The Victorian government has not ruled out the possibility that stay-at-home orders may return for Melbourne’s COVID-19 hotspots if the number of new confirmed cases continues to increase as they have been for the last week.
For the first time in three months, Victoria has 75 new cases reported in one day (as of June 29, 11 a.m.). The last time one-day figures were as high was March 31, when 96 new cases were recorded.
The state’s total case numbers were 2,099—1,775 have recovered, 20 have died, and 288 are active.
Locking Down Hotspots a Possibility
Victoria’s Chief Medical Officer Brett Sutton said the lockdown of suburban areas requires careful consideration and should be a “last resort.”He highlighted the logistical difficulties of implementing a postcode based lockdown, including the concern that people may not adhere to it.
‘The very best approach is to ramp up all of the things that we are doing now,” he added.
“This is a text book approach in how you respond to outbreaks and I think if we can get people’s cooperation and that behaviour change sustained over the next couple of weeks then we'll see numbers go down.”
The premier said restrictions will be reviewed once they have the results of the testing blitz in the hotspot suburbs.
Sutton said partial lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus were not off the table.
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