Melbourne and areas in regional Victoria are set to head back into lockdown on Tuesday, after the state reported 191 new cases of coronavirus.
Premier Daniel Andrews is expected to re-introduce stage three restrictions from Tuesday afternoon, which will prevent Victorians from leaving their homes for any purpose other than work, food, exercise or medical care.
It has been reported that schools in affected areas will not reopen for term three as planned. However, students in year 11 and 12 will return to face to face education, with the government banking on the older students to implement social distancing measures.
The period of lockdown is expected to last for at least four weeks, with school children expected to stay home for up to six.
“These are unsustainably high numbers of new cases. It is simply impossible with case rates at this level to have enough contact tracing staff, to have enough physical resources no matter where they come from, no matter what uniform they wear, in order to continue to suppress and contain this virus without taking significant steps,” Mr Andrews shared during a press conference.
“If we were to fail to take those steps, then it won’t be a couple of hundred cases per day, it will be many more than that and will spiral well and truly out of control.”
There are currently 772 active cases of coronavirus in Victoria. 438 of those cases have been linked to community transmission, with another 154 still under investigation. Just 37 of the cases have been linked back to known outbreaks and none associated with hotel quarantine.
For the first time since 1919, the NSW-Victoria border will close at 12.01am tomorrow. A travel ban is already in place for residents of Melbourne. NSW returning residents will be required to self-isolate for 14 days.
