Victoria is ahead of schedule to get 70 per cent of its residents a first COVID-19 vaccination, paving the way for Melbourne’s planned easing of restrictions to be brought forward.
As the state recorded 183 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, Premier Daniel Andrews revealed 60 per cent of Victorians had received a first dose.
Minor rules easing will be triggered when Victoria reaches 70 per cent first dose coverage, including the expansion of the 5km travel radius to 10km, more exercise time as well as the reopening of outdoor gym equipment and skate parks.
The state was initially forecast to hit the mark on September 23, but is five days ahead of schedule.
“Every (vaccine) appointment that gets made, every shot in the arm between now and then will bring that date forward,” Mr Andrews told reporters on Sunday.
“Don’t wait for next month, don’t wait until some other time, act on that now.”
A weekend record 29,915 doses were administered at Victorian-run hubs on Saturday, taking the state closer to its goal of one million jabs in five weeks.
Of the 183 new cases reported on Sunday, 101 have been linked to known outbreaks and 91 per cent are aged under 50.
One of the new cases is a Wodonga-based truck driver who visited several interstate exposure sites and has been isolating at home.
The emergence of that case and another six in Shepparton doesn’t appear to have spooked the premier, who reiterated he expects to announce within days parts of regional Victoria will be able to ease lockdown restrictions.
“The number of cases in regional Victoria are very low, except for Shepparton,” Mr Andrews said.
“Our hope would be to have the lockdown off in regional Victoria as soon as possible. That won’t be a return to everyone’s-open-and-maximum-capacity, there will be less than that.
“But I’m sure both regional Victorians will have greater freedom and regional Victorian businesses will have much greater takings than they do now.”
Late last week, the premier flagged a vaccine passport pilot…