Medical experts call for stage four restrictions as Victoria records 428 new cases, three more deaths
The country’s top medical association is calling for Victoria to move to tougher restrictions as the state’s virus situation goes from bad to worse, with three Victorian deaths and 428 new cases recorded overnight. It comes as five people at a backyard brothel in Melbourne’s west were among the latest to be fined for breaching restrictions.
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Victoria’s coronavirus cases have doubled to 5164 in just 12 days.
It took 160 days for the state’s case tally to climb from the first case on January 25 to 2536 by July 4.
But the total toll has now doubled in less than a fortnight amid Victoria’s disastrous second wave.
Victoria recorded 428 new coronavirus cases on Friday, with three Victorians dying of coronavirus overnight.
A man and a woman, both in their 80s, and a man in his 70s are the latest fatalities, bringing the total number of deaths to 32.
The Australian Medical Association is demanding the Andrews Government immediately introduce stage four coronavirus restrictions, saying it will soon be too late to hesitate any longer.
With more than 400 cases recorded in a single day, AMA Victoria President Professor Julian Rait said stage three lockdowns introduced in areas of Melbourne at the start or the month had done nothing to contain COVID-19’s spread and more drastic measures were overdue.
“We have to accept that more stringent measures are imminent because, if those numbers don;’t really turn around we’ll be in a different world on Monday,” Prof Rait said.
“The Chief Health Officer has been suggesting this should turn around or at least plateau about now and it hasn’t, and we have had lockdown measures around metropolitan Melbourne now for more than a week.
“We have had suburban lockdowns for three weeks, and we are not seeing those numbers diminishing.”
The state’s chief health officer earlier hinted that further restrictions may be on the horizon.
“Everything is on the table,” Professor Brett Sutton said.
“There will be dozens of individuals who will require hospitalisation from these 428 people.
“Tragically, there will be several who require intensive care support and a number of people will die and whenever we have a day of these numbers, that is the case.
“We are all thinking about the additional measures that may be required if it does not turn around.
Prof Sutton confirmed one of the deaths was linked to an outbreak at Menarock Life Aged Care in Essendon.
There are 122 Victorians in hospital, including 31 in intensive care.
Of the new cases, 57 are linked to known outbreaks, one is in hotel quarantine and 370 are under investigation.
“We are in the fight for our lives,” Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said.
Five people at a backyard brothel operating out of Truganina were among those issued with fines for not staying at home in the past 24 hours, police said.
Officers have condemned boozy socialites who were among the 83 people fined $1652 for disobeying strict stage three coronavirus orders.
Of those, 11 were issued at vehicle checkpoints across the state.
Operation Sentinel continues.
The state government is moving to increase the number of testing facilities in regional Victoria, Wonthaggi, Bendigo, Koo Wee Rup, Mildura and Shepparton.
“We’re keeping a close eye on regional Victoria and, while the numbers in regional communities have been lower, we’ve recorded about 42 cases since July 1,” Ms Mikakos said.
“We are keeping a close eye and monitoring the data on a daily basis and it is important for regional Victorians to not become complacent.”
The Premier said Victorians should stop looking for loopholes in the restrictions.
“I will say to those people trying to find ways around the rule: that is not helpful, that is not going to do anything to pull this virus up to we just must use common sense, for ourselves, for our families, for our community, for every single Victorian family” Mr Andrews said.
“And if that is not enough of a motivation, then to get out of these restrictions quickly, let’s follow the rules and use good judgment and common sense over these next five or so weeks.”
Mr Andrews chided Victorians who had taken trips far away from their local area.
“We saw last night some coverage of a couple of people who had travelled from Coburg to Rye on the Mornington Peninsula,” Daniel Andrews said.
“It is a 200km round trip. That is not daily exercise. That is a day trip and day trips are not on.
“There is nothing about that that is compatible with staying at home. If you want to go for a walk, then you can go for a walk close to home.”
CLUSTERS CONTINUE TO GROW
There are currently 150 healthcare workers infected with coronavirus, of which the vast majority were acquired in the community.
A total of 280 cases have been recorded in residents of public housing towers in North Melbourne and Flemington.
A total of 47 cases are linked to various public housing towers in Carlton.
