VICTORIA’S lockdown has been extended by a week to help combat the current outbreak of COVID-19.
On 20 July, 13 new locally acquired cases of coronavirus were confirmed. Of those, 12 were linked to the current outbreak and one was under investigation. There were 96 active cases.
There is one active COVID-19 case among residents from the Kingston local government area.
The Coles at Westfield Southland in Cheltenham has been listed as a tier two exposure site. Anyone who went to the supermarket on 12 July between 5.45pm and 6.45pm was asked to get tested and isolate until they received a negative result. A positive COVID-19 case attended the shop.
At a press conference on 20 July, the day the lockdown was originally expected to end, Premier Daniel Andrews said “we need more time” to battle the outbreak. “That is why on the advice of the Chief Health Officer we will extend these lockdowns for a further seven days.
“We are all going to work very, very hard to have Victoria begin the process of opening up at midnight next Tuesday the 27th, seven days from midnight tonight. We wish we could bring this in earlier, but we can’t run the risk that there are cases out there that we don’t know about. There are chains of transmission that are not yet contained that we don’t know about and if we would open up we would see how quickly this runs, we see how challenging this can become in a very short space of time. We need to avoid what is going on in Sydney at the moment. We are determined to do that.
“For four weeks, we have been saying to people from Victoria who are in Sydney and now in broader New South Wales – not the bubble, but beyond that border bubble – we have been saying come home, come home because the rules may change. The rules are changing today. The only people that will get a permit to travel from a red zone into Victoria are those who are authorised workers and those who apply for and get a compassionate exemption to the new rules I am announcing today. There will be no further, as of right now, red zone travel for the next two weeks.”
There are other COVID-19 exposure sites in Dandenong South and Karingal. For a full list visit coronavirus.vic.gov.au/exposure-sites.
To find out if you are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine visit health.gov.au/resources/apps-and-tools/covid-19-vaccine-eligibility-checker
Financial support for businesses affected by lockdown has been announced. For more information visit business.vic.gov.au
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 21 July 2021