
Victoria's State of Emergency and Disaster extended.
Victoria's State of Emergency and State of Disaster has been extended for another four weeks.
On Sunday, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced both the State of Disaster and State of Emergency will be continued and will now end at 11.59pm on October 11.
"It underpins all the different rules. It underpins taking those safe and steady steps," said the Premier.
Victoria entered a State of Disaster on August 2 to
coincide with stage four restrictions. It was bought in on top of the State of Emergency.Lisa Neville, Minister for Police and Emergency Services said the State of Disaster won't be in place "a moment longer than it needs to be".
"We are at a critical point right now. And we have to do everything we can to hold onto the gains we've made, which means giving Victoria Police everything they need to enforce the Chief Health Officer's directions as we keep driving down cases," she said.
During this pandemic, the state of emergency has granted the Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton significant power to restrict people’s movements to slow the spread of COVID-19. From mandatory face coverings to ordering the closure of non-essential services, the State of Emergency is the 'legal instrument' that allows these restrictions to take place.
Seven deaths and 41 new COVID cases in Victoria.
Victoria has recorded seven more deaths and 41 news cases of coronavirus, as metropolitan Melbourne remains in stage four lockdown for the next two weeks.
The figures released on Sunday for the past 24 hours take the state's death toll to 723 and the national count to 810 since the start of the pandemic.
The number of new diagnoses keeps the state on track for its plan to ease lockdown restrictions in coming weeks. Regional Victoria is expected to ease its restrictions within days.
As that occurs, Premier Daniel Andrews said road checkpoints may be stepped up to make sure Melburnians don't escape to regional Victoria.
On Sunday News Corp released footage of a woman being dragged from her car by a police officer at a vehicle checkpoint about 45km north of Melbourne.
The footage suggests she had refused to give her name to the officer and was subsequently forcibly removed from the car after refusing to get out herself, saying she felt unsafe.
Victoria's two weeks of low infection rates has prompted Mr Andrews to indicate the possibility that regional Victoria could jump two steps out of lockdown by mid-next week.
This will mean, among other things, that regional residents would very soon be able to go out for a coffee or meal.
He said he wasn't worried about Melbourne residents trying to get to regional areas because travel limits of 5km are still in place in the city for some time.
But he said police checkpoints on key roads out of Melbourne could be bolstered to ensure compliance.