Nineteen new cases, Victoria facing lockdown extension
A Euro finals screening at a Melbourne bar has prompted fears of a superspreading event after a positive case attended, while the number of schools linked to the outbreak has climbed.
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Health authorities are scouring through CCTV of a popular CBD venue, after a positive infection attended a Euro Finals event.
The Crafty Squire on Russell Street was visited by a confirmed case between 3am and 8.15am on Monday, July 12.
The venue has now been deemed a Tier 1 exposure site.
A letter sent to all ticketholders for the event, and seen by the Herald Sun, confirmed anyone who attended the venue at that time must get tested and immediately quarantine.
The number of primary close contacts linked to the site will be revealed on Sunday, the Department of Health confirmed.
Premier Daniel Andrews has urged Victorians to continue to monitor the growing coronavirus exposure site list, as the number of impacted venues continues to climb at rapid pace.
Taking to Twitter, the Premier said “the current exposure sites show that we’re a real social bunch...so it’s no surprise that we’re seeing exposure sites where people have been having a bite, travelling to and from games and at watch parties over the last week or so.”
He called on those living in Melbourne or regional Victoria to “please check the list...because we need to slow the spread of the virus, and we need your help to do it.”
The callout comes as more Tier 1 exposures were added to the list on Saturday night, including MSAC and more locations on Phillip Island.
A positive case visited both the Foodworks and Freshplus in Dallas in Melbourne’s north on Friday.
Anyone who visited the Foodworks between 11.45am-1.00pm and the Freshplus between 1.00-1.50pm on that day, must get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.
Melbourne’s Sports and Aquatic Centre in Albert Park has also been listed as a Tier 1 site between 9.15pm-10.40pm on the 15th of July as a case attended the venue.
This also applies to the Jesus is the Way Christian Church in Footscray on the 14th of July between 7.30pm-9.30pm.
Other new tier 1 sites include the public toilets of the Cowes Shopping Centre between 10.40am-11.20am on the 13th of July and the Olsen Place Pharmacy in Broadmeadows on the 15th of July between 3.25pm-4.15pm.
TRINITY GRAMMAR COMMUNITY IN LOCKDOWN
Trinity Grammar in Kew is in full lockdown after a year nine student from the prestigious boys’ school was confirmed as a positive Covid case.
His mother told principal Adrian Farrer that he was “feeling okay” and the family was in good spirits.
It is the fourth case linked to Trinity — with more expected — and has led to authorities to declare all ELC, junior and senior school students and staff primary close contacts.
They must get tested and quarantine for 14 days.
Mr Farrer wrote to parents on Saturday to say that students previously classified as secondary close contacts have now been upgraded to primary.
“Due to the nature of staff and student movement in schools, there is a high number of direct contacts,” he said.
“All members of the household are required to quarantine for the full 14 days, regardless of test results.
“Day 1 of quarantine remains for everyone as Friday 16 July,” he said.
The isolation includes all students, teachers, parents, siblings and visitors to the school from Monday, July 12, to Thursday, July 15.
Mr Farrer said the school was “concerned first and foremost for the health and wellbeing of our students, staff and families.
“This is a challenge that was not imagined even days ago and one that does not have a sure finish,” he said.
“We can be sure, though, of the concerted efforts of the school community to support each other as best we can.”
Students from Ruyton Girls’ School in Kew who have been attending classes at Trinity Grammar have also been deemed close primary contacts.
Principal Linda Douglas told parents that staff and students from the school who have had exposure to the four cases (three staff and one student) at Trinity will now have to isolate with their households for 14 days.
Some of the Ruyton girls, who were on the Trinity campus for as little as one hour, still have to isolate with their families for this period. Day 1 of quarantine has been determined to be Friday 16 July.
Anyone who had contact with a Trinity student at Ruyton or elsewhere is a secondary contact and must quarantine until cleared by the DHHS even if they have a negative test.
Ruyton, like many other affected schools, will be doing distance learning for the next two weeks.
— Susie O’Brien and Suzan Delibasic
VIRUS SPREADS TO MORE SCHOOLS
Two more schools have been affected by the state’s worsening Covid outbreak.
A staff member at St Margaret’s School, believed to be a teacher, tested positive.
A letter to the school community on Saturday July 17, and seen by the Herald Sun, confirmed the senior staff member had contracted the virus.
The Herald Sun has been told the affected staff member works at the Berwick campus on Gloucester Ave.
