Victoria recorded its highest daily coronavirus case numbers since the pandemic began, with 191 new COVID-19 infections confirmed on Tuesday.
Premier Daniel Andrews said most of those were in the corridor of hotspots in Melbourne.
It prompted the Government to announce a six-week lockdown of metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire, which is on the city’s northern fringe.
It means a return to stay-at-home orders for more than 5 million people from 11: 59pm on Wednesday.
We’ll get to how the lockdown will work, but first let’s look at who is included.
What is metropolitan Melbourne and who is under lockdown?
Metropolitan Melbourne is a region that includes 31 local government areas.
It runs from Wyndham in the south-west through to the Yarra Ranges in the north-east and down to Cardinia and Casey in the south-east.
It includes the Mornington Peninsula but does not include Geelong.
Here’s all the shires in alphabetical order:
Banyule, Bayside, Boroondara, Brimbank, Cardinia, Casey, Darebin, Frankston, Glen Eira, Greater Dandenong, Hobsons Bay, Hume, Kingston, Knox, Manningham, Maribyrnong, Maroondah, Melbourne, Melton, Monash, Moonee Valley, Moreland, Mornington Peninsula, Nillumbik, Port Phillip, Stonnington, Whitehorse, Whittlesea, Wyndham, Yarra and Yarra Ranges.
Mitchell Shire is not part of metropolitan Melbourne, but it’s right on the edge.
Due to an “unsustainable numbers of positive cases” it has been included in the lockdown zone.
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How will the lockdown be enforced?
Mr Andrews said the motivation behind the lockdown was twofold: to drive case numbers down in Melbourne and limit the spread into regional Victoria.
Police would set up roadblocks, similar to booze buses, on major roads leading out of Melbourne, the Premier said.
The Victorian Government has asked for a further 260 Australian Defence Force personnel to help out.
“They will essentially support Victoria Police, as Victoria Police put in place roadblocks and other command centres to ensure that that hard boundary between metropolitan Melbourne and regi