The new cases have brought existing outbreaks to the following number of total cases:
- 160 cases at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina;
- 51 cases at Somerville Retail Services in Tottenham;
- 36 cases at Estia Health in Ardeer;
- 38 cases at Menarock Life Aged Care in Essendon;
- 32 cases at JBS Abattoir in Brooklyn;
- 23 cases at Glendale Aged Care in Werribee;
- 19 cases at the Northern Hospital;
- 16 cases at the Alfred Hospital;
- 16 cases at Brunswick Private Hospital;
- 16 cases at LaManna Supermarket in Essendon;
- 14 cases at St Vincent’s Hospital;
- 12 cases at Western Health;
- 8 cases at the Royal Melbourne Hospital;
- 2 cases at the Mercy Hospital for Women in Heidelberg;
- 2 cases at Kmart in Endeavour Hills.
Aged care facilities included in the new outbreaks:
- Aurrum Aged Care in Plenty (two cases);
- Regis in Brighton (one case);
- Grace Villa in Greensborough (one case);
- Bupa aged care in Sunshine;
- Baptcare Wyndham Lodge in Werribee (one case).
MENAROCK LIFE AGED CARE RESIDENTS MOVED
Aged care residents have been moved from a Melbourne facility to stem the spread of coronavirus as the state’s aged care sector outbreak tally hits 175 cases.
Menarock Life Aged Care in Essendon was being emptied on Friday with residents sent to hospital as a precaution.
It comes after two deaths and 21 staff, 15 residents and 2 external contacts have tested positive to the virus.
Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said it was a drastic move but due to the facility layout isolating patients had become impossible.
“We understand this is a very stressful time, both for the residents being moved, and their families,” he said.
“However, we believe this is a necessary step to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of the residents currently living in the Menarock Life facility.”
“Due to the layout of the facility and the unique challenges of effectively isolating and grouping residents on site at Menarock Essendon, the decision was taken to transfer all residents to hospital,” he said.
Authorities have not ruled out making the same move with other facilities with high infection rates.
- Alex White
‘DON’T LOOK FOR LOOPHOLES’: PREMIER
Daniel Andrews urged Victorians to keep it simple when considering their activities.
“If you have a question in your mind — should I be doing this — the answer almost certainly is no, you should not,” he said.
“Daily exercise is fine. A day trip where you are literally travelling 200km? No. That is not fine.
“You cannot do that. I know it is frustrating, but that is the reality we face.
“Pretending that it’s over because we want it to be over — that is not a strategy at all.
“We will always try and provide clarity and advice but whenever you draw the line or make a ruling, there will always be some grey area.
“What I asked Victorians to do is to err on the side of caution, to err on the side of not pushing the rules.
“If individual issues need to be adjudicated, we will try to do that and try to be fair.
“It is difficult to write a comprehensive rulebook for human behaviour. The best thing to do is err on the side of caution.
“If you can do it locally, please do it locally and if you don’t have to do it, then don’t.”
WHY ARE THE NUMBERS STILL SO HIGH?
Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said there were still high case numbers in some areas.
“Not all postcodes have stabilised,” he said.
“We have seen some postcodes within the initial areas that have plateaued to some degree, but there are other postcodes within that same local government area that continue to take off and so it is not a uniform picture.
“And it might be that some of those other postcodes are yet to plateau, but it might be that they are not moving in that direction, and so, again, we have to bear in mind that there is a precautionary principle to take.
“We wouldn’t wait and wait and wait to see if the change occurs, we need to see what it’s looking like on a daily basis.”
Prof Sutton said there were some areas where cases were continuing to climb.
“We know that essential work is driving some of it with our outbreaks in aged care and healthcare, so there is absolutely a focus on PPE and awareness of symptoms in aged care” he said.
“Healthcare workers and universal mask-wearing is something we are absolutely advocating for in this space, but also the screening, the symptom awareness for everyone so that they are getting tested and isolating very early on.
“There might be other workplaces that we need to look at, there might be increased compliance measures that we need to look at, but we are not there yet in terms of understanding exactly what might be required — or if it is required yet.”
Prof Sutton said the impact of the stage three shutdown should be reflected in case numbers this week.
