Life under social isolation or mandatory "stay home orders".

Expect all of Melbourne to be locked down soon , too much spill over of covid19 from the already locked down postcodes.

I hope EVERYONE who has left Melbourne in the last week or two AND their contacts does the right thing and self isolates / quarantines ( for at least 4 weeks NOTE it's been proven that 2 weeks is NOT enough unless they have several NEGATIVE Covid19 tests over the two weeks ( MAYBE ?? )) and they make very urgent arrangements to be tested for covid19 ( at the hospital ).
This is not something to downplay and say it's nothing , feeling fine is NO GUARANTEE that you are free of covid19 , and it's known that people who are infected and symptom free are highly infecious from about 2 days after being infected , all they need do to spread this virus is to talk and breath and touch things and use the toilet.

If that puts the wind up you , good , it was meant to.

If they don't they are risking the lives and health of everyone they come into close contact with , especially those who have health issues that make their risk factors very much worse.
This link will help them assess their risk factors should they contract covid19 https://profile.covid-age.com/

If you are 45yrs old the death rate is about 12%.
Goes up very fast every 10 yrs older .
At 80 yrs old it's essentially a death sentence (very few survive if they end in ICU on a ventilator).

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ALL of Melbourne is placed on lockdown for SIX WEEKS ( MINIMUM ) as Daniel Andrews reimposes strict rules in desperate bid to stop 'thousands and thousands' of COVID-19 cases and deaths

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Full list of areas under stage-3 lockdown:

You asked for it, I have finally procured it. To help you with the definition of "metropolitan Melbourne", the areas impacted are:

Banyule
Hume
Moreland
Bayside
Kingston
Mornington Peninsula
Boroondara
Knox
Nillumbik
Brimbank
Manningham
Port Phillip
Cardinia
Maribyrnong
Stonnington
Casey
Maroondah
Whitehorse
Darebin
Melbourne
Whittlesea
Frankston
Melton
Wyndham
Glen Eira
Monash
Yarra
Greater Dandenong
Moonee Valley
Yarra Ranges
Hobsons Bay
Mitchell Shire

The Victorian Government advises if you live in one of these areas, there will only be four reasons to leave home:
Shopping for food and supplies
Medical care and caregiving
Exercise and recreation
Study and work – if you can’t do it from home


There will only be 3 reasons to cross the border of these metropolitan areas:

Shopping for food and supplies
Medical care and caregiving
Study and work – if you can’t do it from home

All residents must stay at home unless it's for:
Shopping for food or other essentials
Medical purposes and caregiving
Work and study if it can't be done from home (only Year 11/12/VCE students and special needs students will return to classrooms as normal)
Exercise (but people cannot leave or enter the restricted areas of Metropolitan Melbourne/Mitchell Shire)

Vic Premier New conf today.
"In terms of principal place of residence - 'stay-at-home' means just that. Not stay at your holiday home. Not stay at your second time. Your principal place of residence is where you must be, except for the four reasons to leaving your home."

"This is I know further than what we went last time but we're in a more precarious, challenging and potentially tragic position now than we were some months ago."

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Limits on gatherings:
No visitors at home
No more than two people (or your household group) gathering in public
Weddings limited to five people
Funerals limited to 10 people (plus those conducting)
Intimate partners can visit each other

Businesses:
Retail, markets and hairdressers can stay OPEN (subject to conditions)
Cafes, restaurants, pubs, clubs and bars can do TAKEAWAY ONLY
Arenas, stadiums, food courts, cinemas, concert venues, casinos and gaming, brothels and strip clubs, beauty services, holiday accommodation, campgrounds, pools, playgrounds, saunas, galleries, museums and zoos will CLOSE
Real estate auctions will be done remotely and house inspections only by appointment

Activity:
Subject to conditions, fishing, boating, tennis, golf and surfing can CONTINUE
Community sport and indoor sport and recreation will CLOSE
Religious ceremonies will be BROADCAST ONLY

Holidays:
If you're already holidaying, you can complete that holiday
No new holiday travel can be undertaken from 11.59pm on July 8
You can't visit a second residence outside the restricted areas

Schools :
Victorian school holidays were scheduled to end this coming Monday — that won't be the case for all students now.
Year 12, Year 11 and Year 10 students who study VCE subjects will return to face to face learning as normal from Monday
Specialist schools will also reopen as normal on Monday
School holidays will be extended by one week for all other students
Kids of essential workers will have access to supervised programs next week

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Health Minister Brad Hazzard says the government has not ruled out reinstating pandemic measures if coronavirus cases jump in the state.

