Coronavirus Australia: Four reasons Victorians can leave home

Daniel Andrews has announced tough new restrictions for COVID-19 hot spots in Victoria, outlining four acceptable reasons to leave home.

Stay-at-home restrictions have been put in place across several COVID-19 hot spots in Victoria, with Premier Daniel Andrews outlining four reasons to leave the house.

The orders will come into force from 11.59pm on Wednesday, with residents only allowed to leave their homes for four reasons.

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These reasons include:

• Going to work or school

• Care or care giving

• Daily exercise

• Buying food and other essentials

“These are the acceptable reasons to leave but only if you need to. It is not an opportunity to go shoe shopping, it is not an opportunity to be taking daily exercise for the whole day,“ Mr Andrews said.

He said this decision was made because of the “unacceptably high rates of community transmission and the unacceptably high rates of new cases”.

Stay-at-home restrictions have been put in place across several COVID-19 hot spots in Victoria, with Premier Daniel Andrews outlining four reasons to leave the house.

The postcodes subject to the new stay-at-home orders include:

• 3012 (Brooklyn, Kingville, Maidstone, Tottenham, West Footscray)

• 3021 (Alban Vale, Kealba, Kings Park, St Albans)

• 3032 (Ascot Vale, High Point City, Maribyrnong, Travancore)

• 3038 (Keilor Downs, Keilor Lodge, Taylors Lakes, Watergardens)

• 3042 (Airport West, Keilor Park, Niddrie)

• 3046 (Glenroy, Hadfield, Oak Park)

• 3047 (Broadmeadows, Dallas, Jacana)

• 3055 (Brunswick South, Brunswick West, Moonee Vale, Moreland West)

• 3060 (Fawkner)

• 3064 (Craigieburn, Donnybrook, Mickleham, Roxburgh Park and Kalkallo)

These restrictions will be in place for four weeks until July 29.

It comes as the state continues to struggle with a growing wave of new cases.

Victorians authorities have confirmed the state has recorded 64 new COVID-19 cases overnight.

Four previous cases have been reclassified due to duplications bringing the total number of cases to 2159.

Of the new cases 13 have been linked to outbreaks, 20 have been identified through routine testing and 31 are under investigation.

No new cases have been detected in returned travellers in hotel quarantine.

Six new cases are part of the Stamford Plaza outbreak, taking the total number of cases in that outbreak to 29.

All cases were close contacts tested while in quarantine.

Mr Andrews said will be patrolling the areas subject to the new lockdown, with residents warned they will be fined if they are caught outside their home without an acceptable excuse.

“We have to limit the number of people who are going in and out of these post codes and sadly we have to ensure that residents, families within these post codes, do not leave their home other than for those four permitted reasons and, again, only when they need to,” he said.

“Police will be actively — actively — enforcing these suburban lockdown, this stay-at-home order.

“They will be patrolling throughout these communities and if people are out of their home then they will be politely asked why are you out of your home and if you are out of your home for anything other than a permitted reason then financial penalties apply — on-the-spot fines apply.”

The Victorian Premier said he hopes it doesn‘t come to that but the stay-at-home orders need “to be taken seriously”.

Many of the main access points in and out of these suburbs will be regularly patrolled by police, with vehicles randomly stopped to check why they are outside their home.

“So not necessarily every vehicle but vehicles will be stopped randomly but in an organised and coordinated way and people moving in and out of the suburb will be asked to identify themselves, to identify their address and to provide good reason for them being out and about,” he said.

“These are extraordinary steps, these are not things we have had to do in the past but such is the nature of this virus, it is so wildly infectious that if we don‘t take these steps now we will finish up in a situation than locking down ten post codes we will be locking down every postcode.”