Return date for tourists

It was not, however, all good news for Victorians ― many who have spent almost 250 days in lockdown since the start of the pandemic ― with limits being placed on Christmas day celebrations.

Having a fixed date for the entire state to be operating under the same conditions was the major component of the Premier’s statement.

And, as of November 5, Melbourne residents will be able to visit regional Victoria after the Premier finally put a date on the recovery from lockdown.

Mr Andrews made a series of announcements relating to reopening dates on Sunday as he delivered his “roadmap out of COVID” address to the state.

Rochester’s tourism operators have been looking for a confirmed date to accept bookings for the “holiday season”.

It appears as though they will be able to start accepting bookings confidently for the approaching summer after Sunday’s plan was unveiled.

Mr Andrews said the state should, however, brace itself for an increase in cases between now and the new year.

“There is going to be an inevitable surge in numbers. Lockdowns have been about buying time to get to 70 or 80 per cent vaccinated,” he said.

“This is a very difficult balancing act and the Burnet Institute planning does make assumptions about what will happen in the future.

“We are releasing the complete Burnet modelling today and it does make for sobering reading.”

The Burnet Institute is the medical research institute being used by the government to develop its roadmap and public health action plan.

Mr Andrew said the institute’s report had made several assumptions in order to plot the “way out”.

“It assumes and projects on or about December 15 that cases will peak at 4000 plus,” he said.

“In January deaths will also peak as a result of the Delta variant.”

Mr Andrews said the state would be open, without fail, on November 5.

“We are opening up, there is no doubt about that,” he said.

He said the government would continue to urge, and in some cases require, people to be vaccinated.

“Every person who is vaccinated will mean one less that ends up gravely ill,” Mr Andrews said.

“We can only predict the future, we can’t know it.”

Victoria has had 500-plus new cases consistently in the past few days, but the state government is hoping to learn from the situation in NSW, which has wrestled back its COVID numbers to just above 1000.

“NSW are a few weeks ahead of us. We will carefully monitor what happens when they reopen,” Mr Andrew said.

Outdoor activity will be the focus of Victoria’s reopening, as the Burnet Institute modelling underlines the importance of ventilation to controlling the spread of the Delta variant of COVID.

Eighty per cent of Victoria’s 16 years and over population will have had their first vaccination by September 26, which is when some of the Melbourne restrictions will ease ― ironically, the day after the AFL grand final.

The government’s modelling suggests that November 5 is the date when the figure will reach 80 per cent of people who have had two jabs.

And that is when the lockdown will be off.

“Under the national plan that is the ultimate end point,” Mr Andrews said.

“At that point regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne will have the same rules.”

Hospitality venues will be able to have 150 fully vaccinated people indoors.

And masks will only be required for inside settings, as 500 fully vaccinated people are able to attend venues, and events, outside.

All students will return to school with additional safety measures in place from November 5, which is as close to a normal pre-COVID scenario for schools as has been seen for 18 months.

As for Christmas and the new year, Mr Andrew said he expected it to be the same as the 2020 COVID version.

“We aim to have 30 visitors in people’s homes on Christmas day,” he said.

“It will be Christmas as it was last year.”