Outbreak proves risk remains

A SPIKE in coronavirus cases in Victoria should serve as a wake-up call to avoid complacency, the Prime Minister says.

Victoria stepped back plans to ease restrictions as of yesterday to clamp down on several clusters of new cases.

The state’s active coronavirus case numbers are now the highest they’ve been in more than two months after six days of double-digit growth.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the fact of new cases shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“We said there would be bumps along the road ... we said there would be outbreaks,” Mr Morrison (right) said yesterday. “COVID hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s still out there and it can still take hold. And so we can’t be complacent about it.”

He said Victoria’s move to delay further lifting of restrictions and look at stronger localised lockdowns was sensible.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian bluntly warned people not to travel to or from the hot spots.

“Don’t assume that it won’t happen in New South Wales or anywhere else,” she said.

“It can happen very quickly, just with a couple of cases, a couple of incidents of people spreading the virus unintentionally can cause a spike. It’s a good wake-up call for all of us.”

She urged people to get used to the rules and not to leave the house if they had even the mildest symptoms, except to get tested.

“We don’t know how long (the pandemic) is going to last. It could be a year, it could be two years, it could be less than that,” she said “But what we do know is that we need to live with it.”

Australia’s chief medical officer also warned people off travelling to and from the Victorian hot spots.