It is good for struggling businesses, and it is good for the mental health and well-being of people.

However, it is exactly for these reasons that we need to continue to be cautious about our behaviour.

We don't want a second shut down. More importantly, we need to be cautious for the safety of our community.

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The reality is that the pandemic has not passed. The virus is still spreading across the world. And right here in our own country there has been a surge of cases in recent days in Victoria.

At the time of publishing on June 23, Australia had recorded 7492 cases. This included 17 cases overnight in Victoria, two in Western Australia and one in NSW. Of the total number of cases, 6915 were listed as recovered. Meanwhile, 102 Australians have died.

Across the globe there have been 9.18 million recorded cases, 4.6 million of those have recovered and 475,000 people have died from the virus.

In comparison to the global situation, Australia has fared exceptionally well to this point, but while ever this virus remains active we are not out of the woods.

Our current situation means that we are benefiting from eased restrictions - to varying degrees, from one state to the next.

This, move towards life as we knew it, has the potential to make us feel somewhat victorious and therefore, at times, complacent.

We are not victorious until this virus has been eradicated or there is a suitable vaccine or treatment. As such there is no reason why we should become complacent in our behaviour.

What we now need is to be mindful of the value of easing out of COVID-19 restrictions, to support our economy and the mental well-being of our community, while maintaining safety measures to ensure the virus does not take a hold while we are not paying attention.

Regular and thorough handwashing, maintaining physical distance, staying home when you are feeling unwell - these are key steps to ensure we keep this terrible virus at bay.

We don't want our loved ones to die because we turned our backs on the existence of the virus too soon.

We also don't want our businesses to collapse because of possible further shut downs and restrictions if the virus does get out of hand in this country.

It is a devastating consequence faced by many other countries including the UK and USA.

Let's hope we have done enough to protect the people and the businesses across our country. And let's hope the road ahead promises brighter, healthier days for all.

The road to recovery on all levels - health and economic - will rely on a careful balancing act. We need to support our businesses, but we also need to be cautious of our behaviour while out and about. We can have both, but we can't become complacent.