“Certainly we have an expectation that the things we have put in place two weeks earlier should show up in the numbers, so when that 2-week period is completed, we would expect that to manifest in the numbers,” he said.
“So at the end of this week, we are getting very close to that.
I think (tighter lockdown) is still a consideration every day.
“We wouldn’t wait for a two-week period if we see concerning elements in any of the postcodes, any of the local government areas or any of the transmission networks that we are reviewing every day.
“So two weeks is a simple answer, but it’s not to say that we would wait that long before making a decision.”
The Premier said the government’s next step would be data-driven.
“We will look at the data and we will always be driven by data and science and if we’re not seeing a stabilisation, or a sense of control and any sense of the strategy not delivering the outcome or presenting a trajectory that we want to see, then of course everything is on the table,” Mr Andrews said.
END OF LOCKDOWN IN SIGHT FOR TOWER RESIDENTS
Residents of a locked-won public housing block in North Melbourne are nearing the end of their 14-day quarantine period.
“The hard lockdown can end, but if anyone still has symptoms or has tested positive within the balance of that time and has further days to spend within their own unit, then they will need to do that,” Mr Andrews said.
“And there will be a proper enforcement process, just as there is with every other residence right across the state.”
LONG-TERM HEALTH IMPACTS OF VIRUS REVEALED
Prof Sutton said the side effects of coronavirus often persistd long after recovery.
“Recent evidence suggests that people have symptoms weeks to months after recovering, so this is not even an illness where you get over it after a couple of weeks and you get back to a normal state of health,” he said.
“For many, many people, this represents a disability that they carry with their breathing or with their general health for some time to come, and we are not far enough into this pandemic to know what the long-term consequences might be.
“There may well be people who really carry this disability or this chronic condition for years to come.
“I hope that is not the case, but it is obviously concerning that people who have required hospitalisation — people who have severe illness — really do not recover for some weeks afterwards.”
MORE WOOLIES WORKERS TEST POSITIVE
Woolworths distribution centres in Melbourne’s southeast will stay open and continue operating as normal despite two more workers testing positive for coronavirus.
Employees at the two Mulgrave sites were notified of the new cases on Friday morning as Victoria recorded a record 428 new COVID-19 infections overnight.
One of the employees who tested positive worked at the fresh produce warehouse and completed their last shift on Thursday, while the other was from the adjacent national distribution centre and last worked on Sunday.
The company said both sites were separate and only shared a carpark.
Read the full story here.
EXERCISE RESTRICTIONS TIGHTENED
Locked-down Victorians will be fined $1652 for travelling out of their neighbourhood to exercise, under a strict new coronavirus regime.
In a significant shift, the state government has issued clarified advice which explicitly limits where people can pursue outdoor recreational activities such as walking, jogging, cycling, playing golf and fishing.
When metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire moved back to stage three restrictions last week, Premier Daniel Andrews reassured people they would still be free to travel within the lockdown zone for exercise or recreational activities.
Asked if residents could leave their local government area to fish, play golf, or surf, the Premier said it was allowed under the rules.
“There is not a local government requirement but it’s got to be in metropolitan Melbourne,” he said.
“You can’t be going fishing outside the metropolitan area. Regional Victoria has very, very few cases. This is designed to keep it that way.”
But now, all Melburnians and residents of Mitchell Shire are banned from travelling to exercise if there are facilities closer to home.
It means suburban Melburnians will no longer be able to drive to the Tan track to walk or jog, instead being forced to exercise in their nearest park.
And cyclists must ride their closest trails, rather than loading the bikes on the car to visit one of the city’s popular routes.
The government issued the following clarification: “Unreasonable travel would include travel within the restricted area to exercise or outdoor recreation where that type of exercise can be done closer to home.”
Last Tuesday, Premier Daniel Andrews urged Victorians to follow the advice including not leaving metropolitan Melbourne.
“You can’t be going fishing outside the metropolitan area, down into regional Victoria,” he said.
“Regional Victoria has very, very few cases and vast parts of regional Victoria have no cases. “This is designed to keep it that way.”
The government has also stated Melburnians who have escaped to holiday homes must remain there until the stage three lockdown ends.
