Lisa Wilkinson apologises to Melbourne for lockdown

Lisa Wilkinson has apologised to Victorian residents over their snap lockdown, blaming ‘mixed messaging’ for the bungle.

As covid rages in NSW, Victoria has made the smart decision to do something about protecting their state.

Victoria’s Premier Dan Andrews announced a snap seven day lockdown after reporting eight cases in the state, as Sydney announced a whopping 286 cases on Thursday.

During Thursday’s episode of The Project, Lisa Wilkinson, a Sydney resident, apologised to Victorians, blaming the spread on mixed messaging from the government when it all began.

“I must say, this afternoon when the news broke, that you guys are going into lockdown from 8pm tonight, you know, there are a lot of us in Sydney who feel like we need to apologise

to you guys because all this comes from what happened six weeks or so ago with that Bondi cluster that happened.”

Lisa Wilkinson apologised to Victoria for Sydney's bungled lockdown. Picture: Channel 10

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She continued: “And the problem was the messaging from the very beginning and, look, I don’t know - we have all become experts, but watching this unfold it feels like the problem sheets back to the original mixed messaging, where the lockdown was not hard enough and people wanted a hard lockdown. We wanted to know what the rules were, so we could follow them and get out of it quickly. Victoria proves every time that the minute you get an outbreak there, you stamp on it and you get back to normal life again it is a pity it is happening for you guys for the sixth time now.”

Premier Daniel Andrews said while he would prefer to wait a few days before calling a lockdown, the advice from health officials was clear.

Daniel Andrews announced a snap seven-day lockdown for Victoria. Picture : NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

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“The alternative is we let this get away from us and our hospitals will be absolutely overwhelmed — not hundreds of patients but thousands,” he said.

With suspected Delta cases infectious in the community, as well as a high number of associated close contacts and exposure sites, Victoria’s acting chief health officer Professor Ben Cowie declared stay at home restrictions would be reintroduced.

The new rules that will apply in both metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria from 8pm on Thursday include only five reasons to leave home:

• Getting the food and supplies you need;

• Exercising for up to two hours;

• For care or caregiving;

• For authorised work or education — if you can’t do it from home;

• To get vaccinated at the nearest possible location.

Victorians also must wear face masks indoors and outdoors.

The lockdown will extend throughout regional Victoria as Mr Andrews revealed virus fragments had been found in wastewater throughout the state.

“We have a sewage test that has detected Covid-19 in the northeast, Wangaratta sewage test has pinged, firstly positive, then it went negative, now it’s gone positive again,” he said.

“We have some reason to believe there is Covid-19 in that community or has been in that community.”