Australia will go into lockdown with restaurants and pubs to close

Australia will go into lockdown with restaurants and pubs to close

After Australians flouted social distancing recommendations this weekend by flocking to public beaches and clubs, the country's federal, state and territory governments have determined an escalation to "Stage 1" restrictions is necessary.

Following a national cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the country would go into lockdown starting midday tomorrow, with closures to the following categories of indoor venues:

  • Registered and licensed clubs;
  • Licensed premises in hotels and clubs;
  • Restaurants except for takeaway and delivery;
  • Places of worship; and
  • Cinemas and other indoor entertainment venues (this includes casinos).

With 1,315 cases of Covid-19 now in Australia, Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy observed a disregard of social distancing measures by some younger Australians.

He noted many had taken the attitude they would not be high risk, and for most younger people this is true, but he urged them to take greater care in order to protect older and more vulnerable people.

The government has also decided to keep schools open, with Murphy pointing to discussions with the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) that found there was very little evidence of transmission between schoolchildren both here and overseas.

It comes as a number of Australian states and territories begin to place restrictions on those coming in.

Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory are imposing restrictions on those entering for 'non-essential travel', subjecting those coming into the states/territories to a 14-day quarantine period on arrival.

This mirrors the Federal Government's restrictions on those arriving in Australia from an overseas country who must self-quarantine for 14-days on arrival.

Updated at 9:39pm AEDT on 22 March 2020.

Get our daily business news

Sign up to our free email news updates.

 
Whitefox Recruitment founder Luke Hemmings making strides as a careers leader
Partner Content
After relocating his Canberra-founded company Whitefox Recruitment to the Gold Coast la...
Whitefox Recruitment
Advertisement

Related Stories

Victorian Government lifts work from home recommendations

Victorian Government lifts work from home recommendations

With fourth dose vaccinations now available, more antiviral options...

COVID isolation time will be cut to five days, mask rules to be removed for domestic flights

COVID isolation time will be cut to five days, mask rules to be removed for domestic flights

National Cabinet has agreed to reduce isolation periods for COVID-p...

Fourth COVID-19 shot approved for over-30s

Fourth COVID-19 shot approved for over-30s

An additional 7.4 million Australians will be entitled to receive a...

New Zealand scraps pre-departure COVID-19 tests

New Zealand scraps pre-departure COVID-19 tests

Business travel and holidays to New Zealand are set to become less ...