Three deaths and just five new infections as Victoria comes out of curfew
Victoria has had another three coronavirus deaths as new case numbers dropped to their lowest since June 12.
Victoria has opened its borders to all vaccinated residents of NSW, despite recording almost 2000 new cases overnight. (AAP Image/Erik Anderson)
The latest fatalities take the state toll to 787 and the national figure to 875.
But there were only five new cases, the first time since June that number has been below 10.
Melbourne’s all-important rolling new case average is now down to 20.3 and is at 0.6 for regional areas.
There were only 31 cases with an unknown source for Melbourne from September 12-25 and none outside the city.
Queensland has recorded zero new cases of coronavirus overnight, leaving eight active cases across the state.
Testing numbers were down to 1800 overnight prompting authorities to encourage anyone with any symptoms to be tested.
Meanwhile, Melbourne has awoken after its final night of curfew following the Victorian government’s decision to lift the COVID-19 lockdown measure.
City dwellers have lived with the nightly 9pm to 5am curfew for eight weeks as authorities struggled to bring the state’s second wave of infections under control.
The curfew was halted from 5am on Monday under widespread rule relaxations unveiled on Sunday.
Premier Daniel Andrews said lifting the curfew did not mean people could hold private indoor or outdoor gatherings, with those caught doing so liable for a beefed-up $5000 fine.
“No one has the right to put everything that Victorians have done at risk by going and potentially spreading the virus, one family to another,” Andrews said.
A trial contesting the curfew’s legality under the state’s human rights charter was scheduled for the Supreme Court on Monday.
The premier has denied the lifting of the curfew was motivated by the legal action.
From 11.59pm on Sunday, 127,000 people were able to return to work – close to 30,000 more than originally expected.
Other rule changes include childcare reopening, allowances for outdoor gatherings of up to five from two households and the lifting of a shopping limit of one person per household a day.
Victoria’s VCE and VCAL students will also return to school for assessments from October 5, with primary school students back on October 12.
Hospital patients will be allowed one visitor per day for a maximum of two hours, while patients under 18 will be allowed unlimited visits from two parents or carers.
Melbourne’s two-hour exercise limit and 5km travel restriction remain, although Mr Andrews foreshadowed full freedom of movement could come on October 19 ahead of AFL grand final weekend.
He urged Victorians not to let their guard down, saying the virus would run wild if people pretend the second wave is over.
Deputy Premier James Merlino said the state’s much-criticised contact tracing system was now working well.
“It’s performing at a level that we absolutely need it to perform, in terms of response and follow-up in 24 hours,” he said.
But he is yet to receive a report after Victorian officials visited NSW to look at its contact tracing, held up by the Prime Minister as the gold standard.
“The advice I have is what we have learned is we compare very, very well,” he said.
“There are very, very few differences between the contact tracing teams in terms of performance and in terms of operation.”
-AAP