Lockdown 'inevitable': Leaders want strong response to stop COVID-19

Victorians thought there would be a lockdown of all but essential services when Premier Daniel Andrews made an announcement on Sunday, but that was reduced to places such as pubs, cafes, cinemas and gyms.

Indigo mayor Jenny O'Connor said many of the other businesses in the shire had already made the decision to shut down themselves.

"I think that's a wise decision. We do see complete lockdowns happening around the globe and it's probably inevitable at some point here for us," she said.

"As a council, we have to follow the official advice of the federal and state governments, but personally I am doing more than what they're advising.

"As we're seeing around the world, it seems the earlier you go is the best response.

"They're trying to balance the economic impact the best they can and I really welcome the support that both the state and federal government is offering to people financially because it does help people to stay at home as much as possible."

She was concerned that people were still gathering and shaking hands.

"I'm really concerned that I'm hearing people say things like 'it's just a flu', which means the message is not getting out that this is deadly serious," Cr O'Connor said.

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"The contamination rates are something like 30 times what a flu is and the death rate is 10 times what a normal flu is.

"If people are not hearing that message then that concerns me enormously.

"On the weekend, seeing what was happening in the local towns, I felt that people were not understanding how serious this is - people were wandering around in groups, no one is practising social distancing."

She said it was heartbreaking for people who have lost their jobs and Indigo Council would look at ways to help with rates and charges.

"I'm calling on the government to help small rural councils who don't have the revenue that they can go without rates to provide essential services," she said.

"We need the government to support us better with that so we can offer rate relief to people. We do have hardship policies in place here so I encourage people to contact us."

Michael Bartram of The Doctors Lavington has previously said that confusing messages had not helped outline the seriousness of coronavirus and while people are less likely to be lighthearted, they still had a lot of questions.

"People are still confused from what I see when I talk to them face to face, still confused about how serious it is and are we doing too much, rather than are we doing enough," he said.

"The reality is that the only successful response for a virus such as this with stealth like properties and high levels of infectivity is to stop moving around for a time and track the remaining victims so that there can be some assurance that spread is halted."

He said the decision on a lockdown would be better made by those with appropriate intelligence on the situation.

"Some of the measures they've been taking in recent days I think are great," Dr Bartram said.

"My view has always been that the strongest possible measures should be taken by all of us to minimise the damage to our citizens and our health system."

He wanted people to see "the importance of community-spirited action" to isolate from each other.

"It's up to each of us - me, my patients, you, your kids, you parents - to realise that without us moving, the virus can't go any further. You can't stop all movement, you can't function in a society that way, but minimising that movement we minimise the risk in the short term and it will stretch out the impact on the health system without making it overstretched," he said.

"I would like to see a coordinated response - primary care needs to be supported by the government in the space of palliative care, which is likely to have unprecedented demand over a short period of time ... In general practice, that's going to be our biggest challenge to come in the next few months."

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