Melbourne public housing tower resident says community is being 'treated like criminals' amid coronavirus lockdown

It was only when Tekeste Hailu tried to leave his building that he realised he was one of 3,000 people in mandatory lockdown.

Mr Hailu, 27, lives with his grandmother in public housing on Racecourse Rd, one of nine Melbourne buildings that was placed into sudden "hard lockdown" on Saturday afternoon.

But the first Mr Hailu was told was when he tried to leave to buy groceries, only to be greeted by "the whole building surrounded by police".

"I'm thinking, what's going on, has someone died or something?" he said.

The strict restrictions are due to a rise in coronavirus cases in the public housing towers and fears they may spread throughout the 1,345 units.

"This is not just a matter of 23- to 30-odd people, this is a matter of many hundreds who have already been exposed and who may already be incubating," Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said on Saturday.

Premier Daniel Andrews made the announcement with Housing Minister Richard Wynne.

Other residents received a text message shortly before 5:00pm informing them that two new postcodes, 3031 and 3051, had been placed under stay-at-home orders from midnight that night.

Residents of Kensington, Flemington and North Melbourne will join 36 other suburbs in going back under stage three restrictions.

But for those living in the nine towers, an even stricter "hard lockdown" had already begun from 4:00pm.

Girmay Mengesha, who lives in one of the towers on the same road as Mr Hailu, said he was happy to comply with the new orders, but was frustrated by the lack of communication and warning.

"The way they mobilised the police officers … meant they already knew," Mr Mengesha said.

"Why didn't they tell us?"

He also said he felt as though other residents of his suburb were given more time.

The towers will be completely locked down for at least five days while health officials attempt to test every resident and assess the results.

The massive police effort to enforce the lockdown will involve about 500 police per shift and see officers stationed on most floors.

Mr Hailu said the public housing residents were being targeted.

"We're treated like criminals pretty much, and they're only targeting the flats. I don't understand why it's a major target," Mr Hailu said.

"Mostly the people that live in the flats are migrant backgrounds. I just feel like, why only us?"

Residents feel like they're 'in a prison'

Hulya Selin, who lives with her young son in a two-bedroom apartment on the 12th floor of a tower on Racecourse Road, said losing her freedom was "scary".

"It's harder when you've got children trying to keep them entertained," she told ABC Radio Melbourne on Sunday morning.

"It does really feel like we're in a prison."

Ms Selin said her unit was a "lonely place to be at the moment."

"Everyone else down the road, for example, they're allowed to leave their house for four reasons.

"That choice has been taken away from us and I can't really understand why."

Ms Selin said that by 10:00am on Sunday, 18 hours after the lockdown began, no-one had come to the door to provide her with any information or food.

She first heard about the lockdown from a post on Facebook.

"I went downstairs just to check if this was all true and there were so many police officers there at that point," she said.

"I actually spoke to one of the officers and he said the only information they had was that no-one is allowed out."

She said she was told by an officer later that having food delivered was OK, but when the delivery worker arrived, they were not allowed near the building.

"So nobody knows what's going on," she said.

Strong police presence 'going to trigger a lot of trauma'

Mr Hailu, a student and worker, emigrated to Melbourne from East Africa in 2010.

He said many young people of African descent in his community were scared of the police after a recent focus on "African gangs".

"Especially with what's happening in the current situation with the police and the African background, all the youths are very terrified of the police," Mr Hailu said.

There have also been concerns raised about the lack of information in languages other than English.

By late on Saturday night, Mr Hailu said he was yet to see any professional health workers, social workers or interpreters to support the hundreds of residents in his building.

He said many people would have willingly been tested and stayed at home if they had been asked "instead of just bombarding us with 500 police at once and locking us down".

"There was no time to have air or anything, the basic human rights. No food, no nothing, they just sent us to lockdown for five days," he said.

Residents who spoke to the ABC said they did not know what kind of financial compensation they would receive for missing out on work or study.

Mr Mengesha, who was stood down from his role at Qantas earlier this year, said he did not know whether he would be paid for the casual shifts he was meant to do at Woolworths from Monday to Friday.

Mr Hailu said it was "terrifying" to know that a lot of people had been exposed to the virus, and was worried for his 73-year-old grandmother.

"It's quite concerning … because she's in danger, more than me," he said.

But he said there could have been a different system for handling the rise in cases, with more of a focus on embedding healthcare workers in the community.

Dr van Diemen said living in close quarters and using shared facilities made transmission within the buildings more likely than in other locations.

She said authorities were worried there could be an "explosion of infections in a highly vulnerable community and very high rates of hospitalisations and deaths because of the background health status of a large number of people in these towers".

Victorian Public Tenants Association executive officer Mark Feenane expressed his concern that overcrowding was assisting the virus to spread.

Jenny, a resident from one of the North Melbourne towers, said physical distancing was nearly impossible in her building.

Residents from three separate towers said it was common for lifts in the high-rise buildings to be out of order on a regular basis, meaning there was one way up and down the buildings for hundreds of residents.

Jenny said she took the stairs because she was "fit and young", but that was impossible for many others.

In a statement, the Housing Minister said while the immediate focus was on the health response, attention was now turning to "wraparound support" for people living in the estates.

"That includes medical care, mental health supports, as well as the basics like food and essentials. Already, we have support staff and social workers onsite to make sure no-one is lacking those basic necessities," Mr Wynne said on Saturday night.

"To those Victorians who live in these estates, we will do everything we can to support you at this very challenging time."