Anxiety as industry braces for tougher coronavirus restrictions in Victoria

There is deep angst about how far to go in the next phase of the coronavirus shutdown, including which industries should be hit.

Trucks entering the Woolworths distribution centre in Mulgrave, Victoria. Distribution centres in Melbourne's southeast have been hit by coronavirus outbreaks. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Victorian industry is bracing for a hard lockdown amid soaring coronavirus cases.

Cabinet ministers have been discussing the next phase of lockdowns at the weekend with a clampdown on key business sectors now high on the Andrews government’s agenda.

Multiple sources have said the government is anxiously trying to work out how to stem the rising tide of cases that have largely swept Melbourne’s northwest and west. Three more deaths were recorded on Saturday, along with 397 new cases in 24 hours.

The battle against the virus is being fought on two levels; first the attempts to stem the loss of life in the aged care sector.

Second, to determine how to deal with the rapid spread of the virus in areas like meatworks, supermarket distribution and health campuses.

An industry leader told The Australian that government figures has started briefing companies about the impending hardening of the lockdown.

“The only question is how hard they go,’’ the figure told The Australian.

The construction industry is lobbying government to prevent any further restrictions.

Speculation of a harder lockdown was being fuelled by unsourced, viral test messages being sent around Melbourne late on Saturday night.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews puts on his mask after speaking to the media during a press conference on Saturday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

The Australian understands the measures to be implemented by the Andrews government are still being debated internally.

There is believed to be deep angst about how far to go in the next phase of the coronavirus shutdown, including which industries should be hit by restrictions.

There are also major concerns about the impact on the supply chains in Australia.

There is substantial spread of the virus in key distribution warehouses, affecting major companies that feed into the national economy. There also are concerns about the supply of meat to Australia.

This is because Victoria has been a key destination for beef and sheep after the NSW/Queensland drought.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Saturday indicated the coronavirus numbers were difficult to both track and fathom.

“You cannot be certain if there is even more further community transmission, more mystery cases out there. That is in some respects our biggest challenge,” Mr Andrews said.

“No-one wants to see large numbers reported in any context, but if you track back where the origin of that was wearing a whole different category to community transmission or mystery cases where you just can’t work out how the person got it. That is a real concern.”