Regional Victoria has been placed into lockdown because of a growing number of cases emerging in Shepparton, Premier Daniel Andrews has announced.
Key points:
- The whole state entered the same lockdown settings from 1:00pm Saturday, with regional Victoria avoiding a curfew
- Of the 61 new cases reported on Friday, 48 are linked to known outbreaks and 22 were in isolation
- An additional 16 cases in Shepparton recorded on rapid PCR tests will be reported tomorrow
The new restrictions came into force at 1:00pm AEST, meaning the whole state is now in some form of lockdown.
However, the Melbourne area's 9:00pm curfew is not being extended to regional Victoria.
Victoria recorded 61 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, including a number of cases in Shepparton already announced the day before.
The Department of Health said an additional 16 cases were recorded on a rapid PCR testing platform and would be reported in tomorrow's numbers.
Those rapid tests were all taken in the Shepparton area.
Of the new cases, 48 are linked to known outbreaks, and 22 were in isolation for their entire infectious period.
There were 45,670 test results received yesterday, and 29,539 doses of vaccine were administered at state-run sites.
Mr Andrews said the new restrictions were challenging but necessary for driving down case numbers.
"The rules will protect life and it will mean that if we follow them, we can drive these numbers down and be open again."
Childcare centres will also be restricted to essential workers after a number of cases at centres over the past week, including 27 cases at the MyCentre Child Care venue at Broadmeadows in just two days.
"We have got to limit the number of kids that are in our childcare centres. We have to got to limit the amount of movement that is occurring that involves our smallest children," Mr Andrews said.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said it was being recommended that all children of primary school age wear masks indoors when not at home.
There will be no changes to takeaway food and coffee restrictions, but there will be more stringent workforce limits in high-risk industries such as abattoirs and seafood processing.
Mr Andrews said some of the new cases had been in the community while symptomatic.
"They have perhaps had symptoms for a period of time and unknowingly, they have spread this virus," he said.
New exposure sites identified in Shepparton
Several new exposure sites in Shepparton were listed on the health department's website last night, including a 24-hour gym.
The Derrimut 24:7 gym at 4/290 Benalla Road is listed as a tier 1 exposure site on August 13 between 8:30pm and 10:30pm and on August 14 between 8:30pm and 10:30pm.
The Shepparton Mayor Kim O'Keeffe said a lockdown would prevent infections from spreading across regional Victoria.
"As much as we all hate it, let's do that lockdown. Let's do what we need to do and do it fast."
Mr Andrews said a localised lockdown in Shepparton was not considered as it was likely cases had already spread to other parts of regional Victoria.
Victoria's 'golden window' for vaccinations
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said there was an opportunity to vaccinate people against COVID-19 while case numbers were relatively low.
"This is our golden window to get to the fastest two-dose coverage that we possibly can," he said.
Mr Andrews urged people who had not yet made an appointment to take up the opportunity as soon as possible.
"There are vaccine appointments available right now, and to give people a sense of that, over the next week, there are 79,750 vaccination appointments, two-thirds Pfizer, one-third AstraZeneca," he said.
"Lockdowns are our short-term weapon against this, but our long-term strategy, to be open, to be growing, to be employing, to be in a very different world is for 80 per cent of people to be through that vaccination program."
Potential COVID-19 transmission at Royal Melbourne Hospital
Jeroen Weimar confirmed there had been one positive case in a patient at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, which came to light late last night.
Mr Weimar said contact tracers were investigating whether the person was infected by another patient at the hospital.
"When you see it get out beyond an identified course of clusters and it starts moving in the community, our hospitals and other vulnerable settings are at greatest risk," he said.
Responding to reports of COVID patients refusing to wear masks and walking up and down wards, Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed there had been some "challenging behaviour" within hospitals.
"I would just urge everybody to do as you're asked, if a health professional advises you to comply with certain procedures, they are asking because they are polite, it is actually mandatory," he said.
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2021-08-20 22:52:40Z
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