The Melbourne Cup is coming back to life with confirmation the race is set to lock in a bumper crowd after no fans were allowed in last year.
A crowd of 10,000 vaccinated people will be allowed into Flemington to celebrate the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.
On Sunday it was announced Victorian residents are set to be given more freedoms on Friday — just in time for the weekend prior to the Cup.
It is huge news for locals, with many taking the opportunity at this time of year to stretch the Cup into a four-day weekend.
It was announced earlier this month that 10,000 fans will be allowed into the venue on Cup day — and Victoria’s vaccination rates remain on track to make sure a significant crowd will be allowed in attendance.
No crowds at all were allowed at the event last year.
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The only threat to the Cup remains the confirmation of a crowd of 5500 being permitted into the Flemington venue for Saturday’s Victoria Derby.
If the event is a success and does not trigger a spike in infections, health authorities will push ahead with the plans for a bigger crowd on Cup day.
Under the restrictions that will still be in place, spectators will be separated into different seating zones, with food and drinks only being served as part of table service. Masks will also be mandatory.
Victoria recorded 1461 new locally acquired coronavirus infections on Monday, a significant drop from Sunday’s figure of 1935 cases, sparking hope the curve in Victoria could be flattening.
The state was expected to reach its 80 per cent double-dose vaccination target on Friday, which will trigger a raft of new freedoms from 6pm.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced the significant changes on Sunday and said even more freedoms were likely to happen on November 24 when 90 per cent of eligible Victorians would be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Victorian Covid commander Jeroen Weimar said the Cup will be a crucial case in deciding what restrictions will look like for major events planned for the rest of the summer.
“If we can see that these case numbers don’t go crazy, if we can ensure that we can keep the hospitalisation numbers as low as possible so we can keep Victorians out of hospital, and the way we do that is by getting more people vaccinated,” he said.
“If all those things happen over the coming weeks then we have a really good run in to see how that’s going to play and what it means for December and events like the Boxing Day tests.”
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