Victoria's premier says Melbourne roadmap out of Covid lockdown likely to be redrawn
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews concedes Melbourne’s roadmap out of lockdown will likely be redrawn, suggesting case numbers could reach a point where they are “as good as they are going to get”.
Victoria recorded 15 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the latest in a stream of stubborn double-digit days. The state’s death toll remains at 810 and the national figure at 898.
This brings Melbourne’s rolling 14day average to 9.9, still significantly above the five daily cases average notionally required to lift restrictions on Sunday. This date was originally set at 26 October, but was brought forward when Melbourne was racing ahead of schedule in the battle to bring down case numbers.
Melbourne also recorded 11 mystery cases in the previous two-week reporting period, with the roadmap requiring fewer than five to move forward. But despite falling short of the targets, it appears Andrews may still go ahead with a partial reopening, as health authorities weigh up the costs vs benefits of bringing numbers all the way down.
“The best public health advice says to us those targets can be achieved. The questions will become over what period, and if it will take an unacceptably long time to get to those numbers,” Andrews said.
“It may be at a point where we have to call it, where we have to say that this is as good as it will get. That means there is some greater risk. That means that the task of keeping this thing suppressed is going to be harder, but that is where we [could] find ourselves,” he said.
“To achieve the lower number might mean we’re locked down too long … and that lockdown and its consequences might not be proportionate.”
Andrews said that it was likely that targets and dates of Melbourne’s “roadmap to recovery” could be reviewed, but said suggested final decisions may not be made until late into Saturday night.
Andrews foreshadowed there
would be some announcements on reopening Melbourne on Sunday but these would be “broadly on the social space rather than economic easing”. He noted, however, that there may be economic easing announcements for regional Victoria.
The premier also hit back at federal politicians including the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, who told Nine’s Today show on Monday the premier needed to “get on with” opening the state and “stop stringing people along”.
“I can’t stand here and pretend it’s over because I desperately, desperately want it to be – that’s not leadership. You’d be popular for five minutes and then the hospitals will be overrun,” he said.
“All the people calling for us to open up, including some members of the federal government I might add, I don’t think they will be standing beside me having to explain why our hospital system is completely overrun.
“You won’t see them for dust.” Of Victoria’s new cases, 10 are connected to known outbreaks, while five are under investigation.
Aldi and Fiesta Market in Altona North and Waverley Gardens Dry Cleaners in Mulgrave were added to Victoria’s high-risk locations list.
Meanwhile, a year 12 pupil at Nazareth College has also tested positive to the virus, scuppering plans to reopen the school.