Seven-day circuit-breaker lockdown to start at midnight across Victoria

Victoria will go into a circuit-breaker lockdown for seven days from 11.59pm on Thursday after the state recorded 12 new cases of COVID-19, with one patient now in intensive care and at least 10,000 primary and secondary contacts identified.

Elective surgery has been suspended, schools will move to remote learning, restaurants, pubs and cafes will offer takeaway only, sporting venues and pools will close and entertainment venues including Crown casino will shut their doors. Childcare and kindergartens will remain open.

People must wear face masks everywhere outside of their own homes.

Acting Premier James Merlino said there were now five reasons to leave home: care and care-giving, exercise, work and to buy groceries – and now Victorians can also leave to get vaccinated, with those aged 40 to 49 eligible for the Pfizer vaccine from Friday.

“We said this time yesterday that the next 24 hours were going to be particularly critical in terms of what our next steps will be,” Mr Merlino said.

He said that wherever people are on Thursday night is where they should remain for the duration of the lockdown.

“That should be your place of residence, we don’t want people moving around.

“We need people staying at home and only moving around as per those five exceptions.”

Despite the imposition of the latest lockdown, Victoria will continue to accept international flights. The first repatriation flight from India is due to arrive at Tullamarine on Thursday afternoon.

“We’ve got a responsibility and an agreement at a national level to support the repatriation of Australian citizens and residents,” Mr Merlino said. “They’ll be going straight through to hotel quarantine.”

The coronavirus patient in intensive care had not been vaccinated. “It’s an elderly person,” said Health Minister Martin Foley.

“We send our best wishes to that family, and we send our prayers for the quick recovery.”

Contact tracers overwhelmed

Mr Merlino said he had faith in Victoria’s contract tracing team but said the virus was moving faster than they could track it.

“They’re doing extraordinary work,” he said.

“They have never, ever worked as hard as fast and as effectively as they are, right now. Despite that, this variant is moving at a faster pace.”

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said it was absurd to suggest contract tracing was not up to scratch.

But asked on ABC radio on Thursday afternoon if he was satisfied that it had kept the outbreak confined, Professor Sutton admitted that “it cannot do magic”.

“If you identify someone who’s infectious, but they’ve already been out in the community ... it doesn’t matter how good your contact tracing is.”

“We are not through this pandemic”: James Merlino delivers the latest lockdown news.Credit: Simon Schluter

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien pleaded with the state government to bolster its contact tracing team.

“Today is not a day for politics – there will come a day when Victorians need to know the answer to why our contact tracing hasn’t been able to prevent yet another outbreak, hasn’t been able to prevent yet another lockdown, but today’s not that day,” Mr O’Brien said.

Some federal Coalition MPs have also been critical of the Victorian government’s handling of the outbreak with cabinet minister Jane Hume, a Victorian senator, saying the state’s “contact tracking and tracing system remains hopelessly inadequate”.

Victorian Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie urged the state government to follow NSW’s lead. “I just beg Daniel Andrews to get NSW in, get Gladys’ bureaucrats in and just, whatever they’re doing, do the same,” she told Sky News.

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison was full of praise. “I want to commend the Victorian government and the acting Premier for their efforts over recent days,” he said. “In particular, I want to thank the contact tracers in Victoria for the very difficult job that they are engaged in.”

Experts, including some who have been critical of the Victorian government’s contact tracing regime in the past, have also been positive.

James McCaw, an epidemiologist and mathematical biologist with the University of Melbourne, said there were clear signs the public health team was responding more quickly to confirmed coronavirus cases and linking cases more rapidly compared with this time last year.

“The challenge here has nothing to do with the response – the challenge is with the inherent randomness of how this virus spreads in the community,” Professor McCaw said.

Deakin University chair in epidemiology Catherine Bennett praised the state’s contact tracers, and said she hoped the seven-day lockdown could give the public health team time to understand the risks.

“They’re going out to three rings of contacts within 24 hours – that’s incredible, that’s impressive,” Professor Bennett said. She said the Health Department must provide a detailed analysis and breakdown of the second wave of the pandemic, and the restrictions that were imposed, to help decide restrictions moving forward.

“We’ve got a nasty virus, a very good public health response, and a very engaged community – that’s great,” Professor Bennett said. “But I think we can have a more nuanced approach now

“We’ve had three months virus-free in Victoria, we should’ve been hearing more about the analysis of wave two.”

Travel bans

In the wake of Mr Merlino’s announcement, the other states and territories have imposed border restrictions on Victorians. NSW announced restrictions and Tasmania and Western Australia closed their borders on Thursday while Queensland was even more restrictive.

As of 1am on Friday, anyone who tries to enter Queensland who has been in Victoria in the past 14 days will either be turned around at the airport or ordered into two weeks’ hotel quarantine in Brisbane or Cairns.

Any returning Queensland residents will be allowed to re-enter, but must go into hotel quarantine.

South Australia closed its border to Victorians on Wednesday evening.

Channel Seven reported that passengers on the Ghan who had been in Melbourne in the past 14 days were taken off the train in Marla, near the border with the Northern Territory, on Thursday morning and taken by bus back to Adelaide.

Border closures

There are now different rules across all states and territories. This is the current state of play for people leaving Victoria:

• NSW: Anyone who enters after 4pm on Thursday must follow the same “stay-at-home” requirements that apply in Victoria. For border communities, this only applies if you have been outside the border bubble in Victoria.
• ACT: Stay-at-home requirements apply for anyone who enters after 11.59pm on Thursday.
• QLD: Anyone who enters after 1am on Friday will be turned around at the airport or ordered into two weeks’ hotel quarantine.
• WA: Border to Victoria has been closed since 10am AWST (12pm AEST) on Thursday. Travel is banned without an exemption, and those who do enter will have to get tested and isolate until they return a negative result.
• SA: Border to Victoria has been closed since 6pm ACST (6.30pm AEST) on Wednesday. Travel is banned without an exemption, and those who do enter will have to get tested and isolate for 14 days.
• TAS: Border to Victoria has been closed since 2pm on Thursday. Travel is banned without an exemption, and those who do enter will have to isolate for 14 days.
• NT: Anyone who enters will need to get tested and isolate. If you have been in Melbourne or Bendigo you must isolate until a negative test result. If you have been to a tier one exposure site, you must isolate for 14 days.

