By Jed Lanyon and Romy Stephens
Victoria entered a State of Disaster from Sunday 2 August as metropolitan Melbourne moved to Stage 4 lockdown restrictions with stronger rules to limit the movement of people.
The new restrictions include a curfew from 8pm to 5am with the only exception being to work, provide medical care and caregiving. New time, distance and gathering limits will also apply for exercise and shopping.
It comes as the Yarra Ranges recorded 132 active Covid-19 cases on 3 August. 429 new cases of Coronavirus were recorded across the state bringing Victoria’s total cases to 11,937.
One-hundred-and-one cases have been linked to Kilsyth’s Kirkbrae Presbytarian Homes, while the DHHS are investigating cases linked to Lilydale Lodge Aged Care Facility.
Under the latest Stage 4 restrictions, exercise will be limited to a maximum of one hour per day and no more than five kilometres from home. Group size will be limited to a maximum of two – you and one other person – whether you live with them or not.
Shopping will be limited to one person per household per day, where the five-kilometre rule will apply.
Premier Daniel Andrews announced changes to businesses across metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire on Monday 3 August.
Under Stage 4, supermarkets and other grocery stores, bottle shops, pharmacies, banks, newsagents, post offices and other frontline response industries will remain open.
The retail sector will be forced to change to a ‘click and collect’ and home delivery model starting from midnight Wednesday 5 August or otherwise close.
A third category of business such as meatworks and the construction industry would be scaled back with increased safety measures in what Mr Andrews described as a ‘pilot light phase’. These changes will take place from midnight Friday 7 August.
“This six week period is absolutely critical,” Mr Andrews said. “We have to err on the side of doing everything we possibly can to drive these cases down.”
The latest restrictions have also seen Ferntree Gully’s Mountain Gate Woolworths temporarily converted to an online delivery hub, alongside the Dandenong Plaza and Watergardens South supermarkets.
The three stores will close to in-store customers from 4 August at 7.45pm to solely serve online grocery delivery customers until further notice.
Woolworths’ Victorian general manager, Andrew Hall, said “the demand for online delivery continues to grow at pace with more customers in self-isolation or seeking to limit their outings.”
“This week we’ll be converting three of our Melbourne stores to online delivery hubs to help meet this demand and support the most vulnerable in the community,” he said.
“We understand this will be inconvenient for some of our in-store customers and have sought to minimise this as much as we can by converting stores in close proximity to others.
“It’s an uncertain time for many in Melbourne and this will ensure we have the delivery capacity to support the essential grocery needs of many more customers online.”
From Thursday 6 August, regional Victoria will return to Stage 3 ‘Stay at Home’ restrictions.
