More than 1,000,000 people face local lockdowns as Melbourne takes turn for worst
More than a million Australians could soon face harsher lockdown restrictions after Victoria recorded a spike in coronavirus infections.
A man in his 80s died overnight after testing positive for Covid-19 in Victoria, the country’s first coronavirus death in a month.
Twenty new cases were announced on Wednesday, with the state reporting double-digit rises every day for more than a week now.
There are now 241 cases that have been identified since the epidemic began in Victoria that indicate community transmission.
The government’s target reproduction rate is below one, but health minister Jenny Mikakos has warned that those infected are now passing it on to an average of 2.5 people each.
Victoria’s chief health officer, Dr Brett Sutton said the community transmission rate of eight since yesterday was ‘somewhat encouraging’ as it had been ‘around 10 every day’.
However, a rise in the number of cases could see people in Melbourne face local district lockdowns, Ms Mikakos said on Tuesday.
This includes six areas – Hume, Brimbank, Casey, Cardinia Moreland and Darebin.
New cases in Melbourne include three linked to a family in Keilor Downs in the city’s north-west, others linked to a family in Hallam in the south-eastern suburbs and outbreaks at two quarantine hotels.
Three staff members from Hampstead Dental in Maidstone in Melbourne’s west have also tested positive, while one new case is connected with a case at St Monica’s College Epping in north Melbourne.
Ms Mikakos said mandatory isolation in specific suburbs could be an option to control the outbreak.
She said: ‘In the legal directions that have come in, we have not issued stay-at-home directions for those hotspot areas, but of course we don’t rule anything out.’
New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned people to avoid coronavirus hotspots in Victoria and not travel to Melbourne unless it is absolutely essential.
She said earlier this week she would not close the border with Victoria, but named the surge in infections a ‘wake-up call’.
Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy has stated there is ‘no official definition’ of a second coronavirus wave.
However, he added that it is a concept where ‘you don’t think the public health measures can easily control it in the short term’ and he had ‘great confidence’ in the Victoria response.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.