Melbourne will go into a snap five day lockdown from midnight tonight to curb the growing COVID outbreak. The lockdown will end at midnight on Tuesday, July 20.
It will be the fifth lockdown since the pandemic began and the third this year.
“This will be a hard lockdown, similar to or identical to, what we did a couple of weeks ago,” Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, said this afternoon.
“If you are authorised to work then, you will be authorised to work now. If you were close then, you will be closed now.”
Mr Andrews stressed that there are five reasons to leave home.
“The four reasons from last year, plus going and getting your jab, going and being vaccinated as part of the Commonwealth government’s program,” Mr Andrews said.
“You can’t go outside the 5km radius. You can go and exercise.”
Mask rules were already tightened overnight to respond to the outbreak, which is now linked to 18 cases.
There are 75 exposure sites, 1,500 primary close contacts and 5,000 secondary close contacts.
Two of the cases were confirmed this morning, adding to the 10 included in yesterday’s numbers.
The new cases are understood to have acquired the virus at an AFL game at the MCG on Saturday which was also attended by a COVID-positive case.
The asymptomatic man in his 60s caught the virus from a group of removalists who spent time at the Ariele apartment complex in Maribyrnong, infecting residents of the building.
One of the new cases sat in close proximity to the Ariele apartments man at the MCG, while the other sat further away but in the same section of the ground.
The outbreak is being driven by the fast-moving Delta variant of the virus which is spreading in New South Wales.
The last time Victoria recorded any Delta cases, the state was already in its fourth lockdown, meaning movement in the community was limited.
The state has been slowly easing out of that lockdown, with mask rules only recently relaxed and caps on social gatherings and hospitality still in place.
More to come.
