Benjamin Millar
Moorabool remains in a snap seven-day lockdown and Melton COVID-19 cases continue to rise as the state hits new record COVID-19 infection levels.
There were 1377 new local cases reported on Monday morning, down from a record 1488 cases on Sunday.
The Melton area now has close to 700 active cases, with more than 900 people infected across the area in the latest breakout.
Moorabool was ordered into a snap seven-day lockdown at 11:59pm Friday night, Victoria’s Acting Chief Health Officer declaring the restrictions would be the same as those in metropolitan Melbourne, other than the curfew.
Professor Ben Cowie said with 32 active cases in the LGA as of Friday, public health teams have significant concerns about onward transmission.
“We’ve just seen the Ballarat and Geelong communities get through an outbreak so we know it can be done – it’s vital we protect the local community and the rest of regional Victoria from significant outbreaks,” he said.
“If you’re in the Moorabool Shire, please follow the lockdown restrictions, get tested if you have symptoms, and get vaccinated if you haven’t already.”
Two new testing sites opened in Melton over the weekend in addition to existing sites in Melton and Melton West.
The Melton Vaccination Hub at the former Bunnings site is also one of ten vaccination centres across Melbourne taking part in a Moderna vaccination blitz.
The hubs began administering the Moderna vaccine on Monday with the aim of delivering 100,000 doses by Sunday to anyone aged 12 to 59 years of age.
It comes as Premier Daniel Andrews announced all workers on the authorised worker list in Melbourne and regional Victoria will require their first COVID-19 vaccine dose by October 15 in order to continue working onsite and will need to be fully vaccinated by November 26.
“All of our health workers are working their guts out to be there for us and they need us all to do our bit and get vaccinated, so we can continue on our pathway to opening,” he said.
