Source: Herald sun
Premier Daniel Andrews has finally revealed Victoria’s road map out of lockdown.
Here’s all the new rules and when they will kick in.
Outdoor dining, haircuts and a return to the classroom are on the horizon for Victorians as the state cautiously looks to a future where Covid is kept at bay by vaccines, not lockdowns.
Premier Daniel Andrews said there was “no alternative” to opening up and flagged the “acute stress” it would place on the health system as he announced the state’s highly-anticipated road map to opening up on Sunday.
“There is a gateway here, it will be challenging, but we must pass through it. We cannot have a perpetual suppression of this virus,” he said.
“It will be very hard on our amazing nurses and doctors and ambos and the whole team in our hospitals.”
The first major tranche of changes for metropolitan Melbourne will kick in when 70 per cent of Victorians aged 16 and older are fully vaccinated, a milestone expected around October 26.
More restrictions will fall away across the state when 80 per cent of Victorians are double jabbed, a date likely to fall on November 5.
But those who elect not to get the jab will remain under strict restrictions even as these two targets are met.
Here are all the changes laid out in Victoria’s path forward and when they will kick in.
80 PER CENT SINGLE VACCINATION DOSE: PREDICTED SEPTEMBER 26
In Melbourne, small groups of up to five fully vaccinated adults can play sport outside or attend personal training. That includes playing basketball, golf, tennis, cricket and another outdoor recreational activity.
From October 6, final year VCE, IB and VCAL students can attend class, and from October 18, prep and Years 1 and 2 can attend part-time.
Regional Victorians will be allowed to unmask for hairdressing and beauty services and final year VCAL students will be allowed to return to on site learning.
70 PER CENT 16+ FULLY VACCINATED: PREDICTED OCTOBER 26
In Melbourne, the 9pm curfew and six reasons to leave home will be abandoned.
People will be allowed to travel 25km from home, fully vaccinated groups of 10 can gather outdoors and community sport training can resume.
Pubs, clubs and entertainment venues, outdoor pools and amusement parks can all open with up to 50 fully vaccinated people outdoors.
Hairdressers can reopen, and outdoor weddings, funerals and religious services can occur with up to 50 fully vaccinated attendees.
In regional Victoria, indoor community sports can return and up to 30 fully vaccinated people will be able to grab a drink indoors at pubs and clubs.
Across the state, all school students will return to the classroom at least part time.
Years 7, 11 and 12 can attend all week, prep from Monday to Wednesday and all other years two set days per week.
In Melbourne, early childhood education will open up to all children with fully vaccinated parents.
80 PER CENT 16+ FULLY VACCINATED: PREDICTED NOVEMBER 5
At this milestone, restrictions will become uniform across Victoria.
Masks will only be required indoors and all Victorians will be able to travel within the state, with a possible relaxation of interstate travel restrictions for vaccinated residents.
People can have up to 10 others over to their house and the vaccinated can gather outdoors in groups of 30, but those avoiding the jab will be restricted to groups of five.
All students will return to school, adult education will return for fully vaccinated Victorians, and early childhood education and care will open to all.
Large pubs, restaurants and cafes can seat up to 150 vaccinated guests indoors and 500 outdoors, with up to 25 people allowed for small venues.
Big outdoor entertainment and sporting venues can reopen with either 5000 attendees or 25 per cent capacity, whichever is lesser. Indoors, it will be capped at 150 vaccinated attendees.
Victorians can go to work if fully vaccinated — though they will still be encouraged to work from home if possible — and all retail stores can fling their doors wide open.
Weddings, funerals and religious services can welcome 150 fully vaccinated people indoors and up to 500 outdoors. Community sport can resume with the same caps.
Restrictions on visitors to hospitals and care facilities will be eased.
80 PER CENT OF 12+ FULLY VACCINATED: PREDICTED NOVEMBER 19
In a move likely to delight those wishing for a big Christmas gathering, the road map specifies that by December 25 people will be permitted to have 30 visitors to their home.
The road map announcement brings Victoria in line with NSW as the second Australian state to plan a significant relaxation of restrictions even as Covid continues to circulate in the community.
The state recorded 507 new cases in the previous 24 hours on Sunday, with 84 per cent of them in people aged under 50.
Mr Andrews said nurses, doctors and paramedics would come under “intense pressure” even under the steady plan for reopening.
But he said it was necessary to pass through an “important gateway” and normalise life with Covid.
“Lockdowns have been about buying time to get to 70 and 80 per cent vaccination,” he said.
“We are fast approaching those milestones. At that point we have got to open the place up, because remaining closed forever has its own cost, in every sense of that word.”