He confirmed health authorities are investigating two people infected with the virus in the Albury area. Mr Hazzard said one had been a recent traveller to Melbourne.

"There is a high level of concern about what is happening in Melbourne right now ... We're concerned it (COVID-19) might get into the regional areas," he said.

Mr Hazzard urged NSW residents not to travel to Victoria but said if they must they would be required to enter two weeks of self quarantine when they return to NSW.

And returning travellers from Victoria will need a permit to enter NSW.

He also said health checks were being carried out at ALL major NSW rail stations on (Non-XPT) train travellers arriving from Victoria.

Mr Hazzard said health authorities were hopeful they can keep community transmissions to a minimum but if there were major spikes like in Victoria, Lev 3 restrictions would be reinstated in NSW and or Lev 4 FULL LOCKDOWNS in hotspots where clusters develop .

"What we don't want is broadscale community transmission like in Victoria," he said.

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Queensland police officers have refused entry to more than 740 people travelling from Victoria since new border restrictions came into force on Friday.
Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said 63 people had been placed into mandatory hotel quarantine after flying into Queensland from Victoria since the noon deadline on July 3.

Tougher restrictions were introduced for people travelling into Queensland from Victoria last week, with the whole state declared a coronavirus hotspot by Queensland's Chief Health Officer.

The state's borders will reopen to all other states and territories from this Friday.

Mr Gollschewski said 17 flights from Victoria had arrived in Queensland's airports since the mandatory hotel quarantine direction began, with Queensland police refusing entry to 33 people. << Why are Victorian residents even being allowed to buy seats ? let alone being allowed to board these flights ? >>

At the QLD - New South Wales border, 709 people have been refused entry to QLD , with 12 people being placed into quarantine. << meanwhile the other 697 Victorian a likely having nice time on the NSW Far North Coast or touring about the central north and NW outback of NSW , and likely spreading Covid19 far and wide , this is NOT GOOD ENOUGH , NSW and QLD Police and Health must work together in future >> .

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An Aboriginal mission is among dozens of tiny communities left isolated by the Victoria-New South Wales border lockdown.
Cummeragunja, in NSW, was completely cut off from Barmah, its sister town in Victoria, after authorities blocked off the only bridge connecting the communities.

The smaller communities say they received no warning of the hard closures.

"The river crossing between Cummeragunja and Barmah is vital," Cummeragunja health worker Belinda Day said.
NSW Police have funnelled traffic towards 34 major border crossings, leaving smaller interstate corridors, including Barmah, Wahgunyah, Tintaldra, Towong, Piangil and Gonn Crossing, blocked off.

Barmah sits east of the border, requiring vehicles to cross into NSW and then back again into Victoria to enter Echuca.

Vulnerable community blocked off
About 60 people live in Cummeragunja, and the town relies heavily on Barmah, which stocks food, fuel and medical supplies, and is home to the nearest fire brigade.

Ms Day, the CEO of the town's Viney Morgan Aboriginal Medical Service, said residents wanting to reach Barmah had to walk across the bridge or drive for more than an hour.

She said the community did not have a GP and was concerned an ambulance from Shepparton would not be able get through in an emergency.

"I hope they would've done a bit more thinking about the vulnerabilities that exist in these smaller communities," Ms Day said.

"They're making decisions on the run but we need to support our community in the best way we can."

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The ACT has broken its month-long coronavirus-free streak to record three new cases of COVID-19. The three people are from the same household and are linked to the outbreak in Victoria.

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A man has been arrested after allegedly attempting to cross the NSW-Victoria border at Corowa.

