Tale of two cities gripped by Covid fear outbreak

Scott Morrison and Daniel Andrews strike a deal for financial disaster support to Victorian workers during the state’s five day lockdown.

Daniel Andrews says he is not willing to lock the state down for an additional two days to qualify for a support package. Picture: Getty Images

Daniel Andrews has locked down 6.7 million Victorians after the state’s Covid-19 outbreak reached 18 cases, declaring “you only get one chance to go hard and go fast’’ .

But in a deal clinched late on Thursday between Scott Morrison and the Victorian Premier, affected workers in the state will be eligible for financial disaster payments.

The Victorian government’s announcement of a hard five-day lockdown from 11.59pm on Thursday – the state’s fifth since the pandemic began 18 months ago – means almost 12 million Australians are subject to stay-at-home orders, with Sydney facing at least another two weeks of restrictions.

As Victoria prepared to enter lockdown, NSW recorded 65 cases of the virus in the 24 hours to Wednesday evening, a drop in recent infection numbers, but Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the numbers would almost certainly rise over coming days because of cases identified as having been infectious while in the community.

After spending much of Wednesday night and Thursday debating a lockdown after Sydney’s Delta outbreak sparked two clusters in Melbourne, Mr Andrews said the choice had been made clear by the speed at which the variant was moving through the community.

At least three coronavirus transmissions occurred between apparent strangers at Saturday’s AFL game between Geelong and Carlton at the MCG.

“You only get one chance to go hard and go fast,” the Premier said.

“If you wait, if you hesitate, if you doubt, then you will always be looking back wishing you had done more earlier.

“I am not prepared to avoid a five-day lockdown now, only to find ourselves in a five-week or a five-month lockdown.”

A student at St Patrick’s Primary in Murrumbeena leaves school after another student tested positive to Covid-19. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Under the deal between the Victorian and federal governments, workers who have lost between eight and 20 hours will be eligible for a payment of $375 and those who have lost more hours will be eligible for a payment of $600 during the lockdown period.

The Prime Minister and Josh Frydenberg issued a statement late on Thursday night revealing they had agreed with the Victorian Premier and his Treasurer, Tim Pallas, on a long-term national cabinet deal that will see workers receive federal support through the Covid-19 disaster payment, even where a lockdown has been imposed by a state or territory government for a period of less than seven days.

However, the workers must be located in an area that has been declared a hotspot by the commonwealth

This means the federal government will fund those who live in the areas around metropolitan Melbourne declared a commonwealth Covid-19 hotspot and the Victorian government will pay for the assistance in the rest of the state.

Payments will be made in arrears on application to Services Australia from Friday, July 23.

National cabinet will on Friday debate the Prime Minister’s federal assistance package for businesses and workers affected by stay-at-home orders. .

Mr Morrison and the Treasurer said the Victorian government had additionally agreed to provide significant extra economic support to businesses from day one of the lockdown.

“That satisfies the commonwealth’s burden-sharing requirements for this arrangement,” the two said. “Should the Victorian lockdown be extended, the additional features of the upgraded and revised economic support arrangements proposed by the commonwealth will be activated by agreement.”

Although Mr Andrews locked down the entire state, he said ¬regional areas without any Covid-19 infections might be released earlier than five days if testing showed the virus had not spread to those areas.

Of Victoria’s 18 known community-acquired cases late on Thursday, 13 were linked to a team of three maskless Sydney removalists who visited the Ariele Maribyrnong apartment complex in Melbourne’s west.

New Zealand closed its travel bubble with Victoria in the wake of the lockdown.

The AFL quickly evacuated seven teams from Covid-hit Melbourne and relocated some games to Queensland.

As has been the case with other recent Melbourne lockdowns, Victorians will be ¬permitted to leave their homes for essential work that cannot be done from home, shopping for ¬essential items, exercise and seeking medical attention, including getting vaccinated.

In a pointed reference to the NSW government’s controversial decision to allow shops such as Bunnings and Kmart to remain open, Mr Andrews said retail would be shut.

“It’s not open. There will be no browsing. It’s click and collect,” he said.

Ms Berejiklian was forced to defend the lockdown settings in NSW on Thursday, deflecting calls for extra restrictions on non-essential businesses, including florists and clothing retailers, which remain open, in some cases to allow staff to earn a salary.

NSW officials said 35 people were identified with the virus while they had been wholly or partly active in the community – rather than in quarantine as a close contact of another case.

Ms Berejiklian said that number was too high and would contribute to case spikes during the week.

The majority of new cases – 46 – were identified in the South Western Sydney Local Health District, while eight were identified in South Eastern Sydney, six in Western Sydney, four in Central Sydney and one in Nepean-Blue Mountains.

Asked whether she could assure the community that the lockdown would not be extended into August, Ms Berejiklian said cases of community infection had to be significantly reduced before those settings could be eased.

“Based on the fact we had 28 people infectious in the community in the last 24 hours, I am predicting we will have higher case numbers tomorrow,” she said.

She added that the lockdown settings were suppressing transmissions.

“While the case numbers are bouncing around, we are seeing a stabilisation,” she said. “They are not growing exponentially. That tells us the settings we have in place are having an impact.’’