AFL, rugby infection fears to extend lockdown

Victoria’s five-day lockdown is almost certain to be extended beyond Tuesday.

Premier Daniel Andrews has refused to rule in or out an end to Victoria’s lockdown . Picture: Luis Ascui

Victoria’s five-day lockdown is almost certain to be extended beyond Tuesday, as increasing numbers of Covid-19 transmissions are traced back to large gatherings including AFL and rugby matches.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews refused to rule in or out an end to his state’s lockdown. Government and public health officials, however, told The Australian there was “almost no chance” it would finish after five days.

There were 17 new community-acquired Covid-19 cases confirmed in Victoria on Sunday while NSW recorded 105 infections, the vast majority in Sydneys’ southwestern suburbs now in a tighter lockdown than the rest of the city. Of the new Sydney cases recorded on Sunday, 34 were infectious in the community, officials said.

The NSW government will cut public transport services from Monday to further limit movement, switching trains, buses, ferries and light rail to a Sunday timetable.

All major government projects including the Sydney Metro and WestConnex will also be halted as the construction industry shuts down for at least the next fortnight, a move expected to cost the state’s economy up to $1bn a week.

The battle to control the spread of cases in Sydney and Melbourne came as a NSW woman in her 90s became the fourth person to die from the outbreak sparked by an unvaccinated limousine driver just over a month ago.

There were 76 people with the virus in NSW hospitals, including 18 in intensive care.

In Victoria, at least six transmissions have now been confirmed at the MCG on Saturday July 10, as well as two at AAMI Park and seven at the nearby Cremorne restaurant Ms Frankie, both which occurred on Tuesday.

Health authorities are also worried about a gathering in CBD bar the Crafty Squire, where 400 people watched the Euro soccer final between 3am and 5am on Monday, July 12.

Among them was a Trinity Grammar teacher in his 30s who had contracted the virus at the MCG two days earlier, and would become the index case for at least five further cases at the school in Kew in Melbourne’s east, the seven cases at Ms Frankie and two among the rugby union crowd at AAMI Park.

The latest MCG transmission to emerge involves a man who tested positive in the early hours of Sunday morning at Mildura, 540km from Melbourne, in the state’s far northwest. The man in his 30s is understood to have travelled to the Geelong-Carlton match with two household members, with exposure sites listed late on Sunday for a Mildura shopping centre and two coffee shops last Monday and Tuesday.

Having flagged a possible reprieve from the full five days of lockdown for parts of regional Victoria, Mr Andrews on Sunday said he could make no announcements along those lines.

“As soon as we can provide people with greater clarity and any notice at all of any changes, then of course we will, but it is too early, frustratingly I know, but it is too early for us to make those announcements today,” he said.

He said he would not release any part of Victoria from lockdown without health advice telling him it would be a “safe” decision. “I have no such advice. This lockdown won’t be on any longer than it needs to be, and I can tell you it’ll be much shorter than it would have been.

“If we had been open, then we wouldn’t be talking about 40, 50, 60 cases, we’d be talking about an altogether bigger number, and an altogether longer lockdown. This strategy is working.”

Authorities have been heartened by the fact all Victoria’s recent community-acquired cases have been close contacts of known cases. As of Sunday, there were 14,000 primary close contacts linked to the two clusters, 10 linked to a family from the northern suburbs who breached home quarantine rules after returning from Sydney, and 50 linked to three Sydney removalists.