The acting Victorian Premier has blamed the states snap seven-day lockdown on the federal government s slow vaccine rollout.
James Merlino attacked Scott Morrison s government in his opening remarks at a press conference in Melbourne on Thursday.
During the conference, Mr Merlino announced Victoria will enter a week-long lockdown from midnight tonight.
A Covid cluster of the highly infectious Indian strain has grown to 26, with 12 linked new cases in the past twenty-four hours.
Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino blamed Victoria s snap seven-day lockdown on the federal government s slow vaccine rollout on Thursday (pictured) This nation s vaccine rollout has been slower than we have hoped. That is a fact. The vaccine rollout is not where we hoped it would be, it s not where it should be, Mr Merlino said.
A concerning coronavirus cluster in Melbourne has now climbed to 15 cases
Latest cases are of the double mutant Indian strain, which is hyper-infectious
Alert issued after infected case attended the AFL game at the MCG on Sunday
Acting premier said the source of the outbreak was hotel quarantine in SA James Merlino said he won t rule out taking further action on restrictions
Victoria’s government is calling on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to fast-track the approval of a new quarantine facility outside of Melbourne.
The project would see the Andrews government spend $15 million and federal taxpayers spend $200 million to build a 500-bed facility or up to $700 million to increase capacity to 3000 beds.
Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino said productive conversations were being held behind closed doors with the federal government.
However, Labor is putting increasing pressure on the Coalition to expedite the process as Victoria struggles through its 17th coronavirus outbreak linked to a hotel quarantine breach.
“There is a sense of urgency about this,” Mr Merlino told the press this morning.
“We are very, very keen to finalise those discussions with the Commonwealth and have the Commonwealth provide the green light.”
The acting premier said he wanted a solution which reduced the risk of hotel quarantine breaches and subsequent outbreaks i
Panic buyers have stripped some Melbourne supermarket shelves bare despite the city not going into lockdown after its latest Covid cluster, as residents warned next 24 hours critical .