‘Infuriating’ video emerges inside Melbourne pub before lockdown

An “infuriating” video taken inside a packed Melbourne bar minutes before a statewide lockdown has sparked fury from Victorians.

An “infuriating” video showing a crowd dancing inside a packed Melbourne bar just minutes before a statewide lockdown has caused major upset.

The video was uploaded to social media and shows dozens of partygoers dancing inside a packed bar on Melbourne’s Chapel Street in the CBD.

Despite reportedly being filmed just 10 minutes before Victoria’s seven-day “circuit breaker” lockdown came into effect, no one appears to be adhering to any safety measures.

There seems to be no social distancing in place and the only person seen wearing a mask in the video is the bartender.

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The footage was taken inside a bar on Chapel Street in Melbourne’s CBD. Picture: Nine News

It was reportedly filmed just minutes before Victoria was plunged into lockdown. Picture: Nine News

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The footage, shared by Nine News, has been forwarded to the relevant authorities who will determine if any action needs to be taken.

A Victorian Government spokesperson branded the footage “beyond infuriating”, telling Nine this type of behaviour puts the whole state at risk.

“Victorians will be rightly frustrated at these people who selfishly flouted the rules just before lockdown,” the spokesperson said.

“Irresponsible gatherings like this put us all at risk - and it’s insulting to all the Victorians working hard to prevent another outbreak of coronavirus in our community.”

Chapel Street Precinct General Manager, Chrissie Maus, reminded the community not to let one venue that may not have been doing the right thing ruin the reputation of the other venues in the precinct.

“We want people to remember that this is one out of 2200 businesses in the iconic precinct and please don’t let one business that may not have been following restrictions ruin the livelihoods of over 2199 other businesses who have been going above and beyond with Covid safe mitigation,” she said.

“We need everyone to support our local businesses to get to the other side of this.”

It comes as Victoria’s outbreak rose to 35 on Saturday, after five new locally acquired Covid-19 cases were confirmed overnight.

There are already two Chapel Street bars listed on Victoria’s growing exposure site list, with Somewhere Bar and Three Monkeys both listed at Tier one sites. This means anyone who has visited them at the times listed by the government must immediately get tested and quarantine for 14 days from the date of exposure.

There are now more than 150 exposure sites spread across Victoria, with many of the venues bars, pubs and clubs where people are indoors in close proximity to one another.

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This is of particular concerns to health officials as the virus is much more likely to spread in situations where people are singing, dancing or otherwise exerting themselves within close proximity to others.

The spread in workplaces is also a concern, with one of the recent cases in Port Melbourne spreading the virus to at least five colleagues, before also attending a number of high-risk venues while infectious.

“That young man who had been to loads and loads of busy, indoor settings – clubs and pubs and restaurants – they are high at risk,” chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton said.

“Indoors, without a mask and exerting yourself – shutting, singing – these are high-risk activities and we need to watch them closely.”

It was revealed on Friday that one of the new Covid-19 cases likely caught the virus while visiting a Melbourne pub.

A patron at The Sporting Globe in Mordialloc contracted the virus while at the venue with an infected person on the evening of May 23.

Staff are seen preparing vaccine doses inside the Melbourne Exhibition Centre COVID-19 Vaccination Centre. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

It’s the first case not directly linked to households in the Whittlesea cluster or Port Melbourne’s Stratton Finance workplace outbreak.

The same infected person partied at Three Monkeys and Somewhere Bar, with South Melbourne’s Palace Hotel and The Local in Port Melbourne also listed as tier 1 exposure sites.

The five venues have been linked to at least three infected patrons.

“They are places where we expect to see significant numbers of people in proximity, dancing, singing, doing what they do,” Victoria’s testing commander, Jeroen Weimar, said.

“We now see the significant risk. We’re very keen to ensure that people who have been to those places at those times come forward very quickly.

“If you’ve been out to one of these locations, you’ve been out partying with somebody who was Covid-positive at the same time in that space.”

Mr Weimar said the key focus over the next few days was to identify thousands of people after he confirmed many “ignored” mandatory QR code systems.

“We’ve become increasingly concerned at low levels of compliance,” he said. “We have a number of locations where we just don’t think we have captured all the people who were in those venues.

“It’s important to get hold of them now.”