A regional Victorian city has been plunged into a snap seven-day lockdown after recording four new Covid cases as the state’s top doctor warns infections are expected to rise.
Premier Dan Andrews has announced Ballarat residents will be under the same restrictions as Melbourne – except for the curfew – from 11.59pm Wednesday as the state’s Delta outbreak spreads into the Central Highlands.
‘It is not the news Ballarat want to hear or the decision we to make,’ he told reporters on Wednesday.
‘[But] If we allow the virus to get away in one part of regional Victoria it becomes a threat and a risk to all of regional Victoria. We can’t have that happen.’
Dan Andrews has announced Ballarat will enter a seven-day lockdown from midnight Wednesday after the city recorded four new Covid cases
Meanwhile, Shepparton will come out of lockdown, with its restrictions to mirror the rest of the regions from midnight on Wednesday after a local outbreak was brought under control.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the Ballarat decision was made after Covid sewage surveillance indicated the virus may have been circulating within the community for up to a week.
‘We have had positive wastewater detections from the eighth, which can sometimes mean someone passing through, someone who has recovered,’ he said.
‘But when you subsequently have confirmed cases identified, it makes you think that those wastewater detections related to someone who was positive and infectious in the community and not detected.
‘So it has been over a week of likely transmission within the Ballarat community. So there are likely to be more cases and it is for that reason that going to an immediate lockdown is really the right response.’
Ballarat residents will have to abide by stay-at-home orders with only five reasons to leave home, visitors at homes will be banned and a five kilometre travel limit will apply.
Victoria recorded 423 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of active cases in the state to 4038.
Five cases were in regional areas of Ballarat and Geelong.
Of the new cases, 149 are linked to known outbreaks and the source of the remaining 274 is under investigation.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said authorities made the decision to lockdown Ballarat (pictured) amid fears Covid-19 has been circulating in the community undetected for the past week
Two deaths were also reported, a man in his 40s from Whittlesea and another man in his 70s from Wyndham, bringing the toll from the current outbreak to eight.
It is not yet known if one of the deaths is a 46-year-old man who worked at a Serco call centre in Mill Park.
Martin Blight became infected with COVID-19 after a workplace outbreak died in hospital on Monday, according to the Australian Services Union.
The union remembered Mr Blight as “a committed ASU member, a father, a friend to many” and said his family encourages everyone to get vaccinated “as soon as possible”.
It’s unclear whether he was vaccinated but he had a Pfizer vaccine booked in for September, according to his Facebook.
It comes as Victorians may be given more freedoms from Friday, with an extra hour of exercise and an expanded travel limit on the table once 70 per cent of those eligible have received their first COVID-19 dose.
Mr Andrews has confirmed the state’s roadmap out of lockdown will be released on Sunday.
The roadmap, outlining restrictions through to November, will rely on Burnet Institute modelling of vaccination and hospitalisation rates.
On the flipside, Shepparton (pictured) will exit lockdown from 11.59pm Wednesday after a local Covid outbreak was brought under control
Meanwhile, St Vincent’s Health Australia has announced a mandatory vaccination policy for all of its health and aged care facilities, including St Vincent’s hospital in Melbourne.
The health provider operates 16 public and private hospitals, and 23 aged care facilities across Victoria, NSW and Queensland and will require “all staff, volunteers and contractors” be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Unions, peak bodies and workers will be consulted about the policy in the coming weeks to help determine a date for when it will come into effect, St Vincent’s Health Australia Group chief executive Toby Hall said.
He said more than 70 per cent of people across the organisation are already fully vaccinated.
‘We see it as a complementary and logical step in the process of keeping our sites as safe as possible as Australia learns to live with COVID-19 long-term,’ Mr Hall said.
In the 24 hours to Wednesday morning, 54,649 tests were processed and 41,856 Victorians received a vaccine dose at a state-run hub,.
Source: Daily Mail
