As it happened: Victoria COVID: Scott Morrison announces COVID payment for Australians in lockdown as state records three new local cases

Two “fleeting transmission” cases that had experts worried, and had been used as justification to indicate the infectivity of the mutant virus have been reclassified as negative.

The expert review panel has determined that the two cases linked to a display home and Brighton pub were false positives.

Testing commander Jeroen Weimar speaking to the media on Wednesday.Credit: Eddie Jim

“Moving fast and early to contain and isolate a positive case, and test and trace their contacts is a fundamental part of Victoria’s COVID-19 response,” the Department of Health said in a statement.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the Department will always enact immediate public health measures in response to the notification of any positive cases.”

The two cases were a woman who was thought to have acquired the virus at a Metricon display homes exposure site, and a male who was thought to have contracted the virus at the Brighton Beach Hotel.

COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar this week called some of the cases in the current outbreak as occurring through “stranger to stranger” transmission, and that they were concerned.

“What we’re seeing now clearly is people who are, they’re brushing past each other in a small shop, they’re going around a display home, they’re looking at phones in a Telstra shop,” he said of transmissions linked to the display home, a Telstra store in South Melbourne and a grocer in Epping and Craigieburn shopping centres.

“This is, relatively speaking, relatively fleeting contact. They don’t know each others’ names. And that’s very different to where we’ve been before.“

The false positive linked to Brighton Beach Hotel had authorities on edge because the man was dining outside (where another infectious person was), in a well-ventilated site.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton had said “you wouldn’t expect transmission to occur” in a setting like that.

“We still had it as an exposure site, we still informed people to test and isolate until returning a negative, but in fact all of those people will need to be in quarantine because transmission has occurred there,” he said.

“We know that ventilation is a great risk mitigator, but it is not going to do the whole thing when you’ve got a really contagious variant.“

The display homes and Brighton Beach Hotel remain as exposure sites because they are linked to other confirmed cases.

That’s all we have for you for tonight.

Thanks again for joining us today and for all the comments and interactions on the blog.

Before I go here is a look at some of the major developments:

Deal in sight for quarantine facility in Victoria

Australians caught in lockdown get $500 a week if they meet strict rules

Impossible question to ignore as Melbourne endures more lockdown

Customers abuse supermarket staff on eve of mandatory QR check-ins

‘We’re like sacrificial lambs’: Unvaccinated teachers fear classroom return

We appreciate all your support today and tonight, thanks again for joining us and please join us again tomorrow morning when our COVID-19 blog returns.

I’ll leave you with our 10km radius interactive chart which lets you see what is within 10km of your house.

Bye for now.

The most common questions I have heard this week is why Melbourne? Why Victoria? Why us?

They are impossible questions to ignore given the high number of days Melburnians have lived in lockdown compared to their interstate counterparts.

Acting Premier James Merlino addresses the media in Melbourne. Credit: Getty Images

If lockdown ends as planned next week, Victorians (well, mainly Melburnians) will have spent more than 170 days living under the strictest restrictions since the start of the pandemic. Compare that to Sydney residents who have spent about six weeks at most, under some form of lockdown.

Victoria not only suffered from the strictest lockdown measures, it is the state where more than 800 people died, accounting for about 90 per cent of Australia’s total pandemic deaths. Given this, it’s only natural to ask, why?

Click here to read the story.

Sandra Muller lives in the Victorian town of Horsham, 300 kilometres from Melbourne, where there haven’t been any coronavirus cases in 2021.

But she still can’t visit her husband who is in intensive care in hospital in Townsville after a workplace accident on Tuesday at the remote construction site where he was doing FIFO work left him with multiple fractures.

Sandra Muller is desperate to see her husband, who is alone in hospital in Townsville.

“It’s just very hard,” Mrs Muller, 60, said. “If we’d been near somewhere that had COVID issues we’d probably be able to take it, but we haven’t had anything, we’re nowhere near anything, and they’ve just blocked everyone and it’s wrong.”

Click here to read the story.

A last-minute dispute is dragging out negotiations between the federal and Victorian governments to build a new quarantine facility near Avalon Airport so it can house 500 travellers and add to the existing hotel quarantine regime.

The Victorian government has gained a draft agreement from Prime Minister Scott Morrison to back the $200 million project but is concerned the terms could lead to a sharp increase in the numbers at the centre when it would prefer a stronger focus on minimising risk.

Scott Morrison has sent an MOU to Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino with federal commitments on the cost of the construction of the facility.Credit: Joe Armao/Getty

While the sticking point could prolong the discussions, the project is seen as a template for future quarantine centres in other locations if state and territory leaders want to build new facilities in the expectation of a lengthy pandemic that leads to repeated outbreaks and restrictions.

Click here to read the story.

Stay across the most crucial developments related to the pandemic with the Coronavirus Update. Sign up to receive the weekly newsletter.

