Japara Central Park Windsor: 2 staff
Blue Cross Ivanhoe: 2 staff
Arcare Craigieburn: 2 staff
Bundoora Extended Age Care: 2 residents
Japara Milward: 1 staff, 1 resident
CraigCare Moonee Ponds: 2 staff
Estia Heidelberg West: 2 residents
Estia Coolaroo: 1 staff member
Blue Cross Silverwood/Barradine (two sites): 1 staff
BaptCare The Orchards Doncaster ACF: 1 staff
St George Benetas Altona Meadows ACF: 1 staff
Aurrum Healesville ACF: 1 staff
Doutta Galla, Lynch Bridge site: 1 staff
Doutta Gala, Footscray: 1 staff
Uniting AgeWell ACF, Preston: 1 staff
Mercy Health, East Melbourne: 1 staff
BaptCare Strathalan, McLeod: 1 staff
Lipscombe House, St Helena: 1 staff
Opal Gracedale, Ringwood North: 1 staff
AGED CARE A PRIORITY
Every Victorian aged care worker has been asked to wear face masks at work.
The measure, already implemented in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire, was expanded across the state following conversations between state and federal authorities.
It will apply to residential care and home support messages.
A further 1 million masks will be released from the national medical stockpile to bolster supplies across the state.
It comes as Prof Sutton rejected calls to move aged care residents out of facilities.
“I don’t think moving residents out who are infected is always the control measure that is required,” he said.
“The primary thing is to never have infection introduced in the first place.
“Aged care deaths contributed to a third or a half of deaths in European countries.
“We’re not seeing that. But we’ve got a number of aged care facilities that are infected at the moment.
“We need to focus on making sure the staff who are turning up positive are excluding themselves at the very first symptom, are getting tested, and that we’re getting that very broad testing and making a response as soon as we identify resident cases.”
CHIEF HEALTH OFFICER WARNS AGAINST COMPLACENCY
Prof Sutton said the restrictions were preventing exponential increases in coronavirus cases.
“I’m still reading the counterfacter that 29 deaths is not much compared to an average flu season,” he said.
“These are the deaths you have when you have your controls in place.
“When you do not have your controls in place, and the restrictions that we have applied across metro Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, and across the state to some degree, you get 1,000 cases a day, 10,000 or more cases a day, as has occurred in some countries, and you get up to 1,000 deaths per day, as has occurred in countries in Europe, in Brazil, and elsewhere.
“So the idea that 29 deaths is nothing, and that we can lift all restrictions and that we can let it run, is absurd.
“It’s an exponential growth in cases when there aren’t restrictions in place.”
Prof Sutton said the variety of ages of Victorians hospitalised due to the virus showed how dangerous the virus is.
“The most vulnerable people who will be much more likely to require hospitalisation are the elderly,” he said.
“But we know there are people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s in hospital in the moment, so we shouldn’t expect that this is an illness that only affects the very elderly.
“There are people who have died in their 20s and 30s in large numbers internationally. And if we get significant numbers of people in those age groups infected, we can expect deaths there as well.”
POLICE DISH OUT $100K IN FINES
Police have issued another $107, 000 in fines to people caught defying Melbourne’s lockdown
A total of 65 fines were issued for breaches in the past 24 hours.
Five people at a CBD apartment were among those caught.
The group, found in a short-stay rental on Jane Bell Ln, knew the gathering was unlawful but got together anyway.
All five were issued $1652 fines, as with others caught in public and private gatherings across Melbourne.
Seventeen infringements were also issued at vehicle checkpoints at the metropolitan border.
A total of 21,713 vehicles were checked on main roads and 3,284 spot checks conducted on people at homes, businesses and public places.
- Aneeka Simonis
JOBLESS RATE JUMPS TO 7.4 PER CENT
Australia’s unemployment rate has increased in June as fresh fears of a second lockdown dampen prospects of an early economic recovery.
