Eerie pictures show Melbourne’s desolate streets under unprecedented Stage 4 lockdown

Eerie pictures show Melbourne’s desolate streets under unprecedented Stage 4 lockdown as the city grapples with an increasingly deadly coronavirus outbreak.

The once thriving Bourke Street Mall, famous for tourists and shoppers alike, has been stripped bare of foot traffic, while commuters typically pouring out of the iconic Flinders Street Station are nowhere to be seen.

Restaurants and cafes preemptively shut their doors ahead of Thursday’s tough new restrictions for non-essential businesses in Melbourne, which is expected to put 250,000 people out of work. 

The harsh rules for businesses and workers, including an 8pm until 5am curfew, come after Victoria broke its record for its worst day since the pandemic begun, with 725 coronavirus cases and 15 deaths reported on Wednesday. 

A lone pedestrian in a face mask crosses Bourke Street in Melbourne on Thursday morning (pictured) as all non-essential businesses were forced to shut

A Melburnian in a face mask walks in front of closed Luna Park in St Kilda during Melbourne's lockdown (pictured on Wednesday)

A Melburnian in a face mask walks in front of closed Luna Park in St Kilda during Melbourne’s lockdown (pictured on Wednesday)

A jogger runs by the deserted Flinders Street Station in Melbourne on Thursday amid stage four lockdown restrictions

A jogger runs by the deserted Flinders Street Station in Melbourne on Thursday amid stage four lockdown restrictions

An empty tram is seen as it goes past the Bourke Street Mall on Thursday morning (pictured) as only essential workers were allowed to travel

An empty tram is seen as it goes past the Bourke Street Mall on Thursday morning (pictured) as only essential workers were allowed to travel

Melburnians allowed to work on-site now have to show a permit or official work ID if they are by stopped police to prove they can leave their homes, or face fines of up to $99,123 for businesses and up to $19,826 for individuals.

Since the Stage 4 restrictions were brought into Melbourne by the Victorian government on Sunday, there’s been rising confusion about who can and cannot leave home for work in metropolitan Melbourne.

The government had promised to provide more details ahead of the restrictions coming into effect from Thursday but business groups say it came very late in night, leaving business scrambling to make adjustments.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said nothing was made available by the Department of Health and Human Services until after 11pm Wednesday – 59 minutes before Stage 3 restrictions came into effect across the entire state.

Health Minister Jenny Mikakos tweeted a public link to the updated guidelines at 1am Thursday.

‘It’s still a bit of a disaster,’ Mr Willox told Nine’s Today show on Thursday.

‘We’re now on the first morning of the new lockdown, and businesses still aren’t clear on what they can and can’t do.

Mr Willox said businesses were ‘flying blind’, particularly on issues like warehouses, noting that ‘reducing numbers of staff in warehouses would impact on food supplies, among many other things’, he told ABC radio.

An eerily quiet Bourke Street Mall is seen without shoppers on Thursday morning (pictured) as Melburnians are required to stay at home

An eerily quiet Bourke Street Mall is seen without shoppers on Thursday morning (pictured) as Melburnians are required to stay at home

An empty Swanston Street is seen on Wednesday night in Melbourne's central business district on Wednesday night (pictured) during the nighttime curfew

An empty Swanston Street is seen on Wednesday night in Melbourne’s central business district on Wednesday night (pictured) during the nighttime curfew

Retailers across the city will largely be closed to customers and construction and manufacturing is also being scaled back to help slow the virus spread. Workers in meat processing and abattoirs would be reduced amid the changes to businesses.  

Premier Daniel Andrews moved forward with the changes despite pleas from businesses to delay shutting down much of the state’s economy.

‘I don’t think any business will be happy with the decisions that have had to be made,’ he said on Thursday.  

‘I’m not happy to make these decisions of the but sadly we don’t have the luxury of finding things, of that being the ultimate guide.

‘The guide here has gotta be to drive down the amount of movement to then drive down the number of cases.’

‘I’m not for a moment saying businesses are happy about this. They’re not, I’m not, workers are not. This is not the position we wanted to find ourselves in.’ 

The Morrison government has raised fears the reduction in warehouse and distribution capacity could sap supply in other parts of Australia.

