BENDIGO residents have been urged to stay at home, after reports of growing numbers of people in public places throughout the city.
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Stories and photos have circulated online of crowds in shopping centres and the central business district over the past few days.
It comes during a period of optimism, driven by low growth in the number of new COVID-19 cases in Australia.
But Bendigo Health has urged people to stay home, saying a State of Emergency was still in place.
Bendigo Original Pie Shop co-owner Julie Findlay said she saw the most people for weeks outside her Hargreaves Mall shop on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The bakery closed for about three weeks when pandemic restrictions first came into force, opening again on April 22.
Ms Findlay said there were definitely more people in town last week than when the shop was closed.
But compared to the same time last year, foot traffic through the mall was nothing, Ms Findlay said.
Worker Missy Shepherd has also noticed more people out in the past fortnight from her workplace near Bendigo Marketplace.
Ms Shepherd said her businesses's carpark was full several days last week, where there had normally been about 10 cars there most days since restrictions came into place.
She had also noticed an increase in foot traffic, with customers saying they had waited 20 minutes to get into the supermarket.
Ms Shepherd said it bothered her, but she thought people were a bit over it, because they thought COVID-19 wasn't a problem in central Victoria.
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When the Bendigo Advertiser visited Marketplace on Monday it noticed more people than in previous weeks.
Social media users also reported crowds at shopping centres throughout Bendigo during the weekend.
Bendigo Health chief executive Peter Faulkner implored residents to stay at home for the greater good of the community.
"We remind the community that nothing has changed, there is still a State of Emergency in place and only four reasons to leave your house," Mr Faulkner said.
"There is a statewide testing blitz to determine the level of infection in the community. Recent examples show us that it doesn't take much for a single outbreak to occur."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced last week that he would make a decision about easing restrictions on Friday May 8.
But the Victorian government will not review its State of Emergency until Monday May 11.
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