“We wish the staff member a speedy recovery and look forwarding to welcoming them back to the service once they are better,” the letter read.
The school will be closed to all students until further notice.
“This closure will allow time for our school and DHHS to undertake a full risk assessment,” the letter continued.
“Currently it is our plan to continue to provide online/distance learning as planned.
“DHHS has advised that all children and staff are requested to remain at home while contact tracing occurs.”
Those who have been deemed close contacts will be contacted by authorities in the coming days.
The Herald Sun has been told that a 40-minute assembly with senior school members and teachers was held on Wednesday or Thursday last week.
It’s not yet known in which year level the teacher works.
The new case has prompted fears among the school community.
One parent told the Sunday Herald Sun: “I’m petrified for my daughter. We don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s a bit like living in limbo”.
Meanwhile, a student at Emmanuel College, who studies at the Notre Dame campus in Point Cook, has also tested positive.
The campus will be closed today and tomorrow as it undergoes a deep clean.
“This closure will allow time for the school and DHHS to work through a contact and containment strategy,” principal Christoper Stock said in a letter to parents, seen by the Herald Sun.
“Affected students, their families and school staff will be notified by DHHS over the next 24 hours and supported to ensure they understand what actions to take.”
Students from the Notre Dame campus as well as the St Paul’s campus, who attended a joint class at Notre Dame on either July 13 or July 14, are advised to remain at home while contact tracing occurs.
They are being told to limit movements to home-based activities and to not attend public places.
— Mitch Clarke and Laura Placella
19 CASES, 18 INFECTIOUS IN THE COMMUNITY
Victoria has recorded 19 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, with all linked to outbreaks.
The spike in cases is the largest number Victoria has recorded in more than nine months.
The last time Victoria recorded more than 19 cases in one day was September 21 last year, when 28 cases were recorded.
Health Minister Martin Foley confirmed all 19 cases are linked and are primary close contacts.
But 18 of the 19 were infectious in the community for an average of 1.7 days.
“This is a vindication of the going hard and going early strategy,” he said.
He said all of today’s cases were co-operating with contact tracers.
“Our public health team have also been having excellent co-operation in all the interviews with our positive cases and others, and those are helping us get those exposure sites and other contact material out as quickly as we can,” he said.
“There is no such thing as a good infection, but what we are yet to see is any unlinked, unexpected infections.
“All of which makes it clear that this lockdown was needed.”
He emphasised Victoria’s decision to hold a snap lockdown, a contrast to NSW.
“We have gone hard and we have gone early to make sure that this lockdown is as short as possible.”
“We will continue to assess our progress on this front, via both metropolitan and regional Victoria.”
None of Victoria’s 43 active cases are in hospital.
BREAKDOWN OF NEW VICTORIAN CASES
The 19 new cases include students and staff across three schools, another MCC case and two people who travelled to Phillip Island.
The new case linked to the MCC picked it up while sitting on level two and has since passed it onto two of his friends.
They travelled to Phillip Island, hence the number of exposure sites in the area.
A social contact of a Trinity Grammar staffer also has the virus, while two more employees at Trinity have tested positive.
A positive case visited Frankie restaurant in Cremorne, infecting three people — a staff member and two patrons.
A St Patrick’s Murrumbeena student has also tested positive while Bacchus Marsh Grammar has recorded another three cases — two staff members and one student.
Four household contacts of the Young and Jackson’s case — the man’s wife and three daughters — have also tested positive.
A partner of one of the daughters has also tested positive.
The final case is one household contact of the original gentleman of the City of Hume who visited Coles.
This is the case that was isolating through their infectious period.
— Sarah Booth
FITZROY APARTMENTS PLUNGED INTO HARD LOCKDOWN
Residents in a Fitzroy apartment block have been notified of a confirmed Covid case in their building.
An email, seen by the Herald Sun, was sent to residents of the building on Gore and Charles streets alerting them to the case.
“We have been advised that the confirmed case is on level 3 and the resident has used the lifts and been in the basement of the building,” the email reads.
“The resident has not … been in contact with anyone in the building, however, Thursday they did pass some other residents in the basement.
“The resident has been self-isolating in the apartment and has not been in contact with anyone since 11.30am on Friday.”
The building is the third apartment block — that we know of — with confirmed cases of Covid, following Ariele Apartments in Maribyrnong and Islo Apartments in Richmond.
— Sarah Booth
RICHMOND APARTMENT BLOCK IN LOCKDOWN
Isola Apartments in Richmond, located on the corner of Burnley Street and Bridge Road, is in lockdown after a resident tested positive.
