Coronavirus crisis: Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews leaves state in suspense over reopening after cluster fears

Daniel Andrews says any reopening announcement on Sunday may depend on whether clusters in northern Melbourne are spreading.

Fresh COVID-19 outbreaks in Melbourne’s north have thrown Victoria’s anticipated reopening into doubt, with Premier Daniel Andrews rejecting the idea of localised lockdowns in hotspot suburbs as a potential containment strategy.

The state recorded seven new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, six of which were connected to known cases and clusters and most of which are located in Melbourne’s northern suburbs — the East Preston Islamic College outbreak, Croxton Special School, the Hoppers Crossing community outbreak and Estia aged care in Keilor.

Despite using localised lockdowns for hotspot regions before, Mr Andrews said he “didn’t think that would be the appropriate response” as a possible replacement for wider restrictions.

“Ultimately, unless you have no movement out of a dedicated or specified geographic area, then that does not work,” the Premier said.

“The better way is to say, ‘here is a group of people, albeit a large group, and their contact may be passing, if any’. But because there is a linkage of any sort, all of those people, secondary contacts, primary contacts, and cases, we lock them down, rather than locking down an entire suburb,’’ he said.

“That is what has worked in Shepparton, Kilmore, and being applied in the northern metro region.”

Medical teams doorknock a house near the East Preston Islamic College, where a cluster has emerged. Picture: David Crosling

Mr Andrews said he had met — virtually — community and faith leaders from the affected north Melbourne suburbs and deployed hundreds of health workers to the area to doorknock and provide information and testing.

The Premier on Saturday tempered people’s expectations, especially those of hospitality and retail businesses, saying his anticipated announcement of an easing of restrictions on Sunday may not be as wide-ranging as some had hoped because the northern suburbs outbreak could jeopardise a mass reopening.

“A lot of people had been banking on tomorrow as the day where we would have absolute clarity about what October and November looks like. If we can do that, we will. But the appropriate thing to do, if you have thousands of tests in the laboratory being processed … you have to wait for the results,” Mr Andrews said.

“We are in a very good position and if we can proceed tomorrow we will. But I don’t think many Victorians would think very highly of me making decisions … when there are literally thousands of tests from a part of Melbourne where we have seen a series of clusters and a series of outbreaks … sitting in the lab.”

He said some of Melbourne’s restrictions, including the 25-kilometre travel limit, may not be lifted on Sunday also because the state government wanted to protect popular day-trip destinations such as the Mornington Peninsula and the Dandenong Ranges from being flooded by lockdown-weary Melburnians.

“What it is about is making sure that for instance, [with the] problem in the north, we haven’t got people in the north travelling literally to the other part of the city, potentially taking the virus with them,” Mr Andrews said.

“It is also about making sure that some of those very popular spots, whether it be the Mornington Peninsula or Dandenong … we don’t have to factor in crowds. People will want to go there, because they’re beautiful areas, [but] then you could end up with hundreds or thousands of people gathering, which is not safe at this time.”

The Premier said the number of mystery cases in the city would also inform authorities about which restrictions need to stay in place for longer, “and if so for how long”.

“Those things are absolutely on the table and I would hope to be able to have more to say about both those elements and many other rules when we make hopefully some announcements tomorrow [Sunday].”

Mr Andrews’ cautioning came as NSW recorded its second consecutive day without any local transmission of the virus, with five new cases in hotel quarantine.

NSW Health said it was treating 74 COVID-19 cases, with no patients in intensive care. “Ninety-two per cent of cases being treated by NSW Health are in non-acute, out-of-hospital care,” a statement on Saturday read.

Queensland recorded no new cases on Saturday, keeping the state’s active case tally at six.