As it happened: Victoria records 1838 COVID-19 cases, five deaths; NSW reports 646 local infections, 11 deaths

That's it for another week. Thanks for reading our blog today. Here are the main headlines from the day:

• Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly says people with severely weakened immune systems will have access to coronavirus vaccine booster shots after the government’s vaccine advisers approved the doses for a group of about 500,000 people. He also opened a path for fully vaccinated health workers who come into contact with coronavirus cases to keep working rather having to isolate.
• Victoria is close to hitting its COVID peak after recording 1838 cases, the state's Chief Health Officer says, as Mildura re-enters lockdown. Masks will become compulsory for school students in year 3 and above, and speaking of masks, Premier Daniel Andrews has received two $200 fines for walking outside (from his car to Parliament House) without wearing one.
• NSW recorded 646 local cases as new data reveals disparities between neighbourhoods in Sydney where some suburbs are trailing other suburbs by more than half. At the state begins to reopen from Monday, lawyers and regulators have said the cost of compensation claims related to workplace COVID-19 infections are expected to rise sharply.
• Three Victorian MPs are set to be banned from Parliament next month for either refusing to get vaccinated or produce evidence of their inoculation status, blocking vaccine-hesitant MPs from voting on behalf of their constituents. One of the MPs said the move was "one of the most undemocratic things I've ever seen".

There are now 43 active COVID-19 cases among Victoria’s prisoners, including six cases within the general prison population.

The other 37 active cases have been contained to quarantine and isolation units across the prison system and do not pose a threat to the general prison population or staff, Corrections Victoria confirmed in an update on Friday.

There five active COVID-19 cases in prisoners who identify as Aboriginal. A further 11 cases are among prison staff.

The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) previously warned the Victorian government was failing to manage the outbreak in prisons.

The co-operative said reducing the prison population was “world’s best practice” for managing COVID outbreaks in prisons, but the state government had not taken decarceration seriously.

A high-end Geelong restaurant, a horror movie screening at a Ballarat cinema and a primary school in Melbourne’s inner-north are among the dozen tier-1 venues added to Victoria’s official list of exposure sites on Friday.

Geelong’s IGNI, a one-time Regional Restaurant of the Year winner, has been listed as a tier-1 location for a COVID-19 exposure between 9am and 4.30pm on Saturday.

A file photo of IGNI owner and chef Aaron Turner (right) and another employee at the Geelong restaurant.Credit:

Anyone who attended the fine dining restaurant needs to get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.

Thornbury Primary School has also been listed as a tier-1 site for an exposure between 9.45am and 12.30pm on Wednesday. Another primary school at Deepdene in Melbourne’s east, Our Lady of Good Counsel, was added for an exposure on Monday between 8am and 3pm.

Childcare centres in Melbourne’s north, west and south east were also added to the list on Friday.

Journey Early Learning in Whittlesea was included after someone with COVID-19 attended the kindergarten between 10.30am and 1.30pm on Monday and Aspire Childcare Pakenham between 9am and 4pm on September 29, October 1 and October 4.

While Child’s Play Early Learning Centre at Tarneit was added for exposures between 7am and 6.30pm on September 30, October 4 and October 5.

Last Friday’s 9.20pm screening of Don’t Breathe 2 at Ballarat’s Showbiz Cinemas has also been listed as a COVID-19 exposure.

Other tier-1 additions include a Cotton On distribution centre near Avalon, an indoor go-kart venue in Ballarat and Deep Blue Hot Springs in Warrnambool.

Full details can be found on Victoria’s official exposure site website.

Two truck drivers from NSW who allegedly lied about their COVID-19 test results to enter Western Australia have been released on bail.

Scott Megson and Liam Glendenning crossed the WA-South Australia border at Eucla in their truck on October 5 after obtaining a valid online entry pass.

The men drove into WA from South Australia in a truck.Credit: Glenn Campbell

Under WA’s “extreme risk” restrictions, anyone who has been to NSW or Victoria must provide proof of a negative PCR test at least 72 hours before departure.

They must also quarantine in a government-sanctioned hotel for 14 days, get tested on days one, five and 13, and wear a mask on arrival.

WA Police allege the pair provided false documentation of a negative test to cross the border and, after arriving in Perth, Mr Glendenning left quarantine to go to a bottle shop in Midland where he was in close proximity to members of the public without wearing a mask.

Both men have since tested negative to COVID-19 twice, however they will remain in hotel quarantine until October 18, the day before their next court appearance.

They faced Perth Magistrates Court on Friday charged with failing to comply with a direction, providing false or misleading information, and gaining benefit by fraud.

However, Magistrate Dona Webb requested the prosecution drop the charges relating to fraud.

The matter was adjourned until October 19 to allow Mr Megson and Mr Glendenning to seek legal advice and both men were released on bail.

Four schools across NSW have been forced to shut after new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the communities.

NSW Education said Walgett Community College high school and primary school, in the state’s far north; Kearsley Public School, in the Hunter region; and Galston High school, on Sydney’s outer north-west, would be closed until further notice for cleaning and contact tracing.

“All staff and students are asked to self-isolate and follow the NSW Health advice and protocols,” the department said in a statement.

