Fans allowed at Cats game as COVID-19 restrictions ease again

COVID-19 restrictions will ease further for regional Victorians on Friday this week, with all travel restrictions removed across the state and caps increasing for hospitality and home visits.

There’s also good news for Geelong Cats fans, with a crowd of 7,000 now allowed for their AFL match at GMHBA Stadium against the Western Bulldogs.

From 11.59pm tomorrow (Thursday, June 16), Melbourne’s 25km travel limit will end and there will also be no ban on travel from the city into regional areas (or vice versa).

Other eased restrictions for regional Victoria include:

• Public gatherings of up to 50 people
• Up to five adult visitors per day are allowed at your home
• Larger restaurants and cafes can have up to 300 patrons seated
• Smaller venues can have up to 25 patrons before needing to apply a density quotient, or up to 150 patrons using a density quotient of one person per 2 sqm
• Religious ceremonies can have 300 people, with 100 allowed at funerals and 50 allowed at weddings, and
• Offices are allowed to open to up to 75 per cent of their capacity or 30 people, whichever is greater.

The 7,000 people allowed at Friday night’s game at GMHBA Stadium (about 20 per cent of the stadium’s capacity) must be either Geelong Cats or Western Bulldogs members, and must come from Geelong or the surrounding regions (but not Melbourne).

“I know that football is something on a lot of people’s minds, and while we can’t have the crowds back in Melbourne just yet, we will be able to get some people along to the games in the Geelong on Friday,” Acting Premier James Merlino said at a press conference today (Wednesday, June 16).

The new restrictions will be in place for the next week, with slightly stronger measures remaining in place for Melbourne.

Homes in Melbourne can have two visitors per day, masks can be worn outdoors and venues such as gyms can reopen in the city.

But anyone from Melbourne wanting to travel to the snow will need to have a COVID-19 test within 72 hours of heading to the state’s alpine resorts.

The raft of eased restrictions came as Victoria recorded three new locally acquired COVID-19 cases overnight.

The Health Department confirmed five new local COVID-19 cases were recorded in the 24 hours to this morning, two of which had already been announced.

The three new cases are all linked to known outbreaks, the department said.

The two other cases, which were announced on Tuesday, are residents of the Kings Park Apartment Complex at Southbank.

The complex has been locked down for 14 days after a total of six residents, including an infant, became infected with COVID-19.

COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar said the two new cases are both men, who lived in separate apartments adjacent to those occupied by positive cases.

“Those two positive cases are connected to some communal areas that we are concerned about, thoroughfares within that particular complex,” he said yesterday.

The low-rise complex, which consists of about 100 townhouses, has now been listed as a Tier 1 exposure site from June 2-14.

As a result, all residents in the building have been asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

More than 30 new exposure sites in Port Melbourne, Richmond, Southbank, South Melbourne and the CBD were listed overnight.

Meanwhile, walk-in Pfizer vaccinations at Victoria’s state-run hubs have been paused for the rest of the week in an attempt to preserve supply for already booked first and second doses.

– WITH AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS