Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned of the impacts of the extended COVID-19 lockdown in Victoria, with the main sectors of the economy facing restrictions until the end of October.
Victoria’s COVID-19 lockdown has been extended – restricting the retail, hospitality, tourism, and entertainment sectors state-wide and forcing five million residents to stay at home until October 26, or until there are fewer than five new COVID-19 cases a day. Employees also have to work from home until at least November 23.
“If we open up too fast, then we have a very high likelihood that we’re not really opening up at all. We’re just beginning a third wave. We have to take steady and safe steps out of lockdown,” said Premier Daniel Andrews.
Prime Minister Morrison said the lockdown extension was “hard and crushing news” for residents. He called on the government to conduct “strong contact tracing” as Victoria falls behind other states in relation to managing to control clusters and keeping the economy open.
Innes Willox, the chief executive officer of The Australian Industry Group, added that the government should move quickly to reopen business and get the economy moving again.
“There will be catastrophic economic, health and social damage caused by the continued lockdown and prospect of more months of sharply diminished activity,” he said, as quoted by Bloomberg.
