Victoria’s five-day snap lockdown is reportedly set to end on time at midnight tonight, provided there isn’t a jump in case numbers. Fingers, toes – everything crossed, tell ya what.
The Herald Sun reports that the Andrews government gathered together on Tuesday evening to finalise plans to end the lockdown on time. They will meet again this morning as authorities lock in the data on case numbers and infection rates.
Sources told the newspaper that schools are expected to reopen and crowds will return to the Australian Open to catch the final few matches of the Grand Slam tournament. However, the newspaper understands that crowd numbers will be reduced.
Prior to the snap lockdown, the Open allowed up to 30,000 spectators a day.
All in all, The Herald Sun’s sources said Victoria will return to restrictions similar to the ones pre-lockdown, however masks will still be required indoors and there will be stricter limits on household gatherings.
It’s worth noting, however, that The Herald Sun’s report is just a report at this stage, and we won’t know the facts until Premier Daniel Andrews fronts the media today.
On Tuesday, during his daily presser, Andrews said Victoria was “well-placed to make changes” to ease lockdown as the state recorded two new locally acquired cases.
The two cases are close household contacts of a previously confirmed case linked to the Holiday Inn hotel quarantine outbreak.
“The strategy is working, we are well placed to make changes tomorrow night,” Andrews said.
“With a relatively small number of cases we are very well placed. But we won’t know, we won’t be able to make a final call on that until sometime tomorrow.”
Victoria was placed under the snap lockdown on Friday, returning to Stage 4 restrictions for five days.
At the time of writing, the Department of Health hasn’t yet released its daily numbers of coronavirus cases in Victoria, but they should be up within the next hour or so.
UPDATE: Strike that, Victoria has recorded no new cases!!!!
Yesterday there were no new cases reported. 39,258 test results were received. Thank you to those who got tested – #EveryTestHelps.
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/wwxoVJo63W
— Victorian Department of Health (@VicGovDH) February 16, 2021
