State’s lockdown nears record

MELBURNIANS are set to be locked down until the end of October, notching up a worldrecord number of days under tough stay-at-home restrictions.

The city will spend its 235th day in lockdown on September 23, when 70 per cent of Victorians are tipped to have had their first jab dose and restrictions will be eased slightly.

It comes after Daniel Andrews grimly confirmed lockdown would continue “in some form” until the end of October when the state reaches nationally-agreed vaccination targets to end widespread lockdown.

In a major shift in Victoria’s pandemic policy, the Premier conceded the goal of the lockdown was no longer to drive case numbers down but to stop them rising rapidly.

The state recorded 120 new infections on Wednesday – the highest daily figure in more than a year – amid warnings more undetected cases are circulating in the community.

Mr Andrews said case numbers would no longer affect restrictions, with the focus now on “buying time” until more people got the jab.

But regional Victoria – except Shepparton where there is an outbreak – could come out of lockdown from next week.

In NSW, Premier Gladys

Berejiklian has admitted it is “impossible” to defeat the Delta strain, continuing to shift her rhetoric around Covid-19 after revealing 1116 new infections.

Ms Berejiklian reiterated NSW and all other states would have to live with daily cases of Delta, urging other state premiers not to deny her constituents the “freedoms they deserve” once the state reached 80 per cent vaccination rates.

She said it would be cruel if other premiers, such as Western Australia’s Mark McGowan, maintained a hard border with NSW even when the majority of the state was immunised.