- The Victorian Government is refusing to confirm reports Melbourne will remain in stage four lockdown restriction for another two weeks
- A leaked roadmap, showing how Melbourne would safely exit lockdown restrictions without increasing COVID-19 cases, claims the current lockdown will last until the end of the month
- But, Victorian Government officials said the leaked roadmap is out-of-date
- Premier Daniel Andrews also stated a decision on ending lockdowns will be made once more data has been received on infections trends
- The state recorded another 113 cases of COVID-19 today and 15 deaths
The Victorian Government is remaining mum on whether or not it will extend current stage four lockdown conditions for an additional two weeks.
The Herald Sun today leaked the Government’s roadmap – showing how Melbourne could safely exit lockdown restrictions without increasing COVID-19 cases.
The leaked roadmap shows the Government may extend the current, restrictive stage four lockdown conditions from September 13, until September 28.
But, Victorian Government officials have denied this is accurate, stating the roadmap leaked to the press is out of date.
Premier Daniel Andrews also confirmed this, stating “the documents that have been the subject of a lot of interest over the last few hours are out of date and have no status.”
However, Premier Andrews is refusing to confirm whether Melbourne’s current lockdown conditions will end in 10 days, or be extended.
Instead, he said the decision will be made at a later date and guided by more recent data on infections rates.
“It won’t be guided simply by dates on the calendar though. It will be guided by the science and the data. It will be guided by how many cases there are in Victoria,” he explained.
The Premier also warned lifting the lockdowns too early, could lead to a deadly, third wave of COVID-19 infections.
“I know everyone wants to open up tomorrow, I understand that,” he said.
“But if we were to do that, these numbers would explode and we would have a couple of weeks of sunshine and we would we be back most likely in an even worse position than we were four or five weeks ago,” he warned.
His comments come as Victoria recorded another 113 new cases of the coronavirus today, as well as an additional 15 deaths.
“I’m sad to report there have been 591 Victorians who have passed away that have passed was the result of this global pandemic,” Premier Andrews said.
In neighbouring NSW, another 12 cases of COVID-19 were recorded over the past day, with several of those cases linked to the growing Sydney cluster.