Melbourne’s restaurants, cafes, pubs and most of its shops will remain empty for at least another week, despite Victoria's daily COVID-19 case numbers falling to their lowest since June.
Premier Daniel Andrews said it was unlikely that retail and hospitality would be included in Sunday’s much-anticipated announcement of the next stage of lockdown but raised the possibility of them opening from next Sunday, October 25.
Premier Daniel Andrews provides an upbeat assessment at Friday's press conference.Credit:Eddie Jim
“It may well be that we can take further steps that weekend,” he said. “But ... that’s all going to be based on some very thoughtful data.”
Announcements could be made next week if infection levels stay low.
Just two new cases of the virus were reported on Friday – one of them relating to a patient at the Royal Children's Hospital – and no lives lost.
As Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the state opposition and Victorian business groups all tried on Friday to keep the pressure on the Premier for a more rapid opening-up, a number of leading epidemiologists told The Age that hospitality could be safely opened from Sunday.
But the medical experts were more cautious about the retail sector, warning that shopping centres could pose a risk if they fully re-opened, with the University of Melbourne's Professor James McCaw saying a trip to Chadstone was potentially as dangerous as going to the football.
Professor McCaw said shopping centres should not be places where people socialise. "We need to encourage people to purchase their goods and leave," he said.
The Premier promised "significant" steps on Sunday but insisted he and his health advisers would be making "conservative" choices.
"The strategy is working – the strategy is absolutely working," Mr Andrews said.
The decision-making process is expected to go well into Saturday night to take advantage of the most accurate data and Mr Andrews said the changes that will be announced on Sunday would be in the "low-risk category".
The restrictions to be eased are expected to be those on outdoor social and family gatherings with the public health team also looking closely at the controversial five-kilometre travel limit and whether it can be safely lifted to 20 kilometres.
On Thursday, Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said detailed modelling was considering a host of factors including the five-kilometre limit.
Professor McCaw said that going out to a larger radius would be "sensible" but warned of "potentially seeding the virus into non-metro areas."
Fresh figures on the "ring of steel" around metro Melbourne, which has been criticised as lax, show that nearly 1.9 million vehicles had been stopped at the boundary with 1755 fines handed out and 155 drivers warned.
Mr Andrews said the government would be placing greater weight on the number of "mystery cases" – COVID diagnoses where the source could not be found – than on the raw daily numbers.
The state’s latest fortnightly tally of mystery cases stands at 17, up from 15 on Thursday, and although there have been none recorded since Monday, the Premier said those numbers remained a concern. The states 14-day average of new cases stands at 9.3.
Hopes were rising on Friday that Shepparton, where three COVID cases linked to the Chadstone-Frankston-Kilmore cluster were reported on Tuesday, might avoid a significant outbreak after nearly 2000 tests were processed without a positive result.
The Prime Minister used a press briefing on Friday to again put the heat on Mr Andrews to go "as far as possible" on Sunday.
Mr Morrison said Melburnians "have kept up their side of the bargain" by abiding by strict lockdown measures and had suffered as a result.
"Some 70,000 jobs have been lost in Victoria over the last two months. The impact on the mental health and anxiety of Melburnians, and Victorians more broadly, has been significant," he said.
State Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien backed his federal counterpart, saying Victoria would be looking to the Premier for a clear plan out of lockdown.
"We've had some of the harshest lockdowns in the world for so many months, and it's time now to let us live again safely." Mr O'Brien said.
Michael O'Brien in Parliament on Tuesday.Credit:Jason South
There was better news on the technological front with Mr Andrews saying QR codes, which can be scanned by the mobile phones of pub or restaurants patrons as they enter a venue, would become an increasingly important tool for contact tracers as Melbourne opens.
“The QR platform will be tested, will be effective, and will simply be an electronic way of recording who is where, who goes to a venue. That will be very important," the Premier said.
Businesses are using QR technology throughout Greater Geelong, which includes the Bellarine Peninsula and in Ballarat and Bendigo.
David Gandolfo of the Council of Small Business of Australia said Victoria's second wave had not been caused by retailers or small business and pleaded for the the sector to be given some certainty.
Mr Gandolfo said small business people needed time to buy stock to work out rosters and staff.
"People need a plan," he said.
“If that isn’t the case on Sunday, particularly with the numbers having been so good and the effort that people have put in, then I think people’s spirit will be broken.”
Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra said the retail and hospitality sectors wanted and expected good news on Sunday, saying a failure to provide at least a clear pathway out of closure would be disastrous.
“Business needs certainty and particularly, retail and hospitality need a line of sight to have a really strong Christmas trading period," Mr Guerra said.
"We’ll be really concerned if that line of sight isn’t there because we know that will be disastrous news for business owners, mum and dad retailers, mum and dad hospitality operators.”
With Liam Mannix and Tom Cowie
Noel Towell is State Political Editor for The Age
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMigAFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL2Etd2Vlay1zLXdhaXQtaW4tc3RvcmUtYmVmb3JlLXJldGFpbC1hbmQtcmVzdGF1cmFudHMtY2FuLXJlb3Blbi0yMDIwMTAxNi1wNTY1dXcuaHRtbNIBgAFodHRwczovL2FtcC50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL2Etd2Vlay1zLXdhaXQtaW4tc3RvcmUtYmVmb3JlLXJldGFpbC1hbmQtcmVzdGF1cmFudHMtY2FuLXJlb3Blbi0yMDIwMTAxNi1wNTY1dXcuaHRtbA?oc=5
2020-10-16 08:16:00Z
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