By TOM GANNON and LIAM DURKIN
VICTORIA will remain in lockdown for at least another week.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the current restrictions imposed across the state will remain in force until 11.59pm on Tuesday, July 27.
“We wish we could bring this in earlier, but we can’t run that risk,” he said following a meeting of state government ministers this morning.
“There are cases that we don’t know about … we need to see how quickly this runs.”
The Premier confirmed travel to Victoria using Red Zone Permits will be temporarily paused.
Victorians have only five reasons to leave home:
Food and supplies.
Authorised work.
Care and caregiving.
Exercise, which is permitted for two hours per day and up to 5 kilometres from home.
Getting vaccinated.
The 5 km travel bubble still applies.
The current restrictions on schools remain in place.
Face masks must be worn indoors and outdoors by anyone aged 12 years and over, whenever you leave your home – unless a lawful exception applies.
However, face masks do not need to be worn indoors or outdoors if you are working alone.
The state recorded 13 new cases over the past 24 hours, including four that were announced yesterday.
The Department of Health confirmed 12 of today’s new cases were linked to current outbreaks and one mystery case was under investigation.
This brings the total number to 85 active cases with exposure sites ballooning to 320, including several in regional Victoria.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told media a “a third of all primary close contacts are in regional Victoria.”
Mr Andrews once again backed last week’s decision to enter lockdown, telling media the situation could have been very different if the state remained open.
“We need to avoid what’s going on in Sydney at the moment, so far we are doing that,” he said.
“The speed of which this spreads confirms we did the right thing to lockdown but unfortunately means we need to extend the lockdown.
“We have made good progress but more needs to be done.”