Matt Golding cartoon on Aged Care minister Richard Colbeck.Credit: Matt Golding

Matt Golding cartoon on supermarket QR codes. Credit: Matt Golding

Matt Golding cartoon on teachers asking for the COVID-19 vaccine.Credit: Matt Golding

Victorian contact tracers have added three train trips on the Mernda line in Melbourne’s north to their exposure sites list.

Two trips on May 25 between Epping and Reservoir stations and another on May 26 have been added, all are tier-two exposure sites which mean anyone on those trains at the listed times should get a COVID-19 test and self-isolate until receiving a negative test.

The May 25 trips are a Epping to Reservoir train trip from 9.16am to 9.28am and a Reservoir to Epping train on 9.06pm to 9.17pm.

The May 26 trip is from Epping to Reservoir at 9.36am to 9.48am.

You can find the government’s exposure site list here and our interactive list below.

Question:

As a Victorian, what is the appropriate response to an interstate colleague saying something like “You got this” or “I know how you feel” about the lockdown on email?

Answer:

I’m not a believer in the proverb that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. But I make an exception in this case.

And maybe even that’s being generous.

Lockdowns in Victoria have become like sneezes. For a certain percentage of the population they seem to demand a response − non-acknowledgment is somehow considered a form of rudeness (important note: it’s absolutely not).

Click here to read the story.

At the start of the week, a city in lockdown was given a clear roadmap to reopening, with benchmarks for success, dates when restrictions would be gradually relaxed and a detailed schedule of improved vaccination and rapid testing, with the aim of living safely with an endemic disease.

That city was not Melbourne.

Pedestrians walk along a deserted street in the Boat Quay area of Singapore.Credit: Bloomberg

Singapore, another suppression success story caught short by the acceleration of more infectious coronavirus variants, introduced a four-week lockdown in mid May with all the familiar ingredients: remote schooling, closed shops, takeaway food, gatherings capped at two people.

But halfway through, the reopening date has been confirmed. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong laid out exactly what would happen and when – with the caveat that new outbreaks could add delays. He also announced the acceleration of Singapore’s Pfizer program – now to be offered to high school students – and the rollout of rapid testing across industries as a normal part of pandemic life.

Click here to read the story.

Prior to the federal government’s disaster pay announcement, Liberal MP Bev McArthur posted on social media that the Commonwealth “should not cover for Vic Govt [sic] incompetence” and create incentive for more “cruel” lockdowns.

“The Feds should not cover for Vic Govt incompetence and incentivise more cruel lockdowns. How can we expect a miner in WA, a farmer in NSW or a tourism operator in Queensland to pick up the bill for the ineptitude of Vic Ministers?” she wrote on Twitter.

“If the Federal Government does cave to the demands of Tim Pallas, every single dollar that it costs federal taxpayers should be deducted from Victoria’s GST allocation. This lockdown must end, the Commonwealth chequebook must close, and Victorian Government Ministers must resign.”

Mr O’Brien welcomed the Commonwealth assistance package and said Ms McArthur’s comments did not reflect Coalition policy.

“That’s frankly a ridiculous suggestion ... and there’s a reason why that MP is not on the front bench,” he said.

Two “fleeting transmission” cases that had experts worried, and had been used as justification to indicate the infectivity of the mutant virus have been reclassified as negative.

The expert review panel has determined that the two cases linked to a display home and Brighton pub were false positives.

Testing commander Jeroen Weimar speaking to the media on Wednesday.Credit: Eddie Jim

“Moving fast and early to contain and isolate a positive case, and test and trace their contacts is a fundamental part of Victoria’s COVID-19 response,” the Department of Health said in a statement.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the Department will always enact immediate public health measures in response to the notification of any positive cases.”

The two cases were a woman who was thought to have acquired the virus at a Metricon display homes exposure site, and a male who was thought to have contracted the virus at the Brighton Beach Hotel.

COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar this week called some of the cases in the current outbreak as occurring through “stranger to stranger” transmission, and that they were concerned.

“What we’re seeing now clearly is people who are, they’re brushing past each other in a small shop, they’re going around a display home, they’re looking at phones in a Telstra shop,” he said of transmissions linked to the display home, a Telstra store in South Melbourne and a grocer in Epping and Craigieburn shopping centres.

“This is, relatively speaking, relatively fleeting contact. They don’t know each others’ names. And that’s very different to where we’ve been before.“

The false positive linked to Brighton Beach Hotel had authorities on edge because the man was dining outside (where another infectious person was), in a well-ventilated site.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton had said “you wouldn’t expect transmission to occur” in a setting like that.

“We still had it as an exposure site, we still informed people to test and isolate until returning a negative, but in fact all of those people will need to be in quarantine because transmission has occurred there,” he said.

“We know that ventilation is a great risk mitigator, but it is not going to do the whole thing when you’ve got a really contagious variant.“

The display homes and Brighton Beach Hotel remain as exposure sites because they are linked to other confirmed cases.