Covid-19: Tough lockouts for Victorian no-vaxxers

Daniel Andrews has warned that unvaccinated adults will be subject to harsh restrictions – even as the broader economy reopens.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews in Melbourne on Friday. Picture: Daniel Pockett

Daniel Andrews has warned that unvaccinated adults will be subject to harsh restrictions – even as the broader economy reopens.

The Victorian Premier’s shift, aligning his position with that of his NSW counterpart Gladys ­Berejiklian, ends the race to achieve zero infections in the country’s two most-populous states as vaccination coverage rises significantly.

“When we get to those vaccination double-dose thresholds, as part of the national plan, the ­notion of a lockdown of the whole community is far less relevant,” Mr Andrews said on Friday after discussions with Scott Morrison.

The Prime Minister, speaking before a national cabinet meeting, said separately that the country was on track to return to pre-­pandemic settings quicker than expected after the commonwealth struck a vaccine swap deal with Britain.

Australia will receive 4 million doses of Pfizer at the weekend, which together with vaccines from Singapore and Poland, will create enough supply for everyone over 12 years of age to be inoculated.

“This will enable us to bring forward significantly the opportunity for Australia to open up again under the national plan,” Mr Morrison said. “This really does break the back of (the supply issues).”

Health Minister Greg Hunt said: “The burden and balance of vaccination in Australia will have moved forward two months, from October and November to August and September.”

The equivalent doses will be supplied by Australia to Britain in December, he said.

The push from Mr Morrison and Mr Andrews to accelerate vaccinations came as Covid-19 cases continued to grow in NSW and Victoria. There were a record 1431 infections – and 12 deaths – reported by NSW authorities, while Victoria revealed 208 new locally acquired cases and one death on Friday. The source of 300 of the state’s 1189 active Covid-19 cases have yet to be confirmed.

The 13 Covid deaths was the highest daily total since September 4 last year.

 

Mr Andrews said he had spoken at length with Mr Morrison about the “vaccinated economy”. Once Victoria reached 70 per cent and 80 per cent double dose targets, “we will have opportunities to open a path in the Victorian economy to those who have been vaccinated”, the Premier said.

“What will become a bigger part of our response is a lockout of many venues for those who are not vaccinated … That might seem a bit harsh, but I’ve said this before and I will make the point again: I am not going to lock the whole state down to protect ­people who won’t protect themselves. If you are not vaccinated, and you could be, the chances of you booking a ticket at a sporting event, going to a pub, going to all manner of different places, will be very limited.”

Mr Andrews said work was underway with industry to pilot technology that would streamline venue check-ins with a check of vaccination status. He also signalled that Victorians stranded in NSW might soon be allowed to return home to quarantine, with new technology likely to be used to monitor compliance.

He said the government was devising a plan for schools that would include measures to ­increase and monitor ventilation to minimise transmission.

After 301,399 vaccines were administered on Thursday, 61.3 per cent of adults across the country had received at least one dose. Just over 37 per cent were fully vaccinated.

NSW is ahead of other states, with 71.5 per cent of the population aged 16 and over having received one dose – and 39.5 per cent fully vaccinated – compared with 58.9 per cent in Victoria, 52.4 per cent in Western Australia and 52.2 per cent in Queensland.

In a statement late on Friday, Mr Morrison said national cabinet had discussed the preparedness of the hospital system once the country began relaxing Covid-19 health restrictions at vaccination coverage levels of 70 per cent and 80 per cent.

Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy will provide the next meeting with an update on what options there are to create workforce capacity to meet any potential surge in hospitalisation.

Ms Berejiklian is expected to release the NSW plan to ensure hospital capacity next week.

“We don’t intend to use every single bed that is available in our plan,” Ms Berejiklian said. “Yes it will be stretched and technically they will be different procedures put in place. (People) may not go to the hospital that is most close to their home; they may be taken to another hospital.”

There are currently 979 Covid-19 cases in NSW hospitals, with 160 people in intensive care.

There were 64 people in Victorian hospitals with coronavirus on Friday, including 16 in intensive care, of whom 11 were on ventilators. Of the 64 in hospital, 20 were under the age of 40.

The increased rate of vaccinations has brought Victoria’s estimated date for reaching the 70 and 80 per cent double-dose targets forward a day, to November 2 and November 20 respectively.

Mr Andrews announcing on Friday that medical and allied health students would be enlisted to assist with delivering vaccines.

He said he expected the number of mystery cases to grow, as more complex case interviews were taking contact tracers longer to conduct.