COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria
The first confirmed case in the state of Victoria, also the first in Australia, was identified as being on 19 January 2020, when a man from Wuhan arrived by air from Guangdong, China.
[23] On 19 July, following a "concerning increase in coronavirus cases", Premier Andrews announced that "face coverings" were to be made mandatory in metropolitan Melbourne, and Mitchell Shire.
In the "First Step", which applied to metropolitan Victoria, several restrictions were eased, including a reduction of the curfew, some loosening of rules around outdoor exercise and social interactions, the introduction of a "bubble" that allowed single people living alone to nominate one person to be allowed to visit them during the first two steps, and increased limits for weddings, funerals and religious gatherings.
At the same time, it was announced that regional Victoria would move to the "Second Step", which included a staged return of students to onsite learning as well as the reopening of outdoor public pools and further increases to limits for weddings, funerals and religious gatherings.
[25] [26] On 18 October, regional Victoria moved to "Step Three", which included the reopening of most businesses to the public, increased seating for hospitality, the allowance of visitors for all residents and the resumption of some indoor sports.
[36] On 5 May 2021, the CQV general manager of infection control, Matius Bush, was stood down by the Minister for Government Services Danny Pearson pending a conduct review.
As a precautionary measure for New Year's Eve the Victorian Government reduced household gatherings from 30 people to 15 and mandated masks within an indoor setting.
AEDT, due to a cluster of 13 cases tied to a Holiday Inn quarantine hotel near Melbourne Airport, which have been assumed to be the UK variant.
Special dispensation was given to the 2021 Australian Open, which became crowdless effective 11:30 pm AEDT on 12 February in the midst of the night's final match (play was temporarily suspended at that time to remove all spectators from the court).
[60] As a result of the pausing of the travel bubble, the Melbourne Rebels' scheduled Super Rugby Trans-Tasman match against the Highlanders was forced to be relocated from Queenstown, New Zealand to Sydney.
[62] The fourth lockdown meant that a number of other interstate professional sporting matches that were due that week had to either be played in empty stadiums, or relocated to alternative venues.
The West Melbourne cluster was found to be of the fast spreading Delta COVID variant, raising the possibility the fourth Victorian lockdown could be extended again.
[68] From 11:59pm on July 11, Victoria closed its border to all New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory residents to try to prevent the delta variant entering the state.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr tweeted that it was "incredibly disappointing and frustrating" after more than a year with no local COVID-19 cases that the border was being closed to Canberrans.
[69] On 14 July, after 11 COVID cases were detected in the state, Victoria reintroduced the requirement to wear face masks in workplaces, in schools, and when social distancing was not possible, outdoors.
[73] On 22 July, the death of a 48-year-old woman from Victoria the previous week was linked by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to "probable" thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), after vaccination with AstraZeneca.
On 5 August 2021, in response to the detection of six new community cases, the Victorian Government announced their sixth lockdown, commencing that evening at 8 pm for seven days.
[86] On 21 August at 1pm, regional Victoria was also placed into its seventh lockdown[87] and other restrictions tightened, such as the 5 km limit for essential shopping, and exercise activities.
[90] On 29 August, following a year high 92 new cases detected in the community in a single day, the Victorian Government announced that the statewide lockdown was to be extended.
[103] This followed both Greater Geelong and Mitchell reporting cases and Surf Coast showing positive waste water detections with no confirmed source.
[109] On 21 September in Melbourne, there was another large protest against a wide range of pandemic response related issues, including the previous days' construction industry shut down.
The "Victorian Workers Rally For Freedom" march started near to the CFMEU headquarters at 10am, went through the CBD, past state Parliament, Flinders Street railway station, then onto and blocking the West Gate Freeway.
[112][113] The protests, with verbal and physical abuse of their staff in public places on their way to work resulted in the closure, for at least four days, of a vaccination centre at Melbourne Town Hall, and also a drop-in clinic for the homeless near Queen Victoria Market.
[123][118] The people who died were: On 15 November an inquest began into 50 deaths, 45 from COVID-19, that occurred in July and August 2020 at St Basil's Homes for the Aged, Fawkner, Melbourne.
[125][circular reference] On 2 December, Parliament passed the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Pandemic Management) Bill,[126] which had been the subject of heated protests since October.
[128] Also on 30 December a Big Bash League cricket match between the Melbourne Stars and the Perth Scorchers was cancelled after a positive case of COVID-19 among the players.
State health authorities are now including positive rapid antigen test (RAT) results in new daily case numbers.
[162] Many exhibitions, festivals and other events were cancelled, postponed or reduced in size due to restrictions on public gatherings and health concerns.
When some in-person teaching resumed between lockdown periods, facilities operated within statewide regulations that, at various times, restricted the numbers of students and staff, mandated masks and vaccination requirements.
[182][183] Subsequent research has found the mental and physical health impacts on these events on children and teaching staff in Victoria in particular, given the length and extent of lockdowns.