Police say a car bearing Victorian number plates attempted to cross the border at around 11:00am without a permit.

The 34-year-old man was arrested. His wife and three children complied with police and returned to Victoria.

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Passengers on a flight from Melbourne to Sydney last night disembarked without being screened by NSW Health officials, in a major breach of the state's coronavirus protocols.

An email from Sydney Airport leaked to the ABC claims Jetstar breached NSW Government health orders by allowing travellers on flight JQ520 that landed at 6.53pm to get off without being checked.

"The final JQ flight arrived and staff enabled disembarkation without NSW Health and police in attendance, breaching the arrivals screening protocols," the email read.

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At least 100 Chinese international students have "escaped" from Melbourne to Sydney ahead of the Victoria–NSW border closure, due to fears of being "stranded" and unable to catch flights home to China, according to travel agencies from the Chinese community.Many Chinese students who "fled" Victoria told the ABC they paid between $200 and $800 to travel agencies to ferry them to NSW in small groups by car, just days before NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced her decision to close the state's border on Monday.

The border closure between NSW and Victoria went into effect for the first time in a century from midnight last night.

The move was driven by efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus, which has also seen stage three restrictions reimposed for six weeks in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire from midnight tonight.

Earlier this year, Chinese international student Sue Li, 22, had to transit through Thailand for 14 days to be allowed to travel to Melbourne to study her master's degree, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a ban on all foreign travellers from mainland China in February.

She had been forced to study remotely due to physical distancing measures and decided to return to China after hearing about the border closure.

She complains that "I really like Melbourne… but I think Australia has a terrible Government, which put restrictions into effect immediately again, and failed to provide a respite for international students," she said.
"Those immediate restrictions gave rise to hardships on us again and again, which could reflect the Government's lack of compassion."

Ms Li had originally booked a flight from Melbourne to Guangzhou in southern China via Sydney in mid-July, which she had to give up in order to "escape" to Sydney quickly in order to board a return flight there to China.

She decided to book a chartered car using a Chinese online forum immediately after hearing the border closure news on Monday morning.

Like other students, she found flights between Sydney and Melbourne were limited and thought driving would be safer to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19, even if it meant spending about 10 hours on the road.

Chinese student Judy Jia, who arrived in Sydney on Monday, told the ABC she had to leave Melbourne urgently because her student visa was due to expire in about 20 days.

"I am currently in a circumstance where I can't get any flight ticket to China, but I knew I had to go because my visa is due to expire soon," Ms Jia said.

The recent graduate in patisserie from Melbourne's TAFE school Le Cordon Bleu found a driver who could take her to Sydney on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu — an equivalent to Instagram — after seeing a spike of more than 120 new cases in Victoria on Saturday.

"We were very close to the Victoria–NSW border, when [NSW] announced [they would] close their border," Ms Jia said.

s Jia said like many other Chinese international students, her parents had been very worried about her and were begging scalpers for international airline tickets, with one-way economy flights from Sydney to Shanghai costing between $5,000 and $12,000. << Lovely how people use the pandemic to rip people off in this unscrupulous and immoral way >>

"My mum had tried everything she could to get me a flight ticket home, but it was impossible," she said.

"I can only rely on scalpers who promised to get me a ticket by the end of the month.

"Mum said I should leave once we get one, no matter how much it will cost."

Ms Li and Ms Jia's dash to return to China comes just weeks after the Federal Government announced it would allow international students back into the country in a "pilot basis" from July.

More Chinese students stranded in Melbourne waiting for exemptions
Melbourne travel agency owner Zhijie An told the ABC he had transported more than 50 students to NSW over the past week.

Another business owner — who only wanted to be known as Mitchel — said he had sent about the same number of students over the same time period.

"I have received another 400 requests from Chinese students since the border closure was announced," Mr An told the ABC."But I can only arrange two students and two drivers in a car for each trip, due to the order for social distancing."

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Staff from multiple hospitals and aged care facilities across Victoria have tested positive to COVID-19, as the number of new coronavirus cases in the state continues to climb.
Victoria recorded 134 new coronavirus cases overnight, the third day in a row of increases over 100.

