Victorians will be able to welcome 30 visitors to their homes, office capacities will increase, and wedding and funeral limits will be loosened, under the latest relaxation of the state’s COVID rules.
Pub patrons will now be able to stand up inside, but masks will remain mandatory inside shops and in large crowds, with Premier Daniel Andrews saying that rule will remain until at least January.
As the state recorded 37 days of no new COVID infections – a statistic Mr Andrews called “remarkable” – the Premier announced another set of “significant” changes to Victoria’s strict social distancing rules.
From 11.59pm Sunday, Victorians can have 30 people to their homes each day, up from the current 15 daily limit. Hospitality venues like pubs and cafes will move to a one person per two square metres rule, with no arbitrary cap on numbers.
“This will be of interest to many people as well, standing service will now be allowed again,” Mr Andrews said with a smile.
“You don’t have to be seated. You are able to stand at the public bar.”
Yesterday there were 0 new cases and 0 deaths reported. Thanks to all who were tested, we received 8,377 results #EveryTestHelps. There are 0 active cases across Victoria. #StaySafeStayOpen https://t.co/pcll7ySEgz #COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/Pe0obIdNn1
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) December 5, 2020
Office capacities will be allowed to rise to 50 per cent from January 11. Mr Andrews said that restriction would be reviewed again closer to the date, to ensure it complied with most current health advice.
Victoria has been free of locally transmitted coronavirus cases for more than a month and with no active cases, has officially eradicated the virus.
It comes as federal, NSW and Victorian authorities scramble to figure out how two overseas travellers avoided quarantine when they arrive in Sydney.
Two German travellers managed to land in Sydney and fly straight to Melbourne on a Virgin domestic flight. All passengers from Virgin flight VA838 which landed in Melbourne at 1.25pm on Saturday have been told to quarantine at home.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said there are what he described as multiple layers of containment within the quarantine and border system.
“Ultimately these passengers have been picked up in those rings of containment,” Mr Hunt assured Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program.
“Frankly, we want to make sure every ring is impregnable so we have asked the Border Force commissioner to work with NSW on understanding the circumstances.”
NSW police confirmed in a brief statement they are investigating the matter.
Two international travellers are now in mandatory quarantine in Victoria, after arriving in Sydney today and boarding a domestic flight to Melbourne without quarantining in NSW. A comprehensive public health response is underway, including testing and full contact tracing.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) December 5, 2020
Mr Hunt said the last 24 hours had seen the world record the highest number of COVID-19 cases in a single day, while in the last three days have had three of the four highest days of deaths.
“So this disease continues to spread around the world,” he said.
“We are an island sanctuary and so what we do with vaccines, we want to make sure is about absolute safety.”
Western Australia remains the only state with a question mark over its border, as Premier Mark McGowan has yet to decide whether he will reopen to NSW residents as scheduled.
WA remains on track to open up to Victoria from Tuesday, dropping the 14-day requirement for travel from that state.
More to come.
-With AAP.
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