Andrews pushes for national approach to testing, travellers to stop next northern beaches
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will lobby national cabinet to adopt his state's position on flight crew and hotel quarantine staff testing, as it could potentially "stop what's happened in the northern beaches" in the future.
Victoria recorded zero new coronavirus on Thursday morning, as an urgent national cabinet meeting is poised to discuss testing and quarantining of travellers from the United Kingdom.
Mr Andrews told at his first press conference back after holidays that he had returned to ensure the testing and quarantining of flight crew would occur nationwide.
He said he would also lobby national cabinet to put in place mandatory testing for workers in hotel quarantine several times a week. Victoria workers are being tested once a day.
"Victoria has led the charge on many of the issues that will be considered by national cabinet tomorrow," he said.
"We are treating flight crew no different to returning travellers … in the context of the UK strain which is a super-infectious strain of this virus.
"Not if, but when someone finishes up contracting the virus because of their work in hotel quarantine, the virus will have a one day jump on us, not a week, not 10 days … We need to test stuff every day, or at least multiple times per week.
"That type of arrangement stops what’s happened in the northern beaches, and therefore stops what’s happening in Melbourne. A problem in Sydney is a problem here, and a problem for the nation, and vice versa."
Mr Andrews also defended the closure of the state's border to NSW saying Victoria should not have to rely on the decisions of other governments to keep itself safe.
National cabinet has been recalled a month early to decide whether to tighten precautions on international arrivals over fears travellers from the UK will spread a more infectious mutant coronavirus strain.
Victoria and Western Australia want people flying from the UK to be tested before they board a plane and to be banned from travel if they return positive results.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said national cabinet will consider a proposal that he requested Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly review through the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, "particularly in the context of the UK strain".
"The proposal is to further strengthen the COVID safety of end to end international travel processes, from arrival at airport of embarkation in the exit country, to final clearance from hotel quarantine in Australia," Mr Morrison said in a statement on Facebook on Wednesday night.
No new infections, tests urged
With no new infections found locally or in hotel quarantine, it brings active cases across the state to 38, down from 41 on Wednesday. There were 32,767 tests completed across Wednesday, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
It's the first time Victoria has recorded a 'doughnut day' - zero new cases and zero deaths from COVID-19 - since December 30. But three cases were announced late in the evening on that day, and included in the total for December 31.
Victoria's COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said people who visited Zara in Chadstone between 6am and 1.30pm on Boxing Day, you should get tested immediately and isolate.
He said the phone data of the man in his 30s from Vermont South who returned a positive test on Wednesday was used to identify information around his journey through the popular south-eastern suburbs shopping centre.
"We need to run this to ground now … it’s important we use this time to locate any potential cases of coronavirus anywhere in Victoria," Mr Weimar said.
"We ask you to come forward and get tested now, if you were at Zara on Boxing Day, particularly if you were feeling unwell on Boxing Day."
There are now 28 COVID-19 cases connected to the Black Rock cluster, with 27 of those currently active.
Around 1300 people considered close contacts to positive cases are now in isolation, with another 1300 secondary contacts also isolating.
Mr Andrews said that group of people are "doing their isolation for all of us".
"They are spending these holiday weeks locked up at home. It is critically important people observe that … isolation period."
He said if new cases eventuate in Victoria, but they’re people already in isolation, they are "not a great concern to us, except for the case’s wellbeing".
There have been 140,000 tests completed with Victoria over the last five days.
Just one COVID-19 case was reported in Victoria on Wednesday, a man in his 30s who attended sales at Chadstone on December 26 and the MCG Boxing Day Test match on December 27, before later testing positive to the virus.
Professor Cheng said the decision to list Chadstone and the MCG as possible acquisition sites for the mystery case was precautionary, and it was more likely he caught the virus elsewhere
"He has had a number of contacts in private houses. I think they would probably be more likely," he said.
"I think it’s most likely we have another cluster going on."
With Katina Curtis
Ashleigh McMillan is a breaking news reporter at The Age. Got a story? Email me at a.mcmillan@theage.com.au