Victoria to scrap 14-day quarantine for fully vaccinated entering from red zones

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 2 years ago

Victoria to scrap 14-day quarantine for fully vaccinated entering from red zones

By Cassandra Morgan
Updated

Victoria will scrap 14-day quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated people entering the state from “red zones”, as NSW plans to stop quarantining fully vaccinated international arrivals in coming weeks.

Health Minister Martin Foley said people arriving from areas of NSW designated red zones under the state’s border control system would instead need to test negative to COVID-19 no more than 72 hours before entering Victoria and then isolate, get tested again within 72 hours and stay isolated until they receive a negative test result.

The significant easing of Victoria’s border permit system, which takes effect from 11.59pm on Tuesday, was revealed soon after the NSW government announced hotel and home quarantine would no longer be required for fully vaccinated people entering that state, including those coming from overseas, from November 1.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced the policy shift on Friday, declaring his state was “open for business”, as Victoria recorded 2179 new coronavirus cases and six deaths and brought its vaccine mandate into force for all authorised workers. The lockdown in Mildura was also extended by a week.

Loading

“We want people back. We are leading the nation out of the pandemic,” Mr Perrottet said.

At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said NSW had confirmed 210 unvaccinated people would be allowed in each week and that he had asked other states to confirm their weekly caps on unvaccinated travellers. There will be no caps on fully vaccinated arrivals.

Mr Morrison stressed it would not be open slather for everyone in the world to come to Australia, saying the Commonwealth would stick to its plan of allowing travel only by Australian citizens and residents and their families at first.

Mr Foley said he had been unaware that NSW was going to make its new policy announcement. He conceded it could potentially result in overseas travellers flying into NSW, then entering Victoria without being forced to isolate for 14 days, as they would have to do if they flew into Tullamarine.

Advertisement

However, he said he understood the international travellers would have to test negative for COVID-19 before they came to Australia, as well as be fully vaccinated.

“They’ll have to comply with the permit systems that apply in the Victorian circumstance.”

“The NSW government have just announced this as I understand it. We’re yet to see the details; we don’t know beyond the media release what the particular circumstances are. We’ll have a good look at it.

“I’m sure other states will be facing exactly the same issue. But what NSW do is a matter for NSW.”

Victoria’s 2179 new coronavirus cases reported on Friday came from 73,942 COVID-19 tests. The number of new cases was 118 fewer than the national daily case record of 2297 Victoria set on Thursday.

At Friday’s COVID-19 update it was revealed the latest people to die with the virus were three men aged in their 80s – from Brimbank, Darebin and Boroondara – two women in their 80s – from Hume and Moreland – and a woman in her 50s from Moonee Valley.

Construction on the Mickleham quarantine facility on Thursday.

Construction on the Mickleham quarantine facility on Thursday. Credit: Joe Armao

More than 38,752 Victorians received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at a state-run clinic on Thursday. Victoria now has 21,324 active coronavirus cases.

Mr Foley said there were 695 people in the state’s hospitals with COVID-19. Of those, 157 were in intensive care, and 101 were on a ventilator.

With a further 34 cases recorded in the region, Mildura’s week-long lockdown – which started at midnight last Friday – was extended by an additional seven days.

“Indeed, given the complexities of that outbreak across cross-border communities ... [the] local public health unit, the local health services [need time to] bring this into a more manageable situation,” Mr Foley said.

The breakdown on Friday’s COVID case numbers

Victoria recorded 2179 new COVID-19 cases on Friday. Here’s the breakdown of where they were recorded:

  • In Melbourne’s northern suburbs, 585 cases;
  • In the western suburbs, 669 cases;
  • In the south-eastern suburbs, 616 cases;
  • In the eastern suburbs, 100 cases;
  • In regional Victoria 193 cases, including: 26 in Shepparton; 28 in Greater Geelong; 21 in Latrobe; 20 in Baw Baw; and, 34 in Mildura;
  • An additional 16 cases.

Under the new border arrangements announced on Friday, travellers entering Victoria from red zones who aren’t fully vaccinated will still be required to quarantine for 14 days.

