Ballarat Plunged Into Lockdown While Shepparton Are Set Free

The City of Ballarat has been thrust into a localised lockdown amid a spike in cases across the region.

The lockdown will begin at 11.59pm Wednesday night for one week under the state government's new targeted approach to regional Covid outbreaks.

The Victoria Briefing

New stay-at-home orders across the gold rush area will put residents under the same restrictions as Melbourne including the limited 5km radius rule for exercise and movement, unless essentials services and goods are not available in that range.

Meanwhile, Shepparton in the state's north will be released from their extended lockdown at the same time, with Victoria COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar confident health protocols in Greater Shepparton are being adhered to, with the focus now turning to Ballarat.

Mr Weimar said "thousands of additional doses of vaccine" will be delivered to Ballarat, where 69 per cent of eligible residents have already received their first dose.

Premier Daniel Andrews acknowledged the varied news across the state and credited the people of the Goulburn Valley with a job well done.

"Shepparton shows you that a community can be locked down, can stick together, can be supported, and deliver fundamental control of an outbreak," the Premier said.

"We know and are confident that can happen in the Ballarat community."

Five of the 423 new cases reported in Victoria on Wednesday were in regional areas including two in Ballarat, one in Geelong and two in the Mitchell Shire.

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