Premier Daniel Andrews has revealed the date Victoria’s lockdown will end, despite the worrying surge in Covid cases in recent days.
Welcome to Monday’s live coverage of Australia’s Covid-19 situation.
Victorians are set to be granted a raft of freedoms in just a few weeks’ time, with the state set to hit its next major vaccination target at the end of October.
It comes as Victoria confirmed a record number of Covid cases on Saturday, with 1448 infections and two deaths and 1220 cases and three deaths on Sunday.
NSW residents have been warned against complacency as the case numbers continued to drop on Sunday, with 667 infections, though deaths remained high with 10 fatalities.
Follow below for today’s top updates. Keep refreshing the page for the latest news.
Victoria’s freedom date set despite record cases
Melbourne’s lockdown is due to end this month, with Premier Daniel Andrews marking October 26 as the day fully vaccinated Victorians will be granted a raft of extra freedoms.
About 52 per cent of Victorians over the age of 16 have had two jabs, with the state predicted to hit its 70 per cent double dose milestone on October 26 or a few days earlier.
This will trigger a range of freedoms for Melbourne, including gathering outdoors in groups of 10, reopening pubs and clubs, increasing capacity limits on weddings and funerals and reopening hairdressers and personal care services.
In regional Victoria, community sport can return, hospitality venues can open indoors to 30 fully vaccinated people and funerals and weddings can run with 30 fully vaccinated people indoors and 100 outdoors.
Mr Andrews praised Victorians for their hard work and urged more people to get vaccinated so they could “finish this off so we can get the lockdown off at the end of October (and) get the place open”.
“We are so close to the end. (We can) look forward to not just 2022 but many weeks before Christmas, and Christmas being the sort of Christmas we want,” he said.
“As a community, we can look forward with a sense of hope and optimism to these next few weeks.”
This comes as the state’s case numbers surged into the thousands last week. Victoria saw its highest daily infection numbers of the entire pandemic on Saturday, with 1448 cases and two deaths.
NSW set to hit vaccine milestone this week
NSW is just days away from hitting its 70 per cent double dose vaccination target, with a significant easing of restrictions set for October 11.
Just over 67 per cent of residents over the age of 16 have had two jabs, with 88 per cent having their first dose.
The new freedoms for fully vaccinated residents will be triggered next Monday and are set to include eased household and outdoor gatherings, reopening hospitality, retail stores and gyms, reopening stadiums and theatres and increasing capacity limits for weddings and funerals.
From next week, fully vaccinated people who are identified as a close contact of a positive case will only need to isolate for seven days, down from 14.
Despite the looming freedoms, Health Minister Brad Hazzard reminded residents there will still be rules that need to be followed.
“Obviously there will be limits in various venues are the four square metre rule, it will apply indoors,” he said.
“It will be two square metres outdoors for venues such as hospitality.”
Class limits will also apply for gyms, with the restrictions set to change again once the state reaches its 80 per cent vaccination rate.
Dominic Perrottet set to replace Gladys Berejiklian as NSW Premier
The NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet is firming as the state’s next Premier with a deal to install Stuart Ayres as his deputy.
Mr Perrottet formally declared his candidacy at a press conference in Sydney on Sunday night.
But he’s not going to get the top job without a fight at this stage, with the only other declared contender Rob Stokes confirming his name is still in the ring.
The NSW Treasurer said the decision was ultimately a matter for the party room on Tuesday.
“Over the last 48 hours, I’ve had the opportunity to discuss with my wife, Helen, my family and my colleagues, my intention to nominate today as the Liberal leader of the parliamentary party,’’ he said.
“I do so, alongside the Minister for jobs as Stuart Ayres … as my deputy leader. We believe it is a team that will provide stability, unity and experience.”
Mr Perrottet paid tribute to the “tireless dedication of our premier Gladys Berejiklian.”
“There is no doubt that NSW is a much better place today because of the tireless dedication of our premier,” he said.
“During the last 18 months as I, as her deputy and as treasurer worked very closely with her as we navigated through droughts through fires in through this pandemic, and New South Wales and be stronger today because of her tireless, servant leadership to the people of NSW.”
– Samantha Maiden and Anton Nilsson
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2021-10-03 20:03:27Z
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