Further easing of COVID-19 restrictions has been announced in Victoria, after the state recorded its 37th ‘donut day’.
Sunday’s zero new coronavirus cases came after 8,377 test results returned negative in the past 24 hours.
As previously stated, Premier Daniel Andrews outlined the latest step of restriction easing measures that will define the festive season ahead. But the Premier still warned people against complacency.
“Today marks 37 days without a coronavirus case anywhere in our state. This is a remarkable achievement. It is something that every Victorian owns[…]But like most incredibly valuable things, this place is precious and it is fragile,” Mr Andrews said.
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“And while today we can take some big steps, not to normal, but to a COVID-safe summer, we all need to remain vigilant and we all need to play our part.”
Imminent changes include an increase in home visitors, outdoor gathering limits, weddings and funerals, as well a gradual return to workplace for more office workers.
As of midnight tonight, Sunday 6 December, Victorian households will be allowed up to 30 visitors a day.
“That’s not 30 for lunch and 30 for dinner. That’s across the day,” Mr Andrews stressed.
The limit for outdoors gatherings will also increase to 100 people, with no restrictions on the number of households getting together.
The next phase of easing restrictions in weddings and funerals sees the cap on numbers removed and replaced with the two square metres per person density rule.
The two square metres rule, with no caps on maximum numbers, will also apply to cafes, restaurants, bars and pubs from midnight tonight, both for indoor and outdoor settings.
Meanwhile, from 11 January, private sector workplaces will be allowed to receive up to half of their workforce back into the office. Public sector will follow with the 50 per cent of employees allowed back from 8 February, up from 25 per cent that will apply on 11 January.
But targets remain subject to public health advice.
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What about masks?
Victorians are moving into the next phase of loosening mask-wearing requirements, but face masks will remain with us in settings where distance cannot be maintained and people cannot register their attendance and must be carried “at all times”.
“They must be worn in indoor shopping centres and supermarkets and department stores, for instance, Kmart or Myer, IKEA, Bunnings, JB Hi-Fi just to give you a few examples,” Mr Andrews said.
“And indoor markets such as the Prahran markets. Large, big crowds, people you do not know or people nobody has used a QR code, there is a need or requirement to continue to wear face masks in those settings.”
Mask-wearing will not be mandatory in office spaces, however remains recommended in instances where social distancing cannot be maintained.
‘No system can have zero risk’
Both the Premier and the Victorian Health Minister were asked about the two returning overseas travellers who bypassed quarantine.
The passengers, who reportedly arrived from Germany to Sydney, were allowed to fly to Melbourne on Saturday without going through the mandatory 14-day quarantine.
The two are now completing their quarantine in Victoria.
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“I can report very positively that the initial tests of the initial tests of the two international travellers returned a negative result, MP Martin Foley said.
“However, that’s not over because what we have to do is because of the incubation period process, keep those people in quarantining, and they will be in quarantine for the next two weeks.
A total of 176 close contacts, domestic passengers on the same plane, have already been contacted by authorities.
Daniel Andrews welcomed the NSW’s government commitment to an investigation as to how the travellers managed to travel from Sydney without having quarantined.
But he stated confident about the system in place for returned travellers.
“I’ve made the point many, many times that no system, as we’ve just witnessed in New South Wales, no system can be zero risk.
This is the most human of activity, so you will finish up with cases, you will finish up with infections, the key challenge here is to have the most rigorous processes in place to manage that risk to the lowest possible level and then to rapidly respond with the public health response, tracking, tracing, testing, isolation – all of that – and I’m very confident that we’ve got a system that is rigorous.”