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Watch live: Victorian Premier provides COVID-19 update
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and COVID response commander Jeroen Weimar are expected to speak to the media at 12.45pm AEST about the latest COVID-19 numbers and moves to ease some restrictions in the state.
You can watch the press conference live here.
Victoria should be 70 per cent double-dosed by October
By Cassandra Morgan
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says the state should get to their target of 70 per cent of the population aged over 16 double-dosed with a COVID-19 vaccine at some point in October, and 80 per cent double-dosed by November.
It’s then, Premier Daniel Andrews said, that the state can have “an economy that operates for vaccinated people”.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews (far right) and Professor Brett Sutton, Victoria’s Chief Health Officer (far left).Credit:Joe Armao
“We talked yesterday about passports, so ... there’s all sorts of activity, provided staff are vaccinated and patrons are vaccinated; the place can be opened, there’ll still be [density] limits ... masks ... all of that, but none of that’s possible right now,” he said.
Mr Andrews said he was meeting with Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday evening to discuss “what does the whole passport thing look like, what does an economy for the unvaccinated look like”.
Both Mr Andrews and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian have stressed that eased restrictions will be tied to a person’s vaccination status, providing new freedoms to those who are fully vaccinated.
They have both made clear it will not mean there are no restrictions in place when 70 and 80 per cent of people aged over 16 have been fully vaccinated.
How is Victoria progressing towards the 70 per cent first dose target?
By Craig Butt
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced that lockdown restrictions will ease in Victoria once 70 per cent of the eligible population aged over 16 have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose.
When will that target be reached? As of August 31, 56.06 per cent of that demographic had received their first vaccine dose, which in real terms is just over three million Victorians.
Based on the current vaccine rollout progress, 70 per cent of the state’s eligible population are projected to have received their first vaccine dose around September 23, or about three weeks from now.
You can see how the state is tracking against the 70 per cent target using the graph below:
Victorian case thresholds thrown out amid change in circumstances: Andrews
By Cassandra Morgan
When Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced a “modest” easing of restrictions was ahead on Tuesday, he said freedoms would be introduced as the state met certain COVID-19 case number thresholds.
However, Wednesday’s road map out of COVID-19 restrictions was focused on vaccination rates, with most changes coming into effect when the state gets to 70 per cent of the population aged over 16 vaccinated with one dose.
Mr Andrews said during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update the thresholds didn’t eventuate because “circumstances have changed”.
“Thresholds with the notion of driving numbers down is one thing; the advice from the Chief Health Officer is that we are not going to be able to drive those numbers down, they’re going to go up,” he said.
“That means we have to manage the rate at which they go up and the amount by which they go up. The threshold that matters now … is the 70 per cent first dose by on or about [September 23].
“That’s the threshold we’re all working towards.”
Playgrounds will reopen in Victoria from midnight tomorrow night and some in-home childcare arrangements will be reinstated. But it’s on or about September 23 that most changes will be made, including skate parks being opened, the 5-kilometre travel limit being expanded and real estate inspections being allowed.
Economy will bounce back when restrictions eased: Federal Treasurer
By Jennifer Duke
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is confident the economy will bounce back, provided state and territory leaders ease coronavirus restrictions in the months ahead, after strong results in the June quarter.
Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Mr Frydenberg said economic growth of 0.7 per cent in the three months to June was stronger than market expectations and showed good fundamentals.
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“The Australian economy is resilient and the Australian economy will bounce back once restrictions are eased,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“Of course these numbers will be little comfort for many of our fellow Australians who are doing it tough right now in lockdown.”
He said the lockdowns were having significant effects on the economy and peoples’ wellbeing but the vaccination rollout was a pathway out.
Despite the challenges from lockdowns over some of the June quarter, he said there was still growth in business and domestic investment but net exports were affected by weather-related disruptions.
Mr Frydenberg said the GDP result for the June quarter should provide the nation with confidence about the potential for a recovery when the lockdowns ease up and the country should stick to the plan to reopen at 70 to 80 per cent of the population aged over 16 being fully vaccinated.
“We must stick to that plan and as business leaders said publicly and openly today we must stay the course,” he said, referring to a Business Council of Australia-led campaign to ensure state and territory leaders ease a restrictions when these targets are reached.
He said there were some “difficult days ahead” but there was underlying strength and resilience in the economy.
