Callum Godde | AAP
An inquiry has found the Victorian government’s reticence to overhaul its overwhelmed contact tracing regime cost lives during the state’s deadly second wave of coronavirus.
The scathing assessment from the Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues committee comes in a 260-page report tabled in the Victorian parliament on Monday.
The upper house inquiry found the previous regime was “not fit to deal with any escalation in cases” at the start of the pandemic and was “significantly overwhelmed” as the second wave took off.
Improvements have been made to the system but the government’s reluctance to concede or acknowledge errors contributed to substantial implementation delays, the committee ruled.
“However capable the current contact tracing solution is, it was not available when the Victorian public needed it,” it said.
“This failure cost lives and was unable to be rectified without strict lockdown measures throughout the state.”
The committee, chaired by Reason Party MP Fiona Patten, also found there was no evidence the Victorian government acted on reports that identified the need for extra contact tracing staff…
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Read the full article on The West Australian’s website.
