Victoria to announce path to COVID freedom

VICTORIAN authorities will release a “detailed plan” out of lockdown, including coronavirus case targets that must be met before restrictions are eased.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the government is working with the chief health officer to finalise the plan, which will be released on Wednesday.
It will include “thresholds” such as reaching a specific number of cases before allowing people more freedom.

Mr Andrews said if Victoria cannot achieve zero cases again, then “it will need to be a low number” before restrictions are eased.

“If you don’t chase zero, you end up with many zeros,” he said. “It cannot be in the hundreds because it won’t be in the hundreds for long, it will race and get away from us.

“Then, based on those thresholds and those low case numbers, we will make further announcements about things that can be eased – those announcements will be made tomorrow.”

The premier said he will sit down with chief health officer Brett Sutton on Tuesday for a “lengthy meeting” to determine how many cases the community can tolerate per day, while allowing vaccinations and contact tracing to continue.

“We think there may be a number – that is not zero, but is low – that we can contain,” he said.

“That case tolerance will not be the relevant factor once we get to 80 per cent [vaccinations], the national plan absolutely kicks in from then and we will be much less focused on case numbers.”

While no decisions have been made about which restrictions will be eased first, Mr Andrews said it will include “modest changes” and “as much economic activity as is possible”.

“It is not like we have made a decision and I am not sharing it, it genuinely hasn’t been made yet,” he said.

“I want to be very clear with the people of Victoria, this will not be freedom day, it will not be an opening-up type day, it will be modest changes that hopefully can be meaningful in people’s lives.”

He added that more information on access to the vaccine for Victoria’s senior high school students will also be announced on Wednesday.

It comes almost a week after the state government said year 12 students would be prioritised for vaccination before sitting their exams in October.

Of Tuesday’s 76 new cases, up to 40 were infectious while in the community, and the source of 31 cases remains under investigation.

Meanwhile, the number of Victorians in hospital with coronavirus has grown by another three, to 52 up from 49 on Monday, with the median age of those hospitalised 49 years.

Sixteen people in hospital are in intensive care, with 15 of those requiring a ventilator.
– BY AAP