What rules are set to ease once 70% vaccination target is reached?

The Victorian government has announced some tweaks to the state’s coronavirus restrictions that will apply from 11.59pm on Thursday.

However, Premier Daniel Andrews flagged that some rules would be eased once key COVID-19 vaccination targets were reached.

Mr Andrews said once 70 per cent of the population had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, rules related to travel limits, outdoor exercise and personal training and private real estate inspections would be eased.

Health authorities expect the 70 per cent single-dose vaccination target could be achieved by September 23 when the extended lockdown is scheduled to expire.

“I’m not for a moment pretending that those changes are huge changes to the rules, they are not,” Mr Andrews said.

“But that’s what the advice tells us we’ll be able to do without contributing to the increase in the rate of cases.”

Victorians will be able to exercise and shop within a 10-kilometre radius of their home under the plan.

They will be able to exercise for three hours a day, one hour more than is currently allowed.

Outdoor personal training will be permitted, with up to two people plus the trainer, and outdoor communal gym equipment and skate parks will reopen.

For those in the real estate market, private property inspections of unoccupied premises for a new purchase or end of lease will be allowed. Only one household member may attend at a time, with real estate agents required to remain outdoors during the inspection.

Victoria’s construction workforce will be able to increase to 50 per cent of capacity once 90 per cent of them have received at least one vaccine dose. Mr Andrews said this measure would be subject to epidemiological advice. Up to five workers will be able to work onsite at entertainment venues to broadcast performances.

Mr Andrews said his government would continue to weigh whether additional restrictions could be eased when the 70 per cent threshold is met.

“We will look at other outdoor [recreational] activities that can be done safely,” he said.

“[But] I don’t want to go through a list today, I don’t have a list.”

Mr Andrews said he didn’t expect more rules would ease in the weeks following September 23 and that a significant reduction in restrictions would not occur until 70 per cent and 80 per cent of Victorians had received two vaccine doses.

“These will be the settings that we all have to live with for a period of time, until we reach not just first-dose vaccination thresholds, but second-dose vaccination thresholds,” he said.

“That is the difficult, but the unavoidable position, that we find ourselves in.”

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said 70 per cent of the state’s population should have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by October and 80 per cent by November.

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