Victoria lockdown: Limited Melbourne reopening plan

A limited reopening of Melbourne is under consideration to help retailers and the hospitality sector.

A Covid testing team arrives at the Arcare aged-care facility in Maidstone, in Melbourne’s northwest, on Monday. Picture: David Crosling

A limited reopening of Melbourne is under consideration as the Victorian government looks to provide revenue to hard-hit ­retailers and the hospitality sector over the looming long weekend.

Despite 11 new cases of community transmission, senior ­government ministers and health officials are debating how to gradually reopen a state that makes up 25 per cent of the ­national economy.

While Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, has ruled out the complete relaxation of restrictions when the 14-day lockdown is due to end at 11.59pm on Thursday, there is a strong desire from the senior government figures for an end to many measures.

Restrictions on regional travel are likely to remain during the Queen’s Birthday long weekend because of the potential Covid-19 could spread into country areas.

Scott Morrison said he was hopeful restrictions would be lifted as soon as possible. “I would be urging that we move towards lifting those restrictions as soon as possible,” the Prime Minister said.

“Hopefully (we) see Victoria opened again soon. Particularly for those parents who are having to keep their kids at home away from school. Kids have lost enough time out of school, over the course of the last 18 months.”

Mr Morrison referenced Sydney’s recent northern beaches outbreak, where restrictions were largely contained to a specific part of the city, which is in contrast to the wide spread of the virus in Melbourne.

Bourke Street Mall in central Melbourne on Monday. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The fourth lockdown has hit so hard that the state announced on Monday an additional $30m for emergency hardship payments.

Of that, about $4.5m will be allocated for emergency food relief to help student ­supermarkets, food banks and outreach services.

Professor Sutton said on Monday that any reopening of Victoria would be cautious, suggesting it could be an extended ­period before the state returned to normal.

The government has consistently deferred to the health advice when loosening restrictions.

“We certainly won’t snap back to large gatherings and a full MCG,” Professor Sutton said.

“It’s frustrating.

“People want to know what things will look like three days from now but we see different changes every day, and there can be something from left field.”

Professor Sutton is viewed within government as taking a very conservative approach to the virus, which then presents senior ministers with little room to move.

Victoria has 94 active cases, with 24,265 tests conducted on Sunday. Of the 11 new cases, two were known from Sunday and four were from household contacts of the West Melbourne outbreak, which is linked to the highly infectious Delta variant.

Authorities are still visiting thousands of people isolating at home but as the lockdown heads towards the 14-day mark, many are being released. There were three Covid-19 cases in hospital in Victoria on Sunday.

When pushed on whether hospitality businesses might get a reprieve – with a cap of 50 patrons similar to regional Victoria – Professor Sutton said he would not speculate. “We literally look at everything every day and it’s a very dynamic environment.

“Everyone’s hugely aware … it is supremely challenging for businesses to survive with what lockdown does,” he said.

“That is part of the broader considerations of cabinet and speaking to those sectors and all of the stakeholder groups.

“I’m focused on providing public health advice around what we think the minimum safe requirements are to make sure we get on top of this.

“I don’t want us to be in a situation where we open up to a point where it’s out of control.”

Professor Sutton said authorities were no closer to identifying how a family from West Melbourne contracted the Delta strain.

And Victorian authorities are yet to rule out a theory that an outbreak of the infectious Delta Covid-19 variant came from a returning foreign diplomat.

When asked whether one working theory about the origin of the Delta variant in Melbourne had a foreign diplomat as the index case, Professor Sutton said he could not say. “We simply don’t know. We haven’t ruled anything in and we haven’t ruled anything out,” he said.

“We are obviously checking against everyone who has been tested and diplomats should be tested as well … without a match, we can’t say.”

Late on Monday, the Victorian Department of Health revealed that 15 diplomats and their family members were exempt from hotel quarantine and allowed to complete their isolation period at home since April 1.

They must submit to day three and day 13 Covid-19 tests, not leave their home and are in daily communication with the department of health.

Their country of origin could not be confirmed.

Paul Kelly, the federal chief medical officer, played down the like­lihood of a leak of the Delta variant from a diplomat, saying that most government representatives returning from overseas lived in Canberra. He also said returning diplomats were subjected to the same testing requirements as ­people in hotel quarantine.

Additional reporting: Greg Brown