Scott Morrison slams Victoria's road map out of coronavirus lockdown and says he hopes it is a 'worst case scenario'
- Daniel Andrews has released a road map to get Victoria out of lockdown
- Lockdown will only end when there are an average of five cases per day
- Businesses and opposition politicians have said the bar is set too high
- Scott Morrison said today that he hopes the plan is a 'worst-case scenario'
Scott Morrison has said he hopes Victoria's road map out of coronavirus lockdown is a worst-case scenario.
The prime minister said the state's plan to keep lockdown restrictions in place for at least six weeks was 'crushing news'.
'The plan that was outlined yesterday, I hope, is a worst-case scenario. I see it as a starting point in terms of how this issue will be managed in the weeks and months ahead in Victoria,' Mr Morrison said today.
Scott Morrison has said he hopes Victoria's road map out of coronavirus lockdown is a worst-case scenario
Under premier Daniel Andrews' plan, released on Sunday, lockdown will only end when there are an average of five cases per day, which is not expected until October 26.
Until then, a curfew will be in place from 9pm to 5am and residents can only leave home for exercise, shopping, school and work, and caregiving.
New South Wales has managed to remove lockdown and keep its economy going while suppressing cases to an average of less than 10 per day so far this month.
Mr Morrison noted that Sydney would be under lockdown if it followed Mr Andrews' road map.
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'What I can't help but be struck by is that, under the thresholds that have been set in that plan, Sydney would be under curfew now,' he said.
'Sydney doesn't need to be under curfew now. They have a tracing capability that can deal with outbreaks.'
Asked if Victoria's contact tracing system was as good as New South Wales's, he said: 'Well, New South Wales can cope with much higher levels - and have. So, look, that's, I think, just a matter of record.'
The prime minister said he wanted Victoria's contact tracing regime to be beefed so it can handle a reasonable number of cases without requiring lockdown.
Mr Andrews has been slammed by businesses and opposition politicians who say such low numbers as a threshold for easing restrictions was unrealistic.
Daniel Andrews has said he will speed up Victoria's road map out of lockdown if coronavirus case numbers fall faster than expected
On Monday morning, the premier said he is open to changing the plan.
'If we saw things change dramatically then we would obviously remodel the whole thing,' he told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
'If the data was to fundamentally change then we would be standing up making different announcements.'
Mr Andrews also said he was not trying to eliminate the virus but suppress it enough that contact tracing teams can identify and isolate the contacts of every case.
He said after lockdown is lifted there will be cases but they would not necessarily mean a return to harsh restrictions, saying the state was not pursuing unrealistic eradication but controllable numbers.
Police are seen along Elizabeth Street on Sunday as Premier Andrews released his roadmap
'A strategy where you're trying to eradicate it would mean that if you had one case you would go back into lockdown. That's the difference,' he said.
'This thing, it moves so fast, so silently, that it can get away from you so fast.
'You've got to beat it first then you can find that new normal.'
On Monday Victoria announced nine more deaths from coronavirus, taking the state toll to 675 and the national figure to 762.
But there was some good news for the state, with new case numbers dropping significantly on Monday to 41.
It is Victoria's lowest daily case number since June 26.
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