Abbotford’s Bodriggy brewery, the Keysborough Sikh temple and the Ikea restaurant in Springvale are among the sites now subject to 14-day quarantine orders.This means anyone who was at those veues during the exposure timeframe must be tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from the exposure period.Springvale Shopping Centre has also been added to the list of exposure sites after a positive case shopped at the mall on December 29. Anyone who attended the shopping centre between 11am and 12.30pm that day must get tested and isolate themselves immediately until they return a negative result. More than 1000 primary and secondary contacts are self-isolating in Victoria.Ms Neville acknowledged that delays remained at many testing sites across the state, but wait times were now averaging 60 to 90 minutes.Concerns have also been raised after eight of around 1000 flight crew who entered Vitoria in the past fortnight tested positive to coronavirus.Meanwhile, NSW has recorded four new locally acquired cases, plus another recorded after 8pm Monday.
Melbourne’s new high-risk locations
WHY AUSTRALIA ISN’T RUSHING COVID VACCINEAustralia can “afford to wait” and properly test the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, one of Victoria’s top health experts says.It comes as paperwork hold-ups jeopardise the federal government’s intended March rollout of coronavirus jabs.Deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng said safety and effectiveness tests are key factors being considered before the rollout of the vaccine in Australia, despite it being available in other countries.
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VICTORIA DEMANDS PLAN TO HALT UK SUPER-VIRUSVictoria is calling for an urgent meeting of National Cabinet over the threat of the UK’s super COVID-19 strain, amid fears the mutant bug could devastate Australia.The variant of the coronavirus, described by a senior state government source as “radioactive, toxic material, wildly infectious” is up to 50 per cent more infectious the type which caused Victoria’s second wave.It can also be revealed that the government wants an urgent National Cabinet meeting to again push for pre-flight testing of anyone travelling from the UK.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced England will enter a national lockdown – reinstating stay at home orders – from tomorrow in a desperate bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
It is understood there are also concerns that other states’ hotel quarantine testing regimes are not as rigorous as in Victoria, which screens every staff member daily and families weekly.Meanwhile, England has entered a third national lockdown to stop the spread of the new variant.Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the announcement during a live televised address to the nation just after 7am AEDT.He ordered the nation to stay at home until mid-February to try and save Britain’s National Health Service from being further inundated with COVID cases.
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STRANDED VICTORIANS FACE WEEKS-LONG WAIT Thousands of Victorians stranded in NSW have made a desperate plea to come home, as some wait weeks to have their applications assessed.Almost 300 applications have now been accepted to cross the closed border, and more than 2000 applications are still being processed.Of the 293 accepted applications, 139 were approved while 153 did not need formal approval because they were either essential workers or had existing transit permits.Priority is being given to those with emergency or compassionate grounds, meaning others have been pushed to the back of the queue despite applying before Christmas.In one case, a family was forced to postpone their move to Melbourne as they await the verdict on their application.The family applied for an exemption when restrictions were first announced and limited to the greater Sydney area but are still waiting for the application to be assessed.
“Ever since then I’ve called every day only to be told there is nothing that can be done,” the father, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Herald Sun.“My pets are now in Victoria and my belongings are on the way, my children are supposed to start school at the end of the month and we have no idea what to do,” he said.“I have people moving into my house in Sydney, so we’re effectively homeless.“It’s an utter debacle. They clearly have no capability to manage the rules they put in place.”The man said unlike many holiday-makers who ignored advice about going to Sydney, his family’s moving plans had been a year in the making.Acting Premier Jacinta Allan said extra staff would be employed to fast track the process. “There are additional resources being pushed out on the team that is examining each and every one of these applications,” she said.“You can understand that the detail has to be examined about what’s on the application.“Each case is being case managed with individual attention, that takes a bit of time to work through.“It’s also important to note that there are immediate exemptions for people facing medical emergencies.”
She would not be drawn on a potential threshold for easing the border restrictions.Ms Allan said Victoria first needed to get back to consecutive days without local transmissions.“It is also not just dependent on the cases here in Victoria, it does depend on what’s happening in other states,” she said. “There is a reason to be optimistic, but we do have to be cautious in our optimism … this is a dangerous and difficult virus, and it can move very, very quickly.”Federal MP for Gippsland Darren Chester urged state authorities to show compassion and help Victorians stuck in NSW get home.The Nationals MP on Monday said the “chaotic” snap border closure on January 1 should not have occurred.“If I had my way those border closures would not have happened, but I can’t make premiers do something they don’t want to do,” he said.“I’d be urging Victorian health authorities to show some compassion here to work with these people who did nothing wrong.“Don’t blame them for going on a holiday when they’ve been locked up for months … you find a way to get them home.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was hopeful Victorians stranded behind the locked NSW border would find a way home soon.Mr Morrison revealed he had spoken on Monday night with Premier Daniel Andrews about the border situation.“We will see if we can get a better pathway home for Victorians as soon as possible,” he told 3AW.He said both NSW and Victoria had shown success in containing the latest outbreaks.“What we have seen in relation to both of these outbreaks … they are getting on top of this the system is working.“That should hopefully mean that we can restore settings to where they were before the outbreak as soon as possible.”Mr Morrison also defended Mr Andrews for remaining on leave during the latest outbreak, saying he knew the Premier was “close to what is going on” and focusing on the issues.
FAMILY STUCK AFTER STUMBLING ACROSS BORDERA Melbourne family stranded in NSW after mistakenly crossing the border while enjoying a day trip on the Murray River is desperate to get home.The family of 13, who had travelled to Echuca in three cars, were looking for a cafe when they unknowingly crossed a bridge into NSW last Saturday afternoon.“We were looking for a place to have lunch and then we just Googled the place … and followed the GPS,” father-of-two Dharmsh Patel said. “The police stopped us there; they said ‘no, no, you can’t go back to Victoria,” he said. “By mistake we didn’t know that we are in NSW.”
Mr Patel, who was with extended family as well as his wife Purvi and their daughter Swara, 16, and son Manav, 12, said there was “no warning” sign about the border closure when they drove across the Echuca-Moama bridge.He pleaded with officers that they “did not realise we made a mistake” and were only visiting the area including having boarded the popular paddle-steamer earlier in the day but “they didn’t want to listen”.“(Police) said ‘no, no, you’re coming from New South Wales so you can’t enter into Victoria because your address is in Melbourne’.”The family of Heatherton, in Melbourne’s southeast, successfully applied for a permit but were again turned away by officers who said it had expired. By this stage, Mr Patel said: “The kids were crying, everyone was exhausted.”The whole family have been staying in rooms at the Riverpark Motel in Moama with no spare clothes until they ordered more online.
Feeling for their dilemma, the hotel’s manager Michael Aquino kindly offered to reduce their stay by up to $65 per night. Mr Aquino also provided the family with bread, coffee, cereal milk and other essentials. “We do everything possible to make it more pleasant,” Mr Aquino said.“They came in here about nine o’clock. We were already closed so (they) said ‘we’ve got nowhere to go.’ And I said ‘look, come in we’ve got rooms available’.”He said two children with asthma were also without their medication.Meanwhile, Mr Patel said he had waited for up to two hours to speak with the Victorian health department and was finally told their application would be processed.On Monday, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesman said: “We have granted an exemption to a Victorian family who inadvertently crossed the border into NSW at Echuca over the weekend, but were refused re-entry to Victoria as they are not residents of a border LGA.”
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