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Patrols will continue on St Kilda Beach after large groups circumvented restrictions on Friday, raising concerns that such behavior could thwart the state’s Covid-19 recovery.
“No one has the right to break the rules and potentially put at risk everything that good and law-abiding Victorians have created, built,” Victoria’s Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said Saturday.
“All your sacrifice has to be worth something.”
“Spending time at the beach without a mask, without social distancing now will just mean you can’t go to the beach all summer. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Health Director Brett Sutton said disobeying the restrictions was “an insult to everyone who has made it difficult for months and months and months.”
Both men have repeatedly urged Melbourne’s population to remain disciplined, especially when the warm spring weather tempts people to leave their homes.
Victoria’s daily average of cases continues to trend downward, with the two-week daily moving average at 12 cases.
The state reported three more deaths from Covid-19 and eight more cases on Saturday, bringing the state number to 805 and the national death count to 893.
There have been 11 cases with an unknown source in the fortnight to Wednesday.
A cluster of cases at The Butcher Club within the Chadstone Mall in southeast Melbourne has risen to 17.
The prime minister has challenged Victorians to consider the potential impact of a cluster in such a large and crowded environment and used it to illustrate why restrictions still cannot be eased.
A significant reduction in restrictions is possible on October 19, but authorities expect the daily average number of cases to drop to five.
Police continue to arrest people who refuse to obey health instructions, issuing 82 tickets in the 24 hours to Saturday.
The recent violations include two men from the Victoria region heading to Melbourne to attend a strip club, only to find that such facilities were not open.
