Melburnians are holding their breaths ahead of Daniel Andrews’ coronavirus press conference due later this morning, hoping for a possible earlier relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.
The state has recorded seven new cases today, Sunday, with the 14-day rolling average standing now at 4.6.
But the Victorian Premier cautioned that the course of recent outbreaks in Melbourne’s northern suburbs would be key in determining imminent reopening steps.
“I just want to caution people from banking that tomorrow,” Mr Andrews told reporters on Saturday.
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“It will be a very late night and a very early morning, so we can get as many results on the table so that we can have the most complete picture available to us.
It would be wrong to call people to test and then make decisions without having looked at those test results.”
Noting that health authorities were expecting a rise in emerging cases, he stressed that linkages to known sources would be crucial in giving the green light for a safe reopening.
“If there are no linkages — if they’re not linked in any way — then that speaks to the fact that there may be more virus in that northern part of the city than we would be comfortable with,” he said.
Following low daily tallies in the start of the week, an outbreak that started at the East Preston Islamic College, after a student who attended classe on Monday and Tuesday tested COVID-19 positive, sparked an alert for five suburbs in Melbourne’s north: Dallas, Roxburgh Park, Broadmeadows, Preston and West Heidelberg.
Contact tracing has led to hundreds of residents ordered to self-isolate, while more than 9,400 tests have been conducted in the surrounding areas.