No new local cases as Victoria prepares to shed another layer of COVID-19 restrictions - The Age

Victoria has recorded no new local coronavirus cases, as the state prepares to shed another layer of COVID-19 restrictions, including larger limits for outdoor gatherings.

One new coronavirus case has been recorded in hotel quarantine.

More than 28,200 test results were processed in the past 24 hours and more than 17,200 people received their vaccine doses.

Victoria had a total of 51 active coronavirus cases as of Tuesday, and the state’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said 24 of those were local cases.

Restrictions are set to ease further.Credit:Getty Images

The figures come as public health authorities prepare to announce eased coronavirus restrictions in light of low recent case numbers.

It is likely people will be able to gather outdoors in groups of up to 50 and companies will be allowed to operate with 75 per cent of their workforce in the office.

The COVID-19 rule changes will take Melbourne to settings mirroring those in regional Victoria.

Hospitality venues will move to a looser one-per-four-square-metre density limit and a probable cap of about 300 people.

Victorian border slammed shut to parts of Sydney

The announcement will come after Victoria slammed its border shut to large parts of Sydney at 1am on Wednesday.

The state’s authorities declared seven NSW local government areas as “red zones”: the City of Sydney, Waverley, Woollahra, Bayside, Canada Bay, the Inner West, and Randwick.

Non-Victorian residents who have been in a red zone are barred from entering Victoria unless they obtain an exemption.

Victoria’s health department said anyone arriving into the state from those local government areas without a valid travel permit will be fined and have to stay in hotel quarantine.

On Wednesday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also announced that her state will shut its border to seven local government areas in NSW.

“We’ll be easing even more restrictions across Queensland, and we cannot afford to have this Delta variant out in our community,” she said.

New Zealand pauses travel bubble with NSW

New Zealand’s quarantine-free travel bubble with NSW is being paused over concerns about the state’s growing outbreak.

An Australian travelled from Sydney to Wellington over the weekend before returning to Australia on Monday and testing positive to COVID-19, according to NZ public health

Health authorities say an Australian man flew from Wellington to Sydney on Monday while infectious.Credit:iStock

“This is the first time an Australian traveller has brought COVID-19 to NZ and since gone home,” NZ’s Ministry of Health said in a statement.

“Based on the time of their symptom onset and CT [cycle threshold] score it is most likely they contracted the virus in Sydney prior to their visit to New Zealand. Genome sequencing is underway in Australia to see if the case is linked to the current outbreak in Sydney.”

As a result, travel between NSW and New Zealand has been paused for the next few days.

NZ authorities say they have so far identified four close contacts of the Australian traveller. All are isolating as further contact tracing gets underway.

More to come

With Melissa Cunningham, Sumeyya Ilanbey, Paul Sakkal, and Broede Carmody

Adblock test (Why?)

No new local cases as Victoria prepares to shed another layer of COVID-19 restrictions - The Age
Read More