Hospitality businesses were the major benefactors of a near-immediate easing of COVID restrictions announced by the Premier on Sunday morning.
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From 11:59pm on Sunday night, hospitality businesses in regional Victoria will be allowed to host up to 40 customers indoors and up to 70 people outdoors.
Social bubbles have also been removed, with people allowed to welcome two guests - and their dependents - into their home. Previously, people had to nominate one household/family.
Regional libraries and toy libraries will be allowed to open up to 20 people indoors.
People will be able to hold outdoor religious gatherings with up to 20 people - increasing to 50 from November 1.
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Households will be able to visit a care facility - as opposed to just one nominate person.
From 11:59pm on November 1, non-contact indoor physical recreation for people under 18 will be allowed to resume for a maximum of 20 people.
This allows for dance classes to start again.
Non-contact indoor sport for under 18-year-olds will also start again, with limits on spectator numbers.
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Premier Daniel Andrews also announced a host of changes for metropolitan Melbourne beginning 11.59pm Sunday, including an expansion of the travel limit from five kilometres to 25 kilometres, an increase in the number of people allowed to meet together outdoors, and the resumption of certain business and recreational activities.
From 11.59pm November 1, more changes will come into force.
Mr Andrews said Victoria was close to "defeating" the second wave.
"Victorians have done an amazing job over recent weeks and months. What it means is that there are so many cities across the world, heading to what is going to be a deadly winter, (while we in) Melbourne and across Victoria are well placed to have a COVID safe summer, and a COVID Normal 2021," he said.
"Victorians, in every community, from every background, every circumstance, have stayed the course and we just have a little longer to go, just a little longer to go in order to see off the second wave, defeat the second wave, and then to find the normal and to begin the process of rebuilding."
There were just two new COVID-19 cases reported on Sunday, with no further deaths for a fourth-consecutive day.
It continued an extended run of declining case numbers for the state. On Saturday, just one new case detected. It followed daily tallies of two on Friday, and six on both Thursday and Wednesday.
The 14-day rolling average stood at 0.5 for regional Victoria and eight statewide - the lowest it had been for four months.
There were seven active cases in regional Victoria: four in Mitchell Shire and three in Shepparton.
There has not been a case assigned to Horsham since September 28. Though, this was a person who contracted the virus in Melbourne and had not left metropolitan Melbourne while infectious.
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