Greg Hunt blames PROTESTS for causing Melbourne outbreak

Greg Hunt reveals the three factors that sparked the deadly outbreak in Melbourne after Dan Andrews refused to answer the question FOUR TIMES in stoush with Karl Stefanovic

  • Melbourne is suffering outbreak of coronavirus with 134 cases on Wednesday 
  • Greg Hunt blames protests, hotel quarantine breaches and poor contact tracing 
  • He said Black Lives Matter protests prompted people to scrap social distancing
  • Daniel Andrews has refused to answer questions over quarantine breaches  

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has blamed protests, hotel quarantine breaches and poor contact tracing for Melbourne’s coronavirus outbreak. 

Some 10,000 people packed the city for a Black Lives Matter protest on June 6, a day after zero cases were recorded in Victoria for the first time.

Only three protesters tested positive and there is no evidence of transmission at the rally but Mr Hunt said it helped spread the virus by prompting other residents to scrap social distancing. 

Some 10,000 people packed the city for a Black Lives Matter protest (pictured) on June 6, a day after zero cases were recorded in Victoria for the first time

The state government’s failure to shut down the illegal protest, which breached public health laws, signalled to others that social distancing was no longer required, he argued.

‘Once the protests occurred, there were some who saw what appeared to be an understandable view of a double standard, and changed their behaviours,’ he told Nine’s Today Show on Thursday morning.

‘Those behaviours – reduce the engagement and the movement with other people, increase the distance – those rules will help us save our lives.’

Mr Hunt also said that contact tracing in Victoria needs to improve. 

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth on Wednesday said many cases were among ‘culturally diverse communities’ meaning contact tracing could be more difficult due to language barriers. 

Staff undertaking contact tracing in north Melbourne have also reportedly found that some patients are reluctant to share their close contacts.

Melbourne was gripped by panic buying on Wednesday as residents prepare for six weeks of lock down from midnight

Melbourne was gripped by panic buying on Wednesday as residents prepare for six weeks of lock down from midnight

Local cases of community transmission have soared in the within Melbourne

Local cases of community transmission have soared in the within Melbourne

The Herald-Sun reported that in some cases residents have been told by officials they are a close contact as long as five days after they met a confirmed patient. 

‘We need to make sure and we’re offering support so as each case every day is contact-traced,’ Mr Hunt said. 

‘That has to happen each day. That’s been the overwhelming view of our Chief Medical Officer and our Deputy Chief Medical Officers, that that needs to occur.’ 

Mr Hunt also said the ‘hotel quarantine breach’ was one of ‘three things that came together’ to cause the outbreak.

Dozens of cases have been traced back to quarantine breaches after private security guards broke social distancing rules, interacted with returned travellers and took the virus home to their families.

On Wednesday morning Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews refused to answer why he employed private security guards instead of using the police to man hotel quarantine. 

In an interview on Nine’s Today show, host Karl Stefanovic asked him: ‘How could you blame Victorians yesterday for the outbreak when it was your government’s decision to employ an incompetent private security force to guard those in quarantine?

The whole of Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire has been placed back into lock down for six weeks from 11.59pm on Wednesday. Pictured: A map showing the suburbs in lockdown

The whole of Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire has been placed back into lock down for six weeks from 11.59pm on Wednesday. Pictured: A map showing the suburbs in lockdown

A long wait: Australians braved 40-minute traffic queues to get to work this morning on the first day the New South Wales-Victoria border closed due to a huge coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne

A long wait: Australians braved 40-minute traffic queues to get to work this morning on the first day the New South Wales-Victoria border closed due to a huge coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne

‘That’s an unbelievably catastrophic bungle right at the front door. Why don’t you explain. Why don’t you just level with the people about what happened in quarantine? What exactly went wrong there. Why don’t you just tell the people?’

Mr Andrews said he ‘did not come on the show to argue’ and dodged the question by saying an inquiry is under way. In a press conference afterwards he said he was not considering resigning. 

On Wednesday Victoria recorded 134 new cases of coronavirus as Melbourne is plunged into a six-week lockdown from today. 

Premier Andrews said there are now 75 cases of the deadly disease across nine social housing towers in north Melbourne which have been placed under hard lockdown, confining 3,000 residents to their homes.

Forty-one people are in hospital with seven fighting for their lives as the state’s testing total passed 1million with 30,000 swabs on Tuesday.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian today warned the risk of contagion in her state was ‘extremely high’ after 60,000 exemptions were granted for commuters to enter from Victoria following the first border shut down since Spanish Flu in 1919.

New lockdown: Victoria on Tuesday 191 new cases of coronavirus - its worst figure yet. Pictured: Police and nurses wearing protective equipment outside tower blocks in north Melbourne

New lockdown: Victoria on Tuesday 191 new cases of coronavirus – its worst figure yet. Pictured: Police and nurses wearing protective equipment outside tower blocks in north Melbourne

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