Victoria will go into a snap seven-day lockdown after 12 new cases of coronavirus were recorded overnight.
After a huge blitz yesterday that involved 40,411 Covid-19 tests (the most ever tested in a single day in Victoria), health officials have confirmed the dozen new cases.
This takes the latest outbreak to 26 people and its feared more will test positive in the coming days, with over 70 exposure sites across the greater metro area and 10,000 primary contacts identified.
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One of those positive cases is in ICU and is on a ventilator.
Reported yesterday: 12 new local cases and no new cases acquired overseas. - 12,677 vaccine doses were administered - 40,411 test results were received More later: dhhs.vic.gov.au/victorian-coro… #COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData
It takes the total number of active cases in the state of Victoria to 34.
Health authorities are worried about the highly infectious B.1.617 variant of coronavirus found in some of the test results, which epidemiologists fear is twice as infectious as the UK strain.
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Victoria's cabinet has met this morning (May 27) to discuss lockdown options and have outlined their plan.
The seven-day circuit breaker lockdown will kick in at 11:59pm tonight and will be lifted at 11:59pm next Friday (June 4).
There is a 5km radius limit for people to leave their homes for exercise and grocery shopping.
Masks must be worn everywhere, both indoors and outdoors, and people will not be allowed to have any visitors to their homes (except for loved ones) and there are no public gatherings permitted.
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Cafes, pubs and restaurants will be allowed to stay open but can only offer takeaway. Hotels, clubs, TABs and the casino will be closed.
Sporting events will be permitted to continue, however they will do so without any crowds.
Schools will go to remote learning. Weddings are banned unless end of life or deportation reasons apply and funerals are only allowed 10 people.
Aged care facilities won't allow visitors except for limited reasons and visitors will only be permitted at Victorian hospitals for three reasons: for end of life circumstances, to support a partner during birth, or a parent accompanying a child.
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Virgin suspended flights to Melbourne this morning ahead of the lockdown announcement.
A spokesperson for the airline said: "We are adjusting our forward schedule to better reflect changing travel demand and booking trends. Customers impacted by any changes to their flight will be contacted directly."
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The Northern Territory has already declared several areas in Melbourne as hotspots and people travelling from there will have to quarantine if they fly to the Top End.
Northern Territory Health Minister Natasha Fyles said: "Anyone arriving from greater metropolitan Melbourne and Bendigo will go into mandatory quarantine.
"We had 100 people enter quarantine last night, into Howard Springs. Anyone who has been in those areas, greater metropolitan [Melbourne] and Bendigo in the past two weeks, going back to 12 May, needs to isolate, get a COVID-19 test, and remain in isolation till they get a negative test.
"Anyone who visited those tier locations as issued by Victorian health [authorities] needs to follow those instructions, isolate, get tested, but they must remain in isolation for 14 days."
This is the state's fourth lockdown, with the third being introduced in February for just five days as a circuit breaker.
That lockdown was in response to the outbreak of 13 cases from a cluster that came from the Holiday Inn quarantine hotel.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Australia