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The number of suspected community transmissions of coronavirus has nearly doubled in Victoria, as the City of Stonnington emerges as the state's most serious hotspot.
Key points:
- Victoria's confirmed coronavirus cases have risen by 54 across the state to a total of 574
- The number of suspected community transmissions has risen from nine to 16
- The City of Stonnington in Melbourne's south-east has the most cases with 58
The State Government this morning reported the number of cases had risen by 54 across the state to a total of 574, with the number of suspected community transmissions rising from nine to 16.
The death toll remained at three.
After a National Cabinet meeting this morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that from midnight on Saturday, all passengers who arrived in Australia would go into mandatory quarantine in hotels.
Concerns had been raised about some people not following self-isolation requirements, particularly after getting off cruise ships.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said 5,000 rooms would be made available in Victoria for people returning from overseas.
"They will be housed, they will be fed, they will be transported. There will be no cost to them," he said.
"This is the best way to ensure absolute compliance."
Monitoring would carried out by Victoria Police, health authorities and the Australian Defence Force, the Premier said.
If I have to close the beaches, I will: Premier
Premier Andrews called on all Victorians to avoid unnecessary social contact and stay home, and warned he would extend shutdown measures if necessary.
"No one should be at the beach, and if I have to take action to prevent people from going to the beach, I will. I hope it doesn't get to that," he said.
"If you choose to be at the beach that is a choice that may cost someone their life."
At a press conference today, Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy emphasised that the rate of community transmission was the "single most important" measure of the pandemic's spread.
"We're not kidding ourselves — if community transmission becomes significant, that is the real serious concern," he said.
Earlier this month, the state's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said he would be closely following the spread of "community transmissions" to decide what social-distancing measures were required.
Community transmissions are when people contract the virus, but health authorities are unable to trace the spread of the disease back to someone who has arrived in Australia from overseas.
"When we see a lot of community transmission, maybe the majority of cases are community transmission, that is a real time to reflect on the fact that your identification, isolation and quarantining measures are not going to hold it," he said earlier this month.
Professor Sutton, who has been an advocate for tougher interventions in response to the pandemic, said that would be a sign of an uptick of an epidemic curve and social distancing would become the critical measure to limit the spread of the disease.
Unions, business chamber call for wage subsidies
The Victorian Trades Hall Council and the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry today issued a joint call for the Federal Government to subsidise workers' wages.
Luke Hilakari, secretary of Victorian Trades Hall Council, said the current situation was untenable.
"The welfare system is ill-equipped to deal with what's going on right now. What we're calling for is an 80 per cent wage subsidy, just like Boris Johnson announced in the UK," he said.
Give socialites 'benefit of the doubt'
Mayor of Stonnington Steve Stefanopoulos told ABC Radio Melbourne he was surprised by the figures that showed his city had 58 cases and called on all Australians to "just stay home".
Responding to newspaper reports that a cluster of cases had been infected during a social event in Toorak, Cr Stefanopoulos said those responsible should be the "given benefit of the doubt".
"Maybe they didn't know they were infected at the time [and we should give them] the benefit of the doubt," he said.
"But now that we all know this is happening, we need to stay at home and not have these dinner parties and gatherings and [maintain] that social distancing."
Cr Stefanopoulos said he was shocked that some people were still behaving as if there was no pandemic.
"The city is much quieter but people are still shopping in high streets," he said.
"Not just grocery shopping, which is fine, but actually strolling the streets as if nothing was happening.
"Go home, stay home and look after your families."
Cr Stefanopoulos said the city council had closed its public facilities and offered use of the Prahran Town Hall to the Alfred Hospital and Star Health for use as a testing facility.
"It's there for them to use whenever they like," he said.
Historic site closures extend
More of Victoria's major historical sites have been closed to comply with restrictions on public gatherings.
Sites including Point Nepean, Werribee Mansion, Buchan Caves and the Mount Buffalo Chalet were closed today until further notice.
Parks Victoria CEO Matthew Jackson said the closures were made at the advice of Victoria's Chief Health Officer and were in place to "protect visitors, volunteers, customers and our staff".
The move follows last week's closure of the Twelve Apostles, the penguin viewing platform at St Kilda Pier and several other popular sites due to coronavirus.
Topics: covid-19, diseases-and-disorders, health, infectious-diseases-other, respiratory-diseases, government-and-politics, state-parliament, melbourne-3000, vic, australia, mildura-3500, horsham-3400, warrnambool-3280, bendigo-3550, ballarat-3350, sale-3850, shepparton-3630
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