With little more than two hours notice of regional Victoria's seventh lockdown, Ballarat residents hit the streets to stock up on supplies.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Traffic levels across the city rose soon after 10.45am when Premier Daniel Andrews announced lockdown would begin at 1pm.
There were long queues of traffic waiting to get in to Bunnings on Creswick Rd, the car park of Stockland Wendouree resembled Christmas Eve and traffic heading along Wiltshire Lane toward DTC and Bunnings Delacombe banked back to Latrobe Street.
Human queues also formed outside many retailers including JB Hifi, Big W, Bunnings and other shops as residents rushed to pick up equipment and activities to get them through regional Victoria's fifth lockdown of this year.
In his press conference Premier Andrews said regional Victoria would be under the same lockdown conditions as Melbourne, except no curfew will apply in regional areas, until September 2.
IN OTHER NEWS
The lockdown came as no surprise to most, with community sport in regional areas banned late on Friday after 17 COVID cases were confirmed in Shepparton - the first cases in regional Victoria in month.
Cafes also reported a pick up in trade before the 1pm lockdown deadline with Ballarat residents making the most of a sunny morning and the last hours of freedom to sit down with a cafe or meal.
Our team of local journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the Ballarat community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark thecourier.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking news, sport and daily headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
