THIS IS NOT A HOLIDAY
Schools & all non-essential services to close Confirmed Geelong COVID-19 cases double Crowds flock to beaches despite advice
CORONAVIRUS cases doubled in Geelong and the Surf Coast at the weekend as Victorians prepared for all non-essential activities to shut down.
Schools, businesses and organisations will be forced to close their doors from tomorrow. However, hospitals, banks, supermarkets, petrol stations and convenience stores will be allowed to stay open.
Closures of popular beaches on the Surf Coast, Bellarine Peninsula and Geelong also looms as a possibility after crowds flouted social distancing advice at the weekend.
Premier Daniel Andrews ordered the shutdown to save lives and prevent the state’s hospitals from being overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, both the State and Federal governments announced they would beef-up stimulus packages to try to keep the economy running amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
THE number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases across Greater Geelong and the Surf Coast has doubled since Friday.
The two areas reached a total of 10 confirmed cases yesterday as the state prepares to implement drastic social distancing measures amid a statewide surge in diagnoses.
Two diagnoses were recorded over the weekend for the
Surf Coast, which was previously free of confirmed cases.
And the number of confirmed cases in Greater Geelong shot up from five on Friday to eight yesterday.
The total number of cases in Victoria increased by 67 in one day, reaching 296 yesterday.
The new cases included 42 men and 25 women, with people aged from late teens to early 80s.
Geelong Grammar School on Saturday confirmed a second senior school boarding student had been diagnosed, after revealing the first student diagnosis on Friday.
“In order to assist with the required contact tracing for this diagnosis, the school is providing information to the DHHS of the configuration of the boarding arrangements in the house, the classes attended by the student, as well as their co-curricular and sport activities,” Geelong Grammar principal Rebecca Cody wrote in a letter to families.
“You will appreciate that the connectivity within a boarding school context is especially complex.
“As such, our senior leaders are working tirelessly to provide extensive mapping information to assist the DHHS.”