Victoria’s work from home recommendation and requirement to wear face masks in offices will be scrapped from 11.59pm on Friday.
“Victorians have done such a great job getting vaccinated, so we’re able to take safe steps to get more people to return to the office,” Health Minister Martin Foley says.
The public health recommendation for Victorians to work or study from home will be removed and masks will no longer be needed in most indoor settings.
Masks will only be required indoors in the following circumstances, unless an exemption applies:
– People on public transport, in taxis and ride-share vehicles, on planes, and indoors at an airport
– People working or visiting hospitals, and indoor areas at care facilities
– Workers in hospitality, retail and the court system
– Workers at justice and correctional facilities
– Students in year three or above at primary school, and workers at early childhood centres and primary schools (masks can be removed in secondary school)
– People working indoors at an event with more than 30,000 people attending in special circumstances, such as if you have COVID-19 or are a close contact and you are leaving home
Masks are recommended for other workers serving or facing members of the public, such as reception workers or if meeting guests or serving customers.
Following a further assessment of the number of patients in hospital and workforce pressures, the remaining restrictions on elective surgery will lift next Monday.
Public hospitals will be able to resume all surgery, with capacity to be based on an individual assessment of staff availability and COVID-19 demands. Private hospitals will be able to resume up to 100 per cent of pre-COVID activity.
The health minister will also declare a number of temporary exceptions and deadline extensions for workers required to receive three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine:
– The third dose deadline for workers in education facilities who were fully vaccinated on or before October 25 will be extended by a month, provided that workers have a booking within that time – meaning all education workers have until 25 March to be ‘up to date’
– Fully vaccinated workers who are not yet eligible for a third dose will have a third dose deadline of three months and two weeks from when they had their second dose
– Workers who are recent international arrivals will have a new third dose deadline of four weeks from the date of their arrival, provided they have evidence of a future vaccine booking
– Workers whose temporary medical exemption (such as because they had COVID-19) has expired will have a new third dose deadline of two weeks following the expiry of the medical exemption
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