Lockdown in NSW and Victoria

NSW: Stay-at-home for many

After installing tougher stay-at-home measures, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Monday that the government was “throwing everything” it had at stemming its COVID-19 outbreak after the state recorded 98 new cases.

Countless businesses not considered an essential service have closed and about 750,000 people in Sydney’s south-west suburbs were locked in their local government area (LGA). Ms Berejiklian said 20 of the cases announced today were out in the community whilst infectious.

“That 20 number is the number we are really keen to nudge,” she said.

“We need to get ahead of that number in order to reduce the cases in the community and the closer we get that number to zero, the sooner we can end the lockdown.”

The Premier said she was “not willing to give an end date” to stay-at-home restrictions until she received more data but lamented those orders, calling them a “deep blow on all of us”.

“We know the Delta variant is nothing like we have seen,” she said.

“We know how challenging it is but we wouldn’t have thrown everything at it if we didn’t have a chance of quashing it.”

Vaccination of children considered

Chief health officer Kerry Chant said the number of venues of concern — sites visited by infected people — has shrunk.

“It is pleasing to see that the venues have been narrowed and that people appear to be taking the help advice about limiting the time spent anywhere and also not going out when you are sick,” Dr Chant said.

She said over two-thirds of cases are being detected in south-west Sydney, where the state government implemented enhanced lockdown orders from Sunday.

Dr Chant said the Fairfield LGA had 47 cases, while Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool had 13 each.

The source of infection for 37 cases are under investigation.

The highly infectious variant of the Delta strain has forced the state government to reconsider its position on vaccinating children, Dr Chant said.

She said some countries had vaccines licenced for use for children and said Australia could consider the same.

While the priority rollout would still be based on age — emphasising higher risks groups amongst over aged 65 — she said we had “adequate supplies” of AstraZeneca.

“We are seeing more infections from children spreading, which is not the characteristic we had observed with previous strands,” Dr Chant said.

“I am alluding to the fact, or stating it clearly, that having vaccines available for children, particularly high school children, will be really useful in rolling out those vaccines.”

Victoria: Lockdown will go on after Tuesday night

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed the state’s lockdown will not be lifted on Tuesday night, but he has not given a timeframe on when it will lift. In his word, Daniel Andrews is reiterating the lockdown will “only last for as long as it needs to”.

/ Victoria lockdown has been extended

But he cautioned that even once Victoria deals with the current outbreak, “unless case numbers in Sydney dramatically reduce, we’re going to have an ongoing challenge in terms of defending that border to the north”.

“Making sure nobody who has this virus is coming to our state. That’s for another day, that’s principally our challenge, but we’ll be calling on the community to play their part in that for a lengthy period of time.”

Mr Andrews said on Monday that contact tracers have “achieved a lot in the last four days”.

“As a community we have avoided what would almost have certainly been the case: hundreds, if not more, cases, and not running alongside this virus,” he said.

“It would be so far out in front of us that we would be standing here today having to forecast for Victorians weeks, and weeks, and weeks of lockdown.

“We have avoided that to this point, but we’ve all got to keep working hard.”

‘From one end of the state to the other’

Mr Andrews says there are now more than 250 exposure sites connected to the outbreak, “stretching from Philip Island to the Mallee”.

“This is from one end of the state to the other, literally,” Mr Andrews said.

He says a confirmed case in Mildura is “challenging” for the community, and they’ve opened a pop-up testing centre in town. He said that Victoria’s new cases were all connected to current outbreaks.

“There are 15,800 primary close contacts who are in quarantine, whole are isolating at home or another place,” he said.

“We thank them very much for being compliant with the orders.”

South Melbourne Market had undergone a deep clean after being identified as a COVID-19 exposure site late on Sunday. Several stores within the market have been listed as tier 1 exposure sites between 9:30am and 12:00pm on July 11.

Anyone who was in the stores during the exposure period must get tested and isolate for 14 days.

People can find all the sites and exposure windows information on the Department of Health’s website.