Three weapons Victoria will use to fight COVID-19 second wave – as one in 10 people refuse testing

Victoria will use three ‘weapons’ to fight a second wave of coronavirus infections. 

The state recorded 73 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, marking more than two weeks of double-digit increases. 

Australia’s Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the weapons to control the second wave in infections were to ‘test, trace, and isolate’.

But Mr Kelly also revealed that efforts to control the spread were being hampered by the reluctance of residents in Melbourne’s coronavirus red zones to take a test, with one in ten refusing to go for a free swab.

From 11.59pm on Wednesday, 36 suburbs from 10 postcodes will be subject to stay-at-home orders until July 29. 

Pictured: People have swab samples taken during testing for COVID-19 in a suburban park in Melbourne

Mr Kelly said efforts to contain the April COVID-19 outbreak in Burnie, Tasmania, provided a model for Victoria to follow.

‘We learned that going hard and going quickly was important,’ he told a press conference on Wednesday.

‘We looked at the three main weapons that we have to fight this virus, in the absence of a vaccine, in the absence of universally effective treatment.

‘That’s the test, trace, and isolate component, which is being done, was done in north-western Tasmania, continues now to be done in Victoria.’

Mr Kelly said the first weapon was already in use, with 20,000 tests being conducted in Victoria on Tuesday, with pop-up testing sites and health workers going door-to-door. 

Australia’s Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly (pictured)  said one in ten residents in Melbourne’s coronavirus red zones were still refusing testing

Victoria is battling a second wave of coronavirus infections in Melbourne’s outer-suburbs

‘The second weapon is that social isolation piece, the lockdowns, so-called, which will come into effect in those parts of Melbourne, that was what was done in north-western Tasmania,’ Mr Kelly said. 

‘And the third one is borders. So as happened in north-western Tasmania, a decision was made as to where the main problem was, and to really concentrate the resources on those areas.’  

Mr Kelly said the 10 per cent test refusal rate in COVID-10 hotspots was usually explained by parents being worried they would test positive, which would then required their children to take the swab.

International flights will be diverted away from Melbourne for two weeks. Pictured: Travellers arrive at Sydney Airport from Melbourne 

‘The main one was around kids,’ he said.

‘But then some misunderstanding about what the test was about and why it was been taken. 

‘Explaining about the COVID-19 element and why it’s important is a really key component.’

Mr Kelly added Victoria’s red zones are a ‘very multicultural area of Melbourne’, with many different ethnic and language groups.  

International flights will be diverted away from Melbourne for two weeks.   

Queensland is banning Victorians from entering the state but welcoming other visitors from July 10.

There were 20,000 coronavirus tests were conducted in Victoria on Tuesday 

South Australia has shelved plans to reopen its Victorian border but is weighing up a travel deal with NSW and the ACT.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has urged NSW residents not to open their doors to Victorians despite stopping short of closing the border.

She added on Wednesday that NSW was not keen to take additional international flights redirected from virus-hit Melbourne, saying they should instead go to other capital cities such as Adelaide or Perth.

‘NSW has borne the overwhelming burden of returning Aussies on behalf of the nation, Victoria has as well to some extent,’ Ms Berejiklian said.

‘It’s fair given those diversions that other states take on those flights (to) Melbourne. Even today, I got an update saying over the past week, there’s been a 50 per cent increase in the number of overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.

‘It’s reasonable to say to other states who’ve been able to live in their bubbles because we’ve borne the burden of these overseas travellers, ‘please share in that burden, we’ve already done 30-odd thousand’.’