Victoria will enter its sixth lockdown from 8:00pm tonight in response to unexpected new mystery cases of COVID-19 in recent days.
Eight new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the state today, with six of those from results received on Wednesday.
The lockdown will last for seven days and there will only be five reasons for leaving home: getting groceries and supplies, exercise, care or caregiving, authorised work or education that cannot be done from home and getting vaccinated.
Under the rules, shopping and exercise must be done within five kilometres of your home.
Premier Daniel Andrews described the decision to lock down again as “very difficult.”
“I can’t tell you how disappointed I am to have to be here doing this again,” he said.
“But with so few in the community with one vaccination, let alone two, I have no choice but to accept advice, and we collectively [have] to make this important decision to keep Victorians safe.
“The alternative is we let this run … away from us and our hospitals will be absolutely overwhelmed [with] not hundreds of patients but thousands.”
