No new locally acquired COVID-19 cases for Victoria or NSW

By Lachlan Durling

Jan 18, 2021

Victoria recorded its 12th day of zero cases of community transmission of COVID-19 on Monday.

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It comes as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced changes to border restrictions including 16 local government areas on the New South Wales side of the Victorian-NSW border becoming ‘green zones’ at 6 pm on Monday.

Victoria recorded four new COVID-19 cases in hotel quarantine from 13,973 tests.

“It’s a very strong number (of tests) for a Sunday,” Mr Andrews said.

“That (the 12 days of no locally acquired cases) is a great credit to the public health team and indeed every single Victorian that is still taking this virus very seriously.

“That’s exactly the way it has to be until we get the community through that process of everyone getting the vaccine then we need to remain vigilant.

“So long as we remain safe, we can remain open and not have to re-impose any of those restrictions that are so damaging and challenging.”

Victorian Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said due to the low case numbers along the border, the state government could announce the change.

“In terms of the situation (on the border communities), it’s a good epidemiological situation,” Prof Sutton said.

“I hope it means people will go for those tourism reasons and that it’s a bit easier on those residents there.

“(Twelve days) is a good result. I’m quite confident we’re on top of this.

“The essence is our approach to close contacts, at the peak, more than 4500 were isolating.

“We got ahead of the curve, I don’t expect additional cases out of (the Black Rock cluster).”

In NSW, there were no new locally acquired COVID-19 infections in the 24 hours to 8 pm Sunday.

Eight new cases were recorded in hotel quarantine from 8773 tests completed.