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Melbourne lockdown lifted after no new coronavirus cases reported

Australia's second-largest city will exit lockdown at midnight tomorrow after no new COVID-19 cas...
Newsroom
Newsroom

14.59 26 Oct 2020


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Melbourne lockdown lifted afte...

Melbourne lockdown lifted after no new coronavirus cases reported

Newsroom
Newsroom

14.59 26 Oct 2020


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Australia's second-largest city will exit lockdown at midnight tomorrow after no new COVID-19 cases or deaths were recorded.

Stay-at-home orders for Melbourne's 5 million people will end and all retail will be allowed to reopen.

The easing comes after the city recorded zero deaths and no new cases for the first time since early June.

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The four-month lockdown saw outdoor sporting activity banned and, similar to Level 5 here, travel was limited to 5 kilometres.

Journalist Kieran Simpson, who is based in Melbourne, said that the measures were tough but have proven successful.

Speaking to Lunchtime Live, he said: "We got to 760 cases a day, which doesn't sound like a lot in the grand scheme of where the rest of the world is, but that's one city in a cut off land.

"If you get that back today to what we are calling 'doughnut day' which is a day of zero COVID cases and zero deaths, it's huge.

"It's taken four months.

"Lockdown has worked and restricting movement and not allowing people to play golf, sure it's outdoors and you're on your own for a lot of time, it just is about keeping you away from people.

"We even had restrictions on how far you could travel, last week that was 5km and now it's 25km and even with the easing that is happening, that 25km radius is still a thing.

Mr Simpson added that people are happy about the lifting of restrictions but said life is not returning to full normality.

He explained: "Retail can reopen from tomorrow, we haven't had any retail part form the supermarkets open.

"Outdoor gatherings, ten people outside from as many households as you want within a 25km radius.

"Cafes can reopen with density limits, outdoor personal training can restart.

"It's not like we can just go about and I think we know that we're not going to be able to go back to normal until there is a vaccine."

Main image: The Melbourne skyline. Credit: HOCH ZWEI/DPA/PA Images

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