The Victorian Government has announced face masks and check-ins using the Service Victoria app are longer required for hospitality patrons and staff.
Staff and venue operators will not be required to keep any attendance records or maintain a COVID-19 Check-in Marshal.
Patrons won’t be required to have two doses or show their vaccination status before entering any venue.
The existing two-dose and three-dose vaccination mandates for workers, however, is still required.
Minister for Health Martin Foley says the easing of restrictions to pandemic orders and public health recommendations in Victoria is a result of declining hospitalisation rates and an increase of third dose vaccination rates.
“We’re balancing the need to support our health system with the benefits of easing restrictions in a careful and sensible way,” Minister Martin Foley says.
Close COVID-19 contacts will also no longer have to quarantine – provided they wear a face mask indoors and avoid sensitive settings.
Australia’s peak body for restaurants, cafés and caterers, Restaurant & Catering Australia (R&CA) CEO Wes Lambert says the changes to rules for close contacts would help to solve the crippling staff shortage that the industry was already facing.
“Now that we understand how COVID-19 spreads and its effects, it’s time that we learn to live with this virus. We need our governments to be courageous in supporting our communities and our businesses to rebuild and regain the lives they had before,” he says.
Further details on the new restrictions coming into place visit www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au