Victoria has reintroduced stay-at-home orders for a series of coronavirus hotspot suburbs in a bid to contain an “unacceptably high” number of new cases detected in the past few days.
From 11:59pm on Wednesday, residents in the following 10 postcodes will be restricted from leaving the house except for essential purposes: 3012, 3021, 3032, 3038, 3042, 3046, 3047, 3055, 3060, 3064.
Premier Daniel Andrews has also announced a judicial inquiry into the state’s management of hotel quarantine after a number of cases through late May and early June were linked to infection control breaches.
International flights will be diverted from Melbourne for the next fortnight, to cut the number of arrived travellers who need to be housed in hotel quarantine.
The announcement came after Victoria recorded 64 new coronavirus cases overnight, the 14th consecutive day of double-digit case increases in the state.
Mr Andrews said the “extraordinary steps” were necessary to contain a surge in infections.
“We know that suburban lockdowns, stay-at-home orders are a series of restrictions that work,” he said.
“We have all been through that journey, we have all been through that process and we know that at the end of that process we are then able to begin the process of opening up.”
Mr Andrews said more than 93,000 tests had been conducted since a testing blitz of hotspot suburbs began last week, but 928 people in Broadmeadows and Keilor Downs alone had refused to be tested.
He said people in those postcodes would only have four reasons to leave their homes: for work or school, for care or caregiving, for daily exercise, or to get food and other essentials.
“This only works if people comply, this only works if people use common sense and I am confident those communities will do that,” he said.
People who must attend work in those postcodes or provide care to someone in person will be allowed to enter.
Mr Andrews said Victoria Police would be patrolling the suburbs covered by the 10 postcodes to enforce the lockdown.
He said on-the-spot fines would be issued for those outside their homes without a permitted reason.
“This is the public health advice. This is what we must do now. If we do not do this now then I won’t be locking down 10 post codes, I will be locking down all post codes,” he said.
“We need every Victorian family, particularly those in these lockdown postcodes to know and understand that whilst this is deeply inconvenient for you, you are making a massive contribution for the whole state and indeed the whole nation.
“If you are sick, you cannot go out. The only thing you should be doing if you are sick is getting tested.”
More to come.
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