Victoria's lockdown has been extended with a Curfew

Victoria's lockdown has been extended and harsh new restrictions including a curfew also introduced  after the state reported 22 new local coronavirus cases on Monday. The Victorian government has announced new coronavirus restrictions to apply from 11.59pm on Tuesday until 11.59pm on September 2.

Premier Daniel Andrews said there were too many mystery cases and change had to be made. The curfew will take effect at midnight tonight. From 9pm to 5am, residents of Metropolitan Melbourne will not be allowed to leave their home unless they have a permit to conduct essential work.

Information also emerged of an illegal engagement party in Melbourne, which has sparked fears of a super-spreader event as two guests were infected with COVID-19. Video showed dozens of people packed inside a private residence in Caulfield North, south-east of Melbourne's CBD.

Health authorities confirmed that  two people who attended were among those to test positive to COVID-19 and had been infectious at the time.

In the video clip, a man can be seen appearing to give an engagement speech and joking that the gathering was legal because it was a group therapy session.

“I want to make a couple of comments about one particular event, but I don’t for a moment suggest that it is the only event,” Premier Daniel Andrews said.

“We have seen people turning the footpath into an impromptu beer garden and doing pub crawls. We’ve seen people gathering in parks in large numbers. We’ve seen lots of different people flouting these rules”

Yesterday Victoria recorded 25 new local cases of the virus. There are now more than 530 exposure sites across Victoria as the state's COVID-19 cases continue to climb.