Supermarkets, banks, petrol stations among businesses to remain open.
The first category of industries which will remain open in Melbourne include: supermarkets, grocery stores, butchers, bakeries, bottle shops, pharmacies, petrol stations, banks, news agencies, post offices and all sectors involved in the frontline response to COVID-19.
“While you will only be able to go those that are closest to you and you will only be able to be one person out of the house doing that for an hour, they will still be open,” Premier Daniel Andrews said.
No tradies, cleaners allowed in homes except for urgent work
“There’ll be no cleaners going to your house. There’ll be no one mowing your lawns. There’ll be no one providing anything other than emergency support,” Mr Andrews said.
“If you need a plumber because a pipe has burst, then yes, you can have a plumber come and do that work.
“But it’s not the time to be painting your house or having unnecessary, un-urgent work happen.”
Other important services such as Meals on Wheels and home and community care will continue, but PPE protocols will be in place.
People will still be able to move to a new house if they have a contract or arrangement in place.
‘Simply no choice’ but to shut down entire industries: premier
About 250,000 people have been stood down in Victoria, with this figure set to double due to the new industry shutdowns announced.
But Premier Daniel Andrews said there was no other choice but for certain sectors to close.
“These are heartbreaking decisions, but there is simply no choice,” he said.
“The advice from a medical expert is that this is the only way to get these numbers under control, to drive them down low enough so that we can open up again. “The alternative is a six-month strategy, not a six-week strategy.
“We cannot continue to have 400 and 500 cases a day and so many people in hospital, so many people dying.
“This will have a very significant impact. But until we fix the health problem, until we get these case numbers down to a much, much lower level, we simply cannot open the economy up again.”
Grants of $5000 available to affected Victorian businesses
Businesses forced to closed in regional Victoria as a result of the tough new lockdown restrictions will be eligible for a $5000 grant from the state government.
A further $5000 grant will also be available to affected businesses in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire.
“I can announce today will add a further $5000 to those grants, acknowledging that they will have been under these restrictions now for a period significantly longer than the first six weeks as foreshadowed,” Mr Andrews said.
Source – 9news.com.au
