Covid 19 coronavirus: Victoria ‘will regret’ not enforcing a stricter lockdown – New Zealand Herald

Authorities have never been supportive of Australia adopting an elimination strategy against the coronavirus, but experts believe Victoria may regret it if the state doesn’t have a crack at doing this during its second lockdown.
Some have described the elimination option as an impossible task but somehow the majority of Australia’s states and territories have managed to essentially eliminate the coronavirus.
Only two jurisdictions are still struggling: Victoria and NSW.
NSW got close to achieving elimination before Victoria’s latest outbreak forced it to close its borders amid fears the virus could migrate north.
Victoria, on the other hand, has seen its cases spiral dramatically and suburbs in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire have gone back into lockdown.
From the modelling I’ve seen and the experience we’re seeing around the world in places like New Zealand, I don’t think what we’re doing now will maximise our chances
There are now 1007 active cases in the state and the number of cases with an unknown source has spiked to 562 cases, another 843 are under investigation. There have been several days of triple-digit growth and on Sunday there were 273 new cases.
Contact tracers, who ensure any potentially infected people are identified and told to isolate, are having trouble keeping up with the numbers.
With parts of Victoria going back into lockdown, experts including those at think-tank the Grattan Institute, are now calling on the Federal Government to switch from its official suppression strategy and adopt elimination instead.
“Despite the fact that Australia had a suppression strategy, six and maybe even seven

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