Ring of steel not ruled out as Victoria grapples with Covid outbreak

City and country could be separated again in Victoria as coronavirus cases continue to emerge.

A ring of steel in Victoria is “not out of the question”, as authorities grapple to stem the state’s latest Covid outbreak.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton was asked during Monday’s press conference whether he would again consider a boundary separating Melbourne from rural and regional Victoria in a bid to prevent the virus spread.

“It will be determined as we go through a review of the situation day by day, it is not out of the question,” Professor Sutton told reporters.

“We will see when we get there, we don’t know what will emerge tomorrow.

“There are a number of primary close contacts in regional Victoria, a number who have tested negative, but we don’t know what might be around the corner.”

A resident at a Covid-affected aged care facility in Melbourne. Picture: William West / AFP

The seven-day circuit-breaker lockdown is aimed to lift on Friday; however, Victoria has recorded a further 11 cases.

These include the emergence of another mystery case and the spread of an outbreak at an aged care home – developments that were “really concerning”, Professor Sutton said.

“It has been a rapidly moving virus, and the transmission that has occurred in those high-risk settings has been very substantial. So we have to take it as a day-by-day prospect,” he said.

“We’ve gone from a single case of the beginning of the month to 4200 primary close contacts.

“With more numbers today coming through and those really concerning settings, especially in aged care, we are neck and neck with this virus, and it is an absolute beast.”