by Victoria has gone into a snap seven-day Covid-19 lockdown, starting at8pm (10pm NZT) on Thursday.
Premier Daniel Andrews announced the move late Thursday afternoon, saying it was due to Covid-19 cases reported in the previous 24 hours, which were suspected to be the highly infectious Delta variant.
Suspected Delta cases had been infectious in the community, and there were a high number of associated close contacts and exposure sites, Andrews said in a statement.
Victoria reported six new community cases of Covid-19 initially on Thursday, then another two later in the day. Those cases follow the states milestone zero case day on Wednesday.
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The same rules that applied during Victorias July lockdown that ended just nine days ago will be reimposed, including a five-kilometre travel limit for exercise and shopping and compulsory masks indoors and outdoors.
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Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews announcing Victoria is to go into a Covid-19 lockdown for the sixth time
“There is no alternative for us but to listen to our public health experts, take their advice, and make the decision, the very difficult decision, my cabinet colleagues and I have made on the advice, and that is Victoria will have a lockdown again for seven days,” Andrews said.
The lockdown was starting at 8pm, rather than midnight when previous lockdowns started, because an earlier outbreak was linked to a dinner on lockdown-eve.
The sixth lockdown was prompted in part by fears a teacher at Al-Taqwa College in the west Melbourne suburb of Truganina may have unknowingly spread the virus while infectious. She also passed the virus on to her partner and his parents.
It is unknown how the teacher, who is in her 20s, caught the virus.
Authorities are racing to trace the source of the infection and that of a man in his 20s who lives in the Maribyrnong council area, in Melbournes inner west.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and Joint Head of Managed Isolation and Quarantine Megan Main provide updates on vaccination numbers and MIQ spaces.
It is the sixth lockdown for Victoria since the start of the pandemic and the fourth in 2021.
Andrews said that while all cases announced on Thursday were in Melbourne, sewage tests had detected virus fragments in the Wangaratta region, in northeast Victoria. That was partly why regional Victoria was included in the restrictions.
“We have some reason to believe there is Covid-19 in that community or has been in that community,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Andrews said he would do everything we can to avoid a New South Wales-style outbreak, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
JAMES BRICKWOOD/Sydney Morning Herald
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant arriving at Thursdays press conference.
On Thursday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there were 262 new Covid-19 cases in the state in the past 24-hour period. That was the highest daily number of Covid cases in NSW since the pandemic started.
Another five infected people have died in NSW: three people in their 60s, one person in their 70s and one person in their 80s.
Unfortunately, four out of those five people were not vaccinated at all and one person had one dose of AstraZeneca, Berejiklian said.
No-one who has died has had both doses of vaccine. I cannot stress enough how its so important for everybody of all ages to come forward and get the vaccine.
As a result of the new NSW cases, the premier announced a one-week lockdown for the Hunter and Upper Hunter region starting 5pm Thursday (local time), The Sydney Morning Heraldreported.
The lockdown will impact the local government areas of Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens, Cessnock, Dungog, Singleton and Muswellbrook and involve the similar restrictions in place in Greater Sydney.
NSW Health reported 290 Covid-19 patients in hospital, with 51 people in intensive care 24 of whom require ventilation.
Forty-three of the new cases were infectious in the community, 29 were in isolation for part of their infectious period and the isolation status of 80 cases remained under investigation.
About 107,000 people came forward for testing during the last 24 hours.
Berejiklian said NSW would receive an extra 180,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine over the next 14 days after she spoke to the prime minister, ABC reported.
Queensland
On Thursday, there were 16 local cases of community transmission in Queensland, and 11 acquired from overseas.
The 16 cases, four of whom were infectious while in the community, are linked to a known cluster involving a school, ABC reported.
– with AAP
