Melbourne lockdown extended as curfew is introduced

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced the Melbourne lockdown would be extended for two weeks and a curfew would be implemented.

Mr Andrews said he wanted to avoid the situation NSW was facing.

"I don't want us to finish up like Sydney where it's fundamentally got away from them," he said.

"They're not reopening anytime soon. They're locked in until they pretty much get the whole place vaccinated, that's going to take months."

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the state was 'on the brink'.

The curfew will force residents to stay home from 9pm to 5am and will be enforced by police. Some exemptions exist.

Essential workers will need permits as they did in 2020.

Mr Andrews said the changes applied to Greater Melbourne.

It comes as Victoria recorded 22 new cases of COVID-19, of which only 14 were in isolation throughout their infectious period.

Eight were in the community while infectious.

The number of active COVID cases in Victoria has crept over 200.

Six cases are in hospital and one in ICU.

NSW recorded 478 new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 on Monday, setting a new record.

The figure is the highest single day increase in NSW cases since the pandemic began.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the case numbers were 'disturbingly high'.

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said Greater Sydney's lockdown has "absolutely worked".

"If we did not have the restrictions on our movements we would have seen escalating case numbers," Dr Kerry Chant said.

ACT have extended their lockdown by two weeks after recording 19 new cases of COVID.

While Greater Darwin and Katherine will lockdown for 72-hours after one case of COVID was detected.