Monday’s easing of restrictions postponed in Victoria as COVID-19 cases spike

Victoria has scrapped plans to ease COVID-19 restrictions andwill bring back tougher coronavirus restrictions, limiting gatherings in homes to five people from Monday, in a bid to address a recent increase in case numbers after another double-digit rise in new cases.

Premier Daniel Andrews said today's case numbers were the highest they had been in two months, with 25 new cases identified overnight.

Of those, just one was a returned traveller in hotel quarantine, while 14 were linked to existing outbreaks, six were discovered in routine testing and four are under investigation.

And the AFL season is now under threat after Essendon’s Cornor McKenna tested positive to coronavirus. The diagnosis is set to throw the AFL season into turmoil after forcing Sunday’s Bombers v Melbourne game to be postponed.

A total of 25 new cases were recorded in the state on Saturday, up from 13 on Friday, 18 on Thursday and 21 on Wednesday.

Fourteen of the new cases were linked to existing outbreaks, with 10 linked to the Keilor Downs household outbreak, including a teacher from Albanvale Primary School.

Mr Andrews has also deferred plans to allow more patrons in restaurants, and flagged the possibility of even tougher lockdowns being introduced in the hardest hit areas over the coming days.

He said that according to the Government's experts the numbers were being driven by families having big get-togethers and not following the advice around distancing and hygiene.

"Since April … half of all of our new cases have come from family-to-family transmission," Mr Andrews said.

Mr Andrews said there had been instances of people gathering in large numbers at the homes of family and friends, even though they had been told to self-isolate.

"We have even had people who had tested positive and have been told to go home and isolate and instead they have gone to work, instead they have gone and visited loved ones in large numbers," he said.

The changes will come into place from 11:59pm on Sunday and will limit the number of visitors allowed in a home to five.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has said authorities are willing to go "door to door" to enforce coronavirus restrictions after a spate of new infections.

From midnight tomorrow until midnight on Sunday, July 12, gatherings in peoples' homes can include no more people than the residents and up to five guests.

People will still be able to meet in groups of up to 10 people outdoors.

The Victorian Government will also delay planned changes to restrictions on businesses and community facilities.

Restaurants, pubs, auction halls, community centres, libraries, museums and places of worship will maintain their 20-person limits until at least July 12.

The Government had been set to increase patron limits inside those venues to 50 people from Monday but that has now been delayed by at least three weeks.

"Three weeks of course being the full lifecycle of this virus where we think that we get the best and clearest picture of exactly what's going on out in the community," Mr Andrews said.

Businesses that were set to open for the first time on Monday, including gyms, cinemas, theatres and TABs can still do so, but with a maximum of 20 people.

Victoria's chief medical officer Professor Brett Sutton admitted he was nervous about the new numbers, and that there was no "plan B" beyond people obeying the restrictions.

"We are absolutely at risk of a second peak, but we can get on top of it," he said.