THE total number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the Mitchell Shire remains at nine, while Whittlesea and Macedon Ranges also remain at 22 and five respectively.
There was an increase of eight cases in Victoria from yesterday.
There were no new deaths reported yesterday. To date, 14 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.
Today Premier Daniel Andrews announced a $500 million package to assist commercial and residential landlords and tenants during the pandemic.
The package includes $420 million in land tax relief for landlords who provide tenants with rent discounts and $80 million will go towards rental assistance for Victorians experiencing rental distress.
For landlords to benefit from land tax relief, they will need to make ‘good faith negotiations’ with their tenants.
“I’m really confident that landlords will do the right thing,” Mr Andrews said.
“The key point though is even with a good faith agreement, there will be many tenants who are left under financial stress, the definition of that is that rent represents more than 30 per cent of your income, then you are under real stress.
“If that’s the case… there will be rent assistance that will be available for the best part of 40,000 tenants across the state.
To be eligible, renters will need to have registered their revised agreement with Consumer Affairs Victoria or go through mediation, have less than $5000 in savings and still be paying at least 30 percent of their income in rent.
Mr Andrews said coronavirus case numbers were stable and encouraged residents to keep following the rules.
