How Victoria’s year from hell battling coronavirus has changed the state

On Monday, it’ll be exactly a year since Victorian authorities reported Australia’s first on-shore case of coronavirus.

For many people, the year since then has been a blur of lockdowns, restrictions, grief and fear.

But there have also been many lessons learned, which will hopefully make the next 12 months much easier than the last.

Victoria enters the first phase of the pandemic

The impact of the pandemic crept up on Victorians bit by bit through the first two months of the year.

It began on January 25, when then-health minister Jenny Mikakos announced a case in a man who had flown into Melbourne (yes, one of dozens of international flights each week) from Wuhan in China.