Premier Daniel Andrews has announced Victoria will enter a five-day state-wide lockdown from midnight on Thursday night until 11:59pm on the following Tuesday night. The bigger question of course will be whether we ever need to rely on hotel quarantine again or whether we have learned the more important lesson about how unsuitable hotels are for containing infectious diseases. Register, Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout. Mr Byrne said a "shadow lockdown" was a fair description for the situation. Dj vu! We paid the price [of lockdown], we bought the government time to build capacity in our health services. The anxiety of past outbreaks has been replaced with anger at state and federal governments, and a growing sense of despair that the pandemic will not end, at least not any time soon. Are we set to have a third lockdown for 2021. The chamber is calling on federal and state governments to offer free RATs to small and medium-sized businesses, and suggestinga one-off payment equivalent to three weeks of support under the joint business packages released during previous lockdowns. worldwide to bring our readers ways to connect with their cities and support urban culture without leaving home. Were very keen to make sure we get a very firm grip of this as soon as we possibly can, Mr Weimar said. The Ukraine war may be a battle for the global order but whose rules are we fighting for? Couples who don't live together are permitted to visit in Victoria. "It is very difficult to compare apples and oranges given the Delta strain and along the lockdown period in Victoria. The first Covid-19 vaccine doses are administered in Australia. It's usual to see a lull in public transport use over the summer holidays, and network and road upgrades have caused disruption to some services. Premier Peter Gutwein said with a highly vaccinated population Tasmania would not be heading into lockdown or closing its borders because of the climbing case numbers. are permitted to leave the ship in Sydney without being tested for Covid-19. SBS reporter asked Ms Berejiklian if she was seeking advice from the Victorian government given they are the only other state that have dealt with an outbreak of this size, which they supressed with hard lockdown rules. Face masks are mandatory in all indoor settings in Victoria, except private homes,for anyone aged eight or over. A man who had flown from Guandong, China, to Melbourne on January 19, 2020, tests positive for Covid-19, becoming Australias first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus. Inside Prince Harry's finances from when he met Meghan Markle to landing 100M with Netflix and book Spare Do not sell or share my personal information. Until today I had not thought that that was a serious option, now Im reconsidering. Victoria enters its fifth lockdown . Four of the new cases were recorded on level three of Ariele apartments in Maribyrnong where the removalists stopped. The rules have been introduced to curtail the tens of thousands of cases reported each day, as the virus spreads like wildfire in the community. These include the reasons listed in Victoria, in addition to things like attending weddings or funerals. Here we are in early January 2022 and its a wet day today (Sunday) in Melbourne, even though its summer. So which ones are best? Check your spam folder for our confirmation email! But as a wave of Omicron infections wreaks havoc across workplaces and the healthcare system, data suggests Victorians are voting with their feet and staying close to home. A further two cases were family members of Ariele apartments residents and one case was believed to have been infected at Coles in Craigieburn where a family returning from a red zone were not isolating. for coronavirus. How did it come to this? Mr Merlino said Victorians should also now work from home if they can and urged hospitality venues to switch to a seated-only service to reduce transmission. decided it didn't want to go into . She still cant smell or taste anything and several of her friends remain unwell. More than two years old, we've passed another grim milestone: 10,000 people have now died of Covid-19 in Australia. Many like Cooper have gone into self-isolation to protect themselves or a vulnerable loved one. We need to get that down to is close to zero as possible," she said. Ashleigh Cooper has spent the new year indoors. The government has barely introduced major restrictions since then, apart from the closure of dancefloors and light indoor density limits. National Cabinet agrees that the states will close: Melbourne distiller Gypsy Hub is the first (that we know of) to pivot to making hand sanitiser. The Victorian government cancels the F1 Grand Prix, hours before the event. When asked about that decision today, Mr Foley said "most of those recommendations" were turned into orders, such as the rules around face masks. The areas of concern are Fairfield local government area, Roselands, Rosebury, Canterbury, Belmore, Sutherland shire, the St George area, Windsor, St Ives, Penrith and Bayside local government area," she said. . Martin Radzaj says he has found the start of 2022 to be the most difficult time in the pandemic because of the utter confusion about what we should be doing. I would not be fine I had my booster shot last week and was severely unwell for five days. We just need the governments to come together and we need assistance at this time, otherwise all the money thats been given to them in the past 22 months would have been wasted, Chapel St Precinct general manager Chrissie Maud said. one of the longest aggregate periods of strict lockdown, outbreaks that devastated the aged-care sector, Multilingual Australia is missing out on vital COVID-19 information. Lockdown measures ease in regional Victoria but remain in metropolitan Melbourne. "The number that would worry us in the last 24 hours is the 24 number. Professor Cowie said in light of that, it was time to recognise that positive rapid antigen tests had "the same authority as a PCR test". I'm a vet, and here are five dog breeds most prone to cancer - including Golden Retrievers and Rottweilers, Prince Andrew chuckles as he encounters female jogger on way to his weekly Windsor horse-riding trip. NSW records extraordinary 5,715 new cases two days before Queensland Covid cases double AGAIN to 369 as Annastacia Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Incredible footage of Ukrainian soldiers fighting Russians in Bakhmut, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' And the Omicron variant, which has ripped through the country since December, appears to result in a less severe illness, in most cases, than previous variants of Covid-19. "But generally, for that ordinary day-to-day travel, be that to a workplace or to a friend's house or family, that travel is no longer happening. These key charts will show if thats happening, NSW Covid update: health officials increasingly confident cases will plateau next week, Unions say exemption to allow