Bill Tilley calls for early end to fourth Victorian COVID lockdown if case numbers stay low at weekend

Bill Tilley said there was no justification for a shutdown if case numbers remained around the four recorded yesterday and stayed linked.

Hospitality and other business sectors hit hardest by the state's fourth lockdown could snap back early in the week if Acting Premier James Merlino gave the go ahead after three successive days of low case numbers.

Major disruption to community sport could also be minimised with teams back on the training track by Tuesday, Mr Tilley said.

"I live in hope," he said.

"Let's hope over the next 24, 48 hours those numbers aren't what they anticipated and the control measures put over us can be lifted on Monday.

"Then grassroots sport, industry, work, businesses can all get back to doing what they do for our community and our economy.

"We've only got four additional cases today, so for every case contact tracers have to follow up with 100 people.

"Let's hope the contact tracing teams have got that sorted out and those numbers will be so low and remain low that the decision from the Acting Premier can be that we get back to normal on Monday."

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Albury and Woodnga mayors Kevin Mack and Kevin Poulton would also like to see an early end to the lockdown, with the latter saying the latest measures had the potential to ruin already struggling businesses.

Cr Mack said a meeting with NSW and Victorian cross border commissioners and police yesterday showed preparations were being made to close the state boundary but he was hopeful that would not occur.

"The reality is they (the NSW government) are very, very much on edge about it, I don't deny that, but they are taking a watching brief at this point," Cr Mack said.

He said it was clear possible COVID exposure among Tooleybuc citizens who attended a football match at Cohuna sent "a bit of a shudder" through NSW bodies.

Cr Poulton, who lives in Albury, said "my job is to be able to lead a community and we're doing that really well in Wodonga and offering as much support as we can".

The Border Mail asked Cr Poulton if he felt guilty being in Albury while his constituents were locked down.

"That's a bit of a moot point," Cr Poulton replied after saying "it doesn't just impact one city more than the other" and "while Wodonga wears the most of it, it's still inconvenient for both of us".

Cr Mack said Albury and Wodonga would need to make representations to government for assistance if the lockdown dragged on, noting JobKeeper was no longer sustaining workers.

Cr Poulton said he was aware of hospitality and manufacturing businesses struggling to stay afloat.

"It's really starting to get to breaking point for a few of those as they share fairly intimate details around their business, saying that they can't get through many more of these (lockdowns)," Cr Poulton said.

He said a big lockdown was understandable given the COVID find at Cohuna and the Victorian government had "done the right thing".

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