Melbourne residents toast their freedom as long lockdown ends

MELBOURNE • The Australian city of Melbourne reopened yesterday after enduring one of the world’s most prolonged series of lockdowns, with relieved residents toasting their freedom in bars and restaurants or lining up for desperately needed haircuts.

The five million people living in Australia’s second-biggest city have spent more than 260 days under lockdown since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

But now that 70 per cent of eligible people in Melbourne and surrounding Victoria state are fully vaccinated, many of the restrictions that began on Aug 5 have been lifted.

“As my kids say – there’s a big vibe today,” Victoria state Premier Dan Andrews joked. “You can feel the optimism. You can sense the pride in what’s been achieved.”

He added: “I’m trying not to sound like some kind of soppy dad here, but I am proud, bloody proud of this state.”

He urged residents to “get out there” and “get a trim, order a meal or buy a mate a drink”.