Victoria’s acting Premier James Merlino has announced new restrictions which will come into effect from 6 pm today and will last till June 4.
Following restrictions will return to Melbourne after a fifth new locally acquired case of coronavirus confirmed last night by the Victorian medical officer.
- Masks will be mandatory for those over the age of 12 in indoor settings. This requirement includes workplaces within Metropolitan Melbourne.
- Private in-home gatherings are limited to five visitors per day.
- Public outdoor gatherings are restricted to 30 people.
This means people will be restricted to 5 visitors per day to their homes, and private gatherings in public, like a barbecue or picnic, will be restricted to 30 people.
Residents of Melbourne metro will be able to travel to regional Victoria. However, the restrictions in place will travel with them, which means they would require to continue to wear masks.
These additional measures are an important extra precaution while the health authorities await the results of testing and undertake widespread contact tracing to stamp out the virus.
Schools and workplaces will remain open with the current restrictions that are in place. Depending on the workplace, this includes COVID Safe measures and in some cases, a density requirement. There are no changes to existing density rules.
If you attend a public gathering outside of Greater Melbourne, it must not be bigger than 30 people.
Victorians visiting regional Victoria from Melbourne will also need to wear a face mask when indoors even when outside of metropolitan Melbourne, unless an exemption applies.
In view of vulnerable community members safety hospital and aged care visitor restrictions will also now apply state-wide.
Use of the Service Victoria QR code service will still be mandatory in all venues and facilities required to have mandatory electronic record-keeping from Friday, 28 May.
However, due to the current circumstances, the Victorian government will pause on the move to remove the density quotient in outdoor spaces and venues to a maximum of 200 people in spaces smaller than 400 sqm. Timing for this easing will be reassessed when public health advice indicates it is appropriate to do so.
The Public Health Advisory Panel will provide advice as soon as possible to upcoming Tier 1 and Tier 2 events if any modifications will be required for the event to proceed.
Acting Premier Merlino said, “This is about giving our contact tracers the time they need to track this matter down and get on top of it.”
“Face masks, private and informal gatherings – a reason why we’ve focused in these areas as opposed to businesses and workplaces that will continue under the existing arrangements – it is harder to contact trace in those private and informal settings.”
This comes after Victorian health authorities could not trace the source of four new locally acquired cases which were reported on Monday. These cases were all from the same family across two households.
The total number of COVID positive people in Victoria is 9 as per notification by the Victorian Department of Health.