Victoria has recorded five new cases of coronavirus and three more deaths in the past day, as Melburnians awoke to eased restrictions.
The numbers bring Melbourne's rolling 14-day average down to 20.3. There are 31 active cases with an unknown source.
Recreational fishing resumed at Albert Park pier on Monday morning. Credit:Eddie Jim
The last time the daily new case number was so low was on June 12, when four cases were reported.
The Department of Health and Human Services is urging Victorians to continue to get tested.
On Monday morning, the Director of Epidemiology at the Doherty Institute called for the Victorian government to explain exactly how contact tracing has improved as the state eases restrictions further.
And an epidemiologist at Australian National University said the state appeared to be aiming for an elimination strategy, despite not describing it that way.
Fast, effective contact tracing has been named by multiple agencies as absolutely critical to avoid a repeat of scale infections seen in Victoria's second wave as more businesses begin to re-open and more people begin to move around the community again.
The Doherty Institute's Professor Jodie McVernon said while there had been a "massive scaling up of capacity" in contact tracing, the public needed to hear and see exactly what that looked like, and a clear plan for how to respond to inevitable outbreaks.
If there is another outbreak, members of the public should know what to expect and what to do, Professor McVernon said. "What is the approach going to be? What will be expected of us?" she said on ABC Radio National's AM program.
Victoria's new Health Minister Martin Foley was asked on Sunday whether he had assured himself that contact tracing was where it should be, and replied "not yet".
"But give me another little while and I'm sure I will be getting briefings around how all of those key pillar elements of the suppression strategy will be delivered, because all of government is committed to the strategy."
Professor McVernon said clear planning and communication about what would be required of the public in the event of new local outbreaks was key to keeping the virus at manageable levels.
"It’s a bit like cleaning the house, you know? You can clean the house perfectly, but it’s going to get dirty again so what are we going to do next?"
Dr Sanjaya Senanayake, an epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist with ANU, said Victoria was going further than just trying to control the virus.
"If you look at what Victoria is doing, even though they're not saying it, they seem to be going for elimination," he told ABC TV’s Breakfast program.
"Because if this was about control, this was learning to live with small numbers of the virus, when you get to the next stage, which is less than five cases per day, as a rolling 14-day average, if it were just about control, then you would skip step 3 and you'd go straight to the final step, or possibly even COVID-normal.
"But Victoria is not doing that. It is looking for periods of no cases for at least 14 days before they start to talk about going to the final step and then no cases for 28 days before going to COVID-normal."
Dr Senanayake said if Victoria achieved elimination, that it would be easier for the whole country to lift internal borders.
"With regard to travel and trade within the country and looking at bubbles, regionally, internationally - everything becomes a lot more attractive."
There were no new coronavirus cases recorded elsewhere in the country on Sunday.
Rachael Dexter is a breaking news reporter at The Age.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMieWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZWFnZS5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvdmljdG9yaWEvdmljdG9yaWEtcmVjb3Jkcy1maXZlLW5ldy1jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy1jYXNlcy10aHJlZS1kZWF0aHMtMjAyMDA5MjgtcDU1enNwLmh0bWzSAXlodHRwczovL2FtcC50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL3ZpY3RvcmlhLXJlY29yZHMtZml2ZS1uZXctY29yb25hdmlydXMtY2FzZXMtdGhyZWUtZGVhdGhzLTIwMjAwOTI4LXA1NXpzcC5odG1s?oc=5
2020-09-27 22:38:00Z
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