So it's going to be in some ways [it will be]more stressful for a lot of people.". How can I best get on with living my best life?, NSW expects Covid hospitalisations to peak next week. Of today's cases, 24 were in the community during their infectious period. This resulted in the state being able to emerge from the final lockdown five days ahead of schedule and the return of freedoms so desperately desired. Cooper says she felt significantly safer when Melbourne was in lockdown and finds the argument that people should get over their concern about a global pandemic incredibly invalidating. Northcote woman Phoebe* is also feeling a sense of arrested development. So which ones are best? Are you willing to justify risking the health of vulnerable people for that privilege?. Australia recorded more cases in the first two weeks of 2022 than in the previous two years combined. Its relentless. 'Providing rapid-antigen testing kits for those who want to do the right thing will help take the pressure of our testing clinics, while giving people confidence to get on with their lives.'. For the most vulnerable people, the only way to manage this risk is to retreat. Melbourne extends sixth virus lockdown Almost seven million people in Melbourne and surrounding Victoria state were scheduled to exit a four-week lockdown on Thursday, but state premier Dan Andrews said it would no longer be possible with case numbers rising by 92 overnight. The first Covid-19 vaccine doses are administered in Australia. The Department of Transport's figures show public transport usage steadily rose through December to hit 83 per cent of February 2020 levels before crashing to 32 per cent. Victoria's roadmap out of lockdown is announced. Victorias latest Covid rules have been labelled a shadow lockdown by the opposition which claims isolation rules, density limits and restrictions have smashed Melbourne businesses. He added that the government was encouraging dance floors to be closed. You can find Tuesday's blog here. Housing policies favour the rich and leave first home buyers high and dry. This is an additional 14 days on the previous directions. I know and understand that this is challenging and there is no family that has not been touched by that over the last few years and certainly many touched by that over the last few weeks and months, he said. Victoria recorded eight new cases on Wednesday, seven of them linked to a returned family and a crew of removalists, who both came into the state from NSW. To be able to work out your working from home tax deduction you will need to keep a record of the days from which you work from home. Face masks are required at all major events with more than 30,000 people. Some email providers try to silence us. Took a while for the anxiety to die down to get to this point but now I dont want to do anything else., Richard Chigwin is experiencing his third summer without customers. Join the conversation, you are commenting as. Face masks are mandatory in all indoor settings in Victoria, except private homes,for anyone aged eight or over. Not so shipshape! "In the past, you could say it's OK, it's the government, it's the policy, but that's not what we have right now. That's a higher turnout than the first day last year, when 17,922 attendees were recorded. The strengthened settings will see a curfew imposed from 9pm to 5am every night. To access the most up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Victoria, visit the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Victoria website or call the 24-hour Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398. Most of the population is vaccinated and harsh restrictions have ended. Worried. The Sydney suburb of Avalon records an outbreak of Covid-19, after NSW had gone 12 days with zero community transmission. "I need to find any cases that are out there to get them under control, and obviously we need to continue to work very closely with our red zone arrivals to make sure that these flying embers don't catch light again," Victoria's Covid-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar told reporters earlier on Wednesday. Premier Peter Gutwein said with a highly vaccinated population Tasmania would not be heading into lockdown or closing its borders because of the climbing case numbers. Deputy Premier James Merlino urged hospitality venues to switch to a seated-only service to reduce transmission. But the Victoria government waited far longer than we did to go into the lockdown situation," Ms Berejiklian said. Housing policies favour the rich and leave first home buyers high and dry. Far fewer know their real story. "The number that would worry us in the last 24 hours is the 24 number. It just feels like theres no plan and younger people are bearing the brunt of it.. On Friday 7th January 2022, 21,728 cases were recorded in Victoria, However at 9.18am on Saturday 8th January 2022, the Victoria Department of Health twitted out that the number of new cases was 51,356. Mr Byrne said a "shadow lockdown" was a fair description for the situation. He said the lockdown, which had "sort of emerged organically", would also bring with it different levels of anxiety, uncertainty and confusion for some people. Public transport usage in the city centre has fallen to 73 per cent below the baseline. Melbourne spent more time in lockdown than any other city on Earth. The public servant, 25, contracted Covid along with 16 others at a house party late last month. The World Health Organisation declares the novel coronavirus to be a pandemic. Sign notifying customers that rapid antigen test (RAT) kits are sold out. Victoria has revealed eight new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, with a major Melbourne shopping centre and an AFL game potential points of exposure. Time Out rebrands as Time In worldwide to bring our readers ways to connect with their cities and support urban culture without leaving home. Today the state reported nearly 22,000 new infections, but the true number is likely much higher. Premier Gladys Berejiklain said its "very difficult" to compare the current situation in Sydney to the situation experienced by Melbourne last year. He also feels the loss of the sense of collective action which, for some, underscored the long lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. 