Victoria’s fifth lockdown to begin at midnight

VICTORIA will enter a five-day lockdown from tonight (Thursday, July 15) in an effort to contain a growing outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in the state.

Premier Daniel Andrews said people would only able to leave home during the lockdown – the state’s fifth – for five reasons: to shop for food and essential items, provide or receive care, exercise, work or study if they are unable to from home, and to get vaccinated.

Masks will be compulsory indoors and outdoors.

All non-essential retail will close but essential stores like supermarkets, bottle shops and pharmacies will remain open.

Cafes and restaurants will only be able to offer takeaway. Childcare and kinder will stay open but schools will close, except for a small cohort of students.

The 5km travel limit has also been re-introduced.

The lockdown will end at 11.59pm on Tuesday, July 20 though regional Victoria will be able to reopen earlier if it is safe to do so.

“To give you an example, we’ve got outstanding tests from a number of different regional communities,” Mr Andrews said.

“If they come back as we hope, negative, then just as we will release those thousands of people in isolation waiting for the test results, we may be able to release part of regional Victoria. We want to keep this as simple as possible but we always want to be proportionate.”

He said the state had only one chance to go “hard and fast” to defeat the highly infectious Delta variant.

“I am not prepared to avoid a five-day lockdown now only to find ourselves in a five-week or a five-month lockdown.”

It is the fifth lockdown for Victoria since the start of the pandemic and the third in 2021.

Victoria’s COIVD commander Jeroen Weimar said about 20,000 test results had been received so far today.

“Of course, we’re expected many more test results during the course of the rest of today and tonight and into the early hours of tomorrow.”

Mr Andrew said he was hopeful the lockdown would not extend beyond Tuesday.

“To that extent we hope we can get the best advice and do all the hard work and make a judgement about what we think is the appropriate amount of time.

“It may be longer because it depends on what every Victorian does. Millions of Victorians making dozens and dozens of choices every day means there are lots of variable points here.

“If we all do the right thing, though, the advice to me, and the advice from public health team on why is it five days is five days is what’s needed.”