Only 11 of the new infections are linked to known outbreaks, while the rest are still under investigation by health officials.

Brunswick Private Hospital staff infected :

The new infections include four patients and one staff member at the Brunswick Private Hospital in Melbourne's inner north.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said contact tracing was underway at the hospital.

"The outbreak squad will visit today and the hospital is closed to new admissions," DHHS said.

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St. Vincent's Hospital and The Alfred Hospital staff hit.

A doctor from St Vincent's Hospital, two staff members from The Alfred Hospital, one from the Royal Melbourne Hospital and one from the Royal Women's have also all tested positive to coronavirus.

A spokesperson from St Vincent's said the doctor was in one of the acute medical teams.

"There has been no operational impact on our services," the spokesperson said.

Fifteen employees from St Vincent's are in self-quarantine.

A spokesperson from The Alfred said contract tracing was underway but at this stage, it was unclear if the staff members contracted the virus while working at the hospital.

A number of other workers have been sent home to self-isolate.

"Staff in all clinical areas at Alfred Health are now required to wear a surgical mask to increase their protection against COVID-19," the spokesperson said.

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Royal Melbourne Hospital hit.

Internal emails from the chief executive of the Royal Melbourne Hospital seen by the ABC said a staff member from the Royal Melbourne and one from the Royal Women's Hospital both tested positive for coronavirus last weekend.

Both staff members had attended face-to-face training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital prior to being diagnosed.

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Aged Care Facilities hit

Aged care facilities across Victoria linked to cases
A number of aged care facilities are being cleaned and their residents tested in the wake of workers and residents testing positive.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said the infections were:

A staff member who was infectious while at the Doutta Galla, Lynch's Bridge site in Kensington, on July 2 and 3
A resident who tested positive at the Glendale Aged Care facility in Werribee
A staff member who worked at the Uniting AgeWell facility in Preston
A staff member at BaptCare Karana in Kew who tested positive but did not work while infectious

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Paramedics ( Ambulence Crews ) hit.

Fifth paramedic tests positive
Another paramedic also tested positive on Wednesday, the fifth to contract the virus since the pandemic began.

The paramedic is a close contact of one of the paramedics who tested positive to the virus on Tuesday.

Ambulance Victoria's chief executive Tony Walker said the person was doing well and was self-isolating.

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Schools hit

School cluster reaches more than 100 cases.
There have also been seven new cases linked to an outbreak at the Al-Taqwa College in Truganina, taking the total to 102, and one new infection linked to the Stamford Plaza outbreak, taking the total to 43.

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Food Processing facilities hit

There is a second case linked to the PM Fresh food processing facility in Broadmeadows.

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Retail staff ( Shops and supermarkets ) hit

One case was identified in a Rip Curl staff member who had been working from home, but visited the Torquay head office for meetings 48 hours before developing symptoms.
Six staff members are now in self-isolation and the office remains closed for deep cleaning.

Three new cases have been linked to a Woolworths customer fulfilment facility in Footscray, taking the total there to four.

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More cases found in the Housing Comm residential towers

The outbreaks at nine public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne are now linked to 75 infections.

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A day after testing negative to COVID-19 and he was feeling perfectly healthy and invincible , Melbourne youth leader Ahmed Hassan was in a hospital emergency ward in terrible pain, shaking, and now testing positive for coronavirus."It happened all of a sudden and within 24 to 48 hours of having a negative test, you're a positive and you're in a hospital bed struggling to contain yourself and, you know, basically losing all types of control," Mr Hassan, 23, told (ABC's) 7.30 REPORT.

"People need to understand that this virus does not discriminate for age, colour or postcode."
Mr Hassan, who has type 1 diabetes, believes he caught the virus when visiting his father at his parents' home. Both his mother and father also tested positive.

Mr Hassan said the visit to their home lasted around 30 minutes and that he socially distanced while there. He suspects he picked up the virus via a door handle or another surface.

He was tested for COVID-19 on a Saturday. The following evening he was told he had tested negative.

<<Looks like perfectly healthy and fit young man.>>

"I was quite excited by that," he said.