'People have come forward to get tested in record numbers, which is important to help keep people and the community safe, but we need to make sure our testing clinics are there for people who really need it,' Mr Perrottet said. Around one third of businesses in Melbournes Chapel Street precinct have had to shut or reduce hours in recent weeks due to Covid-induced staff shortages. Residents attending major events with more than 30,000 spectators will also have to wear a face mask. If the measure of success in responding to the pandemic is the amount of disease prevented and lives saved, Australia will undoubtedly be held up globally as an exemplar of best practice. Victorian Acting Chief Health Officer Ben Cowie said it would be likely that come January 10, Victoria's testing system would have diagnosed "more people than it did for all of 2021". Australia has one of the most powerful passports in the world. There are other signs, too, that highlight a shift in focus from enjoying the freedoms of a reopened economyto navigating the pressure causedby the rapid rise in Omicron cases. The areas of concern are Fairfield local government area, Roselands, Rosebury, Canterbury, Belmore, Sutherland shire, the St George area, Windsor, St Ives, Penrith and Bayside local government area," she said. It remains to be seen how this unofficial lockdown will affect the Australian Open, which has only just begun in Melbourne. Hospitality venues are recommended to switch to a seated-only service. 'Masks have a very small individual cost for us,' he said. "We need to see the numbers decrease. Which in normal times would mean nothing as Covid is not really any different from the flu. How did it come to this? Victoria's fifth lockdown ends, but less than a week later, the stateis plunged back into another long lockdown. Victoria asks (but does not mandate) people to wear masks in public for the first time. Victorian premier Dan Andrews announces that only two people may gather outside unless they are members of a household, as well as the only four reasons people are permitted to leave home: NSW health minister Brad Hazzard announces that there are 16 reasons to leave home in NSW. The state government put Melbourne into its second lockdown in early July after cases exceeded 100 cases per day. "We are will have to vaccinate again against Covid and will have further advice about boosters but in the context of an outbreak, what we want to do is give people the advice so that they are protected.". Were very keen to make sure we get a very firm grip of this as soon as we possibly can, Mr Weimar said. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. The reintroduction of density limits, mask mandates and other restrictions has also meant consumers are most hesitant to shop, keeping vital dollars way from local businesses. Mr Morrison told day that with the arrival of Omicron, and Australia's high vaccination numbers, the government's approach had "shifted gears". So which ones are best? Victoria on Thursday confirmed. I cannot stress this enough that everyone needs to take it seriously as hard lockdown," she said. Victorians should work from home if they can. There are growing calls for Greater Sydney to be placed into a hard lockdown similar to the one imposed in Melbourne last year, but chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant insists NSW is already under "hard" restrictions. Australian government frontbencher Simon Birmingham told the ABC on Friday that demand for testing, from both PCR and rapid tests, had been far in excess of what has been modelled in Australia and all around the world. Victoria goes into lockdown for the sixth time, are permitted to establish a 'single's bubble, More than 10,000 Australians have now died of Covid-19. More than two years old, we've passed another grim milestone: 10,000 people have now died of Covid-19 in Australia. The only thing different now and previous lockdowns is Daniel Andrews has left small businesses to fend for themselves by not provided the support needed at this crucial time, he said. There will be another pandemic and potentially this will occur sooner than we all would like. The thought of lockdown again is what is giving me a lot of anxiety and a lot of dread it scares me, says Melbourne man James Burke. All of which makes me wonder if we are heading towards a summer lockdown. "Were very keen to make sure we get a very firm grip of this as soon as we possibly can.". Hard to see how Vic doesnt end up in Lockdown no. The ship is later linked to up to 900 infections of Covid-19. Victorians displayed enough collective adhesion to the strict public health orders that were in place to make those orders effective. Pictured are Melbourne Demons fans during the AFL Grand Final in Perth on September 25. "Feeling tense. It now feels as though it is going to define parts of my life trajectory where I was hoping it wouldnt, she says. Cafs and restaurants to seat up to ten people at any