“NSW Education will continue to work closely with NSW Health to ensure the health and safety of all students and staff is maintained. ”

Victorians have been given the green light to drink booze while on picnics, as Victoria’s Chief Health Officer lifts a ban on removing masks to drink alcohol.

The mask rule was introduced along with a curfew in mid-August after a series of “pub crawls” in Richmond that drew the ire of Premier Daniel Andrews.

On Friday morning, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton announced the health directions would change “to allow the removal of masks outdoors for the consumption of alcohol."

An event in August with people gathered on the street.

Meanwhile, the NSW-Victoria cross-border bubble has been expanded.

From midnight, the Victorian local government areas of Benalla, Buloke, Greater Bendigo, Loddon and Yarriambiack will re-join the bubble. The NSW areas of Edward River, Hay, Lockhart, Murrumbidgee and Wagga Wagga will also re-join the bubble.

Residents of the bubble can only enter and leave the area without a permit if they have not travelled outside the border area for at least 14 consecutive days.

A COVID-19 outbreak at a homeless shelter in inner-Melbourne has grown from one positive case on Monday to five cases.

A spokeswoman from St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria confirmed it was notified by one of its accommodation and homelessness services, Ozanam House in North Melbourne, that a resident tested positive for the virus on Monday.

Ozanam House in Melbourne.Credit: Paul Jeffers

The resident was referred and transferred to Sumner House COVID Isolation and Recovery Facility for support. A further four clients and a staff members have since returned a positive test result. The facility has been classified a tier-2 site.

“Our staff are well-trained in the use of PPE and have significant experience in assisting clients required to self-isolate in their rooms with ready meals and emotional support,” the spokeswoman said.

“We are following a well-developed COVIDSafe Outbreak Management Plan, which has our people and their health at its centre, and we are working closely with the Victorian Department of Health and the Department of Family, Fairness and Housing to manage the outbreak onsite, including the deployment of a mobile testing unit and a deep clean.”

Mildura in regional Victoria will enter a seven-day lockdown starting at midnight, with restrictions to match those in Melbourne except for the curfew.

Caseloads in the north-western regional city have increased in recent days, with nine active cases in the local government area recorded on Friday. Three of these cases were confirmed today and will be included in Saturday’s count.

Mildura will enter a snap lockdown from 11.59pm on Friday.Credit: iStock

The beefed-up restrictions come as two other regional areas – Moorabool and Greater Shepparton – exit seven-day lockdowns on Friday night.

There are 13 new cases in Greater Shepparton and seven in Moorabool.

Premier Daniel Andrews tweeted about the easing of restrictions in Moorabool, which is west of Melbourne, saying health officials were confident the virus was being managed despite new cases.

“While there are still new cases, thousands of locals have been tested, vaccination rates have increased and our health officials are confident the potential growth has been slowed.”

More than 91 per cent of people in Moorabool have had their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and more than 58 per cent have had both.

In Greater Shepparton, in Victoria's north, more than 90 per cent have had their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and more than 56 per cent have had two jabs.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the people of Shepparton “have risen to the challenge of lockdown once again and their hard work has helped to slow the growth in cases.”

This weekend The Age will launch an important new series of stories about Truth Telling.

The series coincides with the Victorian government’s Yoo-rrook Justice Commission – Australia’s first truth-telling body – which has been set up to share and record stories about the impact of colonisation on Indigenous Victorians. Our series seeks to understand what happened, and how Indigenous peoples survived to tell their own stories, and to forge their own future on a path towards the nation’s first Treaty.

One of the areas that will be covered is Indigenous language and why it is important. In a series of audio clips and videos you can learn words that are important to Indigenous culture such as Iuk, the word for eel, and Kirrup, the word for friend.

With many Indigenous languages already lost or dormant as a result of colonisation, the importance of preserving language, and for all Australians to learn it, has come into sharp focus.

Today on Please Explain, Indigenous affairs journalist Jack Latimore joins Nathanael Cooper to discuss the importance of language.

More Victorians who don’t own a home will be able to access a state government equity scheme to make it easier for them to get on the property ladder.

The extended shared equity scheme within the Victorian Homebuyer Fund means that eligible participants will only require a 5 per cent deposit, with the state government to provide 25 per cent of the purchase price in exchange for an equivalent share of the property.

Homeowners will be able to buy out the state government’s share at market value over time if they choose, with the funds to be reinvested back in the scheme.

The scheme will allow some people to only require a 5 per cent deposit.

Homebuyers cannot access the scheme if they buy a property exceeding $950,000 in metropolitan Melbourne or Geelong, or a property over $600,000 in the rest of regional Victoria.

Treasurer Tim Pallas said purchasing a first home was a source of “desperation” for some people, but they wanted to help those who otherwise may not be able to get on the property ladder.

“This project represents the values of opportunity and a fair go for those Victorians who have felt, to some extent, left behind in terms of the property market,” he said.

“The state is formed that we have to be an active participant in this process.

“This won't be a process where we simply provide equity regardless of capacity, you'll have to demonstrate you can put together a deposit.

“We will have financial partners and banks who will be assessing your creditworthiness and your capacity to meet the payments.”

Around $500 million has been pledged by the state government for the Victorian Homebuyer Fund, to assist more than 3000 Victorians become homeowners.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander homebuyers can access the scheme with a deposit of 3.5 per cent, with a government contribution of up to 35 per cent.