Whale watchers ignore coronavirus lockdown rules

Large crowds of people in a locked-down Melbourne suburb have been seen ignoring stay-at-home guidelines to go whale watching, sparking anger on social media.

An image posted on Twitter on Thursday showed crowds of people on the pier in Mornington, a popular whale watching spot in the area.

“My parents live in Mornington and my dad just sent me this pic of crowds of people on the pier watching whales,” the Twitter user wrote.

“Seriously!! While I’m at home doing the right thing and watching whales on Netflix.”

The Mornington Peninsula is one of 31 local government areas in Melbourne that have returned to stage three restrictions after coronavirus cases continue to grow daily.

However as of Thursday, there were currently zero active cases in the area, with local councillors questioning why the LGA has been included in the lockdown.

The Twitter user who uploaded the photo said her elderly parents captured the image on their daily walk and given her parents are considered vulnerable, they left when they spotted the crowds.

“Tell you what, my mum freaked out as she’s unwell and hightailed it back home. It’s so unfair their walks are now being disrupted by people that aren’t socially distancing,” she wrote.

Residents in the locked-down areas are only permitted to leave home for four essential reasons - exercise, work or education, care-giving or medical needs and groceries.

Premier Daniel Andrews has said those flouting the rules are primarily responsible for returning Melbourne to lockdown.

“I think a sense of complacency has hit all of us… all of us know someone that hasn’t been following the rules as well as they should have,” he said.

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Experts call for mandatory masks

Meanwhile health experts are calling for face masks to be mandatory in public in Melbourne.

"I think masks use should be mandatory in Melbourne, particularly in high transmission areas and suburbs, and public and crowded places," Dr Alex Polyakov, the director of the Master of Infectious Diseases Intelligence program at UNSW Sydney said.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth echos the comments and recommends residents in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, north of the city, wear masks when social distancing cannot be maintained.

"This means if you have to leave your home for any of those reasons for which it is permissible and you are likely to find yourself in a situation where you cannot maintain 1.5-metre distance, it is advisable to be covering your face with a mask," Dr Coatsworth said in Canberra on Thursday.

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