A breakdown of Victoria’s new COVID-19 cases
By Cassandra Morgan
Victoria’s COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar has just provided a breakdown of the state’s 120 new locally acquired coronavirus cases. He said it’s the highest caseload the state has had since September 2 last year. The new cases are:
- Five are linked to Shepparton in regional Victoria (all were in quarantine);
- One is in Seymour, but is linked to a work exposure at North Melbourne;
- One is in Geelong;
- Six are around the inner south east, including in Richmond, Hawthorn, and Alphington;
- 53 are linked to the northern suburbs, including in clusters around Campbellfield, Roxburgh Park, and Gladstone Park;
- 54 are linked to the western suburbs, including 16 in Altona North, two in Newport, and seven in Hoppers Crossing.
He said two-thirds of the state’s active coronavirus cases are aged under 40, and 197 are under the age of nine. Of the 58 people in hospital in Victoria, two are infants, and two are children aged 10 and 11.
New Victorian health advice ‘a recognition of the reality of Delta’: Chief Health Officer
By Cassandra Morgan
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says the state’s public health team changed its COVID-19 advice to the government in the past two days, making it clear “that we are not going to drive these numbers down, they are going to increase”.
“Now it’s up to us to make sure that they don’t increase too fast, and that they don’t increase too much relative to the number of people who are getting vaccinated every single day, every single week,” he said during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update.
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. Credit:Jason South
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said today’s new COVID-19 case numbers - 120 locally acquired in the state - was “not a great number”.
“But 120 is still far [fewer] cases than we would have seen otherwise if we hadn’t had the restrictions that we’ve had in place, and continue to have in place,” he said.
Professor Sutton said if people filled available AstraZeneca vaccination appointments in the state, and more people got vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccinations at their GPs, Victoria might reach the goal of 70 per cent of the population over 16 vaccinated with one dose sooner than September 23.
He had this to say about the growth in case numbers:
It’s taken a couple of weeks to get our case numbers from 50 to 100. That increase is slower, much, much slower, than it could have been otherwise but it is an increase and that’s why my advice has changed.
It’s a recognition of the reality of Delta and of the fact that despite all of these extraordinary efforts between contact-tracing and between millions of Victorians following the rules, we are still seeing a slow and steady increase.
So we have to move as fast as we can to get the highest possible vaccination coverage which will change how transmission occurs and will see us plateauing with our case numbers but we want to do it at a point where our health system is not overwhelmed where we don’t have dozens and dozens of people dying in Victoria.
Watch: Treasurer Josh Frydenberg addresses the media
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is addressing the media. You can watch it live here.
‘Positive news’ coming for regional Victoria next week: Premier
By Cassandra Morgan
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says there will be announcements about new freedoms for people in the state’s regions in the coming days.
“We do think we can have some positive news for regional Victoria next week,” he said during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.Credit:Joe Armao
“It will not be a full opening up, there will not be hundreds of people at the pub or the restaurant or the cafe.
“But there will be activity that is possible and safe, and that will be in excess of what’s happening in Melbourne because cases are very different, the epidemiology of regional Victoria is very different.”
No return to face-to-face learning for Victorian students in term 3
By Cassandra Morgan
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has just confirmed there will be no return to face-to-face learning for the state’s students in term 3.
He said the GAT will go ahead for students on October 5, and the priority in the coming weeks was to vaccinate year 12 students.
Mr Andrews said that, in time, authorities would move the focus to vaccinating the balance of students, from year 11 down to 12-year-old students. No vaccine has been approved to date for children under 12.
Victoria’s road map out of COVID-19 restrictions
By Cassandra Morgan
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has just detailed the state’s road map out of COVID-19 restrictions.
A lot of the changes will come into effect on or about September 23, when the state is expected to have 70 per cent of its population aged over 16 vaccinated with a first dose.
From midnight tomorrow night, Victorian playgrounds will be reopened, and some of the in-home childcare arrangements will be reinstated where families have authorised workers in their homes.
From September 7 to 17, schools will reach out to year 12 students to detail to them how they can get vaccinated at state-run clinics before their exams. From on or about September 23, when the vaccination target is met:
- The 5-kilometre limit will be expanded to 10 kilometres for shopping and exercise
- Extend time to exercise from 2 hours to 3hrs
- Outdoor communal gym equipment, skateparks, outdoor personal training can reopen (personal training, with rules)
- Childminding for school-aged children is allowed
- Real estate private inspections permitted, with rules
- Construction sites can increase to 50 per cent capacity where 90 per cent of a workforce have received at least one vaccine dose
“If we can reach our 70 per cent first dose target [for Victorians aged over 16] on or about the 23rd of September, then there are some changes that we can make,” Mr Andrews said.
“That’s as far as we can go in terms of changes effective from midnight tomorrow night. Everything else has to stay in place until on or about the 23rd of September when we get first dose 70 per cent across our state.”
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2021-09-01 03:29:04Z
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