Victoria has reported four new locally-acquired cases of coronavirus as Acting Premier James Merlino says he's “very pleased” the federal government has agreed to support the state’s proposal for a dedicated quarantine facility.
There are now 72 active cases in the state.
Mr Merlino on Friday said a dedicated quarantine facility similar to the Howard Springs facility outside Darwin would offer a safer alternative to hotel quarantine.
“What we can say definitively to all Victorians and all Australians, this will happen. It's been approved by the Commonwealth. They will fund its construction and I'm very pleased at this outcome,” he told reporters.
On Thursday afternoon, the Victorian government received a memorandum of understanding from the federal government for its plan to build a dedicated quarantine facility in the state.
Mr Merlino said discussions had been “very positive” but added the two parties had yet to decide on the site of the facility.
Victoria has indicated its preference for a site to be built next to an existing quarantine facility for plants and animals at Mickleham, north of Melbourne.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Thursday revealed the government appeared to favour the Avalon site, telling radio 3AW that "Avalon does have some very positive characteristics, obviously, being near an airport, and that's relevant in this case".
On Friday Mr Merlino said the state would be happy with either site.
"The Commonwealth hasn't indicated and we have not yet landed on exactly which site. But either one will work. Our preference is Mickleham. We are very happy to have it at the Avalon site as well. It will work equally well there."
The federal government has said the facility would be "over and above" the current hotel quarantine system, which Mr Merlino said would always carry a level of risk.
“We have seen across our nation, 21 breaches in hotel quarantine. Our strong argument has been we must have a Howard Springs-like alternative, a purpose-built quarantine facility for our highest risk individuals,” Mr Merlino said on Friday.
Victoria wants the Commonwealth to fund and build the 500-bed facility at a cost of $200 million.
It would chip in $15 million for design of the centre, and also operate it.
Calls to double vaccine distribution
Regional Victoria has now emerged from lockdown as Melburnians enter a second week in hard lockdown, which Mr Merlino said on Friday was necessary to "absolutely run this thing to the ground".
He said there remained 5,000 primary contacts across the state.
The acting premier said state health authorities had seen a “significant increase” in demand for both Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.
Health authorities administered 24,169 vaccine doses in the 24 hours to Friday, up from 23,921 the day before.
But Mr Merlino said they were struggling to keep up with demand.
“People are having to wait weeks, we have seen long queues, we have also seen gaps in access, particularly in regional Victoria and in our peri-urban areas,” he said.
Mr Merlino said he has asked for federal support to double vaccine distribution and the government had indicated it would help.
For Melbourne residents, the travel limit for approved activities increased to 10 kilometres from midnight on Thursday. Melburnians are allowed to leave home to buy essential supplies, receive or give care, exercise, for approved work, and to get vaccinated.
Stay-at-home orders have now lifted in regional Victoria, with up to 10 people able to gather outdoors.
Friday's numbers followed three new cases of locally-transmitted coronavirus reported on Thursday, detected from a record 57,519 tests.
Thursday's cases included a second aged care resident in Melbourne, an 89-year-old who is a close contact of the first resident to contract the virus at Melbourne's Arcare Maidstone facility, where two workers have also tested positive.
Victoria records four new local COVID-19 cases as state and Commonwealth reach quarantine facility deal - SBS News
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