The Victorian State Government has extended the pandemic declaration for another three months, Premier Daniel Andrews has announced.
Mr Andrews said the extension enables the government to keep modest and sensible settings in place to reduce transmission and hospitalisation.
“That means more support for health workers and limiting its impact on our community,” he said.
We don’t want rules on any longer than they need to be, we’ll continue to follow the advice to protect what we’ve built while protecting our community.”
The new extension will expire at 11.59pm on 12 July 2022, with subsequent extensions lasting up to three months.
The declaration gives the Minister for Health the authority to introduce pandemic orders he considers reasonably necessary to protect public health after receiving advice from the Chief Health Officer.
In making the declaration, Mr Andrews was satisfied on reasonable ground there remains a serious risk to public health throughout Victoria due to the coronavirus disease based on recent increases in case numbers and the anticipated BA.2 virus causing further cases.
The Independent Pandemic Management Advisory Committee of experts and community representatives will advise on pandemic response and management, having been introduced through the pandemic legislation introduced in late 2021.
A statement of reasons with the advice from the CHO and Minister for Health will be tabled in Parliament.
