Victoria's coronavirus cases soar with largest spike in months
Victoria has recorded a further 77 coronavirus cases on Thursday as 36 suburbs across Melbourne were placed under a stringent four-week lockdown.
All the cases are locally acquired with zero in hotel quarantine, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton revealed at a press conference.
It is the largest daily total in the recent surge in cases and the fourth highest in Victoria since the pandemic began.
Professor Sutton said the new cases weren’t exclusively in the hotspots previously identified.
“One of the issues is people do move around a little bit,” he admitted.
He said he could not rule out adding further suburbs to the current lockdown.
Of the new cases 13 are linked to outbreaks, 37 were detected through routine testing and 27 are under investigation.
The state recorded 73 cases on Wednesday and 64 on Tuesday.
Victoria now has 415 active cases, with nearly 90 clusters.
“It is never an easy place to sit when you've got 415 active cases, all of which are infectious,” Prof Sutton said.
“Obviously, we've identified them. They're in isolation. Their close contact are in quarantine.
“But it's an indication of a very large number of people who have acquired it, which means there are other infections still to be found out there and they're all at risk of transmitting to others if we're not doing the right thing.”
So far 20 Victorians have died during the pandemic, with Prof Sutton saying that total is likely to rise.
"I'm afraid that that's absolutely a possibility when you've got significant transmission, when you've got 70-odd cases every day, there is absolutely an expectation that some of those people will die," he said.
He asked those in the locked down suburbs to “cop it on the chin” and asked them to adhere to the restrictions that mean residents can only leave their homes for work or school, exercise, essential shopping and to give or receive care.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters on Thursday he is “obviously concerned” with the outbreak in Victoria.
“[Daily cases] remain at elevated levels and that is of concern and that means as the lockdown now is in place, we would hope to see those numbers fall again. But we take nothing for granted,” he said.
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