BREAKING NEWS. Daniel Andrews Announcement on Business Closures, Reduced Hours, and Unchanged. South Gippsland Stays on 5 Active Cases-update. Dan Foreshadows stage 5 restrictions if these don’t work.

Workplace Restrictions-Apply mainly to Metropolitan Melbourne.
Group 1-remaining open-unaffected

Supermarkets, groceries, food, petrol stations, banks, post offices, front line response.

No need to hoard, or bulk buy-supplies will flow through as normal.

Group 2-Closures.

Apply from Midnight Wednesday August 5th.

Retail some Manufacturing, some Admin. A few exemptions.

Bunnings stores not open but can collect goods from an online order.

Group 3-scale back.

Stay open but reduced capacity and much differently.

Meatworks more to 2/3rd production. Workplace will have much stricter workplace arrangements for protection of staff. Testing and safety clothing gear to be made available.

Apply from Midnight Friday August 7th.

Other Sectors-construction-into three parts

1. Very large scale Govt projects reduced by half.

2. Very large commercial buildings such as apartments, warehouses, if above 3 stories, reduce down to practical minimum, no more than 25% of workforce working.

3. Normal house construction limited to 5 workers on site at any given time.

Abattoirs in ALL areas have these restrictions.

Support for business.

All businesses forced to close including in regional Victoria will get a $5000 grant.

Mitchell Shire to get two of the $5000 grants ($10,000)

 

Statement From The Premier

Yesterday, we asked Victorians to make some big sacrifices. Big, real and meaningful sacrifices. Today, sadly, we need to ask the same of Victorian businesses and Victorian workers.

As Premier, I’ve spent every day fighting for workers and fighting for jobs.

I understand deeply: a job means financial security – but it also means stability, purpose and the foundation to build your future.

Truthfully, I never thought I’d find myself in a position where I’d have to ask people not to go to work.

But if we’re serious about driving this thing down – and we absolutely must be – we need to take unprecedented steps in limiting the movement of people, and therefore limiting the movement of this virus.

Today I can announce three lists that will apply during Stage 4 restrictions.

These changes, in addition to the previous restrictions including working from home requirements, will mean around 1 million Victorians are no longer moving around the state for work.

First: supermarkets, grocery stores, bottle shops, pharmacies, petrol stations, banks, newsagencies, post offices – plus everyone involved in our frontline response – will continue to operate.

Second: Industries where onsite operations will have to cease for the next six weeks including retail, some manufacturing and administration. These businesses will all need to close by 11:59pm Wednesday 5 August, unless they have specific circumstances that mean they need longer to shutdown safely.

Retail stores will be permitted to operate contactless ‘click and collect’ and delivery services with strict safety protocols in place, and hardware stores can remain open onsite, but for tradespeople only.

The third and final list is made up of industries that are permitted to operate – but under significantly different conditions.

Whether it’s our food production, waste collection or supply chain logistics we need some things to continue – but they’ve got do so safely.

All open businesses and services will have until 11:59pm Friday 7 August to enact a COVIDSafe plan focused on safety, prevention and response in the event that coronavirus is linked to the workplace – because beating this virus requires a rapid response wherever it rears its head.

In industries that can’t close, but where we’ve seen a number of cases or emerging new risks, we’ll be making some big changes to make these workplaces safer – for workers and for their families.

That includes mandated reductions to the number of workers onsite. In the meat industry – and based on the minimum required to operate safely onsite – the workforce will be scaled back to two-thirds. Unlike other changes, and recognising the risk these sites have posed here and around the world, this will apply to abattoirs in Melbourne and across the state.

Warehousing and distribution centres in Melbourne will be limited to no more than two-thirds the normal workforce allowed onsite at any one time.

Our construction sector, the lifeblood of our economy, will also move to pilot light levels. This will allow the industry to keep ticking – while also making sure we limit the number of people onsite.

For major construction sites, that means the absolute minimum required for safety – but no more than 25 per cent of the normal workforce onsite. Small-scale construction will be limited to a maximum of five people onsite.

To date, we’ve almost halved the number of people onsite on some of our biggest Government projects. Now we’re going to go through project by project, line by line to make sure they are reduced to the practical minimum number of workers.

These workplaces that are continuing to operate will also have additional requirements including extra PPE, staggering shifts, staggering breaks, health declarations and more support for sick workers to ensure they stay home.

To give one example, workers in abattoirs will be kitted out in full PPE – gowns, masks and shields – more akin to what a nurse would wear. They’ll also be subject to routine testing.

These changes will be enforceable. And the onus will be on employers to make sure they’re doing the right thing by their workers, including ensuring those with symptoms – and potentially the virus – do not come to work.

