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A squad of 500 police officers will enforce social distancing rules and conduct spot checks on those in self-quarantine in a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Coordinated by the Police Operations Centre, the officers will be taking action against anyone caught breaking the rules.
It comes as part of a gradual shutdown of non-essential activity across the country, announced Sunday evening, which includes the mandatory closure of pubs, clubs, nightclubs, casinos, licensed venues in hotels and pubs, gyms, indoor sporting venues, places of worship, cinemas and entertainment venues. Restaurants will only be allowed to provide home delivery or takeaway services.
"This decision and other containment measures are meaningless if Victorians don't take them seriously or don't think they will be caught if they flout the rules," says Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
"Such thinking is wrong and the new coronavirus enforcement squad at Victoria Police will take action against anyone caught doing the wrong thing."
Updated at 11.02am AEDT on 23 March 2020.
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