“Ring of steel” lifted on November 9

FROM tomorrow (Monday, November 9), Geelong and the Bellarine will welcome people from Melbourne for the first time in months, with the lifting of COVID-19 travel restrictions within Victoria.

Melbourne and regional Victoria’s restrictions are now aligned under the Third Step on the coronavirus roadmap and will ease significantly further under the Last Step, which will come into effect across the state in two weeks.

However, the face masks rules will remain in effect.

This morning, Premier Daniel Andrews announced “families will be able to be together again” as he scrapped Melbourne’s 25km-from-home metropolitan travel limit and removed the city’s “ring of steel”, which had prevented people from visiting regional areas such as Geelong and the Bellarine.

The new rules start from midnight.

“Both the 25km limit and the ring of steel, the metropolitan regional Victoria border, comes down as well,” he said.

Travel freedom is set to expand again when the NSW border reopens to Victorians on November 23.

Mr Andrews’ announcement coincided with the state’s ninth straight day without a new COVID-19 case.

Several other restrictions will be eased across Victoria from tomorrow, including:

• Playcentres will open with a patron cap of 20 and group limits of 10, density quotient of 1 per 4sqm. Spectators
  are limited to one parent, guardian or carer only, where child requires supervision
• Community venues will open for all purposes with up to 20 people maximum indoors and up to 10 people per
  space, subject to density quotient of 1 per 4sqm. No more than 5 people per space singing or using wind instruments for amateur groups
• In hospitality venues, “spaces” can be separated by either temporary structures or at least 5 metres between collections of 10 seats or less, subject to the overall indoor cap of 40 and a density of 1 per 4sqm
• Cinemas, music halls, concert halls and auditoriums, galleries and museums will open, with a maximum of 20 people per space (e.g. a screening room, gallery space or auditorium), with a 1.5m distance between bookings and maximum bookings of 10 people. Performance times (including film screenings) will be staggered to a minimum interval of 30 minutes between sessions to avoid crowds in foyers and bathrooms.

The Last Step, to come into effect at 11.59pm on November 22, will allow up to 10 people at a time to visit a household, and up to 50 people to gather outdoors from any number of households (infants under 12 months do not count).

The other changes include:

• Hospitality venues will be able to hold up to 100 people indoors and up to 200 people outdoors as long as they meet density requirements of 1 per 4sqm
• Sporting venues will be able to hold up to 25 per cent of their capacity
• Groups of up to 10 people can share accommodation
• Religious services will be able to hold 100 people indoors and 500 outdoors
• Funerals and weddings will be able to have up to 100 people, and will be allowed at a private residence subject to the 10-person limit
• Masks can be removed for the person receiving the service of procedure if necessary, such as facial waxing, facials, beard trimmings and piercings around the mouth, nose and cheeks

Mr Andrews did not announce any changes to the rules about wearing face masks.

“Again, the time will come when we can make changes but not for today,” he said.

“I will not speculate when that will be. Masks are, I know, not a pleasant experience, particularly as the weather gets warmer, but they are low cost and high benefit.

“They’re an insurance policy, the extra bit of insurance to make sure we’re doing everything we can to stop someone who has got it from inadvertently giving it to others.”

Yesterday (Saturday, November 7), Health Minister Martin Foley announced an enforcement blitz on businesses and workplaces posing a high risk of COVID-19 transmission would be conducted over the weekend.

Compliance checks by police, WorkSafe and the Department of Health and Human Services could see offenders hit with fines of up to $10,000.

“Overwhelmingly, Victorian businesses are doing the right thing,” Mr Foley said.

He said it was particularly important to protect the healthcare sector, and noted today was the first day since early March that there were no healthcare workers with active infections.

The run of low or zero cases has allowed Victoria to welcome the first international flights to Melbourne since June 30, with the resumption of flights from New Zealand from Monday.

Victoria’s COVID-19 death toll is 819, and 907 people have died from the virus across Australia.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said the restrictions were not based on the presumption that Victoria had effectively eradicated the virus.

“Who knows? It’s possible, but we shouldn’t work on that assumption.”

For the latest updates, head to dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus.

– WITH AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS