Coronavirus Victoria: Eerie photos of Melbourne’s virus curfew

The streets of Melbourne were left completely deserted after the city began its first ever coronavirus curfew on Sunday night.

The streets of Melbourne were left completely deserted as the city began its first ever coronavirus curfew on Sunday night.

Earlier that day, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declared a state of disaster from 6pm, in addition to the state’s existing state of emergency. He said he had been left with “no alternative” but to impose the harsher restrictions on Melbourne.

A further six-week lockdown with stage 4 restrictions was imposed on metropolitan Melbourne from 6pm. This included a curfew, which severely restricts people’s movements, from 8pm. The curfew will run from 8pm to 5am every day.

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No shopping allowed after 8pm: Melbourne CBD was empty including Bourke Street Mall. Picture: Josie Hayden

Flinders St railway station was deserted. Picture: Paul Jeffers/The Australian

No pedestrians in Swanston St. Picture: Josie Hayden

The usually bustling Arts Centre on St Kilda Road. Picture: Josie Hayden

“The only reason to be out of your home between the hours of 8pm and 5am is to get care, to give care, or to go to and from work or be at work. We can no longer have people visiting others. We can no longer have people simply out and about for no good reason whatsoever,” Mr Andrews said.

The restrictions will apply for six weeks and are due to end on September 13.

The Premier is expected to announce further restrictions or guidance around workplaces today.

“We … recognise that workplaces continue to be the site of many of our cases,” he said in his statement yesterday.

“Today, I’ve made some announcements that change how Victorians will live – tomorrow, I’ll have more to say about the way Victorians need to work.”

He added, “Those are two separate issues. There will be significant changes to a number of workplaces in terms of how much they’re doing. Some will close. All of that is for tomorrow.”

Mr Andrews acknowledged that would “cause a certain level of anxiety and uncertainty”. “But the truth is, this is complex – and we’re going to take some extra time to make sure we get these calls right,” he said.

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Turkish student Aynur Cargan had to walk her bike home with a flat tyre and hoped to be home before the 8pm curfew. Picture: Paul Jeffers/The Australian

Collins Street was completely empty after 8pm. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

State Opposition leader Michael O’Brien slammed the move, saying Victorians “don’t deserve this”.

“In declaring a state of disaster, Premier Daniel Andrews has conceded that his government has lost control of COVID-19 in this state,” Mr O’Brien said.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has described Victoria’s new lockdown as “a big kick in the guts to thousands of small businesses right across the state”.

“Nobody wanted it to get to this,” he told Nine’s Today show.

“We feel very much in a warlike situation. Every Victorian is on the front line. We can’t afford any holes in our defence so everybody needs to follow these rules. There is only one way out and that is to stem the tide of new cases.”

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A solitary tram travels past Melbourne Town Hall. Picture: Josie Hayden

Metropolitan Melbourne will be under stage 4 restrictions for six weeks. Picture: Paul Jeffers/The Australian

Mr Frydenberg said there were already around 975,000 Victorians on the JobKeeper wage subsidy and he expected that number to remain high even after the end of the six-week lockdown.

“These are really challenging times,” he said.

“Everyone has to come together. People need to put aside their disappointment, their anger, their despair, their frustration, and they have to follow the rules because we very much are all in this together and just a few people can endanger many.”

Mr Frydenberg said the Treasury was still working through the expected cost to the national economy, but “clearly this is going to hit the Victorian economy which makes up around a quarter of the national economy, and this will obviously impact on consumer and business confidence more broadly”.

Meanwhile, Queensland recorded one new case of COVID-19 on Sunday. A man tested positive after returning from overseas and being granted an exemption to fly domestically from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast.

There were 12 new cases in NSW where Premier Gladys Berejiklian said masks will be encouraged in certain circumstances from Monday.