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Victoria records another big Covid spike as unwanted title looms

Victoria has recorded another huge spike in Covid cases as Melbourne is a day