Tougher COVID restrictions have been announced in Melbourne, including a curfew, the closure of playgrounds, and a two-week extension of the current lockdown.
Key points:
- Authorities are urging all Victorians to follow the lockdown, as breaches and clusters continue to emerge
- The number of exposure sites has grown beyond 530, with some recently added sites dating back more than a week
- On-site testing is being run at a Carlton public housing tower after the virus was detected in wastewater
Premier Daniel Andrews said the new restrictions would come into effect 11:59pm tonight and be in place until September 2 and come amid concerns about compliance with current restrictions.
"We see too many cases, we see too many mystery cases," he said.
"I don't want to have to stand here and report deaths. I don't want to have to stand here and report hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of cases every day and perhaps an even greater number of people in hospital."
The curfew will be in force from 9:00pm to 5:00am each day.
The new restrictions come into effect from 11:59pm tonight, but the government is asking people to respect the curfew from 9:00pm today.
As part of the new restrictions, playgrounds, basketball courts, skate parks and outdoor exercise equipment will be closed and people will no longer be allowed to remove their masks to consume alcohol outdoors.
Large construction projects will be restricted to 25 per cent of their workforce, mobile pet grooming and letterboxing will be banned, and religious broadcasts will be limted to five people.
"We are right on the cliff edge here," Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said.
"We are maybe just keeping up with this outbreak but we are not ahead of it in the way we need to be in order to achieve control."
Premier lashes 'shitty choices' of a few
The strengthened measures come after examples of several breaches of restrictions came to light, including an organised pub crawl in Richmond, and an engagement party attended by dozens of guests.
"Every time even a small number of people make really bad choices, selfish choices, it take as way from the hard work that so many millions more are doing, and it extends these lockdowns because it makes it more likely that we will have more cases," Mr Andrews said.
"They are shitty choices and they keep us all locked down for longer than we should be."
The Premier spoke directly about the engagement party, saying each of the 69 people in attendance had been interviewed and tested.
"The fact is there has been transmission at that event. The only question is whether it will be a superspreader event, it's already a transmission event," he said.
"That's what events like that cost all of us ... I'm angry about that event."
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said up to 100 infringement notices were issued by police over the weekend to people breaching the Chief Health Officer's directives.
"We have seen so many different breaches, it's just ridiculous and it has to stop," he said.
"On Saturday we had down at Mornington Peninsula someone who considered themselves an entrepreneur and on a private property was going to host a dance party, they had a stage set up."
Chief Commissioner Patton said he expected everyone who attended the engagement party in breach of restrictions would be issued an infringement notice.
He said he expected total fines for that one event to be around $350,000.
Up to 13 chains of transmission
The announcements come as Victoria recorded 22 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases yesterday, 14 of whom were in quarantine during their infectious period.
Contact tracers have linked 17 of the new cases to current outbreaks.
The results were detected from 29,986 test results processed on Sunday, when 19,880 vaccination doses were delivered at state-run sites.
Melbourne's Delta outbreak has continued to spread, with several new clusters emerging despite nearly a fortnight of lockdown.
Mr Andrews said there were now "12 or 13 chains of transmission".
"The origins of some are unknown to us. That means that this is spreading in an undetected way across the community," he said.
The number of exposure sites exceeds 530, with a Carlton public housing tower and a residential apartment complex in North Melbourne among recent additions.
Health authorities said on-site testing would be offered today at 480 Lygon Street, Carlton, after an unexpected wastewater detection at the building.
Authorities have also issued repeated alerts about regional Victorian wastewater detections around Shepparton and Lakes Entrance dating back to around August 8 to August 11.
Anyone who was in those areas around those dates is being urged to be "especially vigilant" in getting tested with even the mildest of symptoms.
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Curfew, playground closures and extended lockdown confirmed in Melbourne - ABC News
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