Premier Daniel Andrews says Victorians should be proud but not "boastful" of their efforts to suppress the Delta outbreak, as the state prepares for a gradual return to schools, hospitality venues and gyms from Wednesday.
Key points:
- Household visits will remain banned and masks will be required everywhere outside the home
- Victoria is cutting off several regional New South Wales communities, including Wagga Wagga, from its cross-border bubble
- Mr Andrews repeated his call for a harder border to be imposed around Sydney to prevent regional outbreaks
The state's fifth lockdown will ease at 11:59pm, but visits between households will remain barred for at least another two weeks.
"We understand that that will be challenging for people who have not seen family and friends for a couple of weeks now, and many for longer periods than that," Mr Andrews said.
"But we know that this is where transmission occurs ... it is incredibly important that we regard the home as what it is.
"It is in many respects, from a 'transmission of this virus' point of view, the highest risk environment."
Masks remain compulsory in both indoor and outdoor settings outside the home, unless an exemption applies.
Reuters: Sandra Sanders
)"I know it's painful, I know no one enjoys doing it, but it is effective," he said.
The restrictions apply statewide, meaning there is no longer any restriction on travel within Victoria.
But anyone going to Alpine resorts must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test result received within the previous 72 hours.
Public gatherings are capped at 10 people, while workers in the office is capped at 25 per cent or 10 people if the workplace is 40 or fewer people.
Mr Andrews said if Victorians could work from them they should continue to do so.
Density limits of one person per 4 square metre apply to workplaces, community facilities, sports centres, creative studios, hospitality venues, hairdressers and beauty services.
Mr Andrews said crowds at sports matches, including the AFL, were under constant review.
"It's a bit of work to work through but we have to make sure that we're not undergoing a giant contact tracing exercise and going into lockdown because a single event has taken place," he said.
Teacher calls for educators to be vaccinated
ABC News: Oliver Gordon
)Secondary School teacher Steven Kolber said he was excited to get back into the classroom on Wednesday, but he called for all teachers to be vaccinated immediately.
Mr Kolber said it would reduce the need to close schools in the event of future lockdowns.
"I'm excited," he said.
"Online teaching is OK, but face-to-face teaching with students is what we signed up for.
The first couple seemed a bit fun and a bit of a novelty, but this feels a little bit harder."
However, Mr Kolber said he would feel safer going back into the classroom vaccinated.
"The work that we do exposes us to thousands of students. It's the right thing to be vaccinated," he said.
"Teachers need to be vaccinated. We don't feel safe. We're anxious and exposed to thousands of people each day, and it would be great to be supported in this way.
"If all teachers were vaccinated, there would be a much higher chance that we could all still be in school but, as it is, schools are closing all the time with breakouts, and then we have to close down and start again."
Weddings and funerals can go ahead with up to 50 people plus those necessary to conduct the ceremonies.
Victoria has recorded 10 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, all of which were in quarantine throughout their infectious period.
There are now seven COVID-19 cases in hospital in Victoria, an increase from the five yesterday. Two cases are in intensive care, including one case on a ventilator.
The cases were detected from 24,340 test results processed on Monday.
A handful of exposure sites were added for July 15, including several shops in Balaclava, a restaurant in Albert Park and a Melbourne CBD sushi shop.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the fairly substantial easing was only possible if "we're fulfilling our obligations to each other" and following restrictions.
He urged people to send thanks to those Victorians still undergoing quarantine.
"You've given up your freedom so we can have the freedoms we're starting with today so we give you our absolute thanks, our respect and our gratitude," he said.
Border bubble tightened to exclude Wagga Wagga
Mr Andrews also announced the regional New South Wales local government areas (LGAs) of City of Wagga Wagga, Hay Shire Council, Lockhart Shire Council and Murrumbidgee Council would no longer be included in the cross-border bubble.
The change means people in those LGAs must apply for permits to enter Victoria, which are only being granted to some approved workers at the moment due to the NSW outbreak.
"I take no pleasure in having to essentially lock out those four communities from Victoria, but there's a refusal to lock people in Sydney into Sydney so therefore I have no choice but to make those changes," he said.
Mr Andrews insisted he was not "lecturing" NSW, but again argued the nation's most populous state should impose a harder border around Sydney.
"A ring of steel will work. It will. And that's why I've called for it," he said.
Mr Andrews said he was hopeful that once Victorian authorities had cleared existing contacts, public health teams could offer greater support to NSW in curbing its outbreak.
