VICTORIA’S pandemic declaration has been extended for three months amid rising COVID-19 cases across the state.<\/p>\n
In a Government statement released mid-last week, Premier Daniel Andrews\u00a0said he was satisfied COVID-19 still posed a serious risk to public health.<\/p>\n
The extension started 11.59pm on 12 April and last through to 12 July.<\/p>\n
“This extension enables us to keep modest and sensible settings in place to reduce transmission and hospitalisation,” Mr Andrews said in the statement.<\/p>\n
“We don’t want rules on any longer than they need to be. We’ll continue to follow the advice to protect what we’ve\u00a0built while protecting our community.”<\/p>\n
A statement of reasons for the decision, along with the health advice, will be tabled in the Victorian Parliament.<\/p>\n
The announcement came after Health Minister Martin Foley flagged the state\u00a0could drop its COVID-19 vaccine mandates in restaurants, cafes, pubs and nightclubs once the latest wave of infections, expected to peak within weeks, began to dip.<\/p>\n
The state’s hospitals are bracing for 500 or more patients a day with the virus at the height of its Omicron BA.2 sub-variant outbreak, according to Mr Foley.<\/p>\n
However, overall daily case numbers are harder to predict because of factors including the number of people getting tested and those who are asymptomatic.<\/p>\n
With cases still rising through April, Victoria will not yet be following Queensland’s lead from 14 April by dropping the vaccine mandate for hospitality venues.<\/p>\n
But Mr Andrews indicated that could be revisited once infections start falling again.<\/p>\n
“Let’s get through these next few weeks, let’s get past this peak in sub-variant Omicron cases and then we’ll have options,” he said.<\/p>\n
“One of those, hopefully, will be dealing with things like the vaccinated economy and all sorts of other rules.”<\/p>\n
Mr Andrews last year flagged Victoria’s vaccinated economy would remain in place until at least this weekend’s Formula One Grand Prix and possibly throughout the whole of 2022.<\/p>\n
Despite immunity waning over time, he said the double-dose vaccine mandate for hospitality patrons has helped mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and should stay for now.<\/p>\n
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, who returned to state parliament on Tuesday after isolating as a close contact of his COVID-infected nine-year-old son, said it was time to move on from vaccine mandates in most settings.<\/p>\n
“It’s about time we moved on with our lives, sensibly,” he said.<\/p>\n
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