VICTORIAN Premier Daniel Andrews says regional Victoria remains “on track” to further ease COVID-19 restrictions.
But Mr Andrews said no decision has been made about when that might happen or to what degree, further conceding it would not amount to “freedom day” for regional areas.
A decision, however, could come as early as tomorrow following discussions Mr Andrews said would take place about regional Victoria yesterday and today.
“It will be later on this week, I’m not quite certain … I want to confirm though, no decision has been made,” Mr Andrews said of the easing of regional restrictions.
“I think our form has been that when we’ve made a decision we’ll announce it very soon thereafter,” he said.
“But you want the most contemporary picture and we’ve seen in recent times, given the spike in cases and how quickly that happened, that circumstances can change.”
But while the Premier said regional areas were “on track to be able to do some easing”, it would be a gradual response to the low case numbers in country areas.
“It will not be … a snapback, it’s not freedom day and everything is open at 100 per cent,” he said.
“We’re working towards being able to lift that lockdown, but there will still be restrictions in country Victoria and we’ll make those announcements as soon as we can.
“Once you lift the lockdown and there’s a whole lot of businesses that can open there will be limitations.
“It won’t be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people inside, it will have to be more modest than that because the last thing you want is the virus spreading and then having to go back into lockdown.”
Mr Andrews said country Victorians had done “an amazing job” in keeping COVID-19 numbers down.
“They are not necessarily zero, but they are low and we think that we’ll be able to make those changes, but no decision has been made yet,” he said.
“It will be made, one way or the other, in coming days and we’ll be sure to announce it very soon thereafter.”
But the Premier said Shepparton, which still has remnants of a recent outbreak, was in “a different category” and may need more time to ease its restrictions.
“We have been very clear from the last couple of weeks that Shepparton might have to be just a little bit behind the rest of regional Victoria and then it can catch up soon,” he said.
“We won’t hold back the rest of regional Victoria because of what’s happening in Shepparton.
“We’re not here today to announce what’s happening in regional Victoria, we’ll do that as soon as a decision is made — that had not been made yet.”
