In nearly all scenarios, those inside the lockdown areas must wear a mask if they go outside.(ABC News: Daniel Fermer)
Police said 126 fines were issued to people breaching stage three restrictions in the 24 hours to Sunday morning.
Seventeen were issued to people trying to leave the lockdown zone, and 20 were to people not wearing masks.
A 47-year-old man and 51-year-old woman who were with their children at the time, refused to give police their details when they were approached at the 1,000 Steps in the Dandenong Ranges.
After multiple requests, the Ferntree Gully couple were arrested and will be issued with $200 fines for failing to wear a face covering.
Victoria sets new testing record, ADF to assist paramedics
More than 42,000 tests were completed on Saturday, the highest amount the Government has completed in a single day.
Mr Andrews said there were about 200 off-roster paramedics and third-year students helping with contact tracing.
“Their skills in dealing with dynamic circumstances means they are perfectly suited to that,” he said.
From Monday, 20 Australian Defence Force personnel will begin working alongside Ambulance Victoria paramedics in joint crews.
Ambulance Victoria chief executive Tony Walker said the ADF members would not be involved in direct patient care but would help carry equipment, drive ambulances and move stretchers to allow paramedics to be free to deliver frontline care.
Mr Walker said there were about 60 Ambulance Victoria staff who were furloughed, either from testing positive to COVID-19, being a close contact of someone who had tested positive, or because they were self-isolating due to displaying symptoms.
Mr Andrews said 16,000 health staff had “put their hand up to play a role” and 800 had already been deployed.
More than 1.5 million coronavirus tests have now been completed in Victoria.(ABC News: Andrew Altree-Williams)
“We’ve got people right across the health system putting their hand up, putting themselves in harm’s way, many of them, running the risk of becoming infected,” he said.
“They are playing their part. That is a particularly impressive thing, and that is again another reminder that we’ve all got to play our part, too.
‘Everybody is susceptible’
Mr Andrews reiterated people with symptoms must get tested, “and get tested quickly”.
“Wait for your results at home. Don’t go to work, don’t go shopping, don’t leave your house. That is a really important, powerful contribution that everybody can make.”
Mr Andrews reminded people coronavirus was not just something for older people to worry about.
“There is no reason for anybody to think that because they are otherwise fit or because they are not in their 80s, then somehow they have essentially got a vaccine for this. They just don’t. Everybody is susceptible.”
Mr Andrews said aged care, health care, distribution centres, meatworks, cool stores and warehouses were the workplaces, “driving most of this second wave”.
Cases need to stabilise for lockdown to ends, says Premier
Mr Andrews said Metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire were, “approaching the halfway mark” of stage three restrictions.
“We’ve been clear that it would get worse before it got better, but stability had to be achieved before we would start to see numbers fall,” he said.
“We will get to the end of this faster if we continue to see the amazing effort that is so noticeable across the city — people wearing masks, traffic data that represents people being at home.”
Premier posts Facebook plea to young people
Overnight, Mr Andrews pleaded with young people to do the right thing in an emotional Facebook post.
In the post, he asks younger Victorians to “do the right thing” and not be tempted to break the rules out of boredom or loneliness.
“I know it’s hard, I know it’s frustrating, and I know you’re over this — believe me, I am too,” he wrote.
“But if you’re sitting there right now, deciding if you take that risk or not … restrictions will get tighter, case numbers will grow larger, and more lives will be lost.”
Mr Andrews reminded young people of the two children and eight people under the age of 30 currently in hospital with the virus.
“They’re real people — real Victorians — and none of them ever thought they’d be fighting for their lives.”
The post comes amid a new coronavirus advertising campaign, launched by the State Government, showing the devastation the virus can do to someone.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Nurse Amanda from Northern Health asks Victorians to stay home in coronavirus campaign
Multi-language advertisements showing people suffering from the virus will be circulated on television, radio and social media.
The emotional ads mimic previous campaigns launched by the Government on the consequences of smoking and speeding while driving.
The four different ads involve a nurse, doctor, parents of a healthcare worker, and a man who was put into an induced coma for 72 hours after contracting the virus. His wife caught the virus while he was in the coma and later died. source: abc