Covid testing commander Jeroen Weimar said the link was made about 8pm on Friday night and there are 23 residents in the seven storey building.
He said residents will have to quarantine for 14 days and are being supported by health authorities.
Status Quo, a business at the base of the building, has a note on the door that states there is a “Covid case in the building”.
“Due to a Covid case in the building, our family has been required to get tested and will not open until we get our results,” the note reads.
The complex is a 1km away from Victoria Gardens Shopping Centre, a tier two exposure site, and is 2km away from restaurant Ms Frankie, where a positive case dined and infected three people.
Covid commander Jeroen Weimar arrived at the apartment block just before 2pm to talk to health officials.
Mr Weimar told the Herald Sun the positive case, a male, had been moved into hotel quarantine.
He is not yet certain which floor the positive case resided or whether he lived with others.
Deep cleaning of the common areas will commence later this afternoon and health officials are on site to test all residents.
Second-floor resident Jason said he was asleep last night when health officials rang his doorbell and told him that someone had tested positive in his building.
“We were told we have to isolate for 14 days,” he said.
But Jason said since handing over his contact details to health officials last night, he has not heard anything.
“We’re really keen to get some updates. I guess we’re a bit confused as to what to do.”
Jason and his partner were due to receive groceries today via Click and Collect but had to cancel their order.
“We’re running low on food now.”
He said he is fortunate to be able to work from home.
Sixth-floor resident Gavin Jeffs, who lives with his dog Snooky and his wife, was watching the footy last night when he heard voices outside his apartment.
“I thought, that’s strange. You can’t have people over to your house,” Mr Jeffs said.
He described receiving a knock at the door by health officials and being alerted to the lockdown as “deflating”.
Mr Jeffs has received one dose of the vaccine but his wife has not.
A delivery guy arrived at the apartment block early in the afternoon with a bag from alcohol delivery service Tipple.
He attempted to enter the building before a health official stopped him and took the bag from him.
— Laura Placella
CLOSE CONTACTS EDGE OVER 10K
Mr Weimar said there are more than 10,000 primary close contacts and over 160 exposure sites.
The City of Hume outbreak is linked to two households including the family who returned from NSW.
“There are 215 primary close contacts for this entire outbreak, two thirds of those have now returned a negative test result,” he said.
Mr Weimar said there are no more cases associated with Barwon Heads Primary aside from the original case.
“There are 578 primary close contacts at Barwon Heads primary, 81 per cent of those have also returned negative test results,” he said.
He said their main focus is on Bacchus Marsh Grammar, where three new cases were recorded.
“We are doing a lot more work at Bacchus Marsh Grammar in particular, having focused originally on the staff cohort,” he said.
“We are now moving on to 2300 students at that one campus to ensure they get tested over the coming days.”
There are now seven cases relating to the Young and Jackson hotel, including the navy member.
There are 217 primary close contacts associated with the CBD pub but 79 per cent have now returned a negative result.
“We are confident our swift and fast approach has worked well,” Mr Weimar said.
“It’s really important for all Victorians to check those exposure sites.
“It’s so important we identify people quickly.”
While the MCC has been linked to five cases — in addition to the original case — there have been no “positive knock-on cases” linked to AAMI park.
“We have identified 1268 primary close contacts,” Mr Weimar said.
“We will work with them over the coming days.”
More than 47,000 test results were received — the highest number reported this month, beating the previous daily record by more than 14,000.
DELTA TRIGGERING THIRD WAVE: SUTTON
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the Delta variant is causing a third wave globally.
“It’s infectious earlier in the incubation period,” he said.
“So that becomes a big challenge from a contact tracing point of view.
“The delta variant is different to previous strains we have seen before.”
He urged people to book the vaccine as soon as they are eligible and said he is booked in for his second AstraZeneca jab this week.
There are 35,000 spots still available over the next three weeks for Pfizer for first dose appointments, with 69,000 spots still open for people needing their second dose.
“There is still plenty of capacity for AstraZeneca as well,” he said.
“It’s the way out of this pandemic.
“In addition to this we prioritise 10,000 Pfizer appointments for our most at risk workers and residents regardless of age.”
He urged Victorians to follow the lockdown restrictions and check exposure sites.
“Please get tested if you have any symptoms,” he said.
“Don’t go to a vaccine site if you have any symptoms else.”
When asked about reports three AFL clubs in Queensland are in lockdown after visiting tier one sites, Prof Sutton said he didn’t have any information.
