Melbourne’s lockdown will be extended for another seven days
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11.08.2021

Melbourne’s lockdown will be extended for another seven days

Melbourne. Photo via Unsplash

The seven-day shutdown – the state’s sixth lockdown since the pandemic started – was due to end at 11.59pm on Thursday for Melbourne.

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has today revealed that Victoria’s lockdown will be extended beyond midnight Thursday for the city of Melbourne as the state’s cases of COVID-19 continue to climb. The one-week lockdown extension will remain until 11:59pm Thursday 19 August.

Regional Victoria emerged from the Victorian lockdown early on Tuesday, but the cases in Melbourne have continued to rise over the past week, with Victoria recording 20 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases overnight out of 41,571 test results processed on Tuesday. 15 of these are linked to current outbreaks and 14 have been in quarantine throughout their infectious periods.

The key takeaways

  • Melbourne’s lockdown will be extended for seven more days
  • The same restrictions will remain in the city for the next week
  • The lockdown will remain until 11:59pm Thursday 19 August

This Twitter account tells you exactly what time the daily press conference will be.

The current lockdown was due to end at 8:00pm on Thursday but will now be extended until at least August 19 as concerns grow over the transmissibility of the Delta strain.

Premier Andrews said the discovery of five more mystery cases was one of the reasons the extension was required.

“This is very challenging I know for every single Victorian who would like to be going about their business, that would like to be open,” he said.

He said if the state were to open, it would see high numbers of cases in a “very short space of time”.

The same restrictions previously announced will remain in place, including only leaving home for five reasons: to get the food and the supplies you need, for exercise for up to two hours, for care or caregiving, permitted work or education if you can’t do it from home or to get vaccinated at the nearest possible location.

Shopping and exercise must be done within 5km of your home or the nearest location. Face masks will remain mandatory indoors (not at home) unless an exception applies – this includes all workplaces, and secondary schools. You can check out the rest of the enforced restrictions here.

Defences to stop the spread of the New South Wales outbreak – which recorded 344 new cases today – will also be strengthened, with the Victoria-NSW border bubble now subject to a permit system.

“If this virus can get from Sydney to Byron Bay, to Dubbo, to Armidale, to Tamworth, then only a fool would think that it couldn’t get to Albury,” Mr Andrews said.

People will need to apply for a permit if they want to use the bubble from 1pm tomorrow.

You can view the Premier’s announcement here

If you suspect you may have coronavirus (COVID-19) call the dedicated hotline 1800 675 398 – open 24 hours, 7 days – and get tested.