Victoria erupts as lockdown continues despite virus average falling below 5

Frustrations have boiled over and Melburnians have lashed out at the Premier after it backtracked on a promise last week to reopen today.

The Victorians have lashed out at Prime Minister Daniel Andrews after he announced today that Melbourne will not see a loosening of restrictions despite hitting its virus target.

Victorians took to Twitter to call the prime minister’s decision to withhold the ads a “huge kick in the stomach” and “beyond a joke.”

The Melbourne metropolitan area had been hoping for further easing of restrictions on hospitality and retail, after the city’s 14-day average of virus cases fell below five today.

But today, the prime minister dashed those hopes of easing restrictions, saying the government would delay any announcements, pending more test results related to an outbreak in the northern suburbs.

He said no further reversals will be announced until Tuesday at the earliest.

“There are no changes to the subway restrictions. This is a big kick in the gut after there was constant talk of major announcements on Sunday. This year is bloody and endless,” 10 News reporter Emma O’Sullivan said on Twitter.

“This is more than a joke,” 7 News reporter Joel Crean wrote on Twitter.

“On Sunday they told us November 2. On Wednesday they told us they would go ahead, they announced Sunday. Today the carrot is hanging again. WE DO @ DanielAndrewsMP … ENOUGH!”

“Ugh, dear Melbourne,” wrote former Green Senator Scott Ludlam. “Hang on, you’re so close to beating this thing.”

Former Victoria Health Minister Jenny Mikakos also took to Twitter, saying she was “very proud” of what the Victorians had accomplished, with some thinking the roadmap “was unattainable.”

“The reopening of the set is safe gradually, so any delay is unnecessary. It is a paralysis in decision-making,” he said.

“We were hopeful that we could announce today that the Melbourne metropolitan area would take major steps, not starting today, but mid-week, retail, hospitality and a wide range of other major steps,” Andrews said.

“We are not in a position to do that today because we have at least 1000 test results from that Northern Metropolitan outbreak that are in the labs.

“We will get them today, probably the rest tomorrow, and additional tests will be done throughout the day.

“This is nothing more than a cautious pause, to wait to get that important information, to get the results of those tests. Just to rule out if there are, if there are more viruses there than we think.

“Ultimately, if we can link these cases together, if we can link different outbreaks, then we have confidence that we have contained it and we can move on. This is not a setback.

“It’s just waiting and being guided by the data, being guided by science, and following public health advice. That’s what has taken these numbers from thousands of active cases to now, 100 active cases. That’s the focus. that has seen us go from more than 700 cases per day to seven cases.

“This is the strategy, it is working, but it is appropriate to be doubly sure that there are no more viruses in the northern suburbs than we think.”

Andrews said he expected to assess the situation once the results are released on Monday, and that “hopefully he can make some announcements on Tuesday.”

The prime minister had previously dashed hopes for sweeping reforms to his government’s tough blockades, saying that Victorians should not “bet” on all restrictions being eased during Sunday’s press conference.

“I just want to warn the banking folks that I’ll be making a whole series of detailed announcements about the opening tomorrow,” Andrews said.