'We cannot perennially or permanently suppress this virus.

Restaurants and pubs will be allowed to reopen but only with a maximum of 50 fully vaccinated people seated outdoors, while a ban on visitors to homes will remain in place.Д«ut once the vaccination rate lifts to 80 percent - projected by roughly November 5 - fully vaccinated Melbourne residents will enjoy a greater range of freedoms, including no masks outdoors, up to 10 visitors to homes, and the option to work from offices.ДЄndrews said the health system was likely to come under 'intense pressure' as a result of the changes, but the staggered reopening would help Melbourne to 'normalise' its virus response. The (limited) reasons to leave your home and the curfew will no longer be in place,' Victoria premier Dan Andrews said, adding that a raft of restrictions would still be enforced. They projected that target would be reached around October 26. Officials in Victoria state, which includes Melbourne, announced those orders would be lifted when 70 percent of over-16s are fully vaccinated. Some information for this report came from Reuters.Australia's second-largest city will exit its coronavirus lockdown in late October if vaccine targets are met under an official roadmap released Sunday.ДЄbout five million people in Melbourne have been under stay-at-home orders since August 5, the sixth lockdown they have endured so far during the Covid-19 pandemic. The prime minister has abandoned the long-held strategy of eliminating coronavirus, and has instead embraced a policy of living with the virus and managing its spread. Prime Minister Ardern told reporters Monday in the capital Wellington that the curbs needed to stay in place to avoid a spike in new cases and hospitalizations as the numbers of fully vaccinated people continues to rise. Like Australia, New Zealand was among a small number of countries to drive coronavirus cases down to near zero last year because of border closures and snap lockdowns.But the small Pacific nation of five million people has been battling its own outbreak of the highly contagious delta variant since August that has frustrated efforts to stamp out transmission. The situation is far different in New ZealandвЂ™s biggest city of Auckland, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Monday that it will remain under strict lockdowns for another two weeks despite a high vaccination rate. Meanwhile, residents in Melbourne, AustraliaвЂ™s second-largest city, are expected to fully emerge from its latest lockdown period on Friday of this week as Victoria state nears its goal of 70 percent of its citizens 16 years old and older to be fully vaccinated.ДЄustralia has been largely successful in containing the spread of COVID-19 through aggressive lockdown efforts at the start of the pandemic, but a rapid outbreak of new infections in Sydney triggered by the delta outbreak back in June spread across Australia and forced authorities in several cities to impose strict lockdown orders.

New South Wales last week ended a mandatory quarantine for vaccinated international passengers who test negative for COVID-19 before flying to Sydney. Mandatory indoor mask wearing has been dropped, while restaurants, bars and gyms can now welcome fully vaccinated patrons. Residents of New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, are slowly emerging from strict lockdown orders now that the rate of fully vaccinated people ages 16 and over has reached 80 percent, according to officials.

Children in AustraliaвЂ™s largest city returned to in-person learning Monday as Sydney reached an important milestone in its fight against COVID-19.

Australian lockdown