Victoria's plan to end lockdowns

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will put forward a plan at today's National Cabinet meeting to chart a course out of the pandemic and avoid future lockdowns.

Mr Andrews will urge the country's leaders to focus on four key areas.

He will call for a nationally consistent approach to reducing international arrival numbers in hotel quarantine until greater vaccine coverage has been reached.

LIVE UPDATES: Brisbane lockdown extended after three new local cases

Coronavirus Melbourne

Victoria will also call to refine the criteria for Australians leaving and returning home, nationally agreed upon vaccination targets and options for alternatives to hotel quarantine.

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There were no new local cases of COVID-19 in Victoria today.

There were three cases acquired overseas that are now in hotel quarantine.

Victoria had 24,726 people come forward for testing in the 24 hours to midnight, while 19,470 vaccine doses were administered.

National Cabinet will meet today to discuss Australia's future approach to the coronavirus pandemic as multiple states and territories face growing outbreaks and lockdowns.

Border restrictions tighten

Victorian health authorities announced New South Wales green zone areas would become orange zones from 6am today.

The Department of Health issued the alert last night, saying the decision was made out of caution and on the advice of health officials and the border bubble remains in place.

Victoria also declared a large chunk of Queensland and the Perth and Peel regions as red zones this week, which came into effect at 1am on Thursday.

Queensland's 11 local government areas (LGAs) in lockdown - spanning from the Gold Coast to Townsville - are now classed as red zones.

READ MORE: Victoria upgrades New South Wales border area to orange zone

Coronavirus Victoria

A red zone classification means people are banned from entering Victoria unless they are Victorian residents who are willing to quarantine for 14 days.

Victoria also declared Alice Springs a retrospective orange zone from June 25 as borders closed to the rural Northern Territory town on Wednesday night.

The backdated reclassification means anyone from the town who travelled to Victoria on or after June 25 must get tested immediately.

READ MORE: Easing of restrictions paused in Victoria as country grapples with COVID-19 surge

Restrictions in Victoria did not further ease as planned on July 1, due to the rest of the country battling a surge in coronavirus cases.

Health Minister Martin Foley said while Victoria would not tighten restrictions like South Australia, the state would pause its relaxing of measures for another week.

The decision was based on health advice and due to a heightened coronavirus risk landscape as five other states and territories battle outbreaks.

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Victoria's plan to end lockdowns
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