But restaurants and other service providers in regional Victoria will still have the right to ask to see customers’ driving licences — and then insist they can only use takeaway services if they have come from the lockdown zone.
Police issued another $107,000 in fines in the 24 hours to Thursday to people caught defying Melbourne’s lockdown, including five people at a short-stay rental apartment in the CBD.
It comes as new data revealed Victorians were continuing to flock to the Mornington Peninsula despite the non-essential travel ban.
Traffic data analysis has revealed traffic across the peninsula is exceeding normal levels, sparking concern among authorities. There has been no change to traffic levels since the new lockdowns, which affect five million Victorians, came into force last week.
Ahead of the new restrictions, traffic levels in the area were already significantly higher compared to normal levels with Blairgowrie, Rye and Capel Sound the busiest.
The data has revealed increased traffic by locals and visitors to the area. Traffic counts were recorded through road sensors on arterial roads.
When the new lockdown restrictions came into force there were no active COVID-19 cases on the Mornington Peninsula, which is considered part of metropolitan Melbourne.
But on Thursday night there were seven active cases on the peninsula.
Locals had feared Melburnians would use the area to escape the city and serve out their six weeks of lockdown.
Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Sam Hearn said many holiday home owners had headed to the area during the first wave of restrictions.
“For all of us, staying home and staying local is the best thing we can do right now to beat COVID-19, and this really helps protect areas such as the Peninsula that haven’t had the level of infection transmission we are seeing in hot spot suburbs,” he said.
“It’s a big help that the state government listened to our concerns and over the weekend strengthened and improved the guidance and restrictions on travel for daily exercise. This removes the risk of a constant flow of traffic between suburbs closer to the city and the Mornington Peninsula.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday Victoria’s outbreak was a “big setback” for the nation’s recovery. “The extent of the outbreak in Victoria is beyond what we would have, hoped would have occurred,” he said.
“The Victorian situation is very concerning. But as I think the Chief Health Officer in Victoria was remarking … they are, I think, hopeful that what we are seeing is those figures starting to level out.”
HOSPITAL FACING STAFFING SHORTAGE AFTER NURSE TESTS POSITIVE
A hospital in Melbourne’s northeast is facing a “significant reduction” in its perioperative nursing team after a worker tested positive for coronavirus.
Mercy Hospital for Women issued the warning to staff on Thursday, with chief executive Jason Payne advising the Heidelberg hospital was taking “an extremely cautious approach”.
Any staff members considered to be close contacts have been notified and will undergo coronavirus testing today.
The affected areas have been deep cleaned.
Read the full story here.
SOUTHEAST CHILDCARE WORKER TESTS POSITIVE
A staff member at a popular childcare centre in Melbourne’s southeast has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Hope Early Learning Centre in Frankston Heights confirmed to NCA NewsWire the site closed on Thursday as soon as management discovered a worker had become infected.
Manager Andrea Puddy said the centre, which has up to 120 children come through its doors each day, had started contact tracing with the Department of Health and Human Services.
Deep cleaning is under way at the Robina St site, and all families connected to the centre have been notified.
Read the full story here.
INNER-EAST SCHOOL TO CLOSE AFTER STUDENT TESTS POSITIVE
A student at Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The school in the eastern suburbs will close from Friday 17 of July for three days initially, a letter from principal Dr Mary Cannon confirmed late last night.
The school will be closed to all students, staff and members of the community to allow time for the school and DHHS to undertake a full risk assessment and contact tracing.
The school’s year 11 and 12 students, who had only just returned to campus, will begin remote learning from Friday.
The case marks the potential spread of the virus into the city’s east, which has been relatively free of the disease compared to the west and north.
- Susie O’Brien
KEY HOTEL QUARANTINE DATA KEPT SECRET
Victorian authorities have refused to say who has ordered genomic sequencing that could reveal the number of cases linked to hotel quarantine be kept secret.
Chief health officer Brett Sutton said on Thursday he had no hand in the decision not to release the information, pending a judicial inquiry.
“It’s not my call to keep it under wraps,” Dr Sutton said.
“It’s not my genomic sequencing data to share for starters, it belongs to the Peter Doherty Institute, who are doing the sequencing.”
