Melbourne cafés have been given the green light to reopen from 11:59pm on Tuesday 27 October, following Melbourne’s first day with zero new COVID-19 cases on 26 October.
Single venues will have a limit of 20 patrons indoors and 50 outdoors. Four-square-metre-per-patron density limits, record keeping, and COVIDSafe Plans also apply.
“The last time Victoria had zero cases was 9 June, 139 days ago. Even more incredibly, it’s zero cases off the back of a huge testing drive,” says Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
“In 24 hours, we have been able to process an additional 14,024 tests – 3196 of them from these communities. This morning we’ve processed an extra 1157. And not a single new case has been found.
“Because of that effort, we’ve been able to get the results faster than we thought. These results give us confidence – confidence that even if we do identify positive cases in any further tests – we are firmly on top of this virus.”
Should cases remain low, from 8 November, metro Melbourne will be under the same rules as regional Victoria. This means capacity will increase, with up to 40 inside and 70 outside.
“We want to reach COVID Normal by Christmas and right now, we’re on track to do that,” Premier Andrews says.
“As we take these steady steps towards reopening, the message remains the same: please, stay safe. And if you have symptoms, you must get tested.”
