The race to combat the second wave continues in Victoria, with a further 12 new cases reported on Sunday and one death.

The 14 day rolling average for Melbourne, one of the crucial metrics to determine the easing of restrictions in line with regional areas, has dropped slightly from 9.4 to 9.3 cases, compared to Saturday, while the figure of cases with unknown source appears stable.

According to provisions that had been set for metropolitan Melbourne to transition to step 3 of the roadmap, metropolitan Melbourne would need to see its two-week rolling daily average drop to five, with less than five mystery cases.

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Meanwhile, regional Victoria continues in a good track with just 5 active cases, all in Mitchell Shire.

During Sunday’s press conference, Premier Daniel Andrews warned Melburnians going into regional areas for “lawful purposes” that rules and restrictions applying to the “higher virus community” of metropolitan Melbourne “travel with them”, in order to protect low numbers in regional Victoria.

The example brought forward was that Melburnians travelling there can only visit hospitality venues for takeaway and not dining in.

Mr Andrews said that regional businesses will need to take “all reasonable steps” for determining whether a customer is from metropolitan Melbourne.

Businesses not complying with this requirement may face a fine of nearly $10,000.

The Premier has also announced a four-week extension for the State of Emergency and State of Disaster until 11.59 pm, 8 November, as well as a new quarantine testing measure.

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As of 11.59 pm 11 October, anyone deemed a close contact who chooses not to take a coronavirus test on day 11 of their mandatory self-isolation will have their quarantine period extended by a further ten days.

In anticipation of next Sunday’s announcements for the subsequent phase of easing restrictions in the state’s roadmap out of lockdown, Mr Andrews confirmed there will be “some significant steps” taken towards that direction but “not as big as we hoped”.

“They will allow us to connect more easily with those that we love the most. Those that we miss the most. I can’t go through a full list of all of those changes because those decisions have not been made, but I would hope that with a sense of confidence, Victorians can look at the numbers and see that yes, this second wave is stubborn. It is absolutely stubborn. But the magnificent job that Victorians have done and are doing means that we will be able to take some significant steps this coming weekend.”