Martin Foley, the Victorian health minister has rejected suggestions that Victoria should follow New South Wales' lead in loosening restrictions before the Covid epidemic appears under control. He stated that it is not an indication of hope that daily Covid cases will continue to rise so easing restrictions would not be a sign that there is any hope.
He also rejected the suggestion of some federal politicians, that Australia's healthcare system was not in danger.
Foley said that 1,000 cases per day was not a sign of hope.
I doubt hundreds or even hundreds of people are in serious condition in a hospital system that's getting more stretched, despite protestations by federal ministers who wouldn't honestly know the situation of delivering one service in a Hospital [is a sign to hope].
It is not a good picture, I'm sure. This kind of stress and strain will not be good for our health.
On Saturday, Victoria saw 64 new cases. 15 of these cases were not traceable. Threety-nine cases had been in isolation throughout their infectious period.
There are currently 42 people with Covid Victoria hospital and eight in intensive.
NSW had 1,034 cases of locally acquired disease and two deaths. In NSW, there are 778 people who are in hospital with Covid-19.
Weddings in Sydney will resume on Friday with five guests. The couple and officiants are not allowed to attend. In Melbourne, weddings can only be held in extraordinary circumstances like the end of life.
Foley stated that Victorians had the chance to get out of lockdown and have manageable numbers of positive cases within the community. These are levels that will allow them to make changes in their environment.
This can be supported by high levels of vaccinations. That gives us hope. This gives us the chance to get out of this situation as soon as possible.
Foley stated that Victoria would receive its fair share from any new vaccine supply distributed by the federal government. He said, "The thing that is holding us back it supply."
If the commonwealths have more supply or are talking to others about it, they should share their knowledge with us as soon as possible.
He dismissed the suggestion that the Victorian government might provide financial support for GP clinics that open on weekends to offer vaccination clinics. He stated that funding GP services through the vaccine rollout was a responsibility of the commonwealth.
He asked when the commonwealth would stop outsourcing its responsibilities to states.
Jeroen Weimar (victoria's Covid-19 response command) said that he was still concerned by the unlinked cases reported in daily numbers. However, 20 mystery cases were linked to known outbreaks in the recent days, making the total unlikely to be 41 out of 701 cases.
Weimar stated that the Shepparton epidemic was under control, despite seven new cases being reported today.
Weimar reports that a fully-vaccinated aged care worker, who lives in Shepparton, but works in Echuca on Friday, tested positive for the virus. He has since been vaccinated and tested negative. It was not a false negative test, but a sign that vaccines are capable of speeding up recovery from the virus. Anyone who was exposed to the virus at one of the Echuca sites must still be tested and isolated.
