Regional Victoria will be released from lockdown at 11.59pm tonight, Monday 9 August.Â
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the regions will return to the COVID-safe settings in place prior to the state’s sixth lockdown, meaning schools, retail and hospitality can reopen.Â
Home visits will remain banned, while masks are still compulsory both indoors and outdoors.
“This is very positive news and speaks to the fact that we do have a degree of containment around these cases, there is a degree of localisation if you like to these cases,” Mr Andrews told reporters on Monday.
“Pleasingly we haven’t seen cases in regional Victoria over these last four or five days.”
It comes as Victoria recorded 11 new local cases of coronavirus, all of which are linked to known outbreaks.
One case was in quarantine throughout their infectious period but Mr Andrews anticipates this trend will improve.
“We’re starting to see now the first of the new cases coming through that have been tucked away, no risk to public health, they’ve been in iso for 100 per cent of their infectious period. That’s the system working as it should,” he said.
Some 38,987 tests were processed in the 24 hours to Monday morning, while 17,101 Victorians received a COVID-19 vaccine at one of the state-run hubs.
There are now more than 170 exposure sites across the state, including the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital in St Albans, which was visited by a positive case for six hours on Friday.
The state’s vaccination program has also ramped up, with Australia’s first drive-through clinic opened at a former Bunnings warehouse in Melton.
The facility is initially expected to administer 10,000 vaccine doses a week, with hopes it will be the first in a series of drive-through hubs.
All Victorian adults will also have the opportunity to get the AstraZeneca vaccine at nine of the state’s mass vaccination centres from Monday, while children aged 12-15 with underlying health conditions or of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent will be allowed to receive Pfizer doses.
Victoria recorded 11 COVID-19 cases on Sunday 8 August and 29 on Saturday 7 August.
For exposure sites, visit www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/exposure-sites
AAP
