MELBOURNE – An overnight curfew in Australia’s second-biggest city will be lifted from tomorrow, almost two months after it was imposed to counter a surging coronavirus outbreak.
Victoria Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said residents here will be free to leave their homes at any time for work and exercise, and to buy essentials or provide care.
The relaxation comes after 16 new Covid-19 infections and two deaths were reported in Victoria today, and the state’s active cases fell below 400 for the first time since June 30.
The curfew was imposed on August 2 along with a raft of other restrictions as cases soared in the city of roughly five million.
Chief health officer Brett Sutton said it is “not a proportionate measure to have in place going forward”, given the low caseload.
People will still be confined to within 5km of their homes, and fines for breaching other restrictions will be increased to almost A$5,000 (RM14,656) to deter parties.
“We don’t make this decision lightly, but no one has the right to put everything that Victorians have done at risk... and potentially spread the virus,” Andrews told a press conference.
Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, became the epicentre of Australia’s second Covid-19 wave after security bungles led to the virus escaping from hotels used to quarantine travellers returning from overseas.
Andrews said several curbs will be lifted to allow workers in a number of industries to return, and small religious services to resume.
Primary school pupils will be back in classrooms from the middle of next month, and childcare centres will reopen immediately.
Visits to hospitals and aged-care facilities can resume with strict conditions, but those to homes will remain banned and outdoor gatherings limited to five people from two households.
Andrews said the evidence is “irrefutable” that homes are “one of the most risky environments” for transmission.
“It is how people let their guard down, and there is a degree of informality – there is no distancing, there is no cleaning (like that) at the industrial level.”
Australia has been relatively successful in curbing the spread of the disease, with just over 27,000 cases and 872 deaths in a population of 25 million.
Most regions are reporting few or no new daily infections, allowing restrictions to be rolled back across much of the country. – AFP, September 27, 2020
