'Clearly it was spreading to other suburbs as well': Dan Andrews' risky 'postcode lockdown' is slammed by locals after hundreds of new coronavirus cases are reported
- Ten postcodes were locked down before all of Melbourne city on Wednesday
- Mother Daniela Mezinec says city should have been locked down weeks ago
- Victoria recorded 134 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and 191 on Tuesday
- Premier Daniel Andrews said on-the-spot fines of up to $1,652 will be issued
A single mum facing another six weeks confined to her home with two young children says delays in locking down Melbourne has prolonged the coronavirus.
Ten postcodes in Melbourne were initially locked down before the whole city entered phase three restrictions at midnight on Wednesday after recording a frightening jump in COVID-19 cases.
Daniela Mezinec, a school counsellor from Glenroy in the city's north believes the city-wide lockdown came too late.
Daniela Mezinec, (centre with children Leo and Mia) a school counsellor from Glenroy in the city's north believes the city wide lockdown came too late
Health care workers line up outside North Melbourne Public Housing Towers on Wednesday
'Clearly it was spreading in other suburbs as well and had we acted and closed down all of Melbourne, Victoria, perhaps a few weeks ago when we saw the numbers rising again we might have been in a different place now,' she told the Today Show.
Ms Mezinec said she was feeling anxious about the next lockdown as her relatives were interstate and wouldn't be able to help her care for her two children.
Ms Mezinec said there was a sense of solidarity during the first nation-wide lockdown but now Melbourne was being isolated from the rest of the country.
'Now it's sort of like an us versus them mentality, especially with the suburbs that were locked down initially. We even felt stigmatised in our own suburbs and state. It's hard,' she said.
'We do feel like, you know, we're the naughty state, we're the Victorians that did something wrong, and to be honest with you, I don't think that's the case.'
The mother-of-two has since created a Facebook support group to help connect those facing lockdown in Melbourne.
Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne is seen empty after the city went into lockdown at midnight on Wednesday
Premier Daniel Andrews has warned the six week lockdown may be extended if the outbreak isn't contained
Police patrol the streets of Melbourne on Thursday after city entered stage three restrictions
Victoria recorded 134 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, its second-highest single-day total since the pandemic began after a record 191 infections on Tuesday.
More than five million people in Melbourne's metropolitan and Mitchell Shire areas are now under a strict stay-at-home policy.
Residents can only leave for food and supplies, receive or provide care, exercise, and study or work.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said on-the-spot fines of up to $1,652 will be handed out to people caught breaching lockdown rules, while businesses could be fined $9,913.
Police have done 92,215 random checks since March to ensure people were at home and businesses were abiding by the rules.
Mr Andrews warned the city's hard lockdown could extend beyond six weeks if the state's horror second wave of coronavirus isn't brought under control.
'The advice from our chief health officer, that six weeks will give us the time we need to get control of this virus again, to see some stability and then to drive down the case numbers,' he said on The Project on Wednesday night,.
'We can’t rule out that it may be longer, but that’s the advice of the Chief Health Officer, after a lot of thought, a lot of analysing of that data, we couldn’t go on as we were.
'We needed to take this painful and difficult step and six weeks is the time we need.'
Victorians are banned from entering New South Wales and Queensland.
The usually popular Degraves Street is seen empty in the wake of the second lockdown
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