Victoria has had most of the coronavirus cases and deaths and spent much of 2020 in lockdown
Reuters
May 11, 2021
People wearing masks walk through a mostly empty domestic terminal at Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia, December 21, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo
Australia s second-most populous state reported a locally acquired COVID-19 case for the first time in more than two months on Tuesday, sending authorities scrambling to find the source of the infection amid concern about a new outbreak.
A man in his 30s, who returned from India in mid-April and completed mandatory two-week hotel quarantine in neighbouring South Australia, tested positive for the virus after developing symptoms over the weekend, authorities said.
Man tested positive for coronavirus at Melbourne home after hotel quarantine
He started developing symptoms on May 8 and returned a positive test Monday
Travelled on two trains and dined at an Indian restaurant in the CBD on May 7
Hundreds of commuters have been ordered to isolate and watch for symptoms
Health officials pleaded Victorians to use QR code check-in system at venues
Victoria s Health Minister Martin Foley has dashed the hopes of countless travel-loving Aussies, claiming today there was now every indication international borders could remain closed for years . Mr Foley said after seeing example after example of new cases of COVID-19 leaking from hotel quarantine, it appeared a new case detected in Melbourne could be yet another statistic. And there is every indication that we are going to be in a position of some form of closed borders for many, many months, if not years, he said. Today a Victorian man was confirmed to have tested positive for coronavirus. The man, in his 30s, arrived home in Melbourne after completing quarantine at the Playford Hotel in the Adelaide CBD.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has predicted all Australians who want their two Covid-19 vaccine doses will receive them before the end of the year.
After a sluggish start, the Morrison government is banking on all willing Australians being fully vaccinated for Covid-19 by the end of the year.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declined to set a target completion date for the vaccine rollout after AstraZeneca-linked blood clots forced a reset.
But the 2021/22 budget, handed down by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Tuesday night, assumes the program will be finished before 2022.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg (pictured) has predicted all Australians who want their two Covid-19 vaccine doses will receive them before the end of the year
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An opioid treatment being introduced around Australia has been dubbed a game changer after dozens of users at Melbourneâs safe injecting room stopped taking heroin.
The Richmond site was among the first in Australia to provide depot buprenorphine, a slow-release injection given weekly or monthly, outside clinical trials after it was approved for use in September 2019.
Dr Nico Clark at Richmondâs safe injecting room.
Credit:Eddie Jim
The treatment is designed to stop withdrawal symptoms, and in most cases blocks the effects of heroin altogether, helping to reduce and stop heroin use.
Medical director Dr Nico Clark has analysed the experiences of the first 41 people to try it at his clinic, finding that 59 per cent did not use heroin at the safe injecting room at all over eight months of monitoring from September 2019 to April 2020.