On Monday, he stayed at home and "felt a bit of muscle pain, a bit of cramping", but he "didn't think much of it in terms of COVID symptoms".

"It was later that night around 10 o'clock that I was hospitalized, 'the pain was unbearable'

Mr Hassan said that when he arrived at the hospital he had a fever and was shaking and did not understand what was happening. He was diagnosed with COVID-19.

"The pain was unbearable because it got full control of my body and the muscles were aching and I was just shaking," he said.

"My body was shaking so much there I couldn't even hold my phone; I couldn't speak properly."

"This virus, COVID, doesn't really give you an opportunity to kind of prepare yourself. It happened all of a sudden, and all you know is you're rushed into hospital, you've got a number of doctors standing over you and also you're on the drips, you're taking many medications to stem the shakes and the chills and fever."

After less than 24 hours he was sent home to isolate, but later experienced shortness of breath and was taken back to hospital by ambulance.

Mr Hassan is now isolating at his parents' home and said having a pre-existing condition like diabetes could make for a slower recovery. Both his parents isolated at home and he said his father had now recovered.

"It's been crazy, but I was fortunate enough to have a bed in a hospital for a week and be able to recover, be able to be looked after by the best doctors in our state, if not the country. The infectious disease control team have been incredible."

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From midnight tonight, Victorians and people who have spent recent time in Victoria will not be allowed to travel to Tasmania.
Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said the only exception to the rule will be Tasmanians who are returning home.

"If visitors arrive from Victoria without an exemption letter they will be turned around and ordered to return home," he said.

"I know that is difficult but at the end of the day we need to be very clear in terms of what's occurring with our borders and they will be turned back at their own expense.
"If you're from Victoria, please don't come to Tasmania.

"If you do come to Tasmania and you haven't been granted an exemption then we will send you home."

He also said Tasmanians returning from Victoria would no longer be able to quarantine in their own homes.

"Tasmanians who've spent time in Victoria in the 14 days prior to travel will be required to quarantine in one of our Government hotels," he said.He said this would include families with children and fly-in-fly-out workers.

Mr Gutwein said while Victorians can apply for a compassionate exemption to travel to Tasmania, it was unlikely to be granted in the short-term.

He also warned businesses seeking essential workers from Victoria that they would need to prove the expertise could not be recruited from any other state in the country first.

The border between Tasmania and Victoria will not reopen on July 24, when Tasmania may start allowing travel between other states.People coming to Tasmania from other jurisdictions will be allowed to transit through Melbourne's airport, Tullamarine, provided they do not leave the airport.

The Premier said there would be biosecurity officers in place at both Tullamarine airport and Station Pier — the Melbourne port for the Spirit of Tasmania.

"To ensure that people understand very clearly before they get on the plane, if they have no exemption, that they'll be taking a flight across Bass Strait and on the other side they'll be asked to get back on a plane and head home," he said.

"We want people to understand very clearly what the rules are."

Mr Gutwein reiterated that he believed Tasmania would eventually see more positive cases.

"This isn't over and it's not over by a long shot yet," he said.

"We will see positive cases in Tasmania. We are well prepared though."

"Tasmanians should remain well aware and vigilant. The events of the past week have underlined just how infectious this disease is."

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In the past week, 50 interstate flights have touched down in Perth, 17 of them from Melbourne.

The Australian Medical Association said the risk of a second wave in Western Australia was "inevitable" if potential spreaders came to the state during the open Phase Four restrictions.Big numbers are also crossing the land border under exemptions.
<< An explanation of this for foreigners
WA has huge mineral resources , all these are in remote areas and most the miners and engineers and service providers who are employed in these remote areas do not actually live in these area but are operating under permanent and temporary (contract) based Fly In - Fly Out rosters , usually 20 days at site living in Mining "camps" or local motels or dormatories PER 4 WEEK CYCLE , some even operating "hot bed arrangements", and operating on 12 hr shifts that are rotating ( 7 days per week ) , when their roster is completed these workers return home . This can mean the "live" in Newcastle, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Geelong, Woolongong, Adelaide , and they travel once a month to the mine or plant or refinery , if they work in the Gold Fields, The Pilbara, the Hamersley Ranges, The Kimberley region or the Central NW , and in the "eastern states" , there are no DIRECT flights to the Gold Fields, Pilbara , Kimberley or remote Central NW from Adelaide, Darwin, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane .
They must travel via 2 long haul flights , via Perth Airport and connect to a regional commuter jet to fly the rest of the way , and this is reverse when their roster is over for that month.

