COVID-19 / Australia / Update 29th & 31st January - 1st & 4th February

No locally acquired cases in any state.

State borders being opened.

Looks like the third wave has been avoided.

Vaccine program should be initiated by the end of February and expected to be concluded by October.

International border is remaining closed for the foreseeable future.

Update: 31st January

Victoria recorded no new cases today and reached 25 days without a case of local transmission.

NSW reported its 14th day without a local case. 

Queensland reported its 20th consecutive day of no local transmissions.

Update: 1st February
Perth and two West Australian regions will be placed in a five-day lockdown after a hotel quarantine worker tested positive to COVID-19, unfortunately the more virulent UK strain. 

The lockdown will affect about 80% of the state’s population.

Bad luck for that state as it has been cut off from the rest of the country by a closed border and been virus free for 10 months.

It seems virus ‘escapes’ from quarantine hotels are a real problem.

Update: 4th February 

The Australian Open Tennis is the first of the Grand Slams of the year and is held in Melbourne.

Because of Covid there were doubts that it would take place.

But the Victorian government decided that it could be run safely.

Hundreds of players and support staff were flown in by charter from Covid infected countries around the world and subjected to very strict quarantine. The measures were so strict that many of the top players were complaining bitterly about the conditions they were being subjected to. 

Maybe they should have read the small print in their contracts before coming.

There was considerable disquiet in the local community, who have been through substantial social and economic inconvenience over the last 10 months, about the AO going ahead and that things could go pear shaped.

And yesterday, their fears could have come to fruition.

A security worker in one of the ‘Tennis Hotels’ was diagnosed with the UK variant of Covid and has been out and about in Melbourne while infectious (see below).

He has had no direct contact with any of the hotel guests and the concern is it was transmitted by aerosols.

So once again, Victorian restrictions have been tightened.

We wait to see if this worker has ‘passed it on’. 

Thousands have lined up once more for testing.

How frustrating this must be for Victorians after 4 weeks of no local transmissions!