How summer will look in Victoria under restriction changes

The number of people allowed in pubs and restaurants will soar and mask rules will be relaxed as Victoria prepares for a COVID-normal summer.

Density limits in pubs are set to be slashed, mask rules relaxed and government workers will head back to their offices under Victoria’s COVID-normal Summer.

The Saturday Herald Sun can reveal the number of people allowed in pubs, restaurants and cafes will soar from next week, with some effectively doubling capacity under the easing of restrictions.

With NSW and South Australia moving swiftly to introduce a density limit of one person per 2 square metres of space, Victoria looks set to follow and effectively create a new national standard.

Patrons will once again be able to stand and drink outdoors at venues. It can also be revealed that a cap on the number of people at religious gatherings will be removed before Christmas and replaced with a limit of one person for every 2 sq m.

Duke of Wellington manager Andy O’Brien. Picture: Rob Leeson

Cabinet is set to meet on Saturday to hammer out final details subject to the latest health advice but senior government members are bullish about what Premier Daniel Andrews will announce on Sunday.

“There will be a lot more people allowed in pubs and hospitality venues,” one said.

It is likely some of the new density limits will be phased in to ensure venues are able to adjust operations and maintain a safe environment.

Victorian public servants are likely to be eased back into office life in the new year, when up to a quarter are likely to be in the CBD once more.

CEOs and executives have been told to prepare staff for a return to the office with an initial target of 25 per cent.

It would mean about 8000 of Victoria’s 32,000 CBD-based government workers would return to the city.

Cheyenne Morgan-Paliothodoros and Isabella McSwain at Arbory Afloat. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Work is being done to assess government offices to ensure the 25 per cent will comply with density requirements. It is expected significant work will have to be done to reconfigure some offices.

Arrangements being considered include staggering starting times to avoid public transport crushes, and flexible arrangements are likely to ­continue for many people until the pandemic ends.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has said the state was reaching a point where mandatory mask wearing could be rolled back.

“We’re clearly moving through a phase where the utility of masks becomes less and less,” he told a parliamentary committee on Friday.

“It’s to be determined this weekend but we will move to a phase where there is even more limited use of masks.”

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra said he hoped to see Victoria move into closer alignment with other states — with density limits halved, and caps on patron numbers lifted for restaurants, pubs and cafes.

Mask rules are set to be relaxed. Picture: David Crosling

“So we can keep events here in Victoria, we need to increase our outdoor capacity limits,” he said. “Sunday’s COVID-safe summer plans should be reviewed in early January once the hotel quarantine system is embedded.”

The reset quarantine program will begin on Monday when the first international travellers since July land in Melbourne. The state government will next week introduce legislation to charge guests $3000 for their mandatory 14-day hotel stay.

It comes as the state government confirmed it had scaled back a request for Australian Defence Force support for the program, after the ADF advised it was unable to undertake security-type work.

It also emerged on Friday an American airline crew may have brought COVID-19 into Sydney and infected a woman working at a quarantine hotel.

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