Regional Victoria will see an easing of restrictions tomorrow night as Melbourne faces a further seven day lockdown.
Acting Premier James Merlino said in today’s press conference this includes the restriction of travel between Melbourne and regional Victoria.
“You can only travel to Melbourne for a permitted reason and you must follow Melbourne restrictions once you are there,” he said.
“Businesses that are open in regional Victoria but closed in Melbourne, so restaurants and beauty for example, must check the ID’s of everyone they serve.”
The five reasons to leave home still apply to Melbourne city; including shopping, study and work, caregiving, exercise and receiving the vaccine. These restrictions are likely to continue over the long weekend.
“I want to be upfront with people, that even if all goes well we won’t be able to have people from Melbourne travelling to regional Victoria during the Queen’s birthday long weekend. The risk of exporting this virus is just too high.”
Melbourne will ease restrictions in some areas, including a doubling of the 5km radius of travel to 10km for shopping and exercise. Students in years 10-12 can also return to face-to-face learning.
“At the end of another seven days we do expect to be in a position to carefully ease restrictions in Melbourne, but there will continue to be differences between the settings in Melbourne coated to regional Victoria.”