Daniel Andrews says Victoria could end lockdown sooner if coronavirus case numbers drop faster than expected - after businesses slammed his 'slow' recovery plan
- Daniel Andrews has released a road map to get Victoria out of lockdown
- Lockdown will only end when there are an average of five cases per day
- Businesses and opposition politicians have said the bar is set too high
- But Mr Andrews on Monday said he is open to speeding up the plan
Daniel Andrews has said he will speed up Victoria's road map out of lockdown if coronavirus case numbers fall faster than expected.
Under the premier's plan, released on Sunday, lockdown will only end when there are an average of five cases per day, which is not expected until October 26.
Until then, a curfew will be in place from 9pm to 5am and residents can only leave home for exercise, shopping, school and work, and caregiving.
Daniel Andrews has said he will speed up Victoria's road map out of lockdown if coronavirus case numbers fall faster than expected
Police are seen along Elizabeth Street on Sunday as Premier Andrews released his roadmap
Mr Andrews has been slammed by businesses and opposition politicians who say such low numbers as a threshold for easing restrictions was unrealistic.
On Monday morning, the premier said he is open to changing the plan.
'If we saw things change dramatically then we would obviously remodel the whole thing,' he told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
'If the data was to fundamentally change then we would be standing up making different announcements.'
Mr Andrews also said he was not trying to eliminate the virus but suppress it enough that contact tracing teams can identify and isolate the contacts of every case.
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He said after lockdown is lifted there will be cases but they would not necessarily mean a return to harsh restrictions, saying the state was not pursuing unrealistic eradication but controllable numbers.
'A strategy where you're trying to eradicate it would mean that if you had one case you would go back into lockdown. That's the difference,' he said.
'This thing, it moves so fast, so silently, that it can get away from you so fast.
'You've got to beat it first then you can find that new normal.'
On Monday Victoria announced nine more deaths from coronavirus, taking the state toll to 675 and the national figure to 762.
But there was some good news for the state, with new case numbers dropping significantly on Monday to 41.
It is Victoria's lowest daily case number since June 26.
Monday's figures come as Victorian small business rails against the government's roadmap out of lockdown restrictions, with Melbourne under stage-four measures for another fortnight.
A broader state-wide reopening is still months away, but Victorian deputy premier James Merlino said the government is doing all it can to have the economy moving again in a COVID-safe way.
Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell said owners are struggling under the weight of costs, including rent, equipment leases, loans and an accumulation of worker entitlements.
'What small businesses are telling us is that they are giving up,' she told Nine's Today program on Monday.
'For many of them, they are not going to be open until the end of November.'
Mr Andrews (pictured) said after lockdown is lifted there will be cases but they would not necessarily mean a return to harsh restrictions
Mr Merlino said the worst thing the government could do for business was open up and then a few weeks later reimpose restrictions because of a third wave.
'You've got to get the (infection) numbers down ... and once we do that then we can have a much broader reopening of our economy,' he told ABC radio.
Mr Merlino believes the state's voters are behind the government's suppression strategy.
'People are with us and they don't want to be put at risk,' he said.
'People understand that we need to ease restrictions safely and steadily.'
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