Individuals travelling to Victoria from red zones will no longer be allowed to enter the state as of midnight tonight.
Yesterday, Victorian Premier Dan Andrews warned the Melbourne lockdown would not lift at 11:59pm on Tuesday July 20, as originally planned.
Today, Andrews fronted the press again to reveal the nature of the lockdown extension.
With 85 active cases of COVID-19 in Victoria and over 250 exposure sites statewide, the current lockdown settings will remain in place until 11.59pm on Tuesday July 27, as announced today.
What you need to know
- Victoria’s lockdown has been extended for a further seven days
- The lockdown is now scheduled to lift at 11:59pm on Tuesday July 27
- The current lockdown settings will remain in place for the seven day extension
Stay up to date with what’s happening in Melbourne here.
For the next week, the stay at home order will still apply across the state. Masks will continue to be mandatory at all times outside the house and the 5km travel limit will remain in place.
The Chief Health Officer has also decided to pause the issuing of Red Zone Permits as of 11:59pm tonight until further notice to prevent people potentially bringing the virus to Victoria from New South Wales.
The permit pause will be in place for at least a fortnight, at which point it will be reviewed.
Exemptions will only be issued in “exceptional circumstances” and anyone found entering Victoria from a red zone without a permit will be fined $5,452.
“We cannot put Victoria’s hard-earned gains at risk by letting this Delta variant run free. We want Victoria back open as soon as possible – and we’ll do everything in our power to get us there safely and quickly,” said Premier Andrews.
“The Delta variant is more infectious and moving faster than we’ve seen in any of our other outbreaks and we will not take the risk of opening up too soon – this extension of the current restrictions will help us contain this outbreak,” added Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton.
Reported yesterday: 13 new local cases and 2 new cases acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
– 17,083 vaccine doses were administered
– 49,454 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl1hf3W#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/DnSowZAsAm— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 19, 2021
Head to the DHHS website for more information.
