Coronavirus restrictions to ease despite rise in cases
Monday's easing of coronavirus restrictions will go ahead as planned, despite another day of double-digit increases in positive cases in Victoria and concerns about staff behaviour at quarantine hotels.
Thirteen new coronavirus cases were reported across the state on Friday, including four without a known source, while there were five new positive tests among security guards at a hotel hosting returned travellers - Melbourne's second hotel cluster.
Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Annaliese van Diemen.Credit:Paul Jeffers
On Thursday, Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said the next stage in relaxing COVID-19 restrictions could be in jeopardy if new case numbers continued to rise in the next few days.
But at a media conference on Friday afternoon she said that despite consecutive days of double-digit increases in COVID-19 cases, plans to ease restrictions from Monday would go ahead, even if cases spiked over the weekend.
“Two days are not going to make a huge difference to be honest so the current plan is to go ahead,” she said.
Victoria has recorded 52 cases in the past three days, including eight people infected through untraceable community transmission whose cases were confirmed on Thursday.
Of the 13 new cases reported on Friday, two are linked to a new family outbreak, six are linked with known outbreaks, one is a returned overseas traveller in hotel quarantine, three were found through routine testing and one remains under investigation.
Dr van Diemen said five of the new cases were among security guards linked with the Stamford Plaza Hotel in the CBD, which is hosting a large number of returned travellers in quarantine. Another case was linked to a family outbreak in the south-eastern suburbs.
Dr van Diemen conceded she would "rather have less cases than we have", but said Friday's figures were an improvement on Thursday.
"Today's numbers are less concerning probably than yesterday's given the known links with these cases," she said.
"It's cases we don't have known links to that are the biggest concern."
Dr van Diemen said more than 200 hotel workers were in self-isolation and it "won't be a huge surprise" if more positive cases follow because many staff had worked while infectious and did not follow social-distancing practices, despite authorities providing guidelines and personal protective equipment.
"There's been some closer mingling of these guards than we would like in the workplace," Dr van Diemen said.
"People are friendly with one another in the workplace and they know each other, but it's important that we do maintain physical distancing. It's important that we maintain an awareness, particularly in the hotels that passengers may be COVID positive."
The Stamford Plaza is the second major hotel outbreak in Melbourne, after a cluster at Carlton's Rydges on Swanston increased to 18 with one new case on Friday.
Workers at the Rydges hotel last week told The Age of lax hygiene procedures and training, and Dr van Diemen said similar lapses had been reported to management of the Stamford Hotel and were being addressed in the last fortnight.
"But it would appear that the consequences had already begun, unfortunately," she said.
“It's not good news we have the outbreaks but reassuring to know there is a clear source for that particular outbreak.”
The number of Victorians who have recovered from COVID-19 is 1680, an increase of two since Thursday.