Covid 19 coronavirus: Small business to be hit hard in easing Victorian restrictions

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will outline his plan to ease restrictions on Sunday.

Small business owners again look set to be hit the hardest as the Victorian Government prepares to start easing tough stage 4 restrictions from Sunday.

Draft documents leaked to the Herald Sun have revealed Melbourne's stage 4 lockdown, including the 8pm to 5am curfew and large-scale business closures, would be extended for an extra fortnight until September 28.

Under the draft plan, retail businesses would only be able to reopen their doors when Victoria had less than five new coronavirus cases in the previous 14 days, with less than three from an unknown source.

Hospitality businesses would also be able to open for outdoor seated service only under those conditions, with group and density limits, and hairdressers could open with safety measures.

The restrictions limiting supermarket shopping to one person per household would also be removed.

Indoor and outdoor dining and all retail would open without restrictions when Victoria recorded no new cases for 14 days.

State Opposition front bench MP Ryan Smith said business owners would be devastated by the plan to ease restrictions.

"People have a right to be upset by what they're reading this morning," he told 3AW radio.

"For business owners it's been a crushing blow."

Shadow attorney-general Edward O'Donohue tweeted that the consultation the State Government promised with industry appeared to be a sham.

"So the consultation Labor has belatedly commenced with industry and others about rolling back the restrictions is just a sham, the decisions have already been made," he said.

State Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien outlined his own plan for Victoria's road to recovery on Twitter on Wednesday. It included lifting the 8pm curfew as soon as possible.

His plan also included the faster easing of restrictions for the hospitality industry in areas with "low or no Covid-19 cases".

Schools would also reopen for on-site learning in term 4 and community and junior sport would resume under the Opposition's plan.

Infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon told 3AW there was no doubt restrictions were needed to stop virus transmission, but most of the transmission had occurred in households and workplaces.

"In the US, California, Europe, Spain, which had really hard lockdowns, it necessarily kept their numbers down over the medium term, so there's a lot more work we need to do to see what are the most effective ways of stopping transmission that may be the least harmful socially and economically," he said.

"Until you get a vaccine that's 90 per cent effective you're unlikely to sustain it, and New Zealand is an example. It's so easy for it to come back in because it's everywhere around the world."

Collignon said some type of restrictions should be in place until a vaccine that's 90 per cent effective was developed.

The State Government said on Thursday morning the draft document leaked to the Herald Sun was "out of date", and Premier Daniel Andrews would lay out a plan to reopen the state by the end of the week.