AIRPORT SECURITY BREACHER FINED
Mr Weimar said an interstate arrival who tried to flee from officers at Melbourne Airport was caught and fined $5000.
“Somebody came off an arriving flight, was stopped by the authorised officers and then sought to abscond,” he said.
He said they were caught by police inside the airport.
‘TOO EARLY TO TELL’ ON LOCKDOWN EXTENSION
Mr Weimar said it is “too early to tell” whether lockdown will be extended, as Victoria records it’s highest daily number of cases in more than nine months.
But he said the lack of mystery cases does give him “some confidence”.
“You never know of course what you will find in the next 24 hours,” he said.
“If we start to see mystery cases popping up and exposure sites that we don’t understand or see the connections, that will be a cause for concern.”
Prof Sutton refused to speculate on what a harder lockdown would look like if the situation worsens, or whether restrictions could ease after five days if cases drop.
“This is a day by day measure,” he said.
“You might as well read a horoscope to be able to predict how things might look three days from now.
“I need to ready myself, every Victorian needs to ready themselves for what might emerge over the next 24-48 hours.”
CASES SPIKE IN NSW
New South Wales has recorded 111 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases as the government considers harsher lockdown rules for the state.
The new cases were recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday, with 29 of those were infectious in the community.
It comes as coronavirus cases from the Bondi cluster surged past 1000 on Friday as Premier Gladys Berejiklian urged people to stay at home.
“Unfortunately this number is stubborn and it won’t go down,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“We haven’t managed to quash the curve.”
The spike has prompted the state to impose new lockdown measures including a halt on construction and new retail restrictions.
Construction sites will be shut down until July 30 and only “critical” retail including supermarkets and pharmacies will remain open.
LONG WAITS AT TESTING SITES
Victorians have woken up on their second day of lockdown to a growing list of more than 160 exposure sites as the delta outbreak continues to spread.
A Docklands office building and a Glen Waverley line train are the latest additions, added after 11pm last night.
Forty four suburbs are now home to an exposure site with several regional towns impacted including Barwon Heads, San Remo and Ballan.
Some Covid testing sites have closed to the public while a regional Victoria centre has a wait time of four hours.
Covid testing at La Trobe University’s Bundoora Campus and Chadstone, Golfers Drive, were both at capacity by 8.30am on Saturday morning, shutting to patients.
The update — posted to the government’s Covid website — comes after a number of Bundoora locations including DFO Uni Hill and a dental surgery were listed as exposure sites on Friday night.
Victorians face a wait time of four hours at Victoria University in Werribee East, while Albert Park, Wantirna Trash and Treasure market warned patients to expect two-hour queues.
VICTORIA FACING LOCKDOWN EXTENSION
Victoria is staring down the barrel of a lockdown extension, with experts and the government hoping for “luck” to avoid weeks of tough restrictions.
Fears that people will be confined to their homes well beyond Tuesday have emerged after coronavirus cases spread across the city and state through major infection sites.
Ministers and infectious disease specialists have told the Saturday Herald Sun the five-day timeline for the snap lockdown called was “ambitious”.
One state minister said we would need “everything to fall our way” to be freed on Tuesday, especially in metropolitan Melbourne.
“Let’s hope we’re not having this same conversation in two weeks,” the minister said.
Thousands of students are at risk of being infected after teachers at six separate schools tested positive to COVID-19 — St Albans Meadows Primary School, Trinity Grammar, Ballarat Clarendon College, St Patrick’s Murrumbeena, Bacchus Marsh Grammar and Barwon Heads Primary School.
In Melbourne’s CBD, work ground to a halt on two Multiplex construction sites on Spencer and Bourke streets after it was revealed an engineer who was positive visited the sites.
Royal Melbourne Hospital sent 200 staff home as a precautionary measure after they worked in proximity to a patient who is a close contact of someone who tested positive to the virus.
The breadth of the outbreak’s spread – with cases or exposure sites now in areas including Geelong, Ballan, and Phillip Island – is concerning experts but they are buoyed by the fact all cases are so far linked.
Two more teachers at Bacchus Marsh Grammar tested positive for Covid-19, exposing thousands of students to the Delta strain and bumping the number of cases recorded on Friday to eight.
Two more cases were uncovered at Kew’s Trinity Grammar, taking the total of infected teachers to three, while Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus and Ballarat’s Clarendon College were both linked to positive cases.
