MOST COVID-19 restrictions have finally been lifted statewide.
For vaccinated people, life has returned to close to what it once was. Capacity limits at venues and events have been lifted, dance floors are back open, and mask rules have been further eased.
Masks must now only be worn by primary school staff, visitors, and students in years three to six, servers at hospitality venues, retail workers and customers, visitors and workers in hospitals or care facilities, in high risk work settings, and on public transport.
The lockdown rules were lifted at 11.59pm on 18 November. It came as Victoria neared its target of 90 per cent of eligible residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Isolation rules have also changed significantly. From now on people who come into contact with a COVID-19 case outside their home will not be forced into isolation for an extended period, only until returning a negative test result. Positive cases will now be asked to notify their workplace, school, or childcare about their diagnosis.
Exposure sites will no longer be published by the Department of Health.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the changes would “allow Victoria to return to something like the normal life we remember – businesses open, the city thriving and families getting back to doing the things they love together.”
Health minister Martin Foley said “by focusing on high-risk settings, cases and contacts – and safely removing rules that could sweep hundreds of thousands of people into long quarantine at any one time – Victoria is charting a path for the rest of Australia for how to live with COVID-19 as a manageable endemic when cases inevitably increase nationwide.”
View the current restrictions at coronavirus.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-covidsafe-settings.