Regional Victoria will be lifted from lockdown, despite the state recording 221 new cases of coronavirus.
Daniel Andrews has announced lockdown in regional areas, except Shepparton will end at 11.59pm Thursday.
Businesses, offices and venues can reopen and operate at restricted capacity while students in kindergarten, years one, two, 11 and 12 will return to the classroom.
Funerals will be permitted for up to 20 people while weddings can have up to 10.
The only minor change for Melburnians is that single parents can now access childcare, regardless of whether they are an authorised worker.
Mr Andrews warned there would be a massive police presence around the metropolitan borders, and compulsory ID checks in venues outside the city.
‘Regional Victorians have done an amazing job, that is why these steps are possible,’ he said.
Daniel Andrews (pictured) will ease restrictions of most of regional Victoria
The regional town of Shepparton (pictured) will remain in lockdown for now
‘But it’s Freedom Day, it is not 100 per cent capacity down at the pub. It can’t be. If it is then we will simply see numbers spread.
‘And then we will have to close large parts of regional Victoria down again and perhaps even all of regional Victoria. We don’t want that.’
Regional residents will no longer need a reason to leave home with no limits on the distance they can travel, unless they’re travelling to Melbourne.
Some restrictions will remain in place, including a ban on a home visitors while outdoor gatherings are limited to ten.
Mr Andrews had a stern warning for Melburnians looi
The Premier hopes Shepparton will come out of lockdown in the coming weeks.
‘We hope to have them catch up to the rest of regional Victoria sometime next week and we will make those announcements as soon as we have tidied up the last bits of the outbreak there,’ he said.
Just 98 of the 221 new cases announced on Wednesday are so far linked to the rest of the outbreak, with the source of the remaining 123 infections under investigation.
Of the 1,920 active cases across Victoria, 86 per cent are under the age of 50.
Almost 42,429 Victorians came forward for testing on Tuesday with another 36,716 rolled up their sleeves on the state’s biggest day for vaccinations.
Of the 120 cases in hospital, 33 are in intensive care, including 15 on a ventilator.
Some students in regional Victoria will soon return to the classroom (pictured Melbourne students returning to school in July after the fifth lockdown
Some restrictions
Victoria recorded 221 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday as a fight between Daniel Andrews and Scott Morrisons over vaccine allocation heats up
The new cases come as police are expected to fine up to 100 people who gathered to mark the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, in breach of lockdown restrictions
Mr Andrews weighed in on the Newport family of five infected with Covid blatantly caught breaching home quarantine orders as he issued a public warning.
‘We do literally thousands of checks every day,’ he said.
‘If you’re a positive case and you’re in quarantine for 14 days, you have to stay away from others.’
‘There are some substantial fines if you’re not complying with that.
‘On average, we do between 1,500 checks a day and a very high percentage, well into the 90s of those people are where they’re supposed to be.
‘There will always be some who choose to do the wrong thing. I just appeal to people, if you’re asked to isolate, please do that. If you have been asked to isolate, there is every chance you have got it.’
Police are expected to fine up to 100 people who gathered to mark the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, in breach of lockdown restrictions.
Members of the Orthodox Jewish congregation entered a building, believed to be a prayer room, near a Ripponlea synagogue early on Tuesday morning and told police they wouldn’t leave until nightfall.
Police surrounded the front and back entrances of the building and took details of those who began to file out of the building just after 8pm.
Several worshippers became aggressive. A Nine cameraman was pushed and the group briefly chanted and clapped in the alleyway.
‘All adults who attended will be issued with a $5452 fine. A number of children who were present will not be fined,’ a Victoria Police spokesman said in a statement.
‘Investigators believe a number of other people were present and are yet to be spoken to by police. Investigators are working to identify them.’
About 38 per cent of Victoria is fully vaccinated with about 5.3 million doses administered, but the premier claims his state could be doing even better if NSW wasn’t allocated so many extra doses.
Mr Andrews acknowledged the NSW outbreak is worse, but accused the federal government of giving NSW counterpart Gladys Berejiklian preferential treatment.
He claims Victoria has missed out around 340,000 doses as a result as he called for a policy overhaul from the federal government.
‘I signed up to a national plan to vaccinate our nation, not a national plan to vaccinate Sydney,’ Mr Andrews said.
The Victorian Premier claims Victoria has missed out around 340,000 doses which were given to NSW instead (pictured a Melbourne student being vaccinated)
‘We have seen hundreds of thousands of vaccines that should have come and now should be in the arms of Victorians going into Sydney, into GP practices and into NSW.’
Mr Andrews pleaded for additional vaccines to be fast-tracked to make up for the extra doses distributed to NSW.
‘Some don’t like to see this as a race. But a race, it surely is,’ Mr Andrews continued.
‘What I didn’t know was that Premier Berejiklian is in a sprint, while the rest of us are supposed to do some sort of egg and spoon thing. No, we want our fair share!’
‘These allocations which are totally unfair and were under the table, need to stop.’
Victoria is still days away from 70 per cent of eligible residents having received their first dose, a target achieved by NSW a week ago.
The race is on to get all all students in their final year of high school injected with at least one vaccination dose before their final exams, as part of a 10-day priority access scheme beginning on Tuesday.
Pfizer bookings opened for year 12 students, teachers, exam supervisors and assessors on Monday, with a dedicated hotline fielding 30,000 calls before lunch.
By Monday afternoon, the health department said more than 7,000 priority bookings had been made.
A 17-year-old on a ventilator is among the more than 110 Victorians in hospital with Covid.
To help get more shots in more arms, the state will increase capacity, adding 40,000 vaccination appointments each week to state-run hubs.
More cubicles will be added to Melbourne Town Hall and Port Melbourne Town Hall.
Vaccination centres will be created at Latrobe University and more cubicles also added to the Melton drive-through hub.
With Melburnians expected to remain in their sixth lockdown until October, restrictions remain on track to ease in regional Victoria with the exception of Shepparton.
Mr Andrews said an announcement about regional Victoria will be made ‘soon’.
He hasn’t ruled out students returning to classrooms in term four but says it’s too early to make a decision at this stage.
Melbourne will remain under tough lockdown restrictions until at least 70 per cent of eligible Victorians receive their first vaccine dose.
Victoria has hit 60 per cent first dose coverage and is expected to reach the 70 per cent target by about September 19, sooner than the government anticipated.
Brunswick Secondary College Year 12 student Charlotte Sherlock rolled up her sleeve on Monday at the newly-relocated Melbourne Museum vaccination site