The COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria was part of the worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in the state of Victoria, also the first in Australia, was identified as being on 19 January 2020, when a man from Wuhan arrived by air from Guangdong, China. His test results on 25 January confirmed he had COVID-19.
Timeline 2020 First lockdown
On 10 March 2020, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews warned Victorians to expect "extreme measures" in the wake of the federal government updating the travel advice for Italy. These included cancelling major sporting events, requiring entire economic sectors to work from home, and calling recently retired health professionals to return to work.
A state of emergency was declared on 16 March, which was extended on 12 April, with existing directions remaining in place including staying at home, restrictions on particular activities, detention, restrictions on airports and cruise ships, aged care, hospitals and isolation for people diagnosed with COVID-19. It was extended further on 11 May, and again on 19 July to 16 August.
On 22 March 2020, the school holiday was brought forward from 27 to 24 March 2020.
On 14 April 2020, Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos announced that Victoria would have the widest coronavirus testing in Australia, with anyone having COVID-19 symptoms able to get tested. The statement was issued that those who presented with fever or chills, in the absence of any other alternative diagnosis that explained the issue, or acute respiratory infection characterised by coughing, sore throat or shortness of breath should be tested for coronavirus.
Second lockdown
On 20 June 2020, the Victorian Government re-tightened restrictions on household gatherings following a spike in community transmitted cases over the previous week, reported to be mainly caused by family-to-family transmission in large household gatherings. From 22 June, households could once again only have five visitors; and most easing of restrictions that were to take place were postponed.
On 30 June 2020, the Victorian Government re-enforced local lockdowns across 10 different Melbourne postcodes. Residents there would need to comply with the four acceptable reasons to leave their houses: shopping for essentials; for medical or compassionate needs; exercise in compliance with the public gathering restriction of two people; and for work or education purposes.
On 2 July 2020, the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced the "Judicial Inquiry into Hotel Quarantine Program". This followed some cases of coronavirus in Victoria being linked by DNA sequencing to a breach in hotel quarantine infection control. The Inquiry was to "... examine the operation of Victoria's hotel quarantine program for returning travellers." It was headed by retired judge Jennifer Coate, and was scheduled to deliver its report to the Governor by 25 September. The inquiry was delayed by lockdown restrictions. Andrews noted that "it is abundantly clear that what has gone on here is completely unacceptable and we need to know exactly what has happened." An interim report was published on 6 November, and the inquiry's final report was published on 21 December. The Government response to the interim report was published in November.
On 4 July 2020, the Victorian Government announced two more postcodes affected by the lockdown until 29 July 2020. Nine public housing towers housing 3,000 residents were also added, with the additional condition that residents could not leave the tower under any circumstances for five days, with the possibility of an extension to 14 days. The Victorian ombudsman later found that the lockdown of the public housing towers breached human rights laws.
On 6 July, the Victorian and NSW state Governments announced that their interstate border would be re-closed from the start of 8 July.
On 7 July, after recording 191 new cases, Premier Andrews announced that metropolitan Melbourne and the Shire of Mitchell would re-enter lockdown from 12 am on 9 July, for 6 weeks.
On 19 July, following a "concerning increase in coronavirus cases", Premier Andrews announced that "face coverings" were to be made mandatory in metropolitan Melbourne, and Mitchell Shire. This was not enforced until after 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday 22 July to allow the populace time to acquire a face covering. In addition, the state of emergency was extended until 16 August 2020.
From 22 July, as the chance of coronavirus infection remained high in aged care and health care settings, visits were restricted to carers only, and with a limit of one hour per day.
From 23 July, "face coverings" in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire became mandatory whenever residents left their homes. A fine of 200 was imposed for those not complying, though medical and other exemptions were allowed, such as not being required for children under 12 years of age.
On 2 August, a state of disaster was declared and metropolitan Melbourne shifted to Stage 4 restrictions. A curfew across Melbourne from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. was imposed, a radius restriction was added, and other restrictions that had previously been applied only to selected postcodes were applied to the whole of metropolitan Melbourne. A permit system was introduced for any residents that still needed to travel to work outside of their 5 km radius.
On 6 September (Father's Day), the "Roadmap for Reopening" was announced; a series of four steps towards "COVID Normal" which would begin on 13 September. In the "First Step", which applied to metropolitan Victoria, several restrictions were eased, including a reduction of the curfew, some loosening of rules around outdoor exercise and social interactions, the introduction of a "bubble" that allowed single people living alone to nominate one person to be allowed to visit them during the first two steps, and increased limits for weddings, funerals and religious gatherings. At the same time, it was announced that regional Victoria would move to the "Second Step", which included a staged return of students to onsite learning as well as the reopening of outdoor public pools and further increases to limits for weddings, funerals and religious gatherings.
