Victoria has recorded 1622 new Covid cases and nine more deaths in the past 24 hours.It is the highest number of daily infections since the state posted 1612 cases on October 11.It comes after state officials backtracked on a major Covid restriction, keeping masks mandatory in all retail settings from Thursday.The shock move to extend the mask rule in shops has been described as a “handbrake” on Victoria’s recovery, as NSW moves to ease major Covid-19 restrictions.Victorian shoppers will be forced to don masks until at least January 12 after the state government reneged on its promise to scrap the requirement in all retail settings. It’s prompted calls from leading business figures and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy for the government to align rules with NSW, which dropped masks and QR code check-ins at thousands of venues on Wednesday.It comes as the state government begins to wind back its jab mandate as part of a host of changes introduced under new pandemic legislation, which replaced the state-of-emergency powers at midnight on Wednesday. But masks will remain a fixture, despite Premier Daniel Andrews last month flagging that the rule would be lifted after December 15 if Covid-related hospital admissions did not soar.The number of people in hospital with the virus has remained steady over recent weeks, but the ICU admissions rate has increased, with the vast majority of those people being unvaccinated.When asked why the government had backtracked on its initial plan, Health Minister Martin Foley said: “One word: Omicron. (It) has changed the landscape.”Chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton said the “highly uncertain” nature of the Omicron strain had halted plans to strip masks.“We’ll see a significant increase in our Omicron cases,” he said. “It’s another punch that none of us wanted, but we’ve always rolled with the punches. We have to face the reality and being in denial about it will delay and defer being able to manage cases appropriately.“We need to be able to lean in and that’s why mask mandates in retail have remained. There’s still a huge role for masks, for distancing and for ventilation.”That is despite preliminary data collected by healthcare provider Discovery Health, which is responsible for 3.7 million South African patients. It found people infected with Omicron were only a third as likely to end up in hospital compared to those with the Delta strain.Covid VIC NSW differenceDr Ryan Noach, chief executive of Discovery Health, said the data – based on the first three weeks of South Africa’s Omicron wave – suggested they were experiencing a less severe situation than had been first anticipated. While it was “clearly a highly contagious variant”, Dr Noach said: “What’s encouraging at this stage is a flatter trajectory of hospital admissions, indicating a likely lower severity of the illness.”As part of the Victorian government’s new pandemic laws, under-18s won’t need to prove they are vaccinated to be in the community from Thursday. Previously, the edict extended to anyone over 12. Unvaccinated people will also be welcomed back to shopping precincts ahead of the busy Christmas trade, while weddings, funerals and religious ceremonies can open to all, if they are not held at a venue subject to a mandate. Restaurants, cafes, bars, pubs, hairdressing salons and beauty services still remain out of bounds for the unvaccinated.There will also no longer be a requirement for Covid-exposed businesses to conduct deep cleans amid “mounting international evidence” that the likelihood of infection from touching a surface is “very low risk”.The new measures will remain in place until January 12, but leading business groups and the state opposition want Victoria’s restrictions to align with those in NSW.Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the Liberal Party had been calling for no mandatory masks and for the government to instead focus on improving the besieged healthcare system. “I think we need to look at Covid and Omicron and other variants in a different way than we did in 2020,” he said. “We can’t go back to locking down the population. We need to protect the vulnerable, we need to move on sensibly and safely, but not in a panic.” Victorian Chamber of Commerce chief executive Paul Guerra said it was disappointing the government extended mask rules on the same day that NSW had pledged to move forward.Mandatory mask use – other than in health settings, on public transport and in rideshare services – acted as a “significant disincentive” for people to go to work and support businesses, he said.“Today’s announcement continues to pull the handbrake on our recovery when we should be hitting the accelerator,” Mr Guerra said.“We would like to see the state government announce a date on which the mask mandates will be removed across these remaining settings, to give businesses certainty.”Small Business Australia chief executive Bill Lang said traders were exhausted by the shifting goalposts.“NSW is leading the way on this by ending most restrictions,” Mr Lang said.“It is time for the Prime Minister to reel in the rogue state and territory leaders, such as Andrews, so we can get the nation on the same page with the same Covid settings.“That is the only way that we can return to the quality of life and freedom that every Australian deserves.”Oscar Yildiz, who co-founded the new Victorians Party and who will run at the next state election, said Victorians were “sick to death of the constant changing rules around Covid-19”.“We are promised one thing and then delivered another,” he said.“As the citizens were just beginning to think that Covid was behind them, it explodes once again into their lives.”OMICRON REACTION ‘NOT PROPORTIONATE’: EXPERTA leading epidemiologist has declared the reaction to Omicron has not been proportionate, as almost 900 Victorians remain in isolation over a super-spreading scare from two nightspots.Infectious diseases expert Peter Collignon, a professor at the Australian National University Medical School, said it was crucial the state government collated all the data before implementing “really major implications” on the community.“We’ve pulled the trigger way too quickly,” he told the Herald Sun. “I’m not really sure that we need to treat it any differently to Delta.”Read the full article here.BUDGET DEFICIT BLOW OUTSignificant policy interventions could be needed if Victoria is to financially recover from the pandemic, the state’s independent budget watchdog has warned.In an update to the state budget released on Friday, Treasurer Tim Pallas revealed the budget deficit had blown out by $7.9bn to $19.5bn.Net debt is also set to climb to a record $162bn, $6bn more than previously forecast, with forecasts of a slower and weaker budget recovery.An analysis of the update by the Parliamentary Budget Office, released on Thursday, found operating expenses were $13bn higher than forecast.At the same time, net asset investment forecasts where $7.7bn higher, and revenue was up $2.3bn.However, the analysis warned net borrowing as a share of revenue would increase, making the state budget more reliant on debt.Debt servicing costs were also expected to continue to increase substantially, with employee expenses expected to remain above the 10-year average.“The growing debt impact, the relatively short budget forecast horizon and vague fiscal targets, gives greater uncertainty as to the Victorian government’s expected medium-term financial position,” Parliamentary Budget Officer Anthony Close said.“There is now a forecast trend of deterioration in fiscal sustainability indicators which is unsurprising given the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Combined with the loss in Victoria’s AAA credit rating this may indicate either a new normal in fiscal sustainability levels, or that further policy.intervention will be required to bring the state back to pre-pandemic levels.”The PBO, established in 2018, provides independent policy costing and advisory services to members of parliament.
Powered by WPeMatico
