Acting Victorian premier James Merlino has refused to give a straight answer about why Victoria is the only state going into a fourth lockdown when he was grilled by journalists at a press conference on Thursday.
Mr Merlino, who is replacing Daniel Andrews while he recovers from a back injury, was continually asked why Victoria was enduring yet another round of tough restrictions as the rest of the country remains open.
Victoria will enter a stage 3 lockdown from Thursday midnight that will last for seven days with schools closed and only five reasons to leave home - as a Covid cluster containing the highly infectious Indian strain grew to 26.
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