Victoria Covid-19 infections: 11 new cases as seven-day lockdown announced

Victoria will be plunged into a seven-day lockdown from midnight after the state’s Covid cluster rose again. Here’s what you can and can’t do.

Victoria will be plunged into a seven-day lockdown from midnight after the state’s Covid-19 outbreak rose significantly overnight.

One of the 12 cases confirmed by the Department of Health was reported on Tuesday, meaning there were 11 new infections recorded overnight.

One of the new cases is in intensive care and is on a ventilator.

From 11.59pm tonight all of Victoria will move into lockdown restrictions, with just five reasons to leave home, including getting food and supplies, authorised work, care and caregiving, exercise for up to two hours each day with one other person, and getting vaccinated.

Reported yesterday: 12 new local cases and no new cases acquired overseas.
- 12,677 vaccine doses were administered
- 40,411 test results were received

More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/e9rfizWbGp

— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) May 26, 2021

The “circuit breaker” lockdown will be in place until 11.59pm on June 3, with the following restrictions also coming into effect:

• You must remain within a 5km radius of your home when shopping or exercising, unless your closest shops are further away.

• Masks must be worn everywhere other than your home, both indoors and outdoors, unless an exemption applies.

• There are to be no visitors to your home unless it is an intimate partner. However, single bubbles will be permitted, with people living alone allowed to make a bubble with one other person.

• Public gatherings will be banned.

• Restaurants, pubs and cafes can provide takeaway only. Essential retail, supermarkets, food stores, petrol stations, banks, bottle shops and pharmacies, other retail stores can provide click and collect.

• Schools will move to remote learning, except for vulnerable children and children of authorised workers. Higher education will also move to remote learning.

• Childcare will remain open.

• Funerals will be limited to a maximum of 10 people plus those running the service.

• Weddings cannot proceed unless end of life or deportation reasons apply.

• Religious activities will not proceed other than through broadcast with a maximum of five people.

• Approved professional sporting events will proceed but crowds will not be permitted.

• Hotels, clubs, TABs and casinos will be closed.

• Indoor and outdoor entertainment venues, swimming pools, spas, saunas, community venues, drive in cinemas and amusements parks, creative studios, art galleries and museums will all be closed.

• Aged care visitors will only be allowed for limited reasons. Hospitals will only allow visitors for end of life situations, to support a partner during birth, or a parent accompanying a child.

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Acting Premier James Merlino. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

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There are now 34 active coronavirus cases across the state, with 26 of those linked to the new cluster. More than 40,000 test results were received overnight.

Acting Premier James Merlino has expressed concern at how fast the Indian variant is moving across the state, saying authorities are not only experiencing first hand how quick it is “but how contagious it is as well”.

“Our contact tracers are identifying and locking down the first ring, second ring, and third ring within 24 hours. They have never done that before,” he said during Thursday’s press conference.

“That’s the fastest our contact tracers have ever moved within a 24-hour period, identifying and locking down first, second, and third rings of cases. But despite working as fast as this, and my thanks to all of our contact tracers, this variant is moving faster still.”

Mr Merlino said the time between catching the virus and passing it on “is tighter than ever”.

The announcement comes after infections spiked in the state on Wednesday, with six new local cases being linked to the Whittlesea cluster.

The number of sites visited by Covid-19 positive cases has soared past 100, with a McDonald’s, Anytime Fitness gym and Kmart among the new venues.

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Medical staff perform COVID-19 testing at a drive through testing site in South Melbourne. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

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The number of cases in the Whittlesea cluster has doubled within 24 hours, with Mr Merlino warning it will become “increasingly uncontrollable” unless authorities do something “drastic” to stop it.

He highlighted the need for more Victorians to get vaccinated, announcing that from Friday morning vaccinations at state sites would be expanded to include those in the 40 to 49-year-old age group for the Pfizer vaccine.

“If more people were vaccinated, we might be facing a very different set of circumstances than we are today. But sadly we are not,” Mr Merlino said.

“If we make the wrong choice now, if we wait too long, this thing will get away from us.”

10,000 contacts identified, as ‘missing link’ still a mystery

Victorian health authorities have identified a record 10,000 primary contacts who may have been exposed to the virus.

Chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton warned “any one of them could become cases over the next 14 days”.

He said the reason for the high number of primary contacts is because of the “generations of transmissions” which occurred before the first case in the outbreak was identified.

“There’s been opportunities to spread to people. The other clear element is the infectiousness of the virus. When we see a member become infecteded, almost all the household is infected,” he said.

“It speaks to the infectiousness of this B. 1.617 variant, but also the cycles it’s going through. It really is rapid and that’s led to the exponential increase.”

Genomic testing has found the new infections are “closely linked” to a case from a few weeks ago that originated in South Australia.

Earlier in the month a man tested positive to the virus after becoming infected while undergoing hotel quarantine in South Australia and then flying into Melbourne and returning to his home in Wollert.

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Health authorities are still struggling to find the “missing link” between this case and the new cluster, though so far none of the new cases have been found to be linked to any exposure sites from the Wollert case.

A man in his 60s, who was among the five cases announced on Tuesday, is still believed to be the earliest known infection in the new outbreak.

The man, referred to as case 5, developed symptoms on May 17, with authorities believing he may have been infectious for almost 10 days before presenting for testing.

Fears for NSW as exposure sites grow

There are increasing fears Victoria’s Covid-19 outbreak could leak across the border into NSW.

NSW Health issued an alert after a sporting club based in Tooleybuc, in the western Riverina region of NSW, was linked to the growing Victorian cluster.

The Health Department said members of the club attended a sporting event in Cohuna, Victoria on Saturday, May 22 between midday and 5pm, which was also attended by a confirmed virus case.

Both Tooleybuc and Cohuna are Murray River towns near the borders of their respective states.

The Tooleybuc Sporting Club is just a 140km drive south to Cohuna, which is on the Murray Valley highway almost 300km north of Melbourne.

“Anyone who attended is requested to immediately self-isolate and await further advice from NSW Health,” health authorities said.

“NSW Health is working to set up increased capacity for testing in the area and thanks the community for their co-operation.”

The warning comes after it was revealed on Wednesday that two close contacts of virus cases had crossed the border in to NSW.

The two people alerted NSW Health after being contacted by Victorian contact tracers and were immediately tested and placed in isolation, with both contacts returning a negative result.