Of the 21,000 people allowed into WA, it's likely 90% will be essential workers on FIFO work arrangements who are involved in mining , heavy ind , refining and assoc services >>

<< at the moment there are no grey nomads crossing the WA border , or other holiday makers , only workers and essential services >>

In the first two months of lockdown, almost 21,000 were allowed into the state via road and air, with just 68 people knocked back on arrival.

However, overnight, access to Western Australia became more difficult.

People with specialist skills not available in Western Australia now require written approval from the police commissioner to gain an exemption.

The state government said that group was one of the biggest cohorts wanting access to the west.

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An illegal Airbnb party held in the heart of Melbourne's CBD has been broken up by police with officers handing out almost $25,000 in fines.

Melbourne will enter a six-week lockdown at midnight on Wednesday with the government pleading with people to follow the rules but many have failed to listen.

Police Commissioner Shane Patton said on Wednesday police were called to a house on Sunday where they found 15 people breaching health restrictions.

'We've still got others who are doing stupid, selfish and reckless actions,' he told reporters.

'15 people thought it was okay to get together and party, we issued every one of them infringements because they just can't do that.

Victoria recorded 134 new cases of coronavirus overnight bringing the state's total to 2,942 as it struggles to stop community transmission.

Southbank sits just south of Melbourne city which has been listed as an official Covid-19 hotspot.

The fines given out to the 15 party-goers totalled $24,780 but Commissioner Patton said police would not hesitate to dish out the heavy punishment. << If I were a Victorian I'd be miffed about these imbecciles being let off so lightly and demanding they were made AN EXAMPLE OFF >>

'Some people are still not listening and if the only way we can get through to them is through us giving out significant fines that's what we'll do,' he said.

Victoria Police said anyone who breaches the Chief Health Officer's directions faces on-the-spot fines of $1,652 for individuals and $9,913 for businesses.

Police Minister Lisa Neville reinforced that the fines were necessary for the minority of people who refused to listen to anything else.

'For those who want to blatantly and deliberately breach these directives of the chief health office police will be there, whether you are having people over to your place or having parties... police will be there.'

From midnight on Wednesday, Melbourne residents will be only allowed to leave their homes for work and study, giving or receiving care, shopping for essentials and daily exercise near where they live.

Police will stop Victorians leaving or entering Melbourne with roadblocks and booze bus-style vehicle checks, effectively sealing 5million people inside the city.

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All but one of the Melbourne public housing towers under forced lockdown will have restrictions eased from tonight.

Premier Daniel Andrews said 2515 residents of the nine towers had been tested since Saturday, with 158 coming back positive for COVID-19.

The highest number of confirmed cases were at 33 Alfred Street, North Melbourne, with at least 53 cases confirmed at that location."The public health advice is that there are such numbers of positive cases, together with known close contacts, that the assumption has got to be that everybody in that tower is a close contact of someone who is positive," Mr Andrews said.

Authorities predict that about a quarter of all residents in the Alfred Street complex could develop the virus due to being in close contact with confirmed cases.

"On that basis, just like every other Victorian, they will need to remain in their flat, in their unit, except for medical care, and for supervised daily exercise," Mr Andrews said.

"We will support each and every one of those families. The 14 days is the balance. So, the 5 days that have already been done, plus a further 9 days."That is an abundance of caution approach that not only protects the welfare and the wellbeing, the health, of all of those residents, but also protects public health as well."

Residents at the Pampas Street and Melrose Street locations are now free to go back to stage three restrictions, similar to the rest of Greater Melbourne, after they tested negative for the virus.

Residents at Sutton Street, Canning Street, Holland Court, and the three Racecourse Road towers will also go back to stage three restrictions from midnight.