Covid-positive people to work at SA meatworks sets dangerous precedent, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Mr Southwick called for the government to extend the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme for a further three months, to help thousands of small businesses avoid rent increases. One of the things that makes Victoria so vibrant is its a melting pot of cultures. With daily case numbers in the tens of thousands, NSW health officialsand Victorian authorities are cautiously optimistic that the state has passed the peak of the current Omicron outbreak. NSW cases rise to 20,794 and Victoria jumps to 8,577 but PM vows Australia will NEVER go back into lockdown because infection numbers 'DON'T matter and Omicron can be managed like the flu' log in. Victoria goes into lockdown for the sixth time. Victoria recorded eight new cases on Wednesday, including seven linked to the removalists and a family from a red zone who should have been isolating for 14 days. "Now with further information and further data available to us and after consultation with a wide range of groups I've made this decision thinking it to be an appropriate, necessary and proportionate balancing of competing demands.". Test yourself with this Cockney Rhyming Slang quiz. Worried. A scuffed copy of the Koran. If the measure of success in responding to the pandemic is the amount of disease prevented and lives saved, Australia will undoubtedly be held up globally as an exemplar of best practice. Restrictions were the same as Melbourne, but . It will also be mandatory to report the positive RAT result to the Department of Health through an online form or by phone, in areporting system the government said would go live on Friday. "We're still doing things like we're going to the park, we're going to the beach on hot days, you can see that very clearly," he said. The NSW government cancels all major events of more than 500 people. Sydney temporarily reintroduces mask-wearing and imposes limits on visitors to the home. Victorians are anxiously waiting to see if they will be plunged into yet another lockdown, as the state government weighs fresh restrictions amid a worrying rise in Covid-19 cases brought in from NSW. Ms Berejiklian said the impact of some of the more recent changes wouldn't be known for at least a few more days. "The reason why we want to provide that 2-week period at least is so that parents who are teaching children or supervising children from home know that unfortunately for an additional two weeks at least their children will need to learn from home.". Don't have an account? We are waving, we have our hand up and it is code red in the small and medium business sector. The Premier said it isn't "fair" to compare the two. The Premier on Thursday said he was listening to struggling sectors and didnt rule out providing future support. NSW recorded 97 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. The WORST care homes in England: Interactive map reveals the lowest-rated 2,530 residences - so is there one Do YOU know your Adam and Eve from your Ruby Murray? Welcome to the Coronation! Phoebe says her social circle has split in two: those who have had Covid and are now feeling invulnerable for 30 days despite warnings that earlier reinfection is possible and those who are curbing social activities to try to avoid it. Covid-19 case numbers are on the increase across the state with 2,005 new infections and ten deaths reported on Thursday. Regardless of your political stripes, or whether you felt all of the calls Victorian health authorities made were always the right ones, no one can doubt the commitment of the government and health authorities to get Victoria through the pandemic, and to communicate with Victorians. Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews has issued an ominous warning as the southern state prepares to come out of lockdown. He said the size of the fallcould not be fully accounted for by the hundreds of thousands of Victorians isolating as cases or close contacts. There are confirmed positive cases on board at the time, and 130 people test positive within a week. 'We are not considering going into lockdown and this is the commitment that we gave to the people of Victoria,' Deputy Premier James Merlino said, Beachgoers in St Kilda in Melbourne. It has fully vaccinated over 92% of those aged 12 and above at the time of writing. Hannah*, a vision-impaired support worker in Melbourne, says the 2021 lockdowns left her feeling emptied out. They may also have more extensive family and community networks that arent in the minds of health officials when laying down a one-size-fits-all set of rules. A new 'veloway' is welcome news for Melbourne's cyclists. Mr Merlino's NSW counterpartDominic Perrottet has refused to bring back a sweeping indoor mask mandate - despite many health experts recommending residents continue wearing the face coverings indoors. Many others say they have chosen to go back into something resembling lockdown until their children can be vaccinated or until the outbreak peaks. PCR tests, which are carried out through testing sites, will be discouraged for those with symptoms and for contacts. Melbourne has endured the world's longest cumulative time in lockdown, . CTRL + SPACE for auto-complete. Cooper is disabled and immunocompromised. "I think they are a 2020/2021 iteration," he said. "It is important for us to assess all the advice we have which will be based on data and that will take us the next two weeks to make that assessment," she said. There are more women with the virus who are having babies, but unlike 2021 they are not gasping for breath, she says. Mr Foley said "such high levels of transmission" meant Victorians had to "coexist" with the virus. Everyone is trying (and failing) to make sourdough. Catherine Bennett receives funding from the Medical Research Future Fund. A Victorian-based consultant told Guardian Australia they were still receiving commercial rent relief until this week. 'Think of Christmas Day when you're going to see elderly relatives, and wear a mask it's pretty simple.'. There are many venues who have given feedback that they are not at 100 per-cent capacity and havent been for quite some time, he said. "Feeling tense. Face masks are required at all major events with more than 30,000 people. National cabinet encourages wearing masks to combat COVID-19. Nationwide News Pty Ltd 2023. Over at worldometers we find some different numbers: The question is what has changed in the past few weeks to have led to this large increase in cases? These were exposed in all their awfulness during the pandemic. Victoria goes into lockdown for the third time. There are 398 Victorians receiving care in hospital with 72 in intensive care, a small increase from 394 in hospital and 70 in ICU on Wednesday. What does is Victorians got vaccinated at a rate that surpassed all expectations. Hard to see how Vic doesnt end up in Lockdown no. An announcement is reportedly expected as early as tomorrow.