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EDDIE JIM / The Age
Recreational fishing resumed at Melbourne’s Albert Park Pier on Monday morning after the city’s closure ended.
The Australian state of Victoria has had another three deaths from coronavirus as the number of new cases fell to its lowest level since June 12.
The latest deaths bring the state number to 787 and Australia’s national number to 875.
But there were only five new cases, the first time since June that the number has been below 10.
Melbourne’s significant new case average has now dropped to 20.3 and is at 0.6 for regional areas.
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There were only 31 cases with an unknown source for Melbourne from September 12-25 and none outside the city.
Meanwhile, Melbourne has woken up after its last night of curfew following the Victorian government’s decision to lift the Covid-19 lockdown measure.
City residents have lived with a 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. night curfew for eight weeks as authorities struggled to control the second wave of infections in the state.
The curfew was halted as of 5 a.m. on Monday due to widespread rule relaxations that were unveiled on Sunday.
SCOTT MCNAUGHTON / The Age
Prime Minister of the State of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, and Brett Sutton, Australian State Health Director.
Victoria State Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said lifting the curfew did not mean that people could hold private gatherings indoors or outdoors, and that those caught doing so were subject to a heightened fine of $ 5,000 Australian ($ 5,370).
“No one has the right to risk everything that Victorians have done by potentially spreading the virus from one family to another,” Andrews said.
A trial was scheduled for the Supreme Court on Monday challenging the legality of the curfew under the state’s human rights charter.
The prime minister has denied that the lifting of the curfew was motivated by legal action.
As of 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, 127,000 people were able to return to work, about 30,000 more than originally planned.
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The Prime Minister of the Australian state of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, was questioned by an investigation.
Other rule changes include the reopening of the daycare, allowances for outdoor gatherings of up to five from two households, and lifting the limit on purchases of one person per household per day.
Hospital patients will be allowed one visit per day for up to two hours, while patients under the age of 18 will be allowed unlimited visits from two parents or caregivers.
Melbourne’s two-hour exercise limit and 5km travel restriction remain in place, though Andrews foreshadowed that full freedom of movement could arrive on October 19 before the AFL grand final weekend.
He urged Victorians not to lower their guard, saying the virus would run wild if people pretend the second wave is over.
Deputy Prime Minister James Merlino said the state’s much-criticized contact tracing system is now working well.
“It’s working at a level that we absolutely need it to work, in terms of 24-hour response and follow-up,” he said.
But he has yet to receive a report after Victorian officials visited New South Wales to see his contact tracing, regarded by Australia’s prime minister as the gold standard.
“The advice I have is that what we’ve learned is that we compare very, very well,” he said.
“There are very, very few differences between contact tracing teams in terms of performance and in terms of operation.”