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Al-Taqwa College cluster timeline
June 27: Teachers at Al-Taqwa informed that a colleague had tested positive and they should self-isolate
June 29: DHHS first publicly links a case to Al-Taqwa
June 30: DHHS say two additional staff at Al-Taqwa test positive
July 1: Five more staff linked. Eight staff total. Cases linked to previous outbreaks in Sunshine West and Truganina. Teachers told they must be tested
July 2: Two new cases including a teacher and a close contact. DHHS says total is now 15
July 3: Five cases linked to Al-Taqwa, bringing total to 23. All staff and students quarantined and tested
July 4: Three new cases. Total 33
July 5: Eight new cases linked to previously identified close contacts, and some existing cases traced back. Total 59. School makes its first public comments about the cluster
July 6: Fourteen new cases, all linked to previously identified close contacts. Some existing cases also linked back to the school. Total 77
July 7: Twelve new cases, total climbs to 90. Teachers again told they must get tested
July 8: Seven new cases announced, meaning 102 infections can be traced to the school
July 9: Cluster grows to 113 cases, overtaking Cedar Meats to become the largest coronavirus outbreak in Victoria and one of the largest in Australia

Despite the school's Muslim population, it appears unlikely the cluster is linked to Eid celebrations, which occurred on May 24 — more than a month before the first case emerged.

"Any connection to Eid and by implication the Muslim community is grossly unfair," the Islamic Council of Victoria said in a statement last month, "and represents barely concealed Islamophobia at a time when it is more important than ever to remain united in our fight against this pandemic".

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A Victorian traveller is spending the night in a quarantine hotel, after flying to Tasmania without an exemption.esterday, the Tasmanian Government announced Victorians would be barred from entering the island state unless they were able to meet strict exemption criteria.

According to a police spokesperson, just one person flew into Tasmania from Victoria without an exemption today.

They were tonight being housed in a quarantine hotel and were due to be returned to Melbourne "on the next available flight".

For many Victorians who are ex-Tasmanians, Wednesday's border announcement was heart-wrenching.

James Dare lives in Geelong, but his family is still in Tasmania.

"I've been holding out for months to have border restrictions eased down in Tassie so I can get home to see my dad and also my little daughter who's down home [in Tasmania] as well," he said.For Mr Dare, who moved to Geelong about two years ago, the announcement was "a hard pill to swallow" as his father is living with motor neurone disease (MND).

"He's either in his wheelchair or he's bed-bound. He has his carers in every day to sort of assist him with his day-to-day living," Mr Dare said.

The last time he saw his father Jerry and daughter Hannah was in January.

In May, he missed Hannah's 10th birthday, unable to return home due to COVID-19 travel restrictions

He said he understood why the stricter border restrictions were put in place, but that it did not make it any easier.

"It's hard having a dad who's not in good shape and a daughter back in Tasmania that I physically can't hug," he said."I was talking to her [Hannah] the other day and it was a pretty teary moment when I told her that I missed her very much, and she told me that she missed me just as much."

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Premier 'sorry' for 'difficult circumstances'
Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein announced today that he would be extending the state of emergency until the end of August.

"Tasmania does not have an emergency at the moment. But what we have is the risk of one based on what is occurring in Victoria," he said.

He's also set to make an announcement about Tasmania's border restrictions tomorrow, but travel between Victoria and Tasmania has already been taken off the table.

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Contact tracing is underway at six aged care facilities after workers tested positive for the virus.

DHHS said the new cases included:

Two staff members who worked at Menarock Life Aged Care in Essendon
A staff member who attended BaptCare The Orchards Community in Doncaster while infectious
A staff member who worked at Benetas St George's in Altona Meadows while infectious
A staff member who worked at BlueCross Ivanhoe while infectious
A staff member who worked at Aurrum Aged Care facility in Healesville. The staff member was not infectious at the time
A staff member who worked at Holmwood Aged Care facility in Healesville. The staff member was not infectious at the time
The town of Healesville, north-east of Melbourne, is part of the Yarra Ranges shire, which is currently under the new stage three restrictions.

