A state of disaster has been declared by the Victorian state government as the Australian city of Melbourne tightens COVID-19 restrictions, limiting movement through a nightly curfew among other new rules.
Premier Daniel Andrews warned that from 6 p.m. on Aug. 2 police will have additional powers to make sure people are complying with public health directions.
The shock move to enforce a rare health-related curfew in the city comes as COVID-19 case numbers in the state continue to yo-yo, with the new “stage four” restrictions to run for six weeks until Sept. 13.
“These are significant steps and not taken lightly.
“If we don’t make these changes, we’re not going to get through this. We need to do more.”
Under the tighter restrictions, Melbourne residents will only be allowed to exercise for an hour a day and can’t travel more than 5km (3.1 miles) from home for the purposes of shopping or exercise.
Only one person per household will be able to shop for groceries each day, while recreational sports such as tennis and golf will be banned altogether.
Metropolitan Melbourne will be under a nightly curfew, between the hours of 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. from Sunday night with some exemptions for those providing care and travelling to and from work.