Latest labour figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show Australia’s June unemployment rate has risen to 7.4 per cent, a 0.3 per cent rise on the previous month.
It is the highest monthly unemployment rate since November 1998.
Easing restrictions in the month of June prompted 210,800 Australian to re-enter the workforce, according to the ABS.
Unemployment rose by 69,300 people to a total figure of 992,300, with about 70 per cent of the newly unemployed not in the labour force within May.
Read the full story here.
HOW VICTORIA’S VIRUS CLUSTERS GREW INTO SECOND WAVE
Victoria’s second wave of coronavirus began with cases from hotel quarantine and slowly grew until an outbreak at public housing towers became the state’s worst cluster.
There have now been more than 4000 confirmed cases in Victoria since the pandemic began.
Key outbreaks include the North Melbourne and Flemington public housing towers with 247 cases and another 36 at the towers in Carlton.
Al-Taqwa College is behind with 150 cases, 33 cases have been linked to Somerville Retail Services in Tottenham, 31 to Menarock Life Aged Care Facility in Essendon and 21 cases linked to JBS abattoir in Brooklyn.
Read the full story here.
COVID CATASTROPHE: HOW VICTORIA BECAME A TIME BOMB
Another day, another scandal.
Daniel Andrews was applying his well-versed solemnity to his virus rhetoric of punishment and protection.
It was June 17, and his campaign in the coronavirus fight had got the wobbles. Over the previous week, after a day of no new cases, the daily numbers had steadily risen: from four to eight to 12.
Victoria was being shrouded in the silent wisps of a second wave. Not that Victorians knew it: the rest of the country was taking the first tentative steps after COVID-19.
Read the full free story here.
WINDSOR HOSPITAL SHUTS AFTER DOCTOR TESTS POSITIVE
Visitors have been banned from the Avenue Private Hospital in Windsor after a visiting medical officer tested positive for COVID-19.
The doctor worked in the operating theatre complex over the past seven days.
The staff members were close contacts with the medical officer, all of which are now self-isolating and being tested.
- Tamsin Rose
NESTLE FACTORY CLOSES AFTER WORKER TESTS POSITIVE
A Nestle factory site in Melbourne’s north has closed after a staff member tested positive for coronavirus.
Deep cleaning is under way at the food giant’s Campbellfield site, with all staff ordered to self-isolate at home.
Workers unable to work from home will be placed on leave until the factory off the Hume Highway reopens.
Nestle spokesperson Margaret Stuart said the company had started contact tracing in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services.
She also said no one onsite met the Federal Government’s close contact criteria guidelines
- Anthony Piovesan
PM TO ANNOUNCE $2B JOBS SCHEME
Australians struggling to find work amid soaring unemployment and economic uncertainty will have access to retraining and upskilling as part of a $2bn jobs scheme.
Scott Morrison will on Thursday also announce a $1.5bn extension to the tradie wage subsidy scheme to keep apprentices in jobs.
Businesses will be paid up to $7000 a quarter to keep an apprentice on – expected to support about 180,000 jobs.
The scheme, initially due to expire in September and only available to small businesses, will now cover medium-sized businesses with up to 199 employees until March 2021.
The Prime Minister will also unveil a new JobTrainer scheme to provide up to 340,700 new training places for school leavers and jobless Aussies, with courses slated to start as soon as September.
“The jobs and skills we’ll need as we come out of the crisis are not likely to be the same as those that were lost,” Mr Morrison said.
“COVID-19 is unprecedented but I want Australians to be ready for the sorts of jobs that will come as we build back and recover.”
The federal government will stump up $500m for the scheme, with states asked to match it per capita — about $130m for Victoria.
Premier Daniel Andrews will also be asked to sign up to a heads of agreement paper to reform the vocational education and training sector to be eligible for the JobTrainer funding.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will on Thursday release new unemployment figures, with federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this week warning they would be dire.
While official unemployment was 7.1 per cent, Mr Frydenberg said the real rate was more like 13.3 per cent.
