Melbourne’s lockdown is lifting at 11.59pm tonight – Thursday June 10 – but one change has been made to the planned easing of restrictions.

While it was yesterday announced that masks would only be mandatory in indoor settings and outdoor settings where you cannot maintain a 1.5-metre distance, it’s now been ruled that masks will still be mandatory outdoors as well. So, in all settings outside the home.

Acting Premier James Merlino announced the change in a press conference on Thursday. It’s due to the fact that a number of new cases have not been linked to any particular outbreak.

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The state’s deputy chief health officer, Professor Allen Cheng, said, “while it’s the judgement of the public health team that we are in a position to ease restrictions, these new cases are really the strongest reminder that we are, by no means, out of the woods yet.

“Over the last fortnight there have been very limited opportunities for people to transmit infection … We know that masks are effective and it’s just a small thing we can do to prevent infection.”

dhhs.vic.gov.au