Covid-19 Update for Victoria (July 11 2020)

Today's update for Covid-19 in my state & local area. For those who weren't aware I live in Baw Baw Shire in Eastern Victoria. Sadly Greater Melbourne is currently in it's second wave.


🦠Gippsland Covid-19 July 11 update🦠

• Gippsland has four active cases of Covid-19, with another case diagnosed today in the Baw Baw shire. Authorities have recorded two active cases in Baw Baw, one in South Gippsland and one in East Gippsland.

• Victoria has recorded 3,560 cases of coronavirus with 216 new cases reported today. To date, 23 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria. 535 cases may indicate community transmission. There are currently 1,249 active cases in Victoria. There are 49 people in hospital, and 15 patients in intensive care.

• The cumulative number of cases in Gippsland is 41: Wellington (13), Latrobe (9), Baw Baw (7), South Gippsland (6), Bass Coast (4), East Gippsland (2). Wellington’s total cases increased to 13 today, with all cases listed as recovered.

• A staff member at West Gippsland Healthcare Group has tested positive to Coronavirus. The employee has not been at work since last Saturday, July 4. Chief executive officer Dan Weeks said all visitors and staff at the Warragul hospital site on Landsborough Street need to wear a mask.

• The Victorian Government has reimposed stage three restrictions for six weeks in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire.

• The advice for people in Gippsland is to “Stay safe.”
  Gippslanders can leave their house for all purposes, but should work from home if they can, and the same goes for higher education.

• Gippslanders cannot enter restricted areas except for necessary purposes including sourcing necessary goods or services; work and education if necessary; medical care or compassionate reasons. Exemptions include visiting a person with whom you are in an intimate personal relationship.

• Victoria has decided to delay plans that would allow regional Victorians to resume full-contact training and competition for people aged 19 and over. Full-contact training was scheduled to resume on Monday 13 July, with full-contact competition set to return on 20 July. However, with a significant increase in coronavirus cases in Melbourne, and active cases in a number of many regional communities, the Chief Health Officer has determined that community sport in regional Victoria must remain non-contact.

• Police are taking a common sense approach to issuing fines for breaching the lockdown, including entering a restricted area. You can drive through Melbourne, but travellers should aim to fill up with fuel before entering the restricted area. If you do fill up, try to use gloves or hand sanitiser and practice social distancing.

• V/Line trains on the Gippsland line are running as normal and Victoria Police will enforce the restrictions about people entering from locked down areas.

• Victoria's ski season has been put on hold after the closure of ski lifts at two of the state's major resorts. Vail Resorts, which operates lifts at Mount Hotham and Falls Creek, say it's suspending operations until at least August the 19th. The company says it made the decision after the reintroduction of stage three restrictions in Melbourne and the closure of the New South Wales border.

• There has been no change to the way businesses outside of metropolitan Melbourne can operate, except that businesses now need to check identification as part of record requirements and refuse service to those who reside in metropolitan Melbourne or Mitchell Shire LGA.

• Schools will start term three with face-to-face learning in Gippsland as planned, on Monday, July 13

• The border between NSW and Victoria has closed. To travel from Victorian into NSW you need a permit. The only people not required to have a border permit are emergency service and law enforcement workers and people "entering NSW to avoid injury or escape a risk of harm".

• There are 11 permit categories which include, but is not limited to a NSW resident returning home, a resident living within 50 kilometres of the NSW border, a carer or someone applying on compassionate grounds. Included in the list of eligible persons are seasonal workers (such as backpackers), students or their guardians accompanying them, consular officials and a member of Parliament or their staff. The permit will last 14 days after it is granted, although for people who live in border communities the permit will last for the duration of the border closure.

• Victorians travelling in NSW will be allowed to return home and don’t need to apply for a permit. People who are travelling from NSW into Victoria won’t be stopped.

• Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton says social distancing is crucial. " “This virus is not selective - it will impact anyone it encounters, and personal contact is the clear source of its transmission.”

• 🧪 COVID-19 testing is based on the clinical symptoms which include any fever, chills or breathing problems, specifically cough, sore throat or shortness of breath.

•  If you suspect you may have coronavirus call the dedicated hotline: 1800 675 398.