Acting Premier James Merlino (pictured) announced a seven-day ‘circuit breaker’ lock down yesterday (27 May) and an immediate expansion of the State’s COVID-19 vaccination program in a bid to curb Victoria’s growing COVID-19 outbreak.
Mr Merlino said that as of 11:59pm yesterday until 11:59pm on 3 June there were only five reasons for people to leave their homes: shopping for necessary food and supplies; authorised work or permitted education; exercise; care and caregiving; and to be vaccinated.
He said that in the day prior to his announcement more evidence that Victoria was dealing with a highly infectious strain of the virus had come to light, a variant which was spreading faster than the State had ever recorded.
“From first thing this morning [27 May], we have identified in excess of 10,000 primary and secondary contacts who will need to either quarantine, or test and isolate, and that number will continue to grow and change,” Mr Merlino said.
“Despite working as fast as this, and my thanks to all of our contact tracers, this variant is moving faster still.
“The time between catching the virus and passing it on is tighter than ever; the ‘serial interval’ – how long it takes between the onset of symptoms in the first and secondary case – is in many cases just over a day.”
Mr Merlino said the usual transmission between someone catching the virus and passing it on was about five to six days.
“If we make the wrong choice now, if we wait too long, if we hesitate too much, this thing will get away from us,” the Acting Premier said.
“And lives will be at risk.”
He said exercise and shopping was limited to one person per day, per household and to five kilometres from a person’s home.
Mr Merlino said masks must be worn inside and outdoors, everywhere except people’s own home.
“Private and public gatherings will not be permitted, although visiting your intimate partner continues to be okay; single person bubbles will also be allowed,” he said.
“Childcare and kinder will remain open, but schools will need to close other than for the children of authorised workers and vulnerable kids.”
Mr Merlino said shops like supermarkets, food stores, bottle shops, banks, petrol stations and pharmacies would remain open; cafes and restaurants could offer take-away only; gyms, hairdressers, community facilities and entertainment venues were closed; and non-essential retail could only open for click and collect.
The Acting Premier said all Victorians over 40 were now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
“Without full vaccination, this virus will just keep mutating – and just keep making its way back in,” he said.
“My message to those Victorians: if you’re eligible, get vaccinated; make your plan today,” Mr Merlino said.
