Coronavirus: Melbourne springs back to life with Cup

Life will return to Flemington Racecourse after the Victorian government announced 10,000 punters will be allowed on site for the Melbourne Cup – but there’ll be a catch.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says opening the Melbourne Cup to punters was about sending a strong message that the state was reopened after lockdown six. Picture: Getty Images

Life will return to Flemington Racecourse after the Victorian government announced 10,000 punters will be allowed on site for the Melbourne Cup – but there’ll be a catch.

Racing fans will have to be vaccinated or carry proof of exemption to get through the turnstiles, with the cup following state government trials of vaccine certification technology at 14 ­venues in regional Victoria.

If the state doesn’t hit the 80 per cent double-dose vaccination target – tipped to be about November 5 – only punters who live within 25km of the track will be allowed at the race that stops the nation.

If – as anticipated – the 80 per cent target is hit, health authorities will further green-light 10,000 people attending Oaks Day and Stakes Day, although no one’s betting on Derby Day taking place this year.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said opening the Melbourne Cup to punters was about sending a strong message that the state was reopened after lockdown six. “This is about us as a state and economy and community being open and us having done everything we can now to fight against this virus,” he said.

Racing Minister Martin Pakula said people would be seated in zones at Flemington, with a hard barrier between patrons and participants, and the public health team had set the cap at 10,000 patrons.

He said in September he received a call from a minister interstate who told him “for Gods sake, get the Cup happening.”

About 86.1 per cent of Victorians have received a single dose of the vaccine while 58.1 per cent are fully vaccinated.

The Victorian government further announced that days before the Melbourne Cup, a concert would be held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on October 30; details are yet to be confirmed.

Victorian Chamber chief executive Paul Guerra said the return of spring racing was “so very Melbourne” and exactly the shot in the arm the economy needed.

“Images of crowds enjoying the spring racing carnival will be beamed across the world, sending an important signal that Melbourne is back in business,” he said.

Victoria Racing Club chairman Neil Wilson said the Melbourne Cup reached a global audience of 750 million people and was a significant driver of economic activity in the state.

The announcement came after Victoria reported five deaths and 1889 cases plus one acquired overseas, a slight decrease from Saturday’s national record of 1965.

Cases in Mildura, 540km northwest of Melbourne, jumped by 18 on Sunday bringing the total number of active cases to 55 after the region entered a snap lockdown at midnight on Friday.

MP for Mallee Anne Webster, whose electorate includes Mildura, wrote to Mr Andrews on Sunday asking why Covid-19 exposure sites had not been published. She said residents felt left in the dark when they deserved the same information during an outbreak as people in southern Victoria had received.

“People are very frustrated and frayed around the edges and we’ve been caught up with all the restrictions over the last 18 months – mostly when we’ve had zero cases,” she said.

Victorian Covid-19 logistics chief Jeroen Weimar said there were no tier-one exposure sites in Mildura and transmission was concentrated across a few households. “The focus on that (Mildura) outbreak is on a specific set of households with well understood dynamics and we’ll work on it that way,” he said.

Mr Weimar said the source of the Mildura outbreak remained under investigation but was believed to be linked to sites in NSW, although whether the virus entered or breached the border remained unclear.

At 5.20pm on Sunday, DH listed as tier one exposure sites in Mildura Chloe’s Nails and Beauty and Davo’s General Store and Take-Away.