Melbourne to enter 6-week COVID-19 lockdown: Here's what you need to know about the restrictions

A recent announcement made by Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed that Metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire are will re-enter stage 3 'stay at home' lockdown in an attempt to slow the increase of active COVID-19 cases and potential community transmission.  

There are currently 8,755 COVID-19 cases in Australia, approximately 32% of which are isolated to Victoria alone. 

The new lockdown will differ slightly to the previous lockdown, with the exception that workers will be allowed to go to work if required, students can attend classes, and essential supermarket shopping for provisions will be allowed. However, people cannot leave Metropolitan Melbourne for daily exercise – including activities such as hiking and fishing. 

"Regional Victoria has very, very few cases and vast parts of regional Victoria have no cases. This [lockdown] is designed to keep it that way. I hope very soon to be able to be before you again talking about further easing of restrictions in regional Victoria.

That’s not for today. I do hope that is quite soon. And we’ll only be able to achieve that if we continue to contain within metropolitan Melbourne and not see large outbreaks or additional cases in regional Victoria."

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews

Andrews also commented that there could be a sense of complacency around the lockdown restrictions. 

"I think a sense of complacency has crept into us as we let our frustrations get the better of us. I think that each of us know someone who has not been following the rules as well as they should have. I think each of us know that we’ve got no choice but to take these very, very difficult steps."

"We do have a chance to change that in the decisions we all make, in the way we conduct outfields and inway we reset and that is why the public health team have advised me to reimpose stage 3 stay at home restrictions, staying at home except for the four reasons to leave, effective from midnight tomorrow night for a period of six weeks."

What you can and can't do during the lockdown

• You can shop for essentials, attend work, exercise (locally), attend medical appointments and receive care. 
• You can’t exercise outside of your shire.
• You can't gather in groups of more than two or your household group
• Retail will be open, subject to density
• Markets are open for food and drink only
• Cafes, restaurants, pubs, clubs and bars are returning to takeaway only

Who the lockdown applies to

Those living in Metropolitan Melbourne or Mitchell Shires

When will the lockdown be implemented

From 11.59 PM on the 8th of July

Alternatives to in-person property viewings

Since the first lockdown, we've been working with agents to deliver video tours of our property listings to help you with your search from the comfort of your home. Many of our listings have 360° virtual tours, real-life photos of completed apartments and forms to book a video walk-through tour with the real estate agent. 

Watch our recent Display Suite tours on YouTube here. 

This information was sourced at 4:20 PM AEST and is subject to change. If you'd like to learn more, leave a question in the comments section and we'll do our best to find out more information for you.