Victoria’s lockdown has been extended until midnight next Tuesday (27 July) and travel into the State using Red Zone Permits paused in an effort to beat the current COVID-19 outbreak.
Premier, Daniel Andrews said Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton declared that the current restrictions in Victoria must remain in place due to the speed at which the Delta variant was moving, which was “faster than anything Victoria’s public health experts have seen before it”.
“It means we need to limit movement for a longer period of time so contact tracers can get ahead of the virus, instead of just keeping pace with it,” Mr Andrews said.
“There are only five reasons to leave home: Getting the food and the supplies you need; exercising for up to two hours; care or caregiving; work or education if you can’t do it from home; or to get vaccinated at the nearest possible location,” he said.
“Shopping and exercise must be done within 5km of your home or the nearest location.”
Mr Andrews said face masks would remain mandatory indoors, excluding people’s homes, and outdoors.
The Premier said minor changes were made to the Authorised Premises and Authorised Worker List to include services that operated solely outdoors where physical distancing could be maintained at all times, including pet grooming mobile services and pamphlet delivery services.
He said that, as of Wednesday (21 July), more students with a disability were able to return to on-site learning.
“Where a parent or carer indicates that a student with a disability cannot learn from home due to vulnerability or family stress, the school must provide on-site learning for that student,” Mr Andrews said.
He said the Chief Health Officer had temporarily paused the issuing of Red Zone Permits for at least two weeks, due to the serious and persistent nature of the risk in NSW.
Mr Andrews said Victorian residents in red zones would require an exemption to enter the State and these would only be granted in exceptional circumstances.
Further information on current health restrictions can be accessed on the State’s COVID-19 information website at this PS News link.
