Covid Victoria: 24 new cases as Melbourne faces tough new restrictions
Victoria has recorded 24 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases as Melburnians prepare for their first full night of curfew since the city's devastating second wave last year.
The Department of Health revealed 10 of the new cases have been infectious while in the community.
Three of the cases are mystery infections at this stage and remain under investigation.
It comes after Premier Daniel Andrews announced a lockdown extension of two weeks, while tightening restrictions in the process.
People living in Melbourne are now required to stay at home between 9pm and 5am.
Additionally, large-scale construction will be restricted to 25 per cent of staff and people will not be allowed to remove their masks to drink alcohol in public.
Exercise has also been limited to two people.
Mr Andrews said on Monday there was "no choice" but to toughen restrictions given increasing mystery infections, the number of children infected and several illegal gatherings at the weekend.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said "we are right on the cliff edge here" as he warned a "grumbling" number of daily cases could end up being 100 in a fortnight, or thousands in a month.
Some 31,519 tests were processed in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning, while 25,742 Victorians received a vaccine dose at a state-run hub.
Meanwhile, Victorian parliament's lower house has deferred sitting after advice from Professor Sutton.
The upper house, however, will gather on Tuesday to debate and vote on whether it should continue to sit.
There are currently more than 14,200 close contacts self-isolating across Victoria and more than 540 exposure sites.
With AAP
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