No easing of restrictions for regional Victoria as case average dips to 0.6

DESPITE its 14-day rolling coronavirus case average dipping to 0.6, Premier Daniel Andrews offered no further relief out of restrictions for regional Victoria on Sunday.

But the news was better for Melbourne as it gets set to step out of stage four lockdown.

A night curfew will be lifted in Victoria and thousands of people will return to work as the state rolls back COVID-19 restrictions as the virus recedes.

The changes were announced after the two-week rolling case average for new coronavirus cases in Melbourne fell to 22.1, well under the aim of 30-50. Regional Victoria will remain under step three of the Victorian Government’s roadmap out of lockdown, with no changes announced.

Mr Andrews says the 9pm to 5am curfew in metropolitan Melbourne will be lifted from 5am on Monday. The night curfew has been in place for eight weeks since August 2.

He said lifting the curfew in Melbourne did not mean people could hold private indoor or outdoor gatherings, with those caught doing so liable for a $5000 fine.

“No one has the right to put everything that Victorians have done at risk by going and potentially spreading the virus, one family to another,” Mr Andrews said.

He stressed that informal home visits were too risky with a lack of social-distancing easily spreading the virus.

“Let’s not let that happen. We are so close. We’re so close to defeating this thing,” he said.

From 11:59pm on Sunday about 127,000 workers will be allowed to return to work, close to 30,000 more than originally expected.

The premier foreshadowed that full freedom of movement, when Victorians can leave home without needing any reason, could come on October 19 ahead of AFL grand final weekend.

But he urged Victorians not to let their guard down.

“It will come back with fury. It will run wild if we just let this go, if we pretend it is over when it isn’t, we will finish up in a very different circumstance very quickly,” Mr Andrews said.

There were 399 active cases in the state on Sunday, the first time there have been under 400 since June 30.

Victoria on Sunday reported just 16 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths, taking the state’s pandemic death toll to 784 and the national figure to 872.

The lockdown easing comes after the resignation of Jenny Mikakos as health minister on Saturday after the premier told the hotel quarantine inquiry her department was ultimately responsible for running the botched quarantine system.