one time; and. Lockdown measures ease in regional Victoria but remain in metropolitan Melbourne. Massive gas tanker crashes in Maryland and EXPLODES into fireball killing the driver and setting local What will the next pandemic be? But will it be safer for women? These were exposed in all their awfulness during the pandemic. As the Covid years continue we are losing our magical thinking it will go away and not be a changing burden to our life, she says. A new test, the rapid Antigen test which can be done at home has become available. The move marks the first significant change in Covid restrictions in any state since an emergency national cabinet meeting linked to the hyper-contagious strain. Worried. Its another slap in the face to business owners that have suffered through two years of harsh restrictions.. The ship is later linked to up to 900 infections, Cinemas, entertainment venues, casinos, and nightclubs, Restaurants and cafs except for takeaway and/or home delivery, Melbourne distiller Gypsy Hub is the first (that we know of). COVID 19 11:26am Jun 4, 2022 Almost everyone has a pre-existing condition, Cooper says. Context is important and needs to be factored into any critique. This is clearly one of the biggest failures of the Victorian public health response to the pandemic, and was the catalyst for the devastating second wave in Victoria. Despite promising not to re-impose stay-at-home orders, Mr Andrews' second-in-command on Thursday ordered Victorians to wear face masks in all indoor public spaces as part of major changes to the state's social distancing measures. Until today I had not thought that that was a serious option, now Im reconsidering. Multicultural groups are more reliant on different channels to get their health advice and may have different attitudes towards government and health officials. Lotus lifestyle EV division to go public . It's hard to believe that while Australia was so focused on the bushfires that raged in the early part of 2020, another threat was already on our shores one that would change the way we live and work for years. To go on holiday, particularly interstate, people have been required to get tested. Melbourne has endured the world's longest cumulative time in lockdown, . This brings the total number of infections in NSW to 864. There's no Victorian COVID-19 lockdown, but Melburnians are choosing to stay home anyway By Joseph Dunstan Posted Tue 18 Jan 2022 at 11:16am, updated Tue 18 Jan 2022 at 4:38pm Even though lockdowns have officially ended, central Melbourne remains quiet as Omicron cases surge. "If you're fully vaccinated then your life will be back to normal, you'll be able to enjoy all of the things that you have yearned for and miss and desperately worked so hard for," Mr Andrews said as the state arrived at its 90 per cent vaccination target. This is clearly a very rapidly moving situation. Melbourne 12:10pm Jun 8, 2022 Shanghai neighbourhoods return to lockdown Multiple neighbourhoods in Shanghai were placed back under lockdown only a day after city-wide restrictions were lifted, as China's stringent zero COVID-19 strategy continues to haunt the financial hub. 30 Aug, 2021, 08.26 AM IST 250 held in Australia anti-lockdown protests Melbourne exits its sixth lockdown, after 263 cumulative days. 'Wear a mask in an indoor setting. But before we do this, its vital we look back and learn every lesson we can so next time we are faced with such a crisis and there will be a next time we can do better. In case you missed it, the Sydney removalists who carried the virus to an apartment block in the Melbourne suburb of Maribyrnong have not been as forthcoming as authorities would like regarding the details of their trip. He said authorities estimated one in 20 Victorians aged in their 20s currently had the virus, compared to onein 50 Victorians of all ages. Guardian Australia journalist Melissa Davey said there was "no way (the Victorian government) will delay any restrictions they think are needed given the way Delta is spreading in NSW". of the novel coronavirus. The announcement of the restrictions comes a fortnight after density limits and the closure of indoor dancefloors were recommended by the Chief Health Officer as the state headed towards Christmas and New Year celebrations. Thomas Barbera says his friend groups have done the same, and it has caused some uncomfortable conversations. National cabinet encourages wearing masks to combat COVID-19. Hassan Vally does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. 'Please confirm what Muslim refers to': Why Ali's birthday payment for his nephew was flagged by his bank, These engineers break their silenceafterdecade of criticism overBrisbane2011 flood handling, Kade was a fit 31-year-old when he died from a heart attack, Sherpa are world famous for their work, which is synonymous with their name. The outbreaks that devastated the aged-care sector during the second wave in Victoria were desperately sad. When I have been asked for my opinion I have said that we will be free to have summer and then we will go back into lockdown in March. It would have been so easy to lose hope and stop complying with the tough restrictions en masse, especially as Victorians navigated their way through lockdown six, arguably the toughest to endure. In the past fortnight none of my patients have gone to ICU. You can find Marks Subscribestar here. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. "This is a hard lockdown. We reflect on what we've learnt after 100 days of lockdown in Melbourne. The way hotel quarantine was managed in Victoria in the early part of the pandemic can only be described as a mess.