The Victorian emergency is, as noted previously, an order of magnitude worse than the isolated and "manageable" outbreaks Australians were warned to expect as the country came out from under the doona.

While some experts may be quibbling over whether or not this qualifies as a genuine "second wave", it would certainly fit the bill as far as most people are concerned.

When the decision to ease restrictions in June, a move designed to facilitate economic recovery, was first announced, the public was told the situation was very different to what it had been in March. States and territories had the capability to test for cases in the event of an outbreak, to identify them, and then to quarantine them until they got better.

There was no longer a serious fear hospital services would be overrun given the new-found ability to control any resurgences, and the fact many more ventilators were available, and the number of intensive care beds had doubled.

While all of that is still the case for most of the country, it is of concern at least one major Melbourne hospital, where staff had been exposed to COVID-19, was only accepting "Code 1" cases at its ED on Tuesday. That does not augur well for the ability of health services to cope in the event of a full blown mass outbreak of community transmission.

A lot has happened in the last 24 hours. The ACT has joined NSW, South Australia and Queensland in barring any arrivals from Victoria and all of that state's borders have been closed. Victoria has also, once again, recorded its worst day for infections since the pandemic began with 191 new cases diagnosed. These included 13 new cases in the Flemington flats, bringing the total there to 69. The number of people in intensive care more than doubled from four to nine between Monday and Tuesday.

Given Victorian authorities are still holding off on removing all infected tower residents, not just those with "special circumstances", from the flats, the risk of a catastrophic outbreak in the confines of the nine blocks - which are home to more than 3000 people - must still be considered high.

All of that said, nobody - including the Prime Minister and other state and territory leaders - is rushing to second guess the way Daniel Andrews and his team have reacted to this crisis.

Yes, they have come down hard with draconian restrictions on the ability of the tower dwellers to leave their homes, but those measures are clearly designed to protect the life and health of all Victorians.

This is a rapidly evolving situation in which the government has now been playing catch-up for the better part of three weeks. Every other leader in the country, including here in the ACT, would be thinking "there but for the grace of God go I" right now.

If there is an upside it has to be that this must smash any false sense of security that has crept in since the restrictions began to ease. Nobody can be complacent about the risk of a second wave anymore; Australians right across the country have been reminded of just how infectious this disease is.

Everybody needs to get back to the good habits that were adopted so quickly when the pandemic first reached our shores. If you walk into a shop or a cafe and it is crowded then leave. Observe the 1.5 metre rule wherever you are, be it at work, at the pub, and even with visitors to your home.

And, perhaps most importantly, always remember to wash your hands. That is still the best advice for keeping this under control.