Coronavirus Victoria: Cases under 200 again, 13 new deaths

Victoria has recorded 182 new cases of coronavirus and 13 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Saturday’s news comes after the state’s daily infections dropped below 200 for the first time in nearly six weeks on Friday as Stage 4 restrictions continue to drive cases down.

“Our thoughts are with all of those affected,” Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services tweeted on Saturday.

Before Friday, the last time cases were under 200 was on July 13 when the state recorded 177 new infections.

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said it was “great to see two days in a row under 200”.

“Certainly we are trending down. That is showing up in the stabilisation of hospital figures as well, we have a decrease in hospitalised patients, a decrease in ICU and even ventilators,” he said on Saturday.

“So the overall trend is positive. Next week we, if we carry on like this, we will see numbers below 150.”

Professor Sutton said it was “really important time to think about testing”.

“We have maintained our numbers above 20,000, that's really positive, but we do need to keep it for the long haul because that is exactly the kind of stuff that allows us to track and trace the cases and close contacts that allows us to get on top of these numbers,” he said.

Saturday’s 13 new deaths takes the total number of fatalities in Victoria to 398.

Of these new deaths, Premier Daniel Andrews said 10 of these deaths were linked to aged-care outbreaks.

“Our thoughts, prayers and best wishes are with each of the families of the 13 Victorians and we send our deepest sympathies to them,” he said.

The confirmed deaths included a man in his 50s, a woman in her 70s, two men and three women in their 80s, three women in their 90s and one woman in her 100s, according to Mr Andrews.

Case numbers in regional Victoria stabilise

Mr Andrews said “we are seeing less cases across Victoria”, which was “exactly what we want”.

“I am happy to report now there are 247 active cases across local government areas in regional Victoria that are covered by Stage 3,” he said.

Greater Geelong now has 98 cases, with Mr Andrews adding: “They were much, much higher than that only a few days ago.

“Greater Bendigo has 25, that is fairly stable, but they relate in large part to a number of outbreaks, and Ballarat has just four active cases now.

“But again, if you are in one of those large cities or anywhere in regional Victoria, anywhere in the state in fact, and you've got even mild symptoms, please come forward and get tested at one of the over 190 test sites we have established across the state.”

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