‘Effective elimination’: Victoria records four straight weeks of no new local cases - The Age

Victoria recorded 28 days without a single local case of coronavirus on Friday - reaching what the state’s Chief Health Officer has described as effective elimination of the virus.

Professor Brett Sutton said COVID-19 is eliminated from the community after 28 days of no local cases - two full life cycles of the virus - were recorded.

The milestone comes on the day Victoria’s COVID-19 restrictions are set to ease - moving into a set of the most relaxed measures here since the start of last year’s second wave.

Under the new rules, Victorians will be able to have up to 100 people visit their homes every day, up from the previous limit of 30.

The cap on the number of people permitted to attend public gatherings will increase from 100 to 200.

Face masks will no longer be required in retail settings, but will still be needed on public transport, in taxis and in ride-share vehicles. Masks will also remain mandatory at hospitals and in aged care settings.

Offices will be able to move from 75 per cent to 100 per cent capacity from Friday night, but density limits of one person per two square metres still apply.

Stadium capacity at sport matches has also increased to 75 per cent, starting with Thursday night’s game between Collingwood and Carlton at the MCG.

Earlier this week, Professor Sutton said reaching effective elimination of the virus would be “another celebration” for him and all Victorians, and would warrant the easing of restrictions.

“It’s absolutely true that the changes that we’re making are a reflection of the point that we’ve gotten to, again, through the very hard work into our community,” he said.

“We will be at 28 days without local transmission of coronavirus in Victoria come Friday, so it’s entirely appropriate that we make these changes.

“There are always some baseline settings that are there to manage risk, as well as the recommendations that we make around wearing masks, around hygiene, and around getting tested.”

There were 13,800 test results received across Thursday.

On Thursday, Acting Premier James Merlino announced that international flights into Melbourne could resume in two weeks, potentially bringing 800 people a week from April 8 and 1120 per week from April 15.

He said the caps on returning numbers were dependent on the implementation of reviews into ventilation and into variant strains released on Thursday.

“What we are doing is leaving no stone unturned to make it as safe as possible,” Mr Merlino said.

With Jackson Graham

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‘Effective elimination’: Victoria records four straight weeks of no new local cases - The Age
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