Children under the age of 12 who are not eligible to get vaccinated will travel under a parent’s permit and the requirements will be determined by that adult’s vaccination status.

People coming from “orange zones” will no longer be required to get tested for COVID-19 and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Victorian COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said 88 per cent of Victorian residents aged 16 and over had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 63 per cent were fully vaccinated. Seventy per cent of those aged 12 to 15 have had their first dose.

A COVID-19 vaccine mandate came into effect for all authorised Victorian workers on Friday, with about 1.25 million people now required to be vaccinated with a first dose to keep attending their workplaces.

Those who are yet to have their first jab can continue working if they prove they have a booking to receive their first dose by October 22, which is next Friday.

The deadline for a first dose does not apply to workers who were already subject to a vaccine mandate in place under the Chief Health Officer’s directions before October 1. This group includes construction, health and aged care workers, and teachers.

All authorised workers must have their second jab by November 26 to keep attending their workplaces.

No dodging vaccine mandate: Foley

Mr Foley said public health orders mandating vaccinations for the state’s authorised workers would be in place for a “substantial period of time, well into 2022”.

He said those who refused to get vaccinated because they expected the mandate would soon ease were taking a “huge and foolish risk” if they thought “the expiration of these current orders will see that obligation mysteriously vanish”.

Loading

“We have to deliver those booster shots. We have to continue to make sure that as we open up internationally, we have in place restrictions and safeguards ... that return us to the kind of lifestyle that we had, as close as possible [to] pre-pandemic, but it has to be done safely,” Mr Foley said.

“The key to that safety is being double-dose vaccinated. If you choose to place yourself outside of that system, then you have to be prepared to wear the consequences of your actions.”

Mr Foley explained businesses that failed to comply with the vaccination mandate for authorised workers faced fines, saying it was largely up to employers to sight and manage their staff members’ proof of vaccinations.

Etto Pasta Bar co-owner Dave Ansett said most of his 50-odd staff members – who are spread across several restaurants – were double-dosed as of Friday, with only a couple yet to get their second jab.

He started having the conversation about mandatory vaccinations with his employees months ago, in anticipation of a government announcement.

Etto Pasta Bar founders Stephane Meyer (left) and Dave Ansett.

Etto Pasta Bar founders Stephane Meyer (left) and Dave Ansett.

“At that stage, out of the 50 staff, we probably had six staff who were somewhere between a little anxious and very anxious about it,” Mr Ansett said.

“At the point where the government actually mandated it, all but two of those staff had already been and [received] their first vaccination.”

Loading

Mr Ansett said he and his business partner pushed the message that it was the responsibility of all staff members to keep their customers and each other safe, reasoning the government was likely to take the decision out of businesses’ hands, as eventuated.

“It was actually really valuable to have that in the toolkit because then it’s not just about us, it’s about if you want to work in hospitality, then this is the lie of the land,” he said.

Mr Ansett thought some business owners who did not like having tough conversations with their employees might struggle with the mandate. Looking ahead, he was concerned about how his employees would turn away unvaccinated and potentially abusive customers.

“We got supplied with posters to put up in our window saying all of our staff are vaccinated, and we’ve made a decision not to put them up because we think it’ll make our business a target,” he said.

Authorities announced on Thursday that, from 11.59pm, the ACT would be downgraded from a “red zone” to an orange zone under Victoria’s traffic light travel permit system.

The change is in line with lockdown lifting in the territory, and means people in the ACT who are not residents of Victoria are now allowed to come into the state. It also means Victorian residents returning from the territory no longer have to quarantine for 14 days.

Residents and non-residents alike must isolate upon arriving in Victoria, get tested for COVID-19 within 72 hours of arriving, and stay isolated until they return a negative test result.

Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed Victoria remained on track to follow its road map out of lockdown next week, despite the new national record for daily case numbers on Thursday.

Stay across the most crucial developments related to the pandemic with the Coronavirus Update. Sign up for the weekly newsletter.

Most Viewed in National

Loading