Victoria coronavirus cases rise by 300 as six aged care deaths recorded, more ADF personnel called in

Victoria has recorded 300 new cases of coronavirus overnight and six more deaths, taking the state’s COVID-19 death toll to 55.

Key points:

• It is the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in Victoria in a single day
• More than 1,000 ADF personnel are being sent to Victoria to help public health teams
• People who “want to party” were among 101 fines issued yesterday, the Police Minister says

Premier Daniel Andrews said three of the people who died were in their 90s and three were in their 80s.

All were connected to aged care settings, he said.

Of the new cases, 51 were connected to known outbreaks while 249 were under investigation.

Six deaths is a new single-day record in Victoria, and comes after a record-high of five deaths was announced yesterday.

The Premier said while today’s number of new cases is lower than yesterday’s, no-one should be “trying to provide definitive commentary that we’ve turned corners or we’re at a peak or any of that”.

There are now 206 Victorians with coronavirus in hospital, including 41 in intensive care.

Army to doorknock in Melbourne to help with contact tracing

Mr Andrews said the number of army personnel working on Victoria’s coronavirus response had been boosted from about 300 to 1,400.

He said Australian Defence Force (ADF) members would be deployed in “innovative and unique” ways, including including helping with contact tracing when people did not answer the phone.

“If for whatever reason, you don’t answer the phone, then ADF personnel will be knocking on your door and they will be bringing the public health response to you and they will do that interview on your doorstep,” he said.

The Government will set up 28 teams of ADF personnel and health department officers to help with contact tracing, he said.

Police Minister Lisa Neville said 101 fines were issued yesterday for breaches of restrictions.

“It’s people who decide they still want to party, people who have decided they want to continue to go to brothels, people who have decided that the gym can continue to operate,” she said.

“And of course people who have decided to go into unrestricted areas.”

No plans for a stage four lockdown

Mr Andrews said the restrictions imposed on Metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire had already had an impact.

“What we do know for a fact is that if we had not gone to these stage three stay-at-home restrictions, we would not be reporting 300 cases per day, we would be reporting thousands of cases per day,” he said.

The Australian Medical Association has called for tougher lockdowns in Victoria, but the Premier said he was “confident” the current restrictions were appropriate.

“We always said this would get worse before it gets better … I’ve got no advice to move to a so-called stage four, and I don’t want to change those rules at the moment,” he said.

Source: ABC