Tipping point Playground closures COVID-19 curfew and Melbourne lockdown extended

The Victorian government will implement stronger measures to control Melbourne’s worsening COVID-19 outbreak, including closing playgrounds and introducing a curfew similar to the one in place during the state’s second wave.

The city’s lockdown is set to be extended until September 2, with new clusters emerging in different parts of the city.

The new rules have been introduced to stamp out rule-breaking behaviour.

Health officials are concerned about a handful of mystery cases that indicate the virus is spreading unchecked throughout the city.

Victoria recorded 22 new local cases of COVID-19 on Monday as residents in two large apartment blocks in Melbourne’s inner north were told to isolate after positive cases.

Fourteen of the new locally acquired cases were in isolation for the entirety of their infectious periods. Five of the new cases have not yet been linked to current outbreaks.

More than 29,980 people were tested for COVID-19 on Sunday and 19,880 Victorians were vaccinated.

New night curfew

The stronger measures come after Victoria Police singled out those loitering outside hospitality venues and undertaking “pub crawls” on Sunday.

A large engagement party that took place in the south-eastern suburbs last week against COVID-19 directions has also been referred to Victoria Police.

Professor Jodie McVernon, the director of epidemiology at Melbourne’s Doherty Institute, said she did not believe putting a curfew on Melbourne to stop social mixing would be successful in reducing spread, with most European countries choosing to either conduct a lockdown or a curfew.

The curfew would be similar to the one imposed during the city’s second wave.Credit:Getty

“Personally, I’m not aware of any evidence that proves that curfews per se are particularly efficacious,” she told ABC Radio National on Monday morning,

“Clearly we need the public to co-operate with these measures if they’re to be effective.

“You know, the worry we have is these sort of multi-focal outbreaks occurring … we’re not sure even how the first two cases occurred or where they came from.

“Lockdowns will take a week or two to really break down those random connections that obviously have led to these unidentified seeding events.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said on Sunday no one should be bending the two-hour exercise restriction and spending hours in parks catching up with people, because it made the jobs of contact tracers “much, much harder”.

Exposure site list passes 500 mark

A public housing tower at 480 Lygon Street in Carlton has been listed as a tier-2 exposure site for more than a week, after potential COVID-19 exposure from August 8 to August 15.

Anyone who lives at or visited the tower between those dates must get tested immediately and isolate until they receive a negative result. Some residents will be considered primary close contacts and will have to isolate for 14 days.

A Blackwood Street apartment in North Melbourne is now a COVID-19 exposure site. Credit:Joe Armao

Residents in an apartment building on North Melbourne’s Blackwood Street are also being required to isolate and get tested after a confirmed case visited the venue across three days last week.

Level five of the “south building” at 23 Blackwood Street is now a tier-2 exposure site from 12am August 11 to 1pm on August 13.

Another apartment building on Fitzroy Street in St Kilda has been locked down for two weeks on Sunday after it was visited by a COVID-positive cleaner mid-last week.

Paul is a Victorian political reporter for The Age.

Ashleigh McMillan is a breaking news reporter at The Age. Got a story? Email me at a.mcmillan@theage.com.au

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