Coronavirus: Victoria records deadliest day yet and 282 new infections
Victoria has recorded a further 25 coronavirus deaths on Monday, making it Australia’s deadliest day since the pandemic began.
The Department of Health and Human Services also confirmed 282 new COVID-19 cases.
It follows 279 new infections and 16 deaths on Sunday.
The state’s death toll now stands at 334. Victoria has recorded 107 deaths in the past seven days.
The victims confirmed on Monday were one male in his 60s, four females and three males in their 70s, six females and four males in their 80s and four females and three males in their 90s.
“This is a very difficult day,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters.
Monday’s infections total is third time in five days cases have dropped below 300, offering further evidence the state has passed the peak of its second wave.
Yet Mr Andrews stressed the state must not let “complacency creep in”, urging Victorians to continue and follow the rules.
Mr Andrews said on Sunday he could not rule out further outbreaks in the virus-hit aged care sector as active cases linked to private facilities surpassed 2,000.
“This is an ultra marathon, and we just have to keep pushing for each and every day,” he said.
Twenty-two of Monday’s 25 deaths were linked to aged care facilities.
Authorities have warned of ongoing deaths in Victoria even as the new case numbers decline amid a stage-four lockdown for metropolitan Melbourne and a stage-three lockdown in regional areas due to the proportion of infections in elderly Victorians and the effects of daily cases surging beyond 500 two weeks ago.
The Victorian government will soon release details regarding infection rates of the state’s health workforce as more public sector nurses are deployed in aged care homes.
More to come.
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