Victoria faces NZ-style lockdown after massive spike in coronavirus cases

In the wake of a record spike in new coronavirus infections, Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews says he ‘can’t rule out’ a New Zealand-style lockdown.

Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews and chief health officer Brett Sutton have said the state “can’t rule out” a New Zealand-style lockdown, in the wake of a record-breaking spike in new coronavirus infections.

After announcing 484 new COVID-19 cases overnight, Mr Andrews was questioned over the next steps his state would take to as the numbers spiral out of control – particularly a hard lockdown which would shut all businesses except for supermarkets, food banks, pharmacies, liquor stores and corner stores.

While no new restrictions for greater Melbourne or Mitchell Shire, both of which are in their third week of a stage-three lockdown, will be announced today, the Premier said he “can’t rule those measures out”.

“These matters are under review based on the data each day, the trends each week, and the trends I’ve gone through in some detail, understanding the problem,” Mr Andrews said, referring to the portion of Victorians disobeying instructions while waiting for their coronavirus test results.

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“If we were to move to a further stage of restrictions where other movement was limited – and I did make some comments the other day about where you might be able to go shopping, how many people might be able to leave the house at any one time – just to give you a couple of examples – will that stop people going to work that are going to work now? No.

“So the key factor here – we can’t rule those measures out – but, at this stage, the key factor here that’s the driving the numbers and driving our challenge is people that are sick but not getting tested.”

Chief health officer Brett Sutton said “everything is under consideration” – including a lockdown like the one New Zealand imposed to eliminate COVID-19 – though he mentioned Victoria has much higher community transmission than New Zealand did at the height of its outbreak.

“To go to a particular model of lockdown that work for one country at one point in time is not the solution,” Professor Sutton said.

“We have to understand what the dynamics of transmission are in Victoria at this point in time. It may well be that it’s an awful impost on the economy and on people’s lives with no material benefit if we go to a New Zealand-style lockdown.

“We have to understand where the transmission’s occurring and what measures will be most effective in reducing it.”

Prof Sutton said he “certainly wouldn’t even assume that a New Zealand-style lockdown will address the issues that we have”.

“Obviously people were very constrained during that four-week period in New Zealand, but New Zealand didn’t have significant community transmission – again, they were identifying the close contacts of international travellers, and it was a much, much more straightforward contact-tracing process – as it was in Victoria through the first phase,” he said.

“So I wouldn’t make assumptions that harder, more constrained lockdown is necessarily the way to go. We have to be targeted in terms of seeing where the issues are and addressing them directly.”

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Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters speculating about new restrictions “doesn’t serve any real purpose”. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Wayne Taylor

Mr Andrews said, as far as announcing new rules, “speculating about these things doesn’t serve any real purpose”.

“Ultimately, when the data tells us we need to go further, we will,” he said.

“The most important thing for every single Victorian – follow those rules, only go out for the four permitted reasons, and only when you need to. If you’re sick, get tested quickly. And while you’re waiting for a result, wait for the result at home. Not at the supermarket. Not at work. Not anywhere else other than in your home.

“And if we all do that, then we will see much better numbers than the ones we’re having to report at the moment, because the data tells you exactly what you need to know.”