Premier Dan Andrews has announced that the city of greater Ballarat will be entering into lockdown from midnight tonight, September 15, as cases in the region have increased over the past few days.
The people of Ballarat will be under the same restrictions as metropolitan Melbourne, with only five reasons to leave their homes: to get the food and supplies you need; to exercise for up to two hours per day; to receive care or for caregiving purposes; for authorised work or education; and to get vaccinated. The premier also noted there would be additional vaccines sent to the Ballarat region to help support the region during this outbreak.
Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, has flagged that Ballarat’s lockdown could be lifted in a week if the community manages to contain the spread of the current outbreak.
While the area of greater Ballarat enters lockdown, it’s been confirmed that the area of greater Shepparton will exit from lockdown and live under the restrictions that the rest of regional Victoria are under.
Today, Victoria recorded 423 new locally acquired cases with only 149 of these cases are linked to current outbreaks. Yesterday there were 41,856 doses of the vaccine administered, which led to Victoria smashing its 1 million jabs in five weeks target.
If you have any symptoms, please get tested immediately. Want to get vaccinated? Here’s where to book your shot. For more details on the rules, head to the government website.