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Victoria Will Go Into A Five-Day Stage 4 Lockdown After Holiday Inn Outbreak

Victoria Will Go Into A Five-Day Stage 4 Lockdown After Holiday Inn Outbreak

The state previously endured a gruelling 122-day lockdown last year.

Jessica Lynch

Jessica Lynch

After enduring a brutal 112-day lockdown last year, Victorians will once again be forced to head indoors as the whole state will go into Stage 4 lockdown for five days.

It will come into effect at 11:59pm tonight (Friday February 12).

The move is aimed at combatting a new coronavirus outbreak seen at the Melbourne Airport Holiday Inn that has been linked to 13 new cases.

The outbreak is believed to have started with a family of three who stayed in the hotel, but hundreds of people are now on alert after being considered close contacts.

Some of those cases have been infected with the highly contagious UK strain of the coronavirus and authorities are worried it is 'significantly more infectious' than the original virus.

The Stage 4 restrictions mean you are now only allowed to leave your home for four reasons: groceries, medical care, exercise and giving care to people in need. Victorians have also been told to work from home if they can.

Face masks must be worn at all times, right across the state, and the rule applies both to being indoors and outdoors, but doesn't apply in your own home.

There will be no visitors allowed over to a home, but you can have two people allowed in a public gathering as long as it's exercise.

Early learning centres, childcare centres and daycare will remain open, however schools will close.

Religious gatherings have been banned and ceremonies will be allowed if they are broadcast to viewers at home. Funerals will only allow up to 10 people. Weddings will be banned unless there is an end-of-life reason behind it.

Indoor physical recreation like gyms and sport will be closed.

PA

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said: "I know it's not the place that we wanted to be in.

"However, we've all given so much, we've all done so much. We've built something precious, and we have to make difficult decisions, and do difficult things, in order to defend what we've built.

"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.

"I want to be here on Wednesday next week announcing that these restrictions are coming off, but I can't do it on my own. I need every single Victorian to work with me, and with our team, so that we can run this to ground and we can see this strategy work."

Dan Andrews
Dan Andrews

Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent previously said he had met with state government advisers to discuss the appropriate response to the outbreak of coronavirus cases.

"I was chatting with the Chief Commissioner 15 minutes ago sort of thinking through what it might look like and what our role might be in that," he told radio station 3AW on Friday morning.

Victoria's Department of Health also added a potential exposure site at the Brunetti cafe, at Melbourne Airport's Terminal 4, to its list of Tier 1 exposure sites.

Anyone who visited the cafe between 4:45 am and 1:15 pm on Tuesday has been asked to get tested and stay in self-isolation for 14 days.

However, despite the outbreak, Victoria has no mystery Covid cases at the current time and it has been 37 days since the state had a case with no known source.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: covid, Australia, Politics