Victoria stalls scheduled easing of restrictions as outbreaks plague rest of Australia

Australia’s worsening Covid-19 situation has caused Victoria to hold back its scheduled easing of restrictions.

Victorian authorities have decided to hold back on easing restrictions further, as multiple outbreaks plague other Australian jurisdictions and send four capital cities into lockdown.

Health Minister Martin Foley said caps on footy crowds and theatre audiences would remain unchanged.

Theatres were supposed to resume 100 per cent capacity from Friday, while outdoor stadiums were set to increase to 85 per cent capacity.

But Mr Foley said there would be no increase this week, due to the “volatile” national situation, urging Victoria’s current position was “worth protecting at all costs”.

“It is clear that as a nation things are extremely delicately poised … We are seeing situations right around the country, with 12 million Australians and a form of severe lockdown,” he told reporters on Wednesday

“There will be no added restrictions, but current restrictions will stay in place for the time being.”

Health Minister Martin Foley says there will be no easing of Covid-19 restrictions this week. Picture: David Geraghty / NCA NewsWire

It comes after Victoria recorded one new case of Covid-19 on Wednesday, snapping its three-day streak of no new locally acquired infections.

The new case was a primary close contact in isolation throughout their infectious period and associated to the Epping Private Hospital outbreak.

That outbreak started after a nurse who contracted Covid-19 after working with coronavirus patients worked two shifts at the Northern Hospital while infectious and then attended a vaccination clinic on June 17.

Victoria Covid-19 testing commander Jeroen Weimar said about 430 Victorians were in isolation due to their connection with known outbreaks across the country.

There was another case recorded in an international arrival who was in hotel quarantine.

There were 20,067 doses of the vaccine administered across the state on Tuesday.

Victoria has recorded one new case. Picture: Daniel Pockett / NCA NewsWire

Overnight, Victoria slammed its border shut to four states after having already closed its border to parts of NSW and the Northern Territory.

Victoria declared areas of Perth, and parts of Queensland as red zones from 1am on Wednesday.

The areas affected are the Perth metropolitan and Peel regions in WA, and Queensland local government areas in South East Queensland and Townsville.

Victoria also declared greater Brisbane an orange zone, meaning anyone already in Victoria who was in greater Brisbane between June 22 and 1am on June 30 must get tested and isolate until negative.