On June 30, Premier Daniel Andrews ordered a judicial inquiry into the bungled quarantine program, saying genomic sequencing had linked a “significant” number of cases to the hotels.
But the government has since refused to release updated data that would reveal the extent of the virus leak.
Asked on Thursday whose decision it was not to release the latest data, the Department of Health and Human Services said: “The genomic sequencing data will be subject to the judicial inquiry and as such it’s not appropriate for us to discuss or provide it until it has been through that process.”
The Doherty Institute said the latest data was the subject of a judicial inquiry and “it’s not appropriate to discuss publicly until it’s gone through that process”.
The inquiry, headed by former judge Jennifer Coate, will hold its first public hearing on Monday, with findings due in late September.
It has appealed for anyone with relevant information to come forward as it probes government decisions and communication, as well as allegations of illegal cash payments to guards and billing rorts exposed in the quarantine debacle.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the lack of transparency in Victoria was concerning.
Ms Crozier revealed the government responded to a Freedom of Information request on the 111-case Cedar Meats cluster by releasing entirely redacted documents.
Bizarrely, among the blanked out pages was publicly available information, such as office addresses.
“It just demonstrates more secrecy,” Ms Crozier said.
“NSW are being open an transparent to their community but Victorians are kept in the dark.”
SCHOOLS AT RISK ORDER KIDS TO RETURN
Schools are refusing to cater for kids in lockdown areas who want to learn from home, despite escalating fears among some parents about the safety of campuses.
This includes years 11 and 12 VCE and VCAL students and pupils at specialist schools who have been ordered back to school this week.
Parents are being told children cannot study from home unless they have a medical certificate showing they are in a vulnerable health category.
It comes as attendance at specialist schools is down a third to a half amid concerns about the lack of social distancing among students.
One specialist teacher said she felt parents “didn’t care if she lived or died” because they sent their children to school.
Schools such as Penola Catholic College, which has had a student with the virus, told parents in a letter “all students are required to attend”.
At Rosehill Secondary College in Niddrie, parents were told all had to attend once a year level had returned.
Both schools were contacted for comment.
MONASH TO SHED 300 JOBS IN PANDEMIC FALLOUT
Almost 300 permanent jobs will be lost from Monash University’s four campuses because of the impact of the coronavirus on international student numbers.
The university announced that 277 – 105 academic and 172 professional – jobs would be cut by the end of year.
A Monash spokeswoman said a change to the university’s enterprise agreement had reduced the job loss numbers.
The university made a temporary variation to its EA including voluntary separation packages, a five-day leave purchase scheme, no bonuses for 2020, staff to use up excess leave balances and no pay increases until mid 2021.
Senior management had also taken a 20 per cent pay cut.
Without the EA change, the total job loss number would have been 467, the spokeswoman said.
Monash’s announcement follows news that the University of New South Wales would shed 493 jobs and merge faculties.
The revelations come as more than 7000 job losses are expected at Victoria’s nine universities because of the pandemic.
But the actual figure was feared to be much higher.
Many unis simply won’t renew casual staff contracts in a sector reeling from the significant loss of international student fees.
Data from the National Tertiary Education Union showed about 7700 higher education jobs were being lost in Victoria through redundancies.
Victorian assistant secretary of the NTEU Sarah Roberts said it was difficult to chart actual numbers because often the universities reported differently and only listed permanent staff being laid off not the non-renewal of contracts.
“The first cab off the rank in universities to cut costs was to not renew casual contracts,’’ Ms Roberts said.
“The estimation of 20,000 to 30,000 job losses nationally looks like being a huge understatement.’’
Ms Roberts said about 73 per cent of university staff employed in Victoria were classified as “insecurely employed”.
International Education Association of Australia chief executive Phil Honeywood said Victoria’s $11 billion education industry was struggling because of the absence of overseas, fee-paying students.
“According to federal government figures, 240,000 Australians work in the international education industry and Victoria would account for 25 per cent of those jobs,’’ Mr Honeywood said.
About one third of the sector were private providers.
A planned pilot program to bring back students with existing visas had been shelved because of the latest coronavirus outbreaks.
— Ian Royall
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