Ballarat people who visit Melbourne, either for work or leisure, will NOT have to abide by the new COVID-19 rules when they return home.
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But they must adhere to all the new restrictions announced today while they are in Melbourne, as of 6pm on Tuesday (tonight).
This means people when in Melbourne will need to wear face masks indoors, which includes workplaces, unless an exemption applies.
The rule applies to everyone over the age of 12.
They must also always carry a mask, private gatherings in homes will be limited to five visitors a day and public gatherings will be limited to 30 people.
Masks must still be worn on all public transport.
IN OTHER NEWS
The news that people of Ballarat do not have to follow the Melbourne rules when they have returned from Melbourne follows inquiries made by The Courier to the state government and DHHS.
It was not initially clear in this morning's press conference whether the new rules applied to regional visitors to Melbourne when they returned home.
However, the state government says if someone from regional Victoria feels unwell, they will need to get tested and isolate while waiting for their results.
The government's further advice for people living outside metropolitan Melbourne is that they are permitted to do the following:
- Have up to 100 visitors per day if none of the visitors live in Melbourne.
- No more than five visitors per day if any of the visitors live in Melbourne, excluding any child from a household with only one parent or guardian, where suitable child-minding arrangements cannot be made
- Aged Care/hospitals: No more than two people can visit at once. Residents at care facilities and patients at hospitals cannot have more than five visitors per day, unless they are at end-of-life or have a life-threatening condition, in which case there is no daily limit.
The restrictions will be in place until at least June 4 and only apply to metropolitan Melbourne.
"This is about giving our contact tracers the time that they need to track this matter down and get on top of it," acting premier James Merlino told reporters.
He said a public health advisory panel would weigh up whether further restrictions would be required for large events including football matches.
It comes after a man in his 60s became the fifth person in Melbourne's northern suburbs to test positive to COVID-19 on Tuesday morning.
Mr Merlino said the man had symptoms prior to the four cases identified on Monday, suggesting he could be the possible "source case" for the City of Whittlesea outbreak.
Genomic sequencing shows the outbreak is linked to the case of a Wollert man, who contracted the virus in South Australian quarantine earlier this month.
Wollert falls within the City of Whittlesea and the man shopped at the same Woolworths in Epping North as one of the new cases, albeit on a different day.
But Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said authorities were yet to establish a "definitive link" between the Wollert man and the five cases.
"There may still be another intermediary. We need to explore that, but we need to finish the very lengthy, very detailed interview with that case this morning," he said.
Professor Sutton confirmed the COVID-19 variant in the Whittlesea outbreak is B1617, which was first identified in India in October last year.
"We shouldn't be complacent about this variant. It is at least as infectious as the so-called UK or Canterbury (variant)," Prof Sutton said.
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