The Victorian government will scrap its daily Covid press conferences after 160 consecutive appearances. In his final time fronting the media for a daily update, Covid commander Jeroen Weimar confirmed 92.3 per cent of Victorians aged over 16 had now received one dose of a Covid vaccine, while 79.1 per cent were fully vaccinated.Victoria recorded a further 1355 new local infections on Saturday, which is one of the lowest daily case figures reported in October.Mr Weimar said the virus overwhelmingly continued to target the unvaccinated population.There are currently 747 Victorians in hospital with the virus. 135 are in ICU and 83 are on a ventilator.Eleven more Victorians – aged between 65 and 85 – died with the virus in the past 24 hours.Mr Weimar said as the state opened up and people moved around, it was anticipated that cases would continue to be detected all over the state.It comes as regional Victoria recorded an upswing in cases, with 280 new infections.“Getting tested is going to be important (going forward),” he said.Eleven new cases were detected in the Albury and Wodonga area, with just under 300 active cases now confirmed on the Victorian side of the border.Mr Weimar said the Victorian health department were working alongside NSW Health, particularly on a local school response, to bring the border town outbreak under control.Ten cases were detected in Swan Hill, which now has 60 active cases. Mr Weimar said that the mini outbreak was linked to a cluster in Mildura.Mr Weimar said Victorians couldn’t afford to let their guards down just because vaccination numbers had increased and restrictions had eased.He urged anyone displaying even minor symptoms to immediately get tested.“The job’s not done yet, we have to push on,” he said.Mr Weimar said some vaccination clinics were embracing a Halloween-style theme over the weekend.“If you’ve been too much of a scaredy-cat to get vaccinated, head down to a vaccination clinic now. Grab a dose of pumpkin, do whatever you need to do, but just get vaccinated,” he said.From Monday, rapid antigen test kits will be sold in major supermarkets.“They’re all additional things that you can do to protect yourself,” he said. “Stick them in your draw at home … Stick them in your glovebox.”Mr Weimar said any positive rapid test must be backed up with a standard PCR test.SUTTON WON’T MISS DAILY UPDATESVictoria’s top health bureaucrats will no longer front the media on a daily occurrence, however will continue to be brought out on special occasions or on big Covid news days.Chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton said he was looking forward to taking a backwards step. But he said there was “a lot” of public health matters that still required his attention. “I hate to say it, I’m not going to miss you all,” he told media on Friday. Covid commander Jeroen Weimar said on Saturday: “The media aspect of my role is a small fragment of what I do”.Mr Weimar said he would continue to log on at 8.15am every Saturday morning to work out daily priorities with his team.Mr Weimar said Victoria could finally start to look towards connecting with NSW, and the rest of the world again.“For thousands of Victorians this has been a really hard pandemic,” he added.“The hard work continues. I don’t think anybody needs me to stand up every day and push that message. “There’s a long way to go before we start getting sustained freedoms.”The state government will continue to put out politicians for daily press conferences to spruik projects and funding announcements. MELBOURNE READY TO RECLAIM EVENTS CAPITAL TITLE Melbourne is finally ready to reclaim its crown as Australia’s major event capital with Derby Day races and a live concert featuring some of Victoria’s biggest music acts. A crowd of 5500 will help kickstart the Melbourne Cup Carnival in style at Flemington, recharging the state’s sporting calendar before up to 10,000 spectators celebrate the first Tuesday in November.And — in a win for sports fans — more general admission tickets to the Melbourne Cup are set to be released to the general public.The city’s much loved music scene will also roar back to life, with about 4000 people packing the Sidney Myer Music for the “Play On Victoria’’ concert on Saturday night.Show-starved music fans will rock out to the likes of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and Baker Boy at the Covid-safe event, with only double vaccinated patrons allowed at the races and concert.Major Events Minister Martin Pakula said it was the start of Melbourne returning to its marvellous self, thanks to Victorians rolling up their sleeves.“With crowds at Flemington, music lovers at the Bowl and gigs around the state, it really shows the buzz is back,’’ he said.“These events are a great way to kick things off; it’s what we’re known for and what we do best.”VICTORIA’S MAJOR EVENTSVictoria Racing Club chief executive Steve Rosich said welcoming spectators back to Flemington was significant after last year’s Cup Carnival was staged before empty stands.“Sport is about bringing people together and racing, particularly at Flemington, people are at its centre,’’ he said.“We would normally host up to 100,000 patrons for each of the four days of the Melbourne Cup Carnival and it will be a lot less in number this year, although we are privileged to host any given the circumstances we’ve been through.’’Just 500 tickets were made available to the public to each day of the Carnival but with VRC members still to snap up all seats, Mr Rosich revealed an extra batch would go on general admission sale.“The areas that sit outside the traditional VRC member spaces, which we are referring this to in this Carnival plan as the pink and green zones, there are tickets that can be snapped up by the general public,’’ he said.At 3pm on Friday, up to 600 Derby Day tickets were available, as well as up to 1500 Melbourne Cup seats.Melbourne’s wacky weather will play its part in proceedings, with showers and a top temperature of 17 forecast for Saturday. But a sunny 29C has been forecast for Cup Day.NED-4409-How-to-get-proof-of-vaccinationNED-3589-Vaccine-Passports-graphicVictorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra said the return of major events would boost the economy.“What better way to celebrate hitting Victoria’s 80 per cent double-vaccination target than going from retail and hospitality’s champagne Friday opening straight into the first day of the Flemington Spring Racing Carnival’s Derby Day on Saturday?’’ he said. “Not even Melbourne’s inclement weather will be able to dampen the spirits of racegoers finally celebrating our famous Spring Carnival in front of crowds.’’Mushroom Group chief executive Matt Gudinski said the Music Bowl concert was “an important step in getting large scale music live events back up and running in Victoria – the music capital of Australia.”With additional freedoms to be announced once Victoria reaches 90 per cent double vaccination rates next month, even more Melburnians will flock to sport, music and eventsThe Melbourne Marathon was on Friday locked in to return on December 11 and 12, bringing the largest running event Australia has seen since the start of the pandemic back to city streets.SHOPPERS FLOOD CHADSTONE AS NORMALITY RETURNSA sense of normality returned to Melbourne on Friday night as shoppers wandered around Chadstone browsing clothes and searching for early Christmas presents.While Covid marshals flanked each shop entrance to check customer’s QR codes, the atmosphere was relaxed with no disturbances seen by the Herald Sun.Target customer Kristie said she came in on the first day of trading because she was sick of purchasing online.The young mum wasn’t worried some of her fellow shoppers were unvaccinated.“I’m double vaxxed and I’m wearing a mask. It’s time we returned to a normal life,” she said.Hundreds of people descended on Kmart at Chadstone Shopping Centre and Bourke St Mall ahead of 6pm Friday.In a matter of minutes shoppers were swiping credit cards, while in David Jones many made their way to the beauty and accessories department, stocking up on products they’ve missed during lockdown.As the clock ticked over to 6pm, the first customers at Chadstone were welcomed in and were met with applause and cheering.By 7pm, traffic outside Australia’s largest shopping centre was brought to a standstill as carparks reached capacity.Security guards directed the steady stream of cars to overflow parking areas.Melbourne’s weather made a turn for the better with shoppers, many maskless, making the most of the sunshine sitting on steps and benches outside.READ THE FULL ARTICLE
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