“I apologise to all Victorians that this is necessary. But part of my job is not just making popular and easy decisions,it’s doing what must be done and at this stage a statewide lockdown is what’s put to me as essential by the public health experts.

“I just again impress upon all of those viewers and listeners from parts of our state that are a long way from Melbourne - I know that part of the world,I grew up in a community very much like that,I know how inconvenient this is.

Mr Andrews just took what sounded like a swipe at the NSW approach to lockdown by declaring retail closed and there would be no “browsing”.

“Retail is shut,closed,click and collect,contactless. If you’re on the list,go to work,if not,you can’t. We are going to can everything we can to try to extinguish this thing,to put it out in five days,” he said.

Hume outbreak

Meanwhile,it has emerged that a man in his 30s who contracted the virus at a Coles in Craigieburn was actually an acquaintance of a positive case who had recently returned from Sydney.

Officials revealed on Wednesday that the man tested positive after visiting the supermarket in Melbourne’s north at the same time as a man who lives in the City of Hume who was infectious.

“We’re confident with that particular exposure site that ... they’ve spent a bit of time together to achieve that transmission,” Mr Weimar said.

Victoria’s latest coronavirus outbreaks,which now take in a total of 18 cases including at least two children,are both offshoots of Sydney’s Delta clusters:three Sydney removalists who breached their permit conditions and a family who returned from Sydney and were supposed to be isolating at home.

A primary school in the border town of Wodonga also shut its doors on Monday and sent all children and staff home after two students attended a tier-one exposure site on the weekend.

The two students at St Monica’s have not tested positive to the virus,however,the school has been closed as a precaution.

Principal Jacqui Partington wrote to the school community earlier today,notifying them of an immediate shutdown and directing all students and anyone who has been on-site to “isolate immediately until further notice”.

“We will remain shut down until we know for certain that it is safe to return to site,” Ms Partington wrote.

St Monica’s is the fourth Victorian school to close in the past 24 hours,following the closure of St Patrick’s Primary in Murrumbeena,Bacchus Marsh Grammar and Barwon Heads Primary.

Parents and carers at St Patrick’s Primary in Murrumbeena were asked to collect their children on Thursday morning after a student,the child who attended the MCG on Saturday tested positive for the virus.

All grade 4 students at the Catholic school in Melbourne’s south-east were ordered to go directly to a testing station before heading home and isolating until further notice. Students in other year levels have been encouraged to get tested.

Mr Weimar said 315 members of staff at Bacchus Marsh Grammar were in isolation as primary close contacts,and 3000 students at the school were in isolation as secondary close contacts.

He said 49 staff and 527 students at Barwon Heads Primary had been identified as either primary or secondary close contacts.

“We’ve got local testing set up ... the school community has been fantastic,” Mr Weimar said.

Many schools also told their students to take their things home as the school bell rang on Thursday afternoon in anticipation of a return to remote learning.

Tina King,the acting president of the Australian Principals’ Federation,said earlier in the day that schools were prepared for the announcement.

“I’ve spoken to a few secondary principals,they are telling their kids,take your stuff home tonight just in case,” she said.

Ms King said schools had plenty of practice in making a swift transition to remote learning and could potentially do so on Friday.

“We’ve learnt how quickly we can do that transition,” she said.

The list of high-risk exposure sites now includes over 80 exposure sites,including public transport routes,a CBD pub,the MCG,Highpoint Shopping Centre and DFO University Hill in Bundoora. The men’s toilet at Oakleigh shopping centrewas added as a tier-1 location on Thursday afternoon.

Western Australia on Wednesday enforced new border restrictions on visitors from Victoria,who must isolate for 14 days upon entering the state,while South Australia also tightened restrictions for Victorians,requiring them to undertake a COVID-19 test within 24 hours of arriving and not enter high-risk settings such as aged care for 14 days after arriving.

Four of the cases announced on Wednesday were residents of the Ariele Apartments complex at Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s north-west. The parents of one of those residents,a man in his 60s,also tested positive,making cases five and six.

The seventh reported case was the man in his 30s who visited the Coles in Craigieburn Central.

Case eight was a teacher from Bacchus Marsh Grammar who watched the Carlton versus Geelong AFL match at the MCG on Saturday with a friend who lives in the Ariele Apartments.

Two of his family members have also tested positive,becoming cases nine and 10.

There were 27,061 COVID-19 test results processed in the 24 hours to midnight on Wednesday,and more than 15,161 people received their vaccine doses.

New exposure sites

More than 20 exposure sites were added to Victoria’s list of locations visited by people with COVID-19 on Thursday evening,taking the total number of venues to more than 100.

The new additions included three outlets at the Chadstone shopping centre in Melbourne’s south-east. The three stores – Target,Kmart and ZiNG Pop Culture – were all listed at tier-2 sites,meaning anyone who was there between 5.25pm and 6pm on Monday will need to isolate until they test negative for COVID-19.

Meanwhile,Banyule Council’s Greensborough office and WaterMarc aquatic and leisure facility have been closed and hundreds of workers sent home,after a staff member who had worked in the Greensborough office on Monday returned a positive COVID-19 test result on Thursday.

A Banyule Council spokesman said when the council became aware of the case,it took steps to immediately close its offices. The council recommended anyone showing symptoms get tested and monitor exposure sites.

Disaster payments for affected Victorians

The federal government and Victoria reached an agreement late on Thursday night on economic support measures to assist some people and businesses affected by the state’s snap five-day lockdown.

Commonwealth funding will be available to workers in a number of areas declared as being hotspots by the Chief Medical Officer,Professor Paul Kelly.

The areas deemed hotspots late on Thursday by Professor Kelly are Greater Melbourne,Moorabool Shire,City of Greater Geelong,Borough of Queenscliff and Surf Coast Shire.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said disaster payments of $375 would be available to anyone in those areas who lose between eight and less than 20 hours of work.

A payment of $600 would be available to workers who lose more than 20 hours during the period of the lockdown.

He said there will be no liquid assets test applied to eligibility for these payments.

Information about the COVID-19 Disaster Payment can be found on theServices Australia website.

Mr Frydenberg said the Victorian government has agreed to provide significant additional economic support to businesses,from day one of this lockdown period.

More details of the Victorian support measures are expected to be announced on Friday.

With Annika Smethurst,Bianca Hall

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