Victoria lockdown extended for two weeks: All the rules explained
Melbourne’s lockdown has been extended for another two weeks with stricter rules to go with it. Here’s what you need to know.
Melbourne’s sixth coronavirus lockdown has been extended for another two weeks with stricter rules to go with it.
The new rules are set to kick in from 11.59pm on Monday, with a curfew from 9pm to 5am to again be imposed on the city.
The exercise exemption to leave home has been made tighter with it only allowed with one other household member and dependants.
There will be also no removal of masks to consume alcohol outdoors, for example on a footpath or in a park.
Playgrounds, basketball courts, skate parks and exercise equipment despite the fact that it is outdoors will also be closed.
Religious broadcasts will be limited to the same crew producing them every week.
Permits for authorised work and education will come back from 11.59pm on Tuesday.
Large construction projects will be reduced to 25 per cent of the workforce, while smaller projects will have a maximum of five workers.
An angry Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the strengthened lockdown would be in place until September 2.
“We are at a tipping point, we see too many cases, we see too many mystery cases,” he said on Monday.
“We now have twelve or 13 different chains of transmission. The origins of some are unknown to us.
“That means that this is spreading in an undetected way across the community.
“There is simply no option today but to further strengthen this lockdown and to, on the advice of the chief health officer, extend it for a further two weeks.
“We have too many cases and we run the risk that if we don’t take these steps now, that we will see numbers grow and we will see more and more people in hospital and we will see a similar situation to that which is occurring in other parts of our country.”
Chief health officer Brett Sutton urged Victorians to pull together as they had done during the five previous lockdowns.
“There have been breaches, there have been people bending the rules that put us all at risk,” he said.
“We have to tighten those elements and we have to recommit ourselves to doing as much as we possibly can in this period of time to get to where we know we need to be.”
It comes as Victoria recorded 22 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases on Monday.
The state’s health department confirmed the new local cases about 8.30am, and revealed five were mystery infections.
They said 17 of the 22 new local cases could be linked to existing outbreaks but only 14 positive people were in isolation during their infectious period.
It comes after five mystery cases were reported on Sunday and four on Friday.
Mr Andrews gave a grim response when asked about the number of mystery and infectious cases in the community.
“We want to see these numbers come down, but I think we are seeing these numbers grow,” he told reporters on Sunday morning.
“The choice really is between where we are now and hundreds and then thousands of cases.
“I’m determined to make sure that it doesn’t happen here. I know no one’s enjoying this.
“But what’s worse than this is, well, being locked up till the end of October, or indeed the end of November because that’s how long it may well take to get 80 per cent of people through the vaccination program.”
There are now more than 530 exposure sites in multiple suburbs across metropolitan Melbourne.
There are 205 active cases across the state, up from 185 on Sunday.
No new cases were recorded in hotel quarantine on Monday.
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