Victoria’s latest lockdown will be extended, but Premier Daniel Andrews is not yet able to say when current restrictions will be lifted.
Speaking this morning as the state recorded 13 new local cases of COVID-19, Andrews said meetings will be held today to determine the length of the current lockdown adding that if the state had been open then they “would be looking at something entirely different”.
The Premier said: “We will not be ready to lift this lockdown at midnight tomorrow night, exactly how much more time, that advice is not with me yet, those decisions have not been made. We are not able to tell you today, but we will tell you tomorrow.”
He added: “We know that if we had been open then we would be just like Sydney, and have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of cases and we would not be looking at a short lockdown, we would be looking at something entirely different.
“I know that this is not the news that people want to hear but you’ve got to do the right thing, this thing is moving so fast, it’s so challenging, it’s so dynamic.”
Premier Andrews also said that with the COVID crisis in New South Wales continuing the risk was also high for Victoria.
He said: “Unless and until case numbers in Sydney dramatically reduce, we are going to have an ongoing challenge in terms of defending the border to the north and ensuring that nobody has this virus is coming into our state.
“They have a problem, the whole country has a problem. That is why we wish them well in their efforts.”
NSW this morning announced 98 new COVID cases, with 20 of those having been active in the community before their diagnosis.