Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews says wishful thinking that the coronavirus outbreak in Australia is over, when it is not, is "part of the problem."
Andrews: "I think a sense of complacency has crept into us as we let our frustrations get the better of us."
BREAKING
Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews is issuing a new Stay At Home order for metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire for 6 weeks.
Permissible reasons to leave home include:
* Shopping for essentials
* Caregiving
* Daily Exercise
* AND work 'If you can't do it from home'
Andrews says people MUST not move between houses, ie holiday homes. He says you MUST stay at your principal residence.
Full statement here:
Andrews: Victoria will extend school holidays for another week with five pupil-free days next week but teachers will go to school to work on next term arrangements and to supervise children for the workers who can't work from home, ie, supermarket workers, nurses and doctors.
Andrews says he is confident of getting 'one setting' on schools (across independents and state schools) statewide.
On the housing block towers under a hard lockdown Andrews says once the testing is complete the aim is to move the residents to the same stay at home conditions.
Housing block residents would be allowed to leave their homes for the same four reasons.
Andrews says not every car will be stopped to check cars leaving the Melbourne metropolitan area heading into regional Victoria - enforcement will be more along the lines of booze bus ops
Andrews: "I know there will be enormous amounts of damage that is done because of this. It will be v. challenging over the next 6 weeks. The alternative is to pretend that it's over, just like I think some Victorians have been - wanting it to be over desperately."
Andrews: "We don't want to see any more tragedy ... and If we all don't start taking this a little more seriously than we have been then we will see that."
Andrews says if people don't follow the rules there could be more lockdown restrictions.
Questions - Nothing on childcare being announced today says Andrews.
Andrews says the reason for the SIX week lockdown versus four is that the virus' life-cycle is worth two weeks so four weeks data is not enough.
Andrews: "I'm not here to criticise Victorians, I'm not here to be lecturing Victorians but I've got to call it out."
Andrews: "We have, to a certain extent, allowed our frustration to get the better of us and that means ... regardless of who patient zero is and how they've become infected - the virus spreads."
Andrews: "It's business as usual in regional Victoria".
Andrews asked if he is sorry: "I am sorry that we find ourselves in this position, I would, just with the greatest respect, put it to you that getting this virus and dying from it is very onerous too."
A good question here https://twitter.com/LouSmorrels/status/1280381069007581184
Andrews says he's not in a position to countenance leaving the six-week lockdown early and warns that people should ready themselves to live out that entire amount of time in lockdown.
Andrews adds that the daily exercise allowed in the new lockdown rules as a permissible reason to leave your house is not an excuse to run a marathon or go on four-hour hikes.
Victoria's Chief Health Officer Prof. Brett Sutton asked whether Victorians now need to wear a mask: he says "where community transmission isn't negligible masks are a reasonable thing to wear, when you can't physically distance."
[Presser Ends]
Oh wait, here's Victoria's opposition leader @michaelobrienmp
"Daniel Andrews let the COVID genie out of the bottle with hotel quarantine bungles and now everyone's paying the price for it."
O'Brien: "The Premier's tone was really disappointing, he was looking to blame Victorians, to point the finger at Victorians instead of looking in the mirror and accepting responsibility for the government's mistakes."
O'Brien: "Clearly the Premier is under pressure. He's looking stressed, he's looking rattled, he needs help from the federal government and I think it's time for the Premier to invite other parties around Victoria to work with him in the govt to fix this mess.'"
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