NSW health authorities have ordered that anyone travelling to the state who has been in Victoria after 4pm on Thursday must follow the Victorian lockdown rules for the next seven days.

Interstate residents were fleeing Victoria on Thursday morning and there was also a rush of people heading out of Melbourne to second homes in the regions.

New Zealand, which paused its travel bubble with Victoria on Tuesday evening, has extended the hiatus for a further seven days.

Authorities also ordered the approximately 5000 travellers who had arrived from Melbourne since May 20 to go into 14 days of isolation.

Heading home

Events producer Aly Jolly and her 11-year-old son Johnny cut short their trip to Melbourne and flew home to Sydney on Thursday morning.

Aly Jolly and her 11-year-old son Johnny were at Melbourne Airport on Thursday morning, heading back to Sydney while they could.

Ms Jolly and her son had seen the first part of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Wednesday night but were leaving before the second part on Thursday to get home before a lockdown. Her son was devastated.

“We have just decided to pull the pin and get out of here,” she said.

“My husband rang this morning and said get to the airport.”

Frankston couple David and Sandy Runkel had originally planned to drive their caravan to the NSW north coast on the weekend but decided to leave on Thursday when talk of a lockdown began.

David Runkel and Sandy Runkel have hooked up the caravan and are on their way to NSW two days earlier than planned.Credit: Joe Armao

Mrs Runkel, who is a nurse, was able to take annual leave to make an early start on their four-week trip. She said a holiday was “absolutely needed” after the stress of 2020.

“It was a harrowing year last year,” she said from a truck stop in Violet Town.

Struggle for businesses

This is the first lockdown that businesses will face without the assistance of the JobKeeper payments.

Many businesses throughout the pandemic last year praised the payments as a lifeline that kept hundreds of businesses afloat, and workers paying their bills.

“This is obviously a difficulty,” Mr Merlino said. “It will have an impact in terms of the economy.”

He said the state would assess what support could be offered and make an announcement within days.

The state opposition called on the government to immediately roll out grants and compensation for businesses, but stopped short of advocating for a wage subsidy in the absence of JobKeeper.

Mr O’Brien said the state needed a plan out of the latest lockdown and for economic recovery.

“My thoughts turn immediately to families whose lives are thrown into disarray,” he said. “And to the small business operators who are once again forced to close your doors, I will fight for you to be provided the compensation you deserve.

Earlier on Thursday, Melbourne lord mayor Sally Capp warned that a fresh lockdown would have a big impact on city businesses, particularly given the end of JobKeeper support.

“I encourage the Victorian government to take into account the plight of our business community in their decision making and provide support commensurate with the length of any lockdown,” Cr Capp said. “Keeping businesses open and Melburnians in jobs – now and into the future – is critical for our city’s recovery.”

Melburnians line up for drive-in testing in the city’s north-west.Credit: Justin McManus

No new jury trials will begin until restrictions ease in Victoria as the courts grapple with the snap lockdown.

Jury trials that have already begun will continue - though the courts have flagged the possibility that cases could be adjourned.

“We have planned for this possibility and we are well placed to respond to the latest advice,” Chief Justice Anne Ferguson said.

Testing sites flooded

Testing sites across Melbourne have again been inundated as health authorities homed in on the thousands of people who have been deemed close contacts.

“From first thing this morning we’ve identified in excess of 10,000 primary and secondary contacts who will need to either quarantine or test and isolate,” Mr Merlino said.

For the third day in a row, people have been forced to wait for hours to get tested, with several sites turning people away.

The Health Department estimated wait times of up to three hours at the testing site at the Moonee Valley Racecourse and warned that people attempting to get tested at IPC Health sites at Wootten Road Reserve, in Greensborough, or at the West Sunshine Community Centre should go elsewhere.

The department also said that sites at Wantirna Health’s Trash and Treasure Market, at Monash University Clayton and at Boronia train station car park were also not accepting any new people for testing.

People had a long wait in Collinwgood to get tested for COVID-19.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Aughtie Walk in Albert Park, The Alfred hospital, Monash Health on Carroll Lane in Dandenong and Western Health’s drive-through at Melbourne Showgrounds were all warning visitors to expect a wait of four or more hours to get a test.

State authorities administered 12,677 vaccinations on Wednesday, taking the total number of doses delivered through the state system to 398,009.

It comes as the number of exposure sites in Melbourne continued to grow, with the state government’s list approaching 80 separate locations on Thursday morning.

The push for more Victorians to get immunised and the announcement that people in their 40s would now be eligible for the Pfizer vaccine triggered a widespread outage of the state’s coronavirus hotline.

There were long lines of people waiting to be vaccinated at the Exhibition building in Carlton on Thursday morning.Credit: Jason South

Callers reported they had been left on hold for hours, while others said they were unable to get through to book their vaccine appointment.

Calls to the service appeared to be operating again by 3pm.

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the government must ensure the vaccine booking system could keep up with the pace of demand.

The Moonee Valley Football Club posted on Facebook on Wednesday that a player in their men’s thirds team, who is a work colleague of a positive case, returned a positive COVID-19 test result on Wednesday morning.

With Erin Pearson, Simone Fox Koob, Melissa Cunningham and Benjamin Preiss