VICTORIA will enter a five-day lockdown in an effort to contain the Holiday Inn coronavirus outbreak, which now totals 19 cases.<\/p>\n
Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the state will enter the “circuit breaker” lockdown at 11.59pm on Friday.<\/p>\n
People will only be able to leave home to shop for food and essential items, provide or receive care, exercise and to work or study if they can’t from home.<\/p>\n
The five-kilometre travel limit will also be reimposed, as will compulsory use of masks both indoors and outdoors.<\/p>\n
As with stage four restrictions, all non-essential retail will close but essential stores like supermarkets, bottle shops and pharmacies will remain open.<\/p>\n
Cafes and restaurants will only be able to offer take-away.<\/p>\n
Weddings will not be permitted unless under exceptional circumstances, while funerals will be restricted to 10 mourners.<\/p>\n
The Premier said a list of essential workers will be shared on the Department of Health website.<\/p>\n
He said permitted workers during stage four restrictions would most likely be so again.<\/p>\n
The Australian Open tennis tournament will continue without crowds.<\/p>\n
Mr Andrews said the UK strain of the virus was “so hyper-infectious and moves so fast that it is presenting a very real challenge” for authorities.<\/p>\n
“It is the advice to me that we must assume that there are further cases in the community than we have positive results for, and that it is moving at a velocity that has not been seen anywhere in our country over the course of these last 12 months,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I am confident that this short, sharp circuit breaker will be effective. We will be able to smother this. We will be able to prevent it getting away from us.”<\/p>\n
Victoria’s Cheif Health Officer Brett Sutton said the alternative to the lockdown was “potentially devastating”.<\/p>\n
“I do not want to be here either come Wednesday not having done this and talking about 10, 15, 20, 30 new cases a day, including mystery cases, or including cases that we can’t chase down,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We need to be able to chase each and every case down so that we can get back that precious thing of no community transmission.”<\/p>\n
Victoria recorded five new COVID-19 cases on Friday, all connected to the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport.<\/p>\n
They include a female assistant manager and four close contacts of people who earlier tested positive.<\/p>\n
Victoria’s COVID-19 testing commander Jeroen Weimar said all were isolated at the time they tested negative.<\/p>\n
The whole of Melbourne Airport’s Terminal 4 has been listed as an exposure site after a case worked at Brunetti cafe on 9 February between 4.45am and 1.15pm.<\/p>\n
Anyone who visited the terminal then needs to get a COVID-19 test and isolate for 14 days, including those who have since travelled interstate.<\/p>\n
There are now 19 active cases in total in Victoria, with more than 24,000 tests conducted on Thursday.<\/p>\n
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