Victoria has officially eliminated COVID-19 after 28 consecutive days of zero coronavirus cases, with Tasmania's borders reopening to the state today.
The state recorded another quadruple 'donut day' today, with zero new infections, deaths, active cases and cases with an unknown source.
Elimination of the virus is defined by epidemiologists as 28 days without new infections or mystery cases in the community.
READ MORE: Premier Daniel Andrews rejects idea of home quarantine
https://twitter.com/VicGovDHHS/status/1332068932270903297Nearly 10,000 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the state in the past 24 hours.
The positive news comes as Victorians will be free to travel to Tasmania from today after months of the borders being tightly shut.
About 700 travellers are expected to arrive in Tasmania from the state today, with eight flights on the Melbourne-Launceston route.
Preparations are also underway to restart Victoria's hotel quarantine program, with Premier Daniel Andrews yesterday advising a revamped model, different to the first, would be implemented.
The premier has rejected home-based quarantine as an option for international arrivals returning to the state, despite the model being recommended in the Hotel Quarantine Inquiry.
READ MORE: New trial of Oxford vaccine ordered
"There is not a consensus, there is not a view at a National Cabinet level that home quarantine is an appropriate response to the risk we face at the moment," he said.
Trial-runs are underway at Melbourne quarantine hotels as the government works to finalise the overhauled program.
The government is considering adopting South Australia's approach and transferring travellers who test positive to a dedicated medi-facility.
National Cabinet is also set to discuss the requirement of all travellers being tested and returning a negative result for COVID-19 before arriving into Australia to further mitigate the risk of infection.
from 9News https://ift.tt/3o1hFa4
via IFTTT
0 Comments