Coronavirus: lockdown lingers as cases spike

Victoria has recorded another spike in case numbers, suggesting the lockdown will continue.

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Wayne Taylor

Victoria is facing weeks of lockdowns or heavy restrictions as the state demanded no special deals between Scott Morrison and NSW on the vaccine supply.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday said Lockdown 6.0 would last indefinitely after the biggest increase in cases in a year left contact tracers scrambling to track the virus.

Victoria will remain in lockdown after 92 local cases were detected overnight, the biggest daily increase since 113 cases on September 3 last year.

Despite the jump fuelled in Melbourne’s western and northern suburbs, Mr Andrews remains quietly confident Victoria can suppress the virus, but he has refused to speculate on when any major inroads could be made.

Mr Andrews said in a weekend conversation with the Prime Minister there had been a commitment that NSW would not receive preferential treatment on vaccine supply after receiving an extra 530,000 to fight its current outbreak “I was very keen to make sure we did not see anything other than a pro rata, proportional distribution of vac­cines,’’ he said.

Mr Andrews said Mr Morrison had committed to an equal distribution of vaccines as Australia inched towards reopening. “We can’t continue to see hundreds and thousands of extra doses pouring into Sydney at the expense of every other part of our nation,” he said.

“We have done that. That was the right thing to do but there has to be a limit to that and I am pleased the Prime Minister has confirmed that will not be the case when it comes to the next allocation of vaccines.’’

A spokesman for Mr Morrison said vaccines had always been distributed on a population basis to all states and territories.

“Additional allocations of vaccines were delivered to Victoria and NSW to deal directly with major outbreaks and only when extra vaccine supplies were secured from pharmaceutical companies,” he said.

Victoria’s Lockdown 6.0, which started on August 5 and was to last a week, is likely to go on for weeks.

The state has endured one of the world’s longest lockdown regimens. Describing the landscape in Victoria as “bloody tough”, Mr Andrews said he did not want the state to suffer the same caseloads as NSW. “We know what happens then,’’ he said.

Of 778 active cases, only 44 people are in hospital, with 13 in ICU and nine on ventilators.

Of the 92 local cases and one in hotel quarantine, there were nine extra in Shepparton in regional Victoria, 12 in Broadmeadows and 12 in Newport in the western suburbs.

There were 31,436 vaccines administered and more than 51,000 test results recorded.

One major concern about opening up in Victoria is whether the hospital system could sustain a massive increase in cases.

Mr Andrews said despite the rising numbers, Victoria was a chance to drive down the infection rate.

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said: “Instead of blindly chasing zero, Daniel Andrews should be offering Victorians hope and a plan out of lockdown.”