On 18 October 2020, regional Victoria moved to "Step Three", which included the reopening of most businesses to the public, increased seating for hospitality, the allowance of visitors for all residents and the resumption of some indoor sports. At the same time, the 5 km limit in metropolitan Victoria was increased to and the two-hour time limit was removed. However, the border between metropolitan and regional Victoria (often referred to as the "ring of steel") was strengthened with extra checkpoints added.On 26 October, metropolitan restrictions were eased, with residents allowed to leave home for any reason, all retail businesses allowed to reopen, hospitality venues allowed to seat patrons, further relaxations on outdoor gatherings, and allowance of visitors to all residents, with some caveats. The 25 km restriction and "Ring of steel" remained in place, however. With a length of 112 days, Victoria's second lockdown was the then longest continuous lockdown world-wide.
On 8 November, metropolitan restrictions were brought into line with regional restrictions with travel now being allowed to and from anywhere in the state. Indoor recreation, community and entertainment venues were also reopened. Restrictions on accommodation were also loosened in an effort to encourage intrastate tourism. It was also announced that, subject to public health advice, Victoria would move to the "Last Step" on 22 November.
On 27 November 2020, Victoria recorded its 28th consecutive day of 0 new cases and 0 deaths, and had 0 active cases, epidemiologically eliminating the virus.
Resumption of hotel quarantine
On 30 November, the Victorian government announced that a new dedicated agency, "COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria" (CQV), had been created. The interim Commissioner of CQV is the Commissioner of Corrections, Emma Cassar. CQV is part of the government's response to the COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Enquirys' interim report. It will oversee all parts of the Victorian quarantine program: mandatory quarantine for people entering Australia, Health Hotels for positive and suspected cases, or close contacts, and Frontline Worker Accommodation. The CQV Commissioner will be supported by three Deputy State Controllers. Deputy Chief Health Officer Professor Ben Cowie will lead the CQVs' health management. Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Ross Guenther will provide expertise in enforcement. the third Controller was still to be appointed. On 5 May 2021, the CQV general manager of infection control, Matius Bush, was stood down by the Minister for Government Services Danny Pearson pending a conduct review. Bush breached infection controls twice by: refusing a COVID test at a quarantine hotel when requested by Defence personnel; and failing to sanitise or change his mask when returning to a quarantine hotel from a coffee shop. Reports about the breaches were leaked and published in The Australian newspaper.
On 17 December, the Victorian ombudsman tabled a report in the Victorian Parliament in which she found the 4 July lockdown of public housing towers In Melbourne breached human rights laws.
On 30 December, Victoria's 61-day streak of zero community cases came to an end as three community cases were identified, linked to the New South Wales outbreak. As a precautionary measure for New Year's Eve the Victorian Government reduced household gatherings from 30 people to 15 and mandated masks within an indoor setting. The border to New South Wales closed at 11:59 pm on 31 December, with returning Victorian residents from "green zones" that returned before the deadline made to isolate until they received a negative test result. Those that returned afterwards would have to get tested and isolate for 14 days, aligning the restrictions with visitors from the Northern Beaches and Greater Sydney that had been enforced 11 days prior.
2021 On 3 February 2021, a quarantine hotel worker at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne, a "resident support officer" involved in the Australian Open tennis quarantine program, was found to have COVID-19. From 11:59 pm Victoria immediately reintroduced some rules, tightened some, and put off imminent easing of some restrictions. The plan, from 8 February (Monday), to allow up to 75 per cent of office workers back into their workplaces was put on hold. Masks were mandatory indoors, and only 15 persons were allowed at private events. The infected man had visited at least 14 businesses from 29 January to 1 February, but was able to give contact tracers a detailed list of places and times. Persons who were at those places at those times were tested and isolated for 14 days. Testing site hours were extended from 4 February, opening at 8 am. More drive-through lanes were added, and additional testing sites opened. By 5 February, genomic sequencing confirmed that the Hyatt worker was infected with the more contagious "UK strain" of COVID-19.
Third lockdown On 12 February, it was announced that a five-day lockdown under Stage 4 restrictions would take effect beginning at 11:59 pm. AEDT, due to a cluster of 13 cases tied to a Holiday Inn quarantine hotel near Melbourne Airport, which have been assumed to be the UK variant. It was alleged by health officials to have been spread on a hotel floor due to a patient's use of an aerosol-generating nebuliser, which is normally banned under hotel quarantine. By 14 February the cluster had grown to 16, and by 16 February, the number of confirmed infections had increased to 19. By 19 February, the Melbourne Holiday Inn outbreak had increased to 22, one person was admitted to intensive care, and about 3,515 contacts were quarantined.