Victoria has recorded another 74 coronavirus cases overnight as Premier Daniel Andrews announces the more than 3,000 public housing tenants placed under hard lockdown will not have to pay rent for two weeks.
Key points:
- Residents who cannot go to work because of the lockdown will receive a $1,500 hardship payment and those who are unemployed will receive $750
- Mr Andrews says many tenants had underlying health conditions and if the virus was allowed to spread through the towers "then people will die"
- The total number of cases in public housing blocks is now 27, but Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton expects that number will grow
Mr Andrews also announced a range of financial support for all tenants in the nine buildings, which were placed under immediate lockdown on Saturday afternoon.
"Those who are employed and because of the hard lockdown cannot go to work, they will receive a $1,500 hardship payment," Mr Andrews said.
"For those households where there is no-one in employment, they will receive a $750 hardship payment."
Mr Andrews said public health teams would begin going door-to-door to test every person, and he was confident all residents would be willing to comply.
He said work had been going on throughout the night to organise food, medical support, drug and alcohol support, family violence support and other essential services.
The nine public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne were locked down on Saturday after at least 23 coronavirus cases were identified across more than 12 households.
Health authorities said the drastic move was necessary because of the nature of the buildings, where many people live in close quarters and use shared facilities including lifts and laundries.
While other residents under lockdown in Melbourne are allowed to leave their home for four reasons — work or education, exercise, medical care or caregiving or shopping for supplies — the residents of the towers will not be able to leave their apartment for any reason.
Mr Andrews said the approach was similar to that taken to protect residents after a confirmed coronavirus case in aged care facilities.
"If we have a large group of people who've already got pre-existing and underlying health challenges infected with this virus, then people will die. It is as simple as that."
Premier pledges to meet the needs of 'each and every' resident
Residents told the ABC this morning that they were yet to receive any information or food supplies.
Many only learned of the lockdown from the media or when they tried to enter or exit their building and were stopped by police.
Mr Andrews said support would be provided in a culturally and linguistically appropriate way.
"We will meet all the needs of each and every one of those residents. Are all of those needs absolutely crystal clear right now? No, I think they'll evolve over time," he said.
"We'll continue to listen to those residents and hear from them firsthand about what they need and then seek to meet those needs."
Mr Andrews said some basic supplies got in last night but more support, including activities packs for children and meals, would be brought in today as services including kitchens ramp up.
He said the Government was partnering with the Red Cross to provide residents with a single point of contact to ask for whatever they need.
"It will be everything from food and baby formula to food for a pet," he said.
Mr Andrews also said the Government was in discussions with Telstra to see if they could provide Wi-Fi for tenants.
He said translators were onsite and would be door-knocking to help explain the public health directions and find out what people need.
"There will be some door-knocking but we always have to try and make sure that we treat this as an infectious environment and nothing we do contributes to that," he said.
Public housing high-rises have 'genuinely explosive potential'
Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said four more COVID-19 cases were linked to the public housing units overnight, bringing the total number to 27.
He said in the setting of a densely populated high-rise tower, the virus has "genuinely explosive potential".
"So I think this is an appropriate public health response."
While many residents expressed concern about the tough lockdown measures, others said they understood the public health measures.
Xiwen Yuan, 18, lives with his mother and younger sister.
He is now unable to work his regular shifts at Woolworths but says he fully supports the lockdown.
"I'll admit it was quite sudden and concerning when large amounts of police officers and news crews showed up downstairs, telling everyone there's a hard lockdown," he said.
"I can understand why people may feel threatened or treated as prisoners with heavy surveillance outside of your house, but this is a necessary way in making sure everyone is staying inside and not spreading this virus."
Mr Yuan said residents would often visit family and friends in other units within the same building.
"I don't see this as a racial target or unfair, to me it just seems logical to go on hard lockdown and the police officers that I've interacted seemed cooperative and nice," he said.
Victoria Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said there had been few instructions and very little planning and police were "flying by the seat of our pants".
"The Government needs to move to turn words into a safe and orderly plan otherwise all we will have done is replace the fiasco that was security guards in hotels with one that becomes police in housing commission flats," he said.
Of the day's 74 new cases, 16 were linked to controlled outbreaks, four were found in routine testing and 53 are still under investigation.
One is in a returned traveller in hotel quarantine.
Victoria now has 543 active cases, with 26 people in hospital including three in intensive care.
Housing Minister Richard Wynne said his phone had been "running off the hook" with people wanting to find out how they could help those in lockdown.
"I'm really overwhelmed by the compassion of so many Victorians," he said.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA3LTA1L2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXZpY3RvcmlhLW5ldy1jYXNlcy1wdWJsaWMtaG91c2luZy1tZWxib3VybmUtbG9ja2Rvd24vMTI0MjM3MDDSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTI0MjM3MDA?oc=5
2020-07-05 05:25:17Z
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