But Mr Andrews is adamant he has struck a delicate balance as the state enters the country’s harshest lockdown.

‘A lot of work has gone into driving down staff levels but, at the same time, protecting the amount of product that will be on supermarket shelves,’ he said.

‘That’s our aim. That’s what we think we can confidently deliver.’

A department store employee in a face mask wheels clothes across Bourke Street Mall on Wednesday (pictured) as retailers prepare to shut up shop

A department store employee in a face mask wheels clothes across Bourke Street Mall on Wednesday (pictured) as retailers prepare to shut up shop 

Popular tourist spot Hosier Lane is seen without visitors on Wednesday during Melbourne's stage four restrictions (pictured)

Popular tourist spot Hosier Lane is seen without visitors on Wednesday during Melbourne’s stage four restrictions (pictured)

Business leaders held crisis talks with the state government on Wednesday night over fears the clampdown on warehouses could trigger national food shortages.

In response, supermarket distribution centres and medical warehouses will have an extra two days to comply with restrictions.

From midnight on Sunday they will be forced to reduce capacity by a third.

Red meat processors will switch to 66 per cent, while abattoirs with 25 or fewer staff will be exempt.

Poultry will only fall to 80 per cent capacity in a bid to avoid birds being destroyed but not processed, which would have sparked significant chicken shortages.  

Police and ADF personnel have been seen trudging the streets of Melbourne throughout the state’s deadly second wave of infections, making sure residents are following the public health advice and covering their faces. 

Amid the outbreak, regional Victoria has entered Stage 3 restrictions, with residents only able to leave their homes for four reasons: to shop for food and essential items, to provide or receive care, exercise, and work and study if they can’t from home.  

Two men in face masks walk past a shuttered Zara store at Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne on Wednesday (pictured) as non-essential businesses shut up shop

Two men in face masks walk past a shuttered Zara store at Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne on Wednesday (pictured) as non-essential businesses shut up shop

A man looks across the Yarra River in Melbourne's empty CBD during lockdown on Wednesday (pictured) with residents only allowed to leave home for essential reasons

A man looks across the Yarra River in Melbourne’s empty CBD during lockdown on Wednesday (pictured) with residents only allowed to leave home for essential reasons

Hairdresser Niki Fiocca said she had been solidly booked by customers in recent days before her salon must close for at least six weeks.

‘I just hope that this all works out for us,’ said Fiocca, revealing she felt ‘a little bit under stress.’

‘If everyone did the right thing, maybe this wouldn’t have happened,’ she added, referring to Melbourne’s growing COVID-19 infections.

Melbourne café owner Maria Iatrou’s business has been classified as essential so she can continue selling takeaway coffee and home deliveries on Thursday.

She’s tiring of the seemingly ever-changing restrictions. 

‘It’s not only that there is that many people out of a job, they’re also telling everybody to stay home and only got out for one hour a day to go shopping or whatever — I don’t understand why we have been told to stay open,’ Iatrou said. 

She questions why a liquor store is classified as an essential business but a hairdresser was not.

‘There have been some half-hearted attempts at things and if you’re going to shut things down, shut them down. Now it’s, You can stay open and you can stay open, but you can’t,’ Ms Iatrou said. 

Victoria reported an additional 471 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday and eight deaths, taking the state’s death toll to 170 and the national tally to 255. Of the new deaths, four were linked to age care.

A woman wearing a mask walks past the Melbourne Cricket Ground and along a bridge on Wednesday (pictured) during the Stage 4 lockdown

A woman wearing a mask walks past the Melbourne Cricket Ground and along a bridge on Wednesday (pictured) during the Stage 4 lockdown

A lone shopper walks down the usually busy Degraves Street, laneway famous for its coffee, on Wednesday morning (pictured)

A lone shopper walks down the usually busy Degraves Street, laneway famous for its coffee, on Wednesday morning (pictured)

A general view of an empty Bourke Street in Melbourne's CBD on Thursday morning (pictured) as the city endures the Stage 4 lockdown

A general view of an empty Bourke Street in Melbourne’s CBD on Thursday morning (pictured) as the city endures the Stage 4 lockdown

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