The newly formed Nationals Skills Commission will work with states to identify which areas are in the most need. Healthcare, social assistance, transport, postal and warehousing, manufacturing, retail and trade were high on the list.
Both TAFE and private registered training organisations will deliver the courses.
Skills Minister Michaelia Cash said the package would help Australia recover from the effects of COVID-19 on jobs.
“This package will be essential as the economy rebuilds so that people looking for work can re-skill and upskill for in-demand jobs, provide school leavers with a pathway into their careers, and ensure businesses are able to get the skilled workers they need,” Ms Cash said.
VICTORIA’S TOURISM SECTOR ‘LOSING HOPE’
Victorian tourism industry is bracing for even more bad news with longtime operators “losing hope” after the release of job numbers that show employment plummeting.
A senior industry figure believes the latest lockdown on metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire will bring more pain to the sector that had barely begun to recover from restrictions that has crippled tourism reliant businesses since mid-March.
The ABS job numbers released on Monday showed a 21 per cent fall in work in accommodation and food services.
Victoria Tourism Industry Council chief executive Felicia Mariani said it was a “sad reflection” of the industry’s worst fears.
“That is four times of an all industries average,” she said.
“If we consider most of these business have shut down or tourism businesses in regional Victoria who are suffering because of cancellations...They have really only had about four weeks to get back up and I have to say, people were optimistic with strong bookings - then to have to shut down again, no one has had time to refill the tanks.”
Ms Mariani told the Herald Sun said the situation was “very worrying”.
“I talk with operators every day, they have been stalwarts in our industry, they have been in our industry two decades and are real shining stars and these guys, they are quickly losing hope. It’s a very scary time, people are concerned, many are essentially looking for virtual restarts of their business. Many are concerned about their ability to be resilient at the moment.”
To counter this, VTIC was calling on the federal government to extend JobKeeper for the tourism industry.
“Every tourism business across Victoria has pointed to JobKeeper as the primary lifeline that’s enabled them to keep their businesses afloat. With the latest round of restrictions placing unbearable stress on Victorian tourism operators, the extension of JobKeeper will be the difference between businesses going to the wall and potentially surviving from now to the end of this nightmare year.”
Industry surveys conducted by VTIC during the first shutdown showed 66 per cent of Victorian operators had to close their businesses completely, and only 25 per cent were able to find some way to partially maintain operating.
It was encouraging to hear the Prime Minister making positive comments about supporting those areas in the grip of coronavirus restrictions, she said.
“At the end of the day the sustaining of JobKeeper for the tourism and hospitality sector is vital because they have been hit for so long and so hard.”
MASK UP ON WORK SITES
Victoria’s construction workers have been urged to don face masks as employers adopt new measures to protect against Melbourne’s second wave of coronavirus.
In new advice, an alliance of industry groups and unions said staff should take further measures to stem the spread.
Builders are urged to wear masks to and from work, when social distancing is not possible, and when in a lift, hoist or other confined space.
It comes as courts across Melbourne and Mitchell Shire make masks mandatory for all court users.
Official government advice remains that masks are recommended for Victorians in lockdown areas who are unable to socially distance.
FACE TO FACE WITH REAL INNOVATION
Camberwell Grammar School students have watched a staff idea turn into thousands of reusable face shields for frontline COVID-19 medical staff.
After Victoria’s first coronavirus lockdown, Camberwell Grammar School information and communications technology integrator Julian Visser began making face shields using his 3D printer at home for friends working in hospitals.
With word of mouth spreading and demand increasing, Mr Visser approached the school to use its 10 3D printers, leading to the founding of the Boye Medical Group.
“I thought if this could be helpful, why not,” Mr Visser said.
“It went from one shield to many thousands. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of the school.
“ It’s a great example of innovative design. For students, I hope this can be a real-world example of going from an idea to full production in a short period of time.”
Now with a manufacturing base in Dandenong, the group has been contracted by the government to make 35,000 shields by the end of the month and is taking public orders
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