Coronavirus Australia: Screws tighten on Melbourne residents as daily numbers soar in second wave

A longer lockdown and tighter ­restrictions loom within days for Victorians as the COVID-19 ­second wave hit a record 428 new cases and three new deaths.

Melbourne’s The Tan running track was close to deserted on Friday. Picture: Paul Jeffers

A longer lockdown and tighter ­restrictions loom within days for Victorians as the COVID-19 ­second wave hit a record 428 new cases and three new deaths in the state on Friday.

Victoria has 5165 cases, double just 12 days ago, and a death toll of 32, prompting the Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton to warn of tighter restrictions if case numbers don’t plateau soon.

Professor Sutton conceded the horror number showed the state “hadn’t turned the corner” in the timeframe he had anticipated earlier this week, and was “concerning and disappointing”.

“There is a hope that the numbers stabilise over the coming days … That is my hope,” Professor Sutton said.

 

“(But) we are all thinking about the additional measures that may be required if it does not turn around.

“We are not just banking on the idea that if we wait long enough those numbers will stabilise and drop, so we must bear in mind any additional measures that are important to help control the numbers.”

“Everything is on the table.”

Premier Daniel Andrews said tighter restrictions were under consideration, given the growing case numbers, with Friday being the 12th day in a row of triple-digit increases.

“If the data shows the strategy is not being as effective as quickly as we would like then we may need to go to new rules,” he said.

“The best and most important contribution that every Melburnian and Victorian can make ­towards that not happening, making that less likely, is to follow the rules.”

However, hopes of a quick turnaround were tempered by the nation’s acting Chief Medical ­Officer, Paul Kelly, who said ­viruses such as COVID-19 became more contagious the longer they remained in the community.

“We have very detailed epidemiological information that many people are being infected by a single person within the Crossroads pub (in southwest Sydney). We’ve seen very quickly several generations of transmission … four generations since the end of June,” Professor Kelly said.

GRAPHIC: Second wave

He counselled against rushing into harsher lockdowns before the current restrictions were given time to work.

“It does take time. Because of the biology of the virus, before these types of restrictions and ­isolation of cases and contacts will demonstrate that we are starting to get on top of the situation in Victoria,” he said.

“We do have good indications that those mobility restrictions are working, and people are taking notice.”

But Australian Medical Association Victoria president Julian Rait said the numbers were “catastrophic” and called on the ­Andrews government to move immediately to stage four lockdowns or risk the state’s health system being overwhelmed.

I don’t think we can afford to wait,” Professor Rait said. “I think we should embrace harder measures and if we are wrong we can lift them earlier. At least we would have acted in a proactive way to prevent a surge in the hospital system.”

“If we were to see 1750 cases per day for 10 days that would overwhelm our hospital system and exceed our capacity,” he said.

“I am already seeing stress on the Royal Melbourne Hospital.”

An elderly resident is transported from an Essendon aged care centre Ian Currie

Professor Sutton acknowledged the high number of cases would inevitably mean more hospitalisations and consume more health resources.

“There will be dozens of individuals who will require hospitalisation from these 428 people,“ he said. “Tragically there will be several who require intensive care support and a number of people will die.”

Mr Andrews said while most Victorians were doing the right thing, some were looking for loopholes to exploit in the state’s lockdown rules.

“I will say to those people trying to find ways around the rule: that is not helpful, that is not going to do anything to pull this virus up,” he said.

Mr Andrews cited the case of a group that had travelled from ­Coburg in the north of Melbourne to Rye on the Mornington Peninsula. “It is a 200km round trip. That is not daily exercise. That is a day trip and day trips are not on.”

Victoria’s health and contact tracing resources are being stretched with each day’s crop of new cases. Of the new cases on Friday just 57 were linked to known outbreaks, with 370 under investigation.

The new deaths included a woman in her 80s, and two men, one in his 80s and one in his 70s. The number of hospitalisations sits at 122, with 31 people in intensive care.

Amid growing concern about the numbers of health and aged-care workers contracting the virus, five nursing homes previously unaffected by the virus reported cases on Friday.

Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said four outbreaks were linked to aged-care staff working in different centres and talks with the federal government were ongoing about how to manage the risk.

One of the three deaths on Friday was a resident of Menarock Life aged care centre in Essendon, where 38 residents and staff have been diagnosed with the virus and one resident had previously died.

Food and essentials are distributed at a locked down North Melbourne housing block. Picture: Getty Images

Federal Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck announced on Friday that all remaining residents in the 55-bed centre would be transferred to hospital where they could be monitored.

The difference in case numbers between metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria is stark, and the government is providing more health resources to maintain the divide. Just 40 cases in the past two weeks, including five on Friday, were outside the lockdown areas of Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire.

The government will beef up its regional testing capacity with new sites at Echuca, Wonthaggi Hospital, Shepparton and Mildura.

And in recognition of a recent rise in numbers in the Geelong area, it has created a regional public health team of 10 clinicians will provide more contact tracing.

It has also extended its advice to use face masks in places where it is difficult to physical distance.