Gladys Berejiklian monitors ‘concerning’ coronavirus situation in Melbourne and takes swipe at QR code system

Gladys Berejiklian has taken a swipe at Victoria’s coronavirus management and aired “enormous concerns” about outbreak spreading to NSW.

The NSW Premier has had a go at Victoria’s coronavirus management system and revealed there are “enormous concerns” the ongoing outbreak that started in Melbourne could affect her state as well.

Gladys Berejiklian said the Victorian government could move to impose a new lockdown partly because of a weakness in their “inconsistent” contact tracing system.

Ms Berejiklian said health officials in her state were able to stay on top of community spread with a high degree of confidence thanks to NSW’s use of QR codes to register people’s movements.

“Every state makes decisions based on the confidence they have in their systems and what is going on,” Ms Berejiklian told Channel 7’s Sunrise program on Thursday morning.

"We obviously are watching the situation very closely"

NSW Premier @GladysB says she is “extremely concerned” Melbourne’s latest coronavirus outbreak could spread to her state. pic.twitter.com/yVCAHfNKEd

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) May 26, 2021

“It also depends on the venues, how many people have actually checked in or not. They don't have the same consistent QR code system that we have in NSW.

“All of that is factored into our decision making in NSW: How robust are our systems, how confident are we that we have actually identified everyone who needs to get tested and isolate? That is the real key thing.

“If you are not confident that you’ve got everybody, then you do need to consider other options. I assume that’s what the Victorian government is doing.”

Ms Berejiklian said she and her colleagues were monitoring the situation in Victoria closely and the growing list of exposure sites in Melbourne and beyond was an “enormous concern”.

“I really hope that Victoria gets on top of this latest outbreak, but also it seems to suggest that they may actually get more cases given the number of venues that were added to the list,” she said.

“We’re obviously watching the situation very closely.”

People line up at Epping hall to get tested for Covid-19 in the latest outbreak in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Crosling

Many in Victoria expect the state government there to announce new restrictions in light of the ongoing outbreak, which grew by 11 cases overnight to a total of 34 active infections.

Some people, wary of having to go through a potential fourth lockdown, have already left the state.

A man who called into Melbourne’s 3AW radio station on Thursday said he had packed the car and was heading to Sydney to avoid the prospect of a lockdown.

Asked for her thoughts on that, Ms Berejiklian told 2GB: “Please do the right thing.

“If you’ve been at an exposure site, if you’ve been to greater Melbourne, all those other areas that have been identified, please do the right thing.

“Please make sure you monitor for symptoms, get tested, isolated when you’re asked to do so.”

She said a shutdown of the border between NSW and Victoria was not on the cards. And if Melbourne did go into a lockdown, that would make such a border closure even less likely, Ms Berejiklian said.

“If anything, that makes it safer for us because if Melburnians can’t move around or Victorians can’t move around, well then they’re not going to be able to get on a plane or get in the car.

“A lockdown is a lockdown. It actually means people can’t leave.”