Coronavirus Victoria: Daily cases rise for second day in a row
Victoria’s daily coronavirus infections have risen for the second consecutive day, while the state confirmed a further 11 deaths.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced 76 new cases on Wednesday.
It follows 55 cases and eight deaths on Tuesday and 41 cases and nine deaths on Monday.
The latest deaths take the state toll to 694 and the national figure to 781.
The rise will likely be of concern to Victorian health authorities and Melbourne’s five million residents, with the state needing to average less than 50 daily cases over a 14-day period to move to the next step in the city’s roadmap out of lockdown.
The rolling 14-day average for Melbourne is 74.5.
However the latest total is the sixth consecutive day daily infections have been in the double digits.
Wednesday has also traditionally been a day of elevate cases for Victoria.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said last week the state was now into the “stubborn tail” of the second wave.
Dr Norman Swan, the ABC’s medical expert and the face of the corporation’s coronavirus coverage, said the latest figures mean “there’s cause for concern”.
On Tuesday, Premier Daniel Andrews the state would be introducing localised contact tracing in certain areas of Melbourne as he responds to calls from the federal government to ramp up its tracing regime.
A team of officials will travel to NSW for an insight into their tracing system, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison labelled the “gold standard”.
Asked if the NSW contact tracing system could have contained Victoria's hotel quarantine outbreak, federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said: "Yes, that's my belief."
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