Premier Daniel Andrews has lashed out at ‘selfish’ Victorians infected with Covid-19 who waited days to get tested as the state’s current outbreak worsens.
Victoria recorded 80 new cases on Thursday in a dramatic escalation to its outbreak, almost double the number of infections recorded a day earlier.
Only half of the latest cases were in quarantine while infectious, while 13 are mystery cases not yet linked to the outbreak.
Premier Andrews is frustrated about the high number putting off getting tested after symptoms develop and with some infectious in the community for up to eight days.
He implored Victorians to stop making selfish choices by getting tested as soon as symptoms develop and to follow the rules.
‘One of the commonsense, practical things you can do if you have symptoms today: Get tested today,’ he pleaded.
Victoria’s outbreak has worsened with 80 new cases on Wednesday
‘Don’t, for heaven sake, wait eight days and literally infect everybody you can’t anywhere near in that eight period,’
‘Please, do not be visiting friends and family because the visitor no-one knows about the coronavirus.
‘You are taking it with you to the people you love. You do not want them to get sick so do not act in a selfish and irresponsible way.’
He directed much of his tirade towards younger Victorians ,with 240 cases under the age 20.
‘You would have to say that the bias tends towards a younger group, and if people aren’t happy with me being honest about that, they will need to come to terms with that, because it’s a fact,’ Mr Andrews said.
‘There are, in this outbreak, some younger people who are waiting too long to get tested.’
‘When you register a symptom, you cannot wait seven or eight days, as regrettably, some of the positive cases did wait a long time before going to get tested.’
‘(It) meant they were in a community, out there unknowingly infecting other people and often the people they love the most.’
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews slammed ‘selfish’ Victorians infected with Covid-19 who waited up to a week before being tested (pictured, Melburnians at a vaccination hub)
Victorians who continue to visit friends and family during lockdown have also contributed to rising case numbers.
‘You need to do the right thing and follow the rules and that means no-one to your house and you are not going to anyone else’s house,’ he said.
‘Stay at home and stop going out, it is very simple.
‘The longer we do that, the longer we’ll be locked down. It’s evidenced by the fact we’re reporting more numbers, it spreads the virus.
‘If you visit a friend and think ‘it’s all good, someone else can follow the rules, I’m not going to’, it’s not just you visiting your mate, it’s the coronavirus as well.’
Three in every four cases have occurred before symptoms have been developed.
‘So it is really critically important as well to minimise those contact, to not go out if you don’t have to and to absolutely wear a mask and maintain social distancing in all the circumstances that you can,’ chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton said.
‘Because it is a highly infectious virus and so testing is critically important but you have to assume that you could be infectious, even without symptoms, at any time and the idea that you’re not in the right suburb, there’s been no cases here, there’s been no significant transmission identified around where I live or where I work might be true today but it may not be you don’t know until it’s been identified and this virus has moved silently and with stealth across Melbourne and into regional Victoria.
‘So please don’t say, ‘I’m not at risk because I’m not in this demographic or in this part of Melbourne or in this workplace or in this particular sector.’
‘You are at risk if you’re in Victoria, if you’re in Australia.’
The Premier is concerned people are infectious in the community for up to eight days
Thursday’s 80 cases is Victoria’s highest daily increase recorded this year.
The state has not had this many new cases in a day since last September as its deadly second wave wound down.
The Shepparton outbreak in regional Victoria 190km north of Melbourne has grown to 67 after 18 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours.
Emergency relief services have been rushed to the town where 17,000 of Shepparton’s residents are currently isolating.
The Shepparton outbreak has forced many businesses to reduce opening hours, as staff remain in isolation, including supermarkets and pharmacies.
The state’s deputy emergency management commissioner, as well as other senior departmental officials are on their way to Shepparton to coordinate relief.
‘It is no different to a bushfire or flood. The emergency management architecture will be in place but it will be in the main very, very simple things – taking food to people’s doorstep, getting scripts filled,’ Mr Andrews said.
‘The focus is on getting everybody in Shepparton things they need when they need them.’
Around 33,932 Victorians rolled up their sleeves for the jab on Wednesday while thousands more booked their appointment
About 50 ADF personnel have arrived to support Goulburn Valley Health with testing and door-to-door checks and the premier said a request for further support would be made.
Of the 36 cases being treated in hospital across Victoria, 11 are in intensive care, including eight on a ventilator.
Almost 56,248 Victorians came forward for testing on Wednesday while 33,932 rolled up their sleeves for the jab.
Another 200,000 made bookings to get their jabs, despite the state government’s vaccination website crashing on Wednesday.
Hundreds more were turned away after queuing for hours at the state’s vaccination hubs.
More than 830,000 vaccination bookings over the next four weeks were made available from 7am Wednesday, including 450,000 first-dose Pfizer appointments.
But within minutes of bookings opening at 7am, the website appeared to buckle.
Emergency relief has been rushed to the regional town of Shepparton (pictured), where 16,000 residents are currently in lockdown. The town recorded 18 new cases on Thursday
Many young people reported receiving a ‘500 internal server error’ after waiting in the queue to book their appointment, while others were told they were ineligible for the vaccine.
Mr Andrews’ teenage daughter Grace was among those who spent all day on and off trying to log on before she was finally able to book an appointment for this Sunday.
‘I would encourage people to go back and stick to it, because it is the way out of restrictions and out of our hospitals being overwhelmed and our way back to normal life,’ he said.
‘You have to be patient. There is no choice, but there are appointments that can be made.’
The state’s exposure sites list has ballooned past 800, including the emergency department of Monash Medical Centre which is now listed as a tier one exposure site.
Victoria is recruiting 350 overseas doctors and nurses to ease pressure on a hospital system facing hundreds of workers being furloughed due to coronavirus exposure, including at Royal Melbourne Hospital and Goulburn Valley Health.
Melbourne is the middle of its sixth lockdown after recording 80 new cases on Thursday, its highest number of new daily infections in almost a year
Hundreds of residents at two residential towers in Melbourne were also plunged into isolation after Covid-positive cases visited the two sites.
Public health alerts have been issued for a Housing Commission block at 140 Brunswick Street in the inner-northern suburb of Fitzroy and for The Standard Apartment Complex on Bay Street in beachside Brighton.
Anyone who lives in the buildings along with those who may have visited during the times specified by the Victorian health department, are now under strict quarantine orders for up to 14 days.
It comes as a busy emergency ward at the Monash Medical Centre in Clayton was also flagged as an exposure site after an infected case sat in the fast track waiting room on Saturday between 3.20 and 3.35pm.
An urgent public health alert has been issued for a tower block at 140 Brunswick Street (pictured) in Fitzroy, Melbourne, after a Covid case visited the site
An infected Melburnians also visited The Standard Apartment Complex on Bay Street in Brighton (pictured), sending residents into quarantine
Patients and staff who were in the hospital’s triage waiting room during the same time have also been informed they must immediately get test and self isolate.
Some residents at the apartment complexes will be subject to Tier one health orders meaning they will be in isolation for 14 days.
Others who were not in close proximity to the infected cases will face Tier two orders and have to urgently get tested and stay at home until they receive a negative result.