Health by Tom Minear, James Campbell, Alanah Frost, Alex White 17th Feb 2021 5:22 AM
Premium Content Victoria will snap back out of its five-day lockdown at 11.59pm Wednesday, with crowds to return to the Australian Open, unless positive cases surge on Wednesday morning. The Herald Sun can reveal senior Andrews government ministers met on Tuesday evening to finalise plans to end the lockdown on Thursday, barring any mystery cases emerging overnight. The ministers will meet again at 8am on Wednesday, when they are expected to rubberstamp the plan to reopen the state. The Herald Sun understands this will involve a return to restrictions similar to the regime in place pre-lockdown, but with masks still required indoors and some slightly tougher rules including limits on household gatherings.
Health by Tom Minear, James Campbell, Alanah Frost, Alex White 17th Feb 2021 5:22 AM
Premium Content Victoria will snap back out of its five-day lockdown at 11.59pm Wednesday, with crowds to return to the Australian Open, unless positive cases surge on Wednesday morning. The Herald Sun can reveal senior Andrews government ministers met on Tuesday evening to finalise plans to end the lockdown on Thursday, barring any mystery cases emerging overnight. The ministers will meet again at 8am on Wednesday, when they are expected to rubberstamp the plan to reopen the state. The Herald Sun understands this will involve a return to restrictions similar to the regime in place pre-lockdown, but with masks still required indoors and some slightly tougher rules including limits on household gatherings.
Victorian residents have already started panicking after a constitutional lawyer warned the lockdown directions are already in force for longer than five days. Dr Luke Beck, an associate professor in Constitutional Law at Monash University warned on Twitter the directions posted by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services are for a two-week period, not five days. Victoria s new lockdown Directions are in force for 2 weeks (not 5 days), unless further new Directions are issued to end the lockdown earlier, Dr Beck wrote. A constitutional lawyer has warned the period for a lockdown was for two weeks, not five days. Source: Supplied
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced a five-day lockdown to deal with a cluster stemming from an outbreak at the Holiday Inn quarantine hotel.
The Australian Open tennis organisers have announced a ban on fans and said players would be cocooned in biosecure “bubbles” as Victoria state authorities ordered six million people into lockdown on Friday to control a new coronavirus outbreak.
The five-day, state-wide lockdown starting at midnight local time (13:00 GMT) to combat an outbreak of the highly infectious UK strain at an airport hotel, is just the latest setback for the troubled tournament.
The year’s first Grand Slam, which started three weeks late to allow international players to quarantine, has already welcomed tens of thousands of socially distanced fans in the biggest crowds seen in tennis since the pandemic.