With Victorians facing a week in lockdown and the Melbourne s shock cluster growing at an exponential rate, here s everything you need to know about Australia s latest Covid-19 developments.
Wilkinson and the other Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino announced a circuit breaker seven-day lockdown on Thursday in response to 26 active cases in the state, initially sparked by another virus leak at a hotel quarantine facility. Every Victorian has the right to feel angry tonight ⦠four lockdowns in the space of 12 months is just untenable, Sydney-based Wilkinson told the rest of the panel, who film the program live from Melbourne. Especially when the federal government has been sitting on its hands on this for so long. The confusing messages over the vaccine rollout, the fact they re not setting up properly to do the mRNA vaccine here in Australia ⦠just one thing after another, and here we are again, she continued.
Queensland
Anyone who arrives in Queensland from Victoria after 1am on Friday will be required to undergo a mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine.
People who are already in Queensland and have travelled to Victoria since 11 May will be subject to the same lockdown conditions as Victorian residents, who are only able to leave their home to purchase essential supplies, exercise, receive or give care, authorised work, and to get vaccinated.
NSW
NSW has so far stopped short of introducing a hard border closure with Victoria, but Premier Gladys Berejiklian made it clear people in lockdown should not be travelling interstate.
Anyone travelling to NSW from Victoria after 4pm on Thursday would also be subject to the same stay-at-home order, health authorities said.
Acting Victorian premier James Merlino has refused to give a straight answer about why Victoria is the only state going into a fourth lockdown when he was grilled by journalists at a press conference on Thursday.
Mr Merlino, who is replacing Daniel Andrews while he recovers from a back injury, was continually asked why Victoria was enduring yet another round of tough restrictions as the rest of the country remains open.
Victoria will enter a stage 3 lockdown from Thursday midnight that will last for seven days with schools closed and only five reasons to leave home - as a Covid cluster containing the highly infectious Indian strain grew to 26.
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Victorians will be plunged into a week-long lockdown from 11.59pm Thursday as the state government scrambles to contain a COVID-19 outbreak in Melbourne’s north.
Face masks will be mandatory in both indoor and outdoor settings, except for at home.
Schools will also close and move to remote learning, except to care for the children of essential workers, but childcare will remain open.
Supermarkets and essential services like pharmacies, petrol stations and banks will remain open but restaurants, pubs and cafes will be limited to take-away.
People wait for COVID tests in Melbourne on Wednesday, 26 May.
AAP