Metropolitan Melbourne will live under a curfew as part of tightened COVID-19 restrictions announced by premier Daniel Andrews on Monday.
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Mr Andrews also announced the Melbourne lockdown will be extended by a further two weeks.
The curfew will take effect in metropolitan Melbourne from 11.59pm on Monday and be in place from 9pm to 5am each day.
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Mr Andrews said the tightened restrictions were introduced under advice from the chief health officer.
"Our performance more broadly is not good news," Mr Andrews said. "We are seeing too many cases, too many mystery cases and 12 or 13 different chains of transmission. This virus is spreading in an undetected way.
"We have no option but to further strengthen lockdown and extend for two weeks.
"I don't enjoy having to make these decisions the chief health officer doesn't like providing advice to that end but we have too many cases and run risk that if don't take steps now, will see numbers grow, more people in hospital and situations similar to other parts of the country.
Tightened restrictions in Melbourne include:
- a curfew from 9pm to 5am each day, in effect from tonight.
- leaving the house to exercises with one other person from you house or your dependents
- there will be no removal of masks to consume alcohol outdoors.
- playgrounds, skate parks and exercise equipment will closed
- religious broadcasts will be limited in numbers
- permits for authorised work will be reintroduced
- the construction sector will have large projects reduce to 25 per cent staff capacity while small constructions projects can have no more than five staff on site
Mr Andrews said some of the new restrictions were a response to people blatantly disregarding restrictions that were already in place.
"All these measures and more are not decisions we have made lightly," he said. "We have got to limit movement (of the virus).
"So often the poor choices of a small number of people devalue the work of what other people are doing.
"We have come so far, given so much and done so well but we have to do more. There is no other option, if there was we would do a different thing."
In Victoria on Monday, 22 new coronavirus cases were recorded with 14 of them in isolation during their infectious period.
The five reasons to leave your house are now to get necessary supplies, for caregiving or compassionate reasons (including medical care or to get a COVID-19 test), authorised work or education, exercise (once a day for 2 hours) and to get a COVID-19 vaccination.
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