Health by Tom Minear, James Campbell, Alanah Frost, Alex White 17th Feb 2021 5:22 AM
Premium Content Victoria will snap back out of its five-day lockdown at 11.59pm Wednesday, with crowds to return to the Australian Open, unless positive cases surge on Wednesday morning. The Herald Sun can reveal senior Andrews government ministers met on Tuesday evening to finalise plans to end the lockdown on Thursday, barring any mystery cases emerging overnight. The ministers will meet again at 8am on Wednesday, when they are expected to rubberstamp the plan to reopen the state. The Herald Sun understands this will involve a return to restrictions similar to the regime in place pre-lockdown, but with masks still required indoors and some slightly tougher rules including limits on household gatherings.
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at 12:40 pm on February 15, 2021 | 60 comments
Hoocoodanode? After countless outbreaks and panic-driven lockdowns, Australia is finally having a debate about the wisdom of hotel quarantine. Domain leads us off:
Professor Peter Collignon notes that Dan Andrews’ ‘best in class’ hotels have no eye protection, weak governance and no awareness that the virus pushes into corridors when doors are opened.
Professor Maximilian de Courten said that the use of a nebuliser was much less likely the trigger for the outbreak than equipment and human error.
Professor Adrian Esterman said cities were not designed for quarantine. Staff should live on site.
National Cabinet meets today with hotel quarantine yet again on the agenda, as well as the good news Australia has secured 10 million more doses of the Pfizer vaccine.