New Community Cleanse Program to reduce spread of COVID-19 in Greater Dandenong

25 May 2020

A new month-long community cleansing program will be rolled out across Greater Dandenong and another 26 councils in Melbourne.

Under the Victorian Government’s Working for Victoria initiative, Citywide's Cleansing and Sanitisation Services is recruiting, training and supervising people to clean the streets of Greater Dandenong.

As many as 50 people who lost their jobs as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic will be cleaning high traffic areas and communal touch points.

Greater Dandenong Mayor Councillor Jim Memeti said the program was entirely funded by the State Government.

“The new workforce will be delivering disinfection services in addition to Council’s already ramped up cleansing regime,” he said.

“With restrictions being slowly eased this increased cleaning effort will help reduce the spread of the virus through contact transmission.”

Areas that will be cleaned include public seating, pedestrian signal buttons, handrails, street furniture, public seating and bus shelters.

Mayor Memeti said the Working for Victoria program, delivered by Citywide, provided a great way to assist job seekers and keep the community safe during these challenging times.

“The Pandemic has caused tremendous disruption to jobs across many industries, so we are very pleased to support a program which gets people back in the workforce, while helping us to keep our City clean and safe," Cr Memeti said.

"This extra cleaning is also helping set our community up for success as restrictions ease and our public spaces become busier."