Coronavirus: Victorian lockdown to ease but not by much

Daniel Andrews has confirmed Sunday’s relaxation of corona­virus restrictions will go further than previously outlined in his reopening roadmap.

The numbers have ‘really given us optimism but at the same time we know it’s possible it could backfire’, says bar and restaurant owner Johnny Iodice. Picture: Paul Jeffers

Daniel Andrews has confirmed Sunday’s relaxation of corona­virus restrictions will go further than previously outlined in his reopening roadmap, but the Victorian Premier says the exact details are “nowhere near settled” and will depend on modelling of case numbers from recent weeks.

Under the roadmap, Melbourne needed to reach a 14-day daily average of between 30 and 50 new cases of coronavirus by Sunday in order to move to a very slight easing of restrictions that would enable public outdoor gatherings of up to five people from up to two households, the resumption of childcare and a staged return to the classroom for Prep to Grade Two and VCE students.

Stay-at-home restrictions and a 9pm to 5pm curfew are to remain in place until October 26, and would be relaxed under the government’s plan only if Melbourne reaches a 14-day daily average of fewer than five cases, with fewer than five cases with an unknown source over the entire fortnight.

As of Wednesday, Melbourne’s 14-day daily average was at 29.4, placing the city ahead of Sunday’s 30-50 case target, although 41 unknown source cases distributed across 18 local government areas in the fortnight to September 20 indicate community transmission could prove an obstacle to the following stage of easing.

Asked whether he was considering taking steps beyond those included in the roadmap for Sunday, given the sharper-than-­modelled fall in case numbers, Mr Andrews said: “Yes, I am. But I’m not in a position give you the full list of what we’re looking at.

“A lot of them are nowhere near settled. It’s all about modelling. It’s all about a deep analysis of the actual data from the last couple of weeks and then trying to extrapolate about what that tells us the next couple of weeks might look like and the couple of weeks after that,” he said. “At this stage, I’ll be making announcements on Sunday. That’s certainly my ­intention.

“And they’ll come into effect some time thereafter, whether it’s midnight Sunday or midnight Monday, we’ll work that through.”

Labor sources suggested changes to the curfew were among relaxations being considered by the government, but Mr Andrews made it clear on Wednesday that he had “no announcements to make” about the measure.

“The curfew provides police with an easily enforceable rule, it means less people going and visiting friends, and, accordingly, it will be in place for as long as it needs to be in place to get these numbers down and keep them down,” the Premier said.

Labor MPs also said they were experiencing a surge in complaints from residents about the impact of restrictions limiting shopping and exercise to within 5km of Melburnians’ homes.

“People don’t like the 5km limit — the feedback suggests this is more unpopular than the curfew,” one source said.

Johnny Iodice, the owner of inner-city St Kilda bar and restaurant The Vineyard, said he embraced the Andrews govern­ment’s plan to reopen restaurants in October but questioned whether the schedule would go to plan.

Mr Iodice said it would take only a couple of infections before or after the reopening of res­taurants and cafes for a political rethink.

“[The numbers have] really given us optimism but at the same time we know it’s possible it could backfire,” he said.

Mr Iodice said uncertainty over how long the lockdown would last at the beginning of the pandemic had limited opportuni­ties to trade during the closure.

“We thought we would just do superficial stuff … but then it lasted and lasted,” he said.

“That’s the disappointing part. We all thought it was going to be about a month and a half, pretty much six weeks.”

Additional reporting: John Ferguson Damon Johnston