Contact tracers have now identified seven rings of transmission linked to the three Sydney removalists and a Broadmeadows man who breached isolation after returning from NSW.
Burnet Institute epidemiologist Professor Michael Toole said he was optimistic about the capacity to contain the virus in Victoria.
But he warned exposure sites like the MCG and the Young & Jackson pub meant a wide spread was likely and keeping to a 5-day lockdown was “ambitious”.
“The fact that cases are dispersed all over Melbourne (and beyond) is a worry because you could get new chains of transmission,” he said.
Prof Toole said that unlike in Sydney, Melbourne was well placed because of the strength of restrictions – with the only real extra option left in Victoria’s arsenal a curfew.
University of Melbourne leading epidemiologist Nancy Baxter said that it is extremely unlikely that Victoria will emerge from lockdown on Tuesday.
Professor Baxter said the next few days would prove critical, and said the MCG exposure site was starting to look like “a super spreader event”.
“Those highly infectious people were circulating in the community for a good five days,” she said.
“I am concerned by the pace of this outbreak – Delta moves fast.
“We would be very lucky to get out of lockdown on Tuesday … and Melbourne has not had much luck.”
Senior government sources said thinking had not yet turned to the likelihood of moving out of lockdown on Tuesday, with all efforts focused on the current outbreak.
It is expected any easing of restrictions would be very gradual, with mask rules likely to remain in place for some time and AFL crowds unlikely to return for several weeks.
The AFL will take the unprecedented risk of flying Port Adelaide into Melbourne on Saturday as it continues to explore new ways to complete the 2021 season.
The hit-run mission to tackle St Kilda at Marvel Stadium will see Port Adelaide become the first team to be jetted into a virus hotspot since the beginning of the pandemic.
The game is being played in Melbourne because South Australian health authorities are comfortable with the fly-in, fly-out scenario.
Daniel Andrews has warned a number of factors, including the amount of time cases had spent in the community, would determine how the state was placed to move forward.
“We will look at all of that granular data very carefully,” he said.
“It’s too early to foreshadow exactly what will happen on Tuesday night … but we want the greatest freedom as soon as we possibly can.”
Regional towns, including many that have had no positive cases for over a year, remain hopeful they could be freed from the lockdown early.
But the Premier said: “if it’s not safe in the view of experts, you won’t see me do it.”
“This is not a mission to be popular. This is not about seeking praise. It’s about getting the job done,” he said.
Almost 130 exposure sites have so far been identified, with 36 active cases, more than 1500 close contacts and 5000 secondary close contacts in isolation.
Opposition leader Michael O’Brien has repeated calls for the release of public health advice which supported the statewide lockdown.
SCHOOLS BECOMING LATEST OUTBREAK HOTSPOTS
Another Victorian school staff member has tested positive to the coronavirus, plunging 550 more staff and students into isolation.
Staff at St Albans Meadows Primary in Melbourne’s inner north have received an email from principal Stephen Crockford telling them a staff member who was onsite at the school on Wednesday 14 July tested positive on Friday.
Parents were also notified that the school has been closed until further notice and no on-site supervision will be offered. Staff and students have been told to get tested, stay home and follow DHHS direction on Saturday.
The staff member was not named.
The news brings the number of schools directly affected to six, with the cases mostly restricted to teachers. A number of schools such as Trinity Grammar had pupil-free staff meetings on Monday.
Debra James, general secretary of the Independent Education Union, said the over-representation of teachers among those who have contracted Covid in this recent outbreak shows that “schools are very high-risk transmission sites and for the safety of the broader community, school workers must be prioritised in the vaccine rollout.
“If the many calls by education unions and independent experts over the last 8 months to prioritise vaccines for education workers had been followed, it seems likely that today we would be facing a smaller and more manageable outbreak here in Victoria,” she said.
Mr Crockford told St Albans Meadows Primary staff that he did not have much more information.
“I can inform you that I am awaiting instruction from DET and the Department of Health as to what our obligations are, and how we proceed going forward. At this stage I am not pre-empting the response required, however, I will communicate appropriately with you when I have accurate and approved information to share,” Mr Crockford told staff.
“We must be united in facing this challenge and be measured in our response,” he said in the email.
Students and staff at Trinity Grammar are on tenterhooks after two more teachers tested positive, bringing the total number of infected teachers at the Kew boys’ school to three.
The status of thousands of children and adults connected to the school may change in coming hours and days, with new primary cases expected to be contacted by health officials tonight and tomorrow.
