Victorian government extends Melbourne’s sixth lockdown by a week

Victoria entered its sixth lockdown on Thursday last week

Melbourne’s sixth lockdown will be extended by an additional week in response to a number of mystery COVID-19 cases, meaning venues will remain closed for a little while longer.

Announced in a press conference this morning, restrictions will now be in place until 11.59pm next Thursday (August 19).

Victoria recorded 20 locally acquired cases in the past 24 hours to midnight, with 15 of those cases linked to the current outbreak. Premier Daniel Andrews said the remaining mystery cases was one of the reasons the lockdown had to be extended.

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“There are too many cases, and too many cases the origins of which are not clear to us, too many unanswered questions, too many mysteries for us to safely come out of lockdown now,” Andrews said this morning.

The extension comes days after regional Victoria had its lockdown lifted earlier this week.

“The Delta variant is more infectious and moving so quickly that we cannot take the risk of opening up too soon – this extension of the current restrictions will help us catch and contain it,” Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said in a statement.

A large portion of Australia’s east coast remains in lockdown, including the Greater Sydney region, Byron Bay and Newcastle. Areas in south-east Queensland, including Brisbane, exited a lockdown last weekend.

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