Victorias construction industry on notice as 473 new local COVID-19 cases recorded

"We're seeing increasing case numbers coming out of that industry linked to this workforce," he told reporters.

"What's become clear to us is that the construction industry remains a major source of transmission."

Read More

Of the 3,507 active cases in the state, 13 per cent are directly linked to construction sites.

Victorian authorities are particularly concerned by their geographic spread, with the average infected construction worker living about 20 kilometres away from their workplace. That compares to four kilometres for the average case in the outbreak.

While the majority of sites are following rules, including workers donning masks, Health Minister Martin Foley said it was clear the industry needed to improve.

"It doesn't take much for this highly infectious Delta variant to get from a highly mobile, younger, under-vaccinated workforce into outer suburbs, into the families and communities of those suburbs, and, as we have seen, into the regions," he said.

Nearly 6,000 checks have already been carried out, and Mr Pallas said WorkSafe inspectors would now adopt a "zero tolerance" approach.

Read More

From 1 July, on-the-spot fines for authorised worker breaches increased to up to $1,817 for individuals and up to $10,904 for businesses.

The treasurer spoke with industry leaders as recently as Sunday night to convey the sector was in a "precarious position", and the time for warnings and admonishment was over.

"We'll do everything we can to ensure the construction industry can continue in a COVID-safe way," he said.

"But the entire industry - employers, unions - are on notice. We've had significant transmission on building sites, and we simply cannot afford not to act if that continues to grow."

In concert with the enforcement blitz, four major Victorian vaccination centres will allow construction workers to get a jab without a booking from Monday until 26 September.

A further 20,000 further priority Pfizer appointments will also be made available to construction workers at all state-run hubs, except for drive-throughs.

Melbourne's large-scale construction workforce is currently capped at 25 per cent, but it was previously announced that figure will double once 90 per cent of workers have had one vaccine dose.

A 'pandemic of the young and unvaccinated'

Almost 90 per cent of Victoria's active COVID-19 cases are aged under 50, with Mr Foley describing the outbreak as a "pandemic of the young and the unvaccinated".

All but 38 of the new cases reside in Melbourne's northern and western suburbs, which recorded 338 and 97 cases respectively.

Mr Foley says 87 per cent of active cases are aged under 50, with 585 aged under 19.

"This continues to be a pandemic of the young and the unvaccinated," he told reporters on Monday.

Mr Foley said 89 per cent of the 157 Victorians battling COVID-19 in hospital were unvaccinated, while 11 per cent had received one dose.

It comes as authorities investigate a COVID-19 outbreak at the Fitzroy Community School in Fitzroy North, which has repeatedly flouted lockdown restrictions by inviting parents to send their children to class.

COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar confirmed 31 students and staff have contracted the virus, while some 189 close contacts have been forced into self-isolation.

There are about 60 students enrolled at the school, which describes itself as an "independent, alternative primary school".

Currently, only children of permitted workers and those who are vulnerable are allowed to attend school in Melbourne.

School founder Faye Berryman told ABC News 24 primary-aged children have "a strong resilience to COVID".

"Children's emotional wellbeing, their feeling of insecurity, the unpredictable long-term psychological danger of raising them under a mantle of fear are the price we pay for not having children at school," she said.

Read More

Shadow Education Minister David Hodgett said the opposition did not support breaking the rules but he understood the school's actions.

"The government has not put out a single plan. There's no certainty, there's no hope," he told reporters.

The state government is continuing to develop a roadmap out of lockdown, including a plan to return students to classrooms in term four.

While the regions emerged from lockdown late last week, coronavirus restrictions will not ease for Melburnians until 70 per cent of eligible Victorians have had their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

When that target is reached, Melburnians will get an extra hour of outdoor activity and the five-kilometre travel radius will be expanded to 10km.

Mr Foley said 66.9 per cent of the eligible Victorian population has received at least a first dose.

There has been no indication of what freedoms will be permitted when more than 70 per cent of the population is double-vaccinated.

But Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged the state government will release a comprehensive roadmap out of lockdown "in about a week's time", based on modelling from the Burnet Institute.

The federal government has embarked on a three-week vaccination blitz of the areas, allocating an extra 417,000 Pfizer and Moderna doses to Victoria.

Mr Andrews said he wasn't given a heads up about the blitz, but federal Health Minister Greg Hunt insists he had been discussing it with Mr Foley last week.

"The only person that wasn't aware was the premier," he told 3AW.

"For whatever reason, there may have been a desire to divert - they've achieved that outcome."

Mr Foley said he only receive confirmation of the 400,000 figure on Sunday.

Share this post