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Hume has the highest number of active cases in the state, with 145.
Hume, in Melbourne's north-west, includes the suburbs of Broadmeadows, Craigieburn, Dallas, Mickleham, Roxburgh Park, Jacana and Kalkallo, which are all under lockdown.

Wyndham, to the south-west of Melbourne, has the second-highest number of active infections, with 105. Suburbs in Wyndham are not currently in lockdown, but stage three restrictions will be reimposed there, along with the rest of metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, from Thursday.

The inner city of Melbourne has 97 active cases, including in the suburb North Melbourne where some public housing towers have been subjected to a hard lockdown.

13 new cases relating to the North Melbourne and Flemington public housing towers were recorded, bringing the total number of cases in those communities to 69.

The LGA of Brimbank has 77 active cases. It includes the locked-down suburbs of Albanvale, Kealba, St Albans and Kings Park, as well as Taylors Lakes, Keilor Downs, Keilor Park, Keilor Lodge and Watergardens.

Moonee Valley has 50 cases and officials have locked down the suburbs of Airport West and Niddrie, as well as the Flemington public housing towers.

Moreland, which includes the locked-down suburbs of Brunswick West, Fawkner, Glenroy, Oak Park and Hadfield, has 38 active infections, while Whittlesea has 36, including in the locked-down suburb of Donnybrook.

he inner-west area of Maribyrnong, where the locked-down suburbs of Kingsville, Maidstone, Tottenham and West Footscray are located, has 16 cases.

Casey, to the south-east, and Melton, to the west, both have 20 cases apiece and are not subject to lockdowns.

The inner-city areas of Yarra and Darebin have 19 and 16 cases respectively, while Hobson's Bay has 17.

Port Philip has 12 active cases, while Monash, Banyule, Boroondara and Manningham have recorded eight, Mitchell and Whitehorse have seven and Stonnington six.

The LGA of Knox has four cases, while Maroondah and Greater Dandenong each have three, and the Yarra Ranges and Bayside have recorded two.

Some regional areas, including Greater Shepparton, Greater Bendigo, Latrobe, East Gippsland and Wodonga, have just one active case, as do the LGAs of Frankston, Kingston and Nillumbik.

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The host of the ABC's Coronacast podcast, Dr Norman Swan MD , described the lack of mandatory advice to wear masks as a "missed opportunity", particularly for curbing the spread within households.

"If you are at home, physical distancing doesn't work ... because you eventually breathe in the air in this internal environment," he said.

"There is no question that proper masks, surgical masks do cut the spread by 60 or 70 per cent and
and N95 masks that cut the spread by at least 95% really should be part of this .

Research published in this month's Mathematical Biosciences journal estimated that the consistent use of medical-grade masks by 70 per cent of residents in New York state could lead to the elimination of the virus.
ref https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025556420300560

The researchers also concluded that the use of cloth or fabric masks — which are about 30 per cent effective — could also lead to a significant reduction in cases but not elimination.

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On Monday, the NT declared the Greater Melbourne area a hotspot
Increased restrictions follow record coronavirus cases in Victoria yesterday
Mr Gunner said Melbourne was "out of control"

On July 17, the NT will open its borders to the rest of Australia, and people will be allowed to enter the Territory and move freely without self-isolating first.

Mr Gunner said there were three key reasons for the decision.
"First, the escalating cases in Melbourne," he said.
"Second, the extending community transmission.
Third, the unacceptable risk of spread to regional areas."

NSW next on Gunner's 'list of concerns'Moving forward, Mr Gunner said he would not hesitate to ban travel from any part of Australia if and when it was needed.

"Next on my list of concerns is NSW. Because of their porous borders," he said."Right now we are the safest and the freest, our economy is leading the national comeback. Let's not endanger all of that."

Mr Gunner also said that he was open to the idea of forced quarantine for new arrivals, but advice from the NT Police Commissioner indicated compliance levels for self-quarantine were exceedingly good."We're having a few *****s but we are in control of the situation," he said.

"The advice I have from the Commissioner is that compliance is over 99 per cent."

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