State of disaster implemented, regions head back to stage three restrictions

THE whole of Victoria will be placed under a state of disaster order from 6pm tonight in an attempt to get growing case numbers of COVID-19 under control.

The order means police and other authorities have been given extra powers while the State government will be able to suspend acts of parliament if needs be.

Other changes just announced include a return to stage three restrictions for all of Victoria outside of metro Melbourne from 12am on Thursday.

That means once again there will be only four reasons to leave the home: “Shopping for food and essential items. Care and caregiving. Daily exercise. Work and study – if you can’t do it from home.”

All but specialist schools across the state will return to remote learning restarting from Wednesday.

Cafes and restaurants will have to return to take away only, while beauty services and tourist attractions will need to close.

During a 2.30pm press conference Premier Daniel Andrews acknowledged the current restrictions weren’t working.

“If we were to pursue this strategy with a view to driving down numbers to a very low level, a containable level, where we could reopen it would likely be the end of the year before we were able to reopen,” said Premier Daniel Andrews.

“That’s a six-month strategy that’s simply not going to work. Therefore we have to do more and we have to do more right now.”

In metropolitan Melbourne a curfew will be in place from 8pm to 5am until further notice unless you’re giving care or receiving care.

Travel will be restricted in that zone to a five-kilometre radius from someone’s home.

Also restricted will be exercise with one hour of physical activity per day allowed of outside the home and of no more than two people.

“These changes are about making sure we limit movement, we have less people moving around,” Mr Andrews said.

Mr Andrews said that further announcements around workplaces and sanctions for breaking the new rules will be made on Monday.

“Today is about a series of changes about how we live our lives, tomorrow I’ll make further announcements about how we work,” he said.

The move to even stricter restrictions comes after 671 new cases of COVID-19 were detected across the state overnight with the vast majority of unknown cause

There were also seven deaths, with six linked to outbreaks in seniors’ homes.

The state of disaster order comes after new rules relating to compulsory face coverings in regional Victoria and a ban on home visits in Golden Plans Shire were announced last week.