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We're going to leave it there folks. Thanks for being with us, and please enjoy the new freedoms!
We will be back on Monday with another live blog to follow all the day's developments.
And just between us... it looks like Lachie Neale is about to win the Brownlow. Go read our excellent live-blog here.
A late edition to the blog, thanks to Sumeyya Ilanbey. We now have some clarity on what the changes to restrictions will mean for the town of Shepparton, where there have been several cases in recent days. The headline news: restaurant and cafe reopening, announced for the rest of regional Victoria, will be delayed for a week in Shepparton. Here's the full announcement:
Shepparton locals have done an amazing job - responding to the call to get tested, to keep their community safe.
Every decision we’ve made since the beginning of the pandemic is based on data and advice from the public health experts and as we take cautious steps towards COVID Normal, we’ll continue to work with them to keep Victorians safe and slow the spread of this deadly virus.
While we’ve announced some changes to the roadmap for regional Victorians today, those that relate to indoor restaurants and cafes, will not apply to Greater Shepparton at this stage.
We're going to leave it there folks. Thanks for being with us, and please enjoy the new freedoms!
We will be back on Monday with another live blog to follow all the day's developments.
And just between us... it looks like Lachie Neale is about to win the Brownlow. Go read our excellent live-blog here.
This story just dropped in from our world desk. As Victoria looks to further reopening in the rest of the world, Europe is in strife...
When the coronavirus began sweeping around the globe this spring, people from Seattle to Rome to London cancelled weddings and vacations, cut off visits with grandparents and hunkered down in their homes for what they thought would be a brief but essential period of isolation.
But summer did not extinguish the virus. And with the northern autumn has come another dangerous, uncontrolled surge of infections that in parts of the world is the worst of the pandemic so far.
The United States surpassed 8 million known cases this past week and reported more than 70,000 new infections Friday, the most in a single day since July. Eighteen states added more new coronavirus infections during the seven-day stretch ending Friday than in any other week of the pandemic.
In Europe, cases are rising and hospitalisations are up. Britain is imposing new restrictions, and France has placed cities on "maximum alert," ordering many to close all bars, gyms and sports centres. Germany and Italy set records for the most new daily cases. And leaders in the Czech Republic described their health care system as "in danger of collapsing," as hospitals are overwhelmed and more deaths are occurring than at any time in the pandemic.
Erin Pearson and Sumeyya Ilanbey have been answering reader questions all afternoon about what you can and can't do under Victoria's current restrictions. Here are some of the best ones:
What reasons can I leave my home for?
People must continue to stay at home unless for the four permitted reasons – to shop for food and other necessary goods; for care or compassionate reasons; for work or education; for exercise or social interaction. From Monday, though, this now includes a chop and colour at a hairdresser.
From 11.59pm on November 1, the four reasons to leave home will be scrapped.
Here's the latest on the strange unfolding situation over 55 New Zealand travellers who flew into Melbourne after NSW opened a travel bubble with the country.
More travellers from New Zealand are set to fly to Victoria within days despite angry demands from Premier Daniel Andrews for federal action to prevent the state being drawn into a "travel bubble" across the Tasman, report Sumeyya Ilanbey, Chris Vedelago and David Crowe.
State officials are demanding faster access to airline passenger lists to help them identify the next travellers in a growing row with Prime Minister Scott Morrison over the international arrivals.
Victorian officials have asked the Australian Border Force to speed up the release of passenger manifests to prevent a repeat of the surprise arrival of up to 55 travellers from New Zealand into Melbourne on Friday.
But the Morrison government said it would not change its approach despite criticism from Mr Andrews and Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan over passengers flying to Melbourne and Perth.
I spoke to a few epidemiologists to get their views on the changes today. The consensus: the changes make sense, but the government is being extremely cautious and could have gone further.
“It is a rational and principled approach. It is just an incredibly cautious one," said Professor James McCaw, one of the scientists charged with tracking Melbourne’s social distancing for the federal government.
Professor McCaw's data shows that Melbourne beat the virus by acing social distancing.
“Victorians are the most compliant with the rules, of anywhere in Australia. Our rules are the toughest and we’re the most compliant,” he said.
In terms of the 25-kilometre limit, Professor McCaw was unsold. "I don't see any real strong reason for a limit at all," he said.
We've run through the major changes, but there are also a bevvy of smaller changes that effect specific sectors, including businesses. Matt Dunckley wraps them up in full here, but here are the major ones:
Why was Victoria able to pull back on lockdown restrictions? Because the epidemiological situation has improved.
Melbourne's second wave was arguably seeded in or around late May, when health authorities were first notified of a hotel quarantine breach.
From there, the pandemic ran away from efforts to control it. On August 5, we recorded 725 new cases.
But almost from that day, our case numbers have been sliding - first quickly, and now more slowly as health authorities have battled to supress what they term the 'stubborn tail' of the epidemic.
Let's start by recapping the day's big news. Premier Daniel Andrews moved today to ease several major lockdown restrictions, although others remain.
Key changes:
Now open:
However, for the most part, retail will remain closed for at least another week.
G'day folks, good to be with you on this sunny Sunday afternoon. My name is Liam Mannix and I'm the national science reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. Over the next few hours I'll run you through the day's news, and try to break down what the evidence says about where we are at and where we're going.
I'd love to hear from you. Email me at liam.mannix@theage.com.au or send me a tweet @liammannix