With thousands of Victorians still in isolation as close contacts, and given the serious situation in New South Wales, the Victorian government is likely to take a cautious approach to easing out of lockdown at 11:59PM.
Key points:
- Victoria's on track for an easing of restrictions but masks and the closure of border with NSW will stay
- Health officials are dealing with thousands of primary close contacts and 179 active cases of COVID-19
- Martin Foley says all of those issues present challenges for managing the path out of the lockdown
Final decisions on eased rules will be made on Tuesday morning ahead of a lunchtime announcement, but senior figures say schools are set to reopen.
One option canvassed is to stagger the return of students.
It will be a conservative easing of restrictions given the rapid spread of the Delta variant, but it is expected hospitality will be allowed to reopen with strict density rules, which may be too difficult for some businesses.
Masks will remain mandatory indoors and outdoors, and visitors to the home will remain off-limits, senior sources say.
Authorities and Cabinet will meet again on Tuesday morning to finalise the rules, which are expected to be uniform across all of Victoria.
Different set of factors at play
Health Minister Martin Foley said there were a different set of factors at play coming out of lockdown this time.
They include the threat posed by the crisis in New South Wales, the more than 20,000 close contacts in the community and more than 350 exposure sites.
He said all of those factors came together in a particular way to pose "real challenges" for a careful stepped process out of these restrictions.
The signs are good but this outbreak is far from over.
Two things that won't change are masks and the hard border with New South Wales.
Lots of close contacts to manage
Health officials have a lot on their plates.
They're handling the 179 active cases of COVID-19 — the largest number of cases in the community since September of last year.
There are also more than 21,000 primary close contacts and 18,000 secondary close contacts.
"That's a significant number of people you've got to support," Victoria's COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said.
All of those in isolation have to undergo a day-13 test before being released from isolation — but it's not as easy as getting a negative result.
Each individual needs to be personally cleared by an authorised officer.
Health department official Kate Maton said 6,000 people have already been cleared in recent days and they're working to release thousands more over a short period of time.
And there may be delays, she said.
“We won’t take risks with this process,” she said.
"We'll make sure we clear people in a safe and risk-free manner."
Mr Weimar said it was one thing to get the new cases under control but there was more work to be done, which will take another 10 days.
ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: Jennifer Douglas
)The threat from NSW looms large
The current outbreak can be traced back to what government officials call two "incursions" from New South Wales, including a crew of removalists and a returned traveller.
The threat from NSW is another factor weighing heavily on the minds of public health officials in making a decision about restrictions.
“We know things are still very serious north of the Murray and are likely to stay serious for a significant period of time. That is also different to the last time," Mr Foley said.
ABC News: John Gunn
)New South Wales recorded 145 new cases on Monday, with 51 people in the community while infectious.
On Saturday, Victoria toughened up it's border with NSW by upgrading the state's travel permit system to include extreme risk zones.
It means those entering Victoria under that classification without an exemption will be sent back or placed into 14 days of mandatory hotel quarantine.
Case numbers
As recently as last week, the Chief Health Officer said he was hoping case numbers would be in single digits when restrictions were eased.
But the numbers haven't fallen quite that far.
"When you reflect where we've been … 22 cases over two days is a significant figure," Mr Foley said.
"It's not a risk we take lightly."
ABC News: Patrick Rocca
)But health officials take "some comfort" in the fact that all cases during the past two days had been in isolation while infectious.
Mr Foley said health officials remained concerned about the possibility of new cases emerging from anti-lockdown protests at the weekend.
Thousands of people were out on the streets of Melbourne on Sunday.
Mr Foley admitted there were concerns.
"That is one of the elements the public health team will take into account," he said.
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2021-07-26 14:04:16Z
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