Victoria records 12 new cases, two more deaths
Victoria has recorded 12 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours.
Sadly, two more people have died with the virus.
The new cases bring Melbourne's rolling 14-day average to 26.7, down from 29.4 yesterday. The average is safely in the zone to ease some restrictions to be announced this Sunday.
Under the current government strategy, minor restrictions set to ease from Sunday night include the opening of outdoor pools, childcare and some school levels resuming, and allowing public gatherings of up to five people from two different households.
Four days out of the last five days have seen new daily case numbers fall below 20.
On Wednesday, Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed there would be further restrictions eased than those initially planned.
More significant lockdown measures, including the five-kilometre radius rule and the 9pm-to-5am curfew, will not be lifted until late October at the earliest under the current roadmap – and only if the number of "mystery" cases with an unknown source over the previous 14 days is fewer than five.
Currently, the number of mystery cases (measured between September 7 and September 20) is 37, down from 41 on Wednesday.
Although he said easing would go further than first anticipated, Mr Andrews ruled out any change to the 9pm to 5am curfew before late October.
"We don't want to do something that might seem quite small but could present a significant challenge to us in a couple of weeks' time," he said yesterday.
"That's part of the nature of this virus. I know I've made the point many times but it's worth repeating again that what we do on Sunday, the full effect of that won't necessarily be apparent to us until a couple of weeks after then.
New exposures at Melton and Niddrie supermarkets
On Wednesday health authorities added two new exposure sites where people who were COVID-positive spent time last week.
Anyone who shopped at Melton Woolworths in Coburns Central Shopping Centre on September 16 or 17 should be monitoring closely for any symptoms of COVID-19.
The same advice has been issued for anyone who shopped at Niddrie Woolworths at the Central Shopping Centre on Keilor Road on September 18.
There were similar warnings already out for locations in Brunswick, Burwood East, Clifton Hill, Craigieburn, Hoppers Crossing, Narre Warren, Oakleigh South, Roxburgh Park, St Albans, Sunshine, Sunshine North and Port Melbourne.
Rachael Dexter is a breaking news reporter at The Age.