ABC News: Simon Winter
)During Melbourne's fourth lockdown, the "ring of steel" approach adopted last year was abandoned, after the police union and police command argued it was an ineffective waste of resources.
Instead, spot checks and numberplate scans were used to ensure Melburnians were not travelling into regional Victoria.
NSW Health's current stay-at-home orders for the Sydney region already require people to stay at home unless they have a "reasonable excuse" and to remain within their local area.
Victorians encouraged to feel proud, but not 'boastful'
Mr Andrews said "we are in no way triumphant, in no way boastful", but it was important to note the significance of being able to end the lockdown and return to similar settings to those before the outbreak.
"We have seen off two Delta outbreaks, I don't think there is a jurisdiction in the world that has been able to achieve that," he said.
"And every Victorian should be proud of that, every member of the public health team should know that we as Victorians are grateful to them, but at the same time we need to remain vigilant."
ABC News: Danielle Bonica
)Professor Sutton said the state was "on the cusp" of containing the Delta outbreak.
"But we can't call it mission accomplished yet, we can't forget that the Kappa outbreak in May kicked off 13 days after the Wollert case from South Australia," Professor Sutton said.
He encouraged Victorians yearning to see loved ones to instead catch up in a park or go for a walk outside.
"Wear a mask and catch up with them but please don't visit homes," he said.
COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said three of the cases recorded on Monday were people who had attended the Australia vs France rugby match at AAMI Park.
"Two of those three cases were people who were at the game who tested negative at the beginning of their isolation period and have since tested positive on their day 13 test," Mr Weimar said.
Mr Weimar said those cases highlighted the critical importance of close contacts serving their full 14 days of quarantine and only leaving once they had been cleared by health authorities.
Business push to 'accelerate' out of lockdown
The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has already flagged its concern about a slow easing of restrictions, saying overly strict density limits would make it too difficult for some businesses to operate.
"Victoria was fast into lockdown, and we've again quashed an outbreak from another state," VCCI chief executive Paul Guerra said.
"We need to be fast out, so Victorians can get back to work and businesses can start recovering.
"Every business understands that this is a health pandemic, and every business has a COVID-safe plan in place.
"Provided we all continue to QR code check-in, we should be able to accelerate out of lockdown five and hopefully get to a point where we can trade viably again."
Berwick cafe owner Nick Panagopoulos said he welcomed the reopening of hospitality, but admitted the reopening process would be "tricky".
His cafe would only be open for takeaways tomorrow, he said.
"We weren't willing to risk ordering stock in until we knew with certainty that we would be open, just to eliminate any more wastage," he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
Mr Panagopoulos said the uncertainty around lockdowns had made it difficult to run his business.
"We've had trouble keeping kitchen staff through the journey, with a lot of people reassessing their careers and it's just been really challenging," he said.
"We're only opening until two o'clock basically because we don't have enough kitchen staff."
The opposition has called on the government to introduce urgent rent relief measures for small businesses hit hard by the latest lockdown.
Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien said he wanted to see a similar scheme to the one introduced last year which offered land tax relief for landlords on the condition that rent relief was passed on to small businesses.
Mr O'Brien said the measures were needed so businesses were not "paying full rent with a padlock on your front door" due to restrictions.
"We want these small businesses to survive, we need them to survive, we need them to be there on the other side of lockdowns," he said.
Mr Andrews said the government was looking at further support for affected businesses and would have more to say on Wednesday.
Health authorities fine Sydney removalist over mask use
The Department of Health has confirmed just one fine will be issued in response to a group of Sydney removalists whose movements sparked the state's current COVID-19 outbreak.
It was reported they did not wear masks while removing furniture from an apartment complex in Maribyrnong, where several residents later tested positive for the virus.
The men were strongly criticised by Victoria's COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar for not being forthcoming with information about their movements in Victoria.
In a statement, the Department of Health said while it was permitted to remove a face covering while undertaking "strenuous work", a $200 fine had been issued to one person "for not wearing a mask in an indoor public setting when they were not performing that work".
"The Department of Health and Victoria Police have found no evidence the individuals committed any other offences," the statement said.
In response to the transmission, health authorities have since restricted commercial freight permits to bar removalists and delivery drivers who have been in a red zone within the past fortnight and freight workers who cannot unload cargo in a COVID-safe manner.
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