Mr Andrews announced that no rent would be charged for more than 3000 public housing residents in nine towers in Flemington and North Melbourne who were placed in "hard lockdown" at 4pm on Saturday afternoon after Victoria recorded 108 new coronavirus cases, including a dangerous cluster at the commission flats.
The government will also make hardship payments of $1500 for those residents who are unable to go to work because of the lockdown and $750 for those without paid work.
He said public health workers were moving through every floor of the building to te
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st every single resident, except those who have previously tested positive.
The restrictions on the residents of these buildings are tighter than the stay-at-home orders in place in 12 Melbourne postcodes, where people can only leave to go to work or study, to provide care, to buy groceries or to get exercise.
The residents of the buildings have been told they are not allowed to leave their homes and police have been stationed in the area.
More than 27 cases have so far been detected among 12 households in the large public housing towers. The source of the cluster is not yet known and hundreds of residents may have already been exposed to the virus in the close confines of the flats.
“This is not going to be a pleasant experience for those residents but I have
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a message for those residents: this is not about punishment but protection,” he said.
“We cannot have this virus spread. We have to do everything we can to contain the virus and that is why staying in your unit, staying in your flat, is absolutely essential."
He said many people in the buildings had pre-existing health conditions and that “people will die, it’s as simple as that”, if the virus took hold.
Police are seen on patrol outside the North Melbourne Public housing flats on July 05, 2020.Credit:Asanka Ratnayake
He said an “enormous amount of work” was being put in to provide food, mental health, drug and alcohol services, medical support and domestic violence support for the towers’ residents in a culturally and linguistically appropriate way.
“We will meet all the needs of each and every one of those residents,” he said.
“I expect everyone will consent to a test,” he said, with test results informing the level of restrictions in coming days.
Craig Butt joined The Age in 2011 and specialises in data-driven journalism.
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2020-07-05 02:04:27Z
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