Golf, tennis and basketball were set to be allowed from Sunday and the 10km travel limit was to be increased to 15km.But the easing of restrictions will not go ahead as planned because Victoria will not hit the mark of 80 per cent of the population having at least one jab by then, as originally forecast. Personal training was also set to be allowed for five vaccinated people outside.In regional Victoria, masks were to be allowed to be removed for hairdressing and beauty appointments, and on-site learning was to resume for final-year VCAL students. Despite a record number of Victorians being jabbed, Health Minister Martin Foley said it would not be enough to meet the state’s first roadmap target of 80 per cent having had one dose. While 76.2 per cent of Victorians have received a first dose, Mr Foley said it was unlikely the 80 per cent target would be met by Sunday.He expected it would be reached later next week, amid fears of that delaying the whole program of easing restrictions in coming weeks. “The projections are certainly within the coming week, and the more Victorians who come forward over this weekend to get vaccinated, the sooner we get there,” Mr Foley said. “We would expect certainly by mid to late next week we’ll hit that, and that’s a fantastic achievement by Victorians.”Mr Foley said there would be no room to ease restrictions before the targets were met, and rejected suggestions the government and health authorities had over-estimated the roadmap timeline.Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Paul Guerra called on both the state and federal governments to do more to keep the roadmap on target. “We must hit the targets to give business a fighting chance to recover before it’s too late,” he said.“Federal and state governments should be doing all they can to accelerate uptake of vaccination because that’s our only way forward.“We clearly need greater supply in Victoria and should also be looking at 24-hour hubs, ‘max vax’ days and decreasing the time between shots to get up to those 70 and then 80 per cent levels as soon as possible.” The proposals follow a Sunday Herald Sun push to fast-track the state’s vaccination rollout and turn the MCG into a unique vaccine hub to allow tens of thousands of Victorians to be jabbed there. The plan, backed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, was rejected by the state government and the MCG.Owner of gym UVSL, Ellie Dimitra, said she was “incredibly frustrated and disappointed” to hear Victoria’s easing of restrictions would be delayed. “We’re a group-based facility, so we were really excited to train five on one,” she said.“Now we’ve had to change everything we had organised – subcontractors, classes, clients – at the last minute.”Ms Dimitra said her small business had been struggling to survive over the past 18 months and the delayed opening was the “last thing we needed”. “The road map gave us a glimmer of hope,” she said.“It’s also not just about the physical workout. People are prisoners in their own home and exercising is something they can do for their mental health.” Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said he was disappointed that Victoria fell short of its first roadmap target. “I think most Melburnians, most Victorians, are getting sceptical of the ifs, buts and maybes in the government’s roadmap,” he said. Chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton said he was confident close to 90 per cent of Victorians would get vaccinated, and said only a small minority of those who received the first dose wouldn’t receive a second dose. Professor Sutton said Victorians could be assured that once they hit 80 per cent first doses, the same proportion of second doses would follow. Ahead of the AFL grand final, he urged Victorians to stay home and enjoy the day.“There is a curfew in place in much of Victoria, we don’t want to see crowds down at the Whitten Oval, we don’t want to see crowds down at Gosch’s Paddock after the match or on Sunday, either in celebration or commiseration,” he said. “It is those close contacts that put you, your friends and your households at risk.”Victoria recorded 733 new Covid cases on Friday.
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