Principal Adrian Farrer wrote to parents telling them the teachers “come from across the school” but had little more information about the implications.
“I acknowledge the anxiety that this news brings to our community. It is a difficult time for all and the implications are not yet entirely clear,” he said.
“The latest staff members to test positive are currently working with the Department of Health to provide information that will assist contract tracers and the School. I cannot provide you with any more useful detail than that until we receive our instructions from the authority.”
Trinity Grammar has 156 teaching staff, 110 non-teaching staff and 1500 boys.
The additional infections at Trinity come as another teacher at Bacchus Marsh Grammar was confirmed as a new case after picking up the Delta variant from a fellow teacher during a staff development day.
The school’s principal, Andrew Neal, on Friday confirmed that four teachers in total had now tested positive to the virus.
All four are based at the Maddingley Senior/Middle School.
In a letter to parents on Friday, seen by the Herald Sun, Mr Neal said: “Unfortunately, some of the recently infected staff have been in direct contact with students”.
“The earlier advice that all students should stay at home and isolate still applies and we will update you with further advice as we are provided it,” he added.
Early on Friday, a family member of a senior student at Ballarat Clarendon College was confirmed as a positive case.
– Susie O’Brien and Suzan Delibasic
VICTORIAN EXPOSURE SITES CLIMB
A popular gym in Richmond, a DFO shoe store and more than ten locations on Phillip Island have been added to Victoria’s rapidly growing exposure sites.
F45 in Richmond is now a Tier 1 exposure site on the 14th of July from 6:50am-8:05am and on the 15th of July from 6:35am-8:05am.
A Vans shoe shop within DFO Uni Hill in Bundoora has been identified as the latest Tier 1 exposure site on the 9th of July from 4:20pm-4:50pm.
Yarra Yarra Rowing Club has also been published as a Tier 1 site on the 14th of July from 6:05am-8:00am and on the 15th of July from 8:02am-10:00am.
Anyone who visited at those times is urged to get tested and isolate for 14 days.
Phillip Island remains on high alert after a positive case visited several venues in the area, including a busy supermarket and the Grand Prix Circuit.
Another venue in Phillip Island – the North Pier Hotel – has been identified as a Tier 1 exposure site on the 12th of July from 7:22pm-10:47pm.
The Basketball Stadium at Valkstone Primary School in Bentleigh East is also now a Tier 1 site on the 14th of July from 4:45pm-6:30pm.
The racetrack and a Coles supermarket have been listed as Tier 1 exposure sites as Victoria grapples with the latest outbreak.
Anyone who visited the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on July 13 from 11:10am-1:17pm or the Coles on the corner of Church St and Thompson Ave on July 12 from 4:30pm-5:30pm must get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from exposure.
Earlier on Friday, the San Remo Fisherman’s Co-op and Phillip Island Ten Pin Bowling and Entertainment and Grumpys Crazy Golf, both in Cowes, were added to the ballooning list of Tier 1 exposure sites after a positive case visited the venues on July 14.
A gym in Essendon has also been listed as a Tier 1 exposure site on Friday evening after a positive case attended the venue.
Anyone who went to Re-Creation Health Club on Buckley St between 5.30am and 7pm and 9.20pm and 10.30pm on July 13 must get tested and isolate for 14 days.
MELBOURNE LOSES ANOTHER HOSPITALITY STALWART
Another beloved hospitality venue has fallen victim to Victoria’s hard lockdowns and severe restrictions.
The Victoria Hotel has been an iconic pub in the heart of Yarraville since the 1800s.
“With a heavy heart we will permanently close The Victoria Hotel,” Owner Annette Murdaca-Soto said on a Facebook post on Friday.
“Today entering our fifth lockdown it feels surreal and we feel numb.
“Unfortunately businesses are not like a light switch, turning off and then on again.
“With little to no notice from the government it means losses of thousands of dollars on days that would be our highest trading days.
“Government support has meant we’ve been able to retain some of our staff members whom have stood by our side, however with no relief on electricity, gas, water, insurances, licensing and rent … we are still so behind.
“Now faced with a large rent increase we will never be able to catch up.”
Ms Murdaca-Soto said that the owners and staff ultimately “feel let down” by the lack of Government support.
“We have come back after each lockdown with the ever hopeful optimism that as Melburnians we stand together and we will get through this, however this time we have nothing left to give, mentally and financially,” she said.
The Victoria Hotel will have its final day of trading post lockdown on Sunday August 8.
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