Workers return to CBD as Victoria records third day of no new coronavirus cases
Victoria has recorded no new local or international cases of coronavirus.
Victoria had 11 active cases on Monday, four fewer than yesterday, and the state completed 6,972 tests in the past 24 hours.
Workers returning to the Melbourne CBD made their way through Southern Cross Station on Monday morning. Credit:Jason South
The results come as 75 per cent of Victorian workers are able to return to the office on Monday, as restrictions ease.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp said she could feel a collective “sigh of relief” as Melburnians arrived back into the city on Monday morning.
“We are a city that is based on bringing people together,” Cr Capp said. “We do want to see our workplaces start to fill, we know that that will be gradual.”
“Every one extra person that comes into the city each day really brings a sense of hope and confidence to all those local city businesses.”
As coronavirus restrictions ease in Melbourne, 75 per cent of workers are allowed to return to the CBD on Monday morning.Credit:Jason South
The first vials of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine landed on Australian soil on Sunday morning, more than doubling the country’s number of vaccine doses.
An Emirates plane carried 300,000 doses of the vaccine, the second vaccine to be approved for use in Australia and the vaccine currently planned to be administered to the majority of the population.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt on Sunday defended a Victorian health worker who disposed of doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine last week.
Healthcare company Aspen Medical confirmed on Friday that 25 unused vials of the vaccine had been thrown out at St Vincent’s Care Services in Werribee after it was unable to be confirmed that they had been consistently stored at the right temperature.
Mr Hunt said the worker “did everything right” to act as he did when the integrity of the doses concerned was uncertain.
“The situation here is there was surplus and the worker in question absolutely did everything right,” Mr Hunt said.
The first vials of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine arriving at Sydney Airport on Sunday morning.Credit:Edwina Pickles
Meanwhile, the government could be forced to waive fines issued to teens who broke coronavirus restrictions under a raft of demands the Greens have issued to secure their support for an extension to Victoria’s state of emergency powers.
The Health Department also issued a warning for the Lilydale area after viral fragments were detected in wastewater.
More to come
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David Estcourt is a court and general news reporter at The Age.