Coronavirus in Ballarat: Almost half-way in lockdown, long way to go

There has been a massive drop in active cases in City of Ballarat with six known infections on Monday. This was reached a pandemic high of 28 active COVID-19 cases one week ago.

This captured Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews' attention when he flagged the good effort of Ballarat residents to stay safe and pull the tally down.

City of Ballarat mayor Ben Taylor said the low numbers were an excellent sign midway through the lockdown, particularly after being on the radar of the state's health officials for the fastest rising regional tally last week.

But Cr Taylor said there was still a lot of work ahead in what might seem like a marathon if Ballarat was to get out of these restrictions on time.

"This shows restrictions are working but we need to stay focused because we don't want to stay in stage three, or worse in going to stage four," Cr Taylor said. "We don't want to do this for nothing. We want to get a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully start to build back from this.

"It's so hard for so many, but we need to do it."

Ballarat's active COVID-19 tally went up by one on Monday, despite the premier stating in his morning address there were zero active cases in Ballarat.

By afternoon, a government spokesperson said: "This morning it was reported there were zero active cases in the Ballarat LGA [local government area]. The latest cut of the data is that there are currently six active cases."

UFS and Ballarat Community Health leaders reiterated the importance of testing for any cold or flu-like symptoms, despite the declining case numbers. They said any level of complacency right now was really concerning.

UFS primary care operations manager Danielle Trezise said, no matter how low active case numbers were, this was still a critical time to be isolating, getting tested for the mildest symptoms, physical distancing, good hand hygiene and wearing a mask.

"The only way we can be confident we are containing the spread of the virus is to continue to test high numbers of people and see reducing numbers of positive cases detected," Ms Trezise said.

"We are all keen to see the current restrictions lifted, so we need to remain as vigilant as ever."

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This message was reiterated by Ballarat Community Health chief Sean Duffy and Ballarat Health Services chief Dale Fraser who both said vigilance and discipline was the key to protecting this community from further transmission of the virus - even when COVID-19 case numbers were now low.

"We know that people are making amazing personal sacrifices and really getting on board with wearing a mask and following the restrictions," Mr Duffy said. "...To those people that may be struggling, please reach out if you need some support."

Golden Plains now has zero active cases, after as many as 11 in the shire one week ago. There are also no cases in the Pyrenees and Hepburn shires. Moorabool has eight cases.

Mr Fraser commended the wider community's effort to slow the virus.

"The best way the community can support us is by acting responsibly, for your own health and for that of those that you care for most," Mr Fraser said.

"Ballarat has done incredibly well to limit the spread of the virus locally, and the low numbers overall are a measure of how successful the community has been.

"...The reducing numbers across Victoria give us hope each day, however we still all need to do our part to stop the spread of COVID-19, and Ballarat Health Services will continue to play our part to protect those most vulnerable in our community."

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