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Victoria has recorded no new local coronavirus cases, ahead of Friday morning’s national cabinet meeting that will consider a push from some states to slash international arrivals.
Victoria recorded three new coronavirus cases in its hotel quarantine in 24 hours to midnight on Thursday.
Nearly 19,500 people received their vaccine doses in the past 24 hours, and more than 24,700 COVID-19 test results were processed.
Mr Andrews said on Thursday he wanted to see a “very significant reduction” in the number of people coming back to Victoria and Australia, and arrivals could be cut by up to 80 per cent for three to four months, until more people are vaccinated.
Mr Andrews said the country still had very few instruments to manage outbreaks outside of lockdowns, including inadequate quarantine hotels that had been built for tourists, not infection control.
He said it would be “desperately sad” to have to reject some Australians trying to come home for compassionate reasons, but if they did come home, a coronavirus outbreak was much more likely, as were lockdowns.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will take his plan to slash overseas arrivals to national cabinet on Friday morning. Credit:Getty
“The greatest good for the greatest number, and that’s exactly what we’ll do,” Mr Andrews said.
Mr Andrews’ plan to restrict arrivals for three to four months will be supported by the Queensland and Western Australian premiers when national cabinet meets at 9am on Friday.
Experts say we can do better
The push to cut international arrivals has attracted criticism with some saying it shows he has given up on the hotel quarantine system and on Australians stranded overseas.
Public health expert Maximilian de Courten said governments were using blunt instruments almost 18 months into the pandemic.
“It’s quite depressing that after all this time we don’t have a better plan than [cutting flights] after new cases emerge,” said Professor de Courten, director of Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute.
“It’s displaying again that we react to COVID rather than deal with risk proactively with a solid long-term plan. Locking down the country and not allowing people in is an extreme approach to safety.”
Burnet Institute epidemiologist Mike Toole said the Premier’s call for a cut of up to 80 per cent was dramatic and amounted to “putting our hands up and giving up” on making hotel quarantine safe.
He has calculated there to have been 23 hotel quarantine leaks since November – approximately one every 10 days.
“We owe it to Australian citizens to have them back, and we can do better in hotel quarantine,” he said.
Professor Toole said some states had not done enough work to improve ventilation in their hotels and reduce the risk of airborne transmission.
Travel changes for Victorians entering from NSW
There are no longer any “green zones” left in NSW, after Victorian authorities at 6am on Thursday made all those remaining orange under the state’s traffic light travel system.
This means Melburnians and regional Victorians who aren’t from a border community won’t be able to re-enter Victoria from the NSW side of the border unless they obtain a permit, agree to isolate upon arrival and get a COVID-19 test within 72 hours.
Previously, Melburnians were able to travel freely to and from the NSW side of the border (for example, to Albury) but not any further into NSW due to the state’s COVID-19 outbreak.
The Department of Health says it’s made this change “out of an abundance of caution”.
More to come
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