Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced a series of highly anticipated changes for Melburnians on Monday afternoon.
From 11:59 PM on Tuesday night, the city’s lockdown will finally come to an end and a number of strict restrictions will be rolled back.
“Fundamentally, this belongs to every single Victorian, every single Victorian who has followed the rules, stayed the course, worked with me and my team, to bring this second wave to an end,” Mr Andrews told reporters.
There is one rule however that the politician will not back down from.
“We are not indicating any easing of masks today,” Mr Andrews told reporters.
“Masks are incredibly important. Difficult, you know, not particularly pleasant, but for a very low cost we get potentially a very, very high benefit.
“That’s why we’re going to persist with those for a while. We’re not quite sure how long.
“It may be that the settings change, potentially, but masks are going to be, particularly when you’re going to be proximate with other people, a feature. It is a very low cost for a very big gain.”
The Victorian government is also yet to announce when people can return to their offices, though an update is believed to be coming soon.
The Premier said residents shouldn’t expect an announcement regarding that until November 8 however.
“We’ll get people back into offices as quickly as we can and as safely as we can,” he said.
“It won’t be everyone going in at once, de facto crowds, 20, 30, 40 people all jammed in close for hours on end. We have to be cautious about that.”