As always, this work will be done in consultation with industry and with unions.

And for those businesses and industries that fall into grey areas when it comes to their operation, the dedicated Industry Coordination Centre within the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions will consider their case.

I understand this will have real and heavy consequences for a number of businesses, workers and their families. We’ll do everything we can to lighten that load.

For those businesses that suffer significant losses or need to close as a result of the current restrictions, we will provide support through our expanded Business Support Fund.

Businesses in regional Victoria can apply for a $5,000 grant while those in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire can apply for up to $10,000 in recognition of spending longer under restrictions.

Honestly, this will be an imperfect process.

The decision of which column to put millions of Victorian jobs – millions of Victorian workers – could never be clear cut.

And, as much as we’d like one, there is no playbook when it comes to a pandemic.

But what is clear is that if we don’t do this now, if this doesn’t work, then we’ll need a much longer list of complete shutdowns.

It’s hard to imagine what a Stage 5 might look like. But it would radically change the way people live. Not just rules on when and where you can go shopping – but restrictions on going shopping at all.

This will be hard. It’ll be frustrating. It’ll be confusing. For a lot of workers and their families, it’ll be heartbreaking.

But the only way to get people back to work and businesses back open is by making these tough decisions – and by Victorians abiding by them.

We have to make this work.

Lives and livelihoods are counting on it.

Latest DHHS Daily Update. August 3rd

Victoria has recorded 429 new cases of coronavirus since yesterday, with the total number of cases now at 11,937.

The overall total has increased by 380, due to 49 cases being reclassified – largely due to duplication. 

Within Victoria, 36 of the new cases are linked to outbreaks or complex cases and 393 are under investigation. 

There have been 13 new deaths from COVID-19 reported since yesterday. They include a man in his 60s, two males and a female in their 70s, two males in their 80s and five females and two males in their 90s.

Eight of the 13 new deaths are linked to known outbreaks in aged care facilities. To date, 136 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.

In Victoria at the current time:

2031 cases may indicate community transmission
6489 cases are currently active in Victoria
416 cases of coronavirus are in hospital, including 35 in intensive care
5111 people have recovered from the virus

More than 1,676,953 tests have been processed – an increase of
5,000 since yesterday

Of the total cases: 

10,976 cases are from metropolitan Melbourne, while 703 are from regional Victoria

Total cases include 5877 men and 5962 women
Total number of healthcare workers: 1195, active cases: 706

There are 1089 active cases relating to aged care facilities

Cases currently linked to public housing in North Melbourne, Flemington and Carlton are as follows:

310 cases are residents of various public housing towers in North Melbourne and Flemington. Investigations are continuing into how these cases are linked.

67 cases are residents of various public housing towers in Carlton. Investigations are continuing into if and/or how these cases are linked.

Active aged care outbreaks with the highest cumulative case numbers are as follows:

139 cases have been linked to St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner

130 cases have been linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping
106 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer
101 cases have been linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth
88 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg
65 cases have been linked to Glendale Aged Care Facility in
63 cases have been linked to Menarock Life Aged Care in Essendon
61 cases have been linked to Aurrum Aged Care Facility in Plenty
58 cases have been linked to Outlook Gardens Aged Care facility in Dandenong North
55 cases have been linked to BaptCare Wyndham Lodge in Werribee

Cases have also been identified at Lilydale Lodge Aged Care Facility, Estia Health Aged Care Facility in Glen Waverley and BlueCross The Boulevard in Mill Park.

Cases currently linked to key outbreaks are as follows:

185 cases have been linked to Al-Taqwa College
148 cases have been linked to Bertocchi Smallgoods in Thomastown
129 cases have been linked to Somerville Retail Services in Tottenham
86 cases have been linked to JBS in Brooklyn
77 cases have been linked to Australian Lamb Company in Colac
71 cases have been linked to Melbourne Health Royal Park Campus
36 cases have been linked to Woolworths Distribution Centre Mulgrave
20 cases have been linked to Golden Farms Poultry in Breakwater
21 cases have been linked to Catholic Regional College in Sydenham
31 cases have been linked to the Linfox warehouse in Truganina
30 cases have been linked to St Vincent’s Hospital

The department is also looking into cases linked to the QANTAS Freight, the Northern Hospital Intensive Care Unit, Melbourne United (Basketball Club), Bestway Dandenong, Jayco Dandenong and Martin and Pleasance in Port Melbourne. More information will be provided in coming days as investigations continue.

As investigations are undertaken throughout the day, these outbreak totals are likely to change as the public health team identify links between cases and identified outbreaks. Organisation based outbreaks totals include contacts as well as employees/residents/staff/students of that location/business.