Daryl Castillejos
Eagle News Service
MELBOURNE, Australia (Eagle News) — Victoria has now entered a State of Disaster, with Metropolitan Melbourne moving to stage 4 restrictions while regional Victoria entered Stage 3.
On Sunday August 2, new restrictions were introduced for Melbourne and the regional Victoria by the Victorian Government. Daniel Andrews, Victorian Premier, announced that Melbourne (except Mitchell Shire) will be moving to stage 4 restrictions from 2nd of August and will continue for six weeks until 13th of September. The new restriction has now stricter rules and a new curfew has been made in place for the Melbournians.
According to the Department of Human and Health Services (DHHS), the curfew takes effect every night from 8pm to 5am and people are only allowed to leave their house for work and health, care, and safety reasons. Outside these hours, people can only leave their home for one of the four reasons: shop for necessities and services, exercise, care and health care, and work. People are now only allowed to travel within 5 km from their residence when shopping for necessities and exercising.
Multiple shopping trips in a day has also been prohibited as only one person per household can leave their home to get necessities and services, while exercising outside has been limited to one hour and with one other person. People have been advised to limit leaving their houses as much as possible and to remain inside.
Further information regarding workplaces will be made in the coming days however, it has also been advised to work from home if possible. All students from all year levels will return to remote learning on August 5 Wednesday across all Victoria, while school for vulnerable students and students of permitted workers, along with specialist schools, will still remain open.
On the other hand, regional Victoria, including Mitchell Shire, entered stage 3 “Stay-at-home” restrictions on August 5 Wednesday, as announced by Daniel Andrews on Sunday.
DHHS says that people who live within the area are now only allowed to leave their house to shop for essential items and services, to provide care or to seek medical treatment, to exercise or for outdoor recreation with household or one person, and to work or study if doing it at home is not possible.
People are no longer allowed to have visitors in their home or to visit other people’s houses, however visitation with intimate partners is allowed.
The Victorian Government emphasizes the importance of using facial masks when outside and the necessary basic hygiene and social distancing in order to slow down the increase of cases caused by the COVID-19 virus.
“Everyone must wear a mask when they leave home, unless an exception applies. This is enforceable across regional Victoria from 11:59pm on Sunday 2 August,” stated the Department of Health and Human Services of the Victoria government.