Melbourne is likely to remain in stage four lockdown until well into October after the Victorian government commissioned modelling showing that releasing restrictions too soon risks an explosion of coronavirus cases before Christmas
Joe Armao
The modelling predicted cases were now reducing by 50 per cent every 18 days, and at that rate, Victoria's daily case load would not dip below 20 until late October.Victoria’s daily average over the past week has been 84 – and the paper predicts that in mid September, there will still be 60 new cases a day.
Premier Daniel Andrews warned in the release of the modelling to news outlets that "we know this is a health problem in the first instance – we can’t begin to repair and rebuild until we aggressively suppress this virus." Other Australian states have had far fewer cases when they have eased restrictions – New South Wales had four per day when restrictions eased to current levels. The paper cites the soaring second waves of infections in Israel, Spain and France when restrictions were eased as cautionary tales.
"If we do our contact tracing better than we did three months ago, the contact tracers may be able to hold the case count without it going up again as badly as our model suggests," he said. The number of active cases across Victoria fell to 1956 – down from a peak of 6800 in the first week of August – and active cases in regional areas dropped to 102.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Why hasn't Europe locked down despite its COVID-19 second wave?In a stark contrast to Australia's lockdowns and closed borders Europeans are returning to school, going to work, heading out for drinks and even cramming onto planes for summer holidays, despite rising coronavirus cases.
Read more »
History tells us a 'keep calm and carry on' policy could be disastrous during COVID-19Everyone from the Prime Minister to columnists have urged Australians to 'keep calm and carry on' during the pandemic. But that famous slogan has a rather problematic history.
Read more »
Bondi Bowling Club fined $10,000 over COVID-19 breaches as NSW records five new casesOfficials inspecting NSW businesses for compliance with COVID-19 safety plans say a new feedback portal will enable members of the public to report breaches.
Read more »
Suspended Tigers players apologise for AFL COVID-19 protocol breachSydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones say they're sorry after they were banned for 10 AFL matches, while the manager of one of the players says his client should not be responsible for paying Richmond's fine.
Read more »
Assange's extradition case continues tomorrow after COVID-19 delaysWhat will the magistrate have to consider in deciding whether Julian Assange is to be flown across the Atlantic to face his accusers in America?
Read more »
New Zealand retains coronavirus measures as new COVID-19 death related to Auckland clusterNew Zealand retains restrictions put in place to beat the spread of the coronavirus until at least mid-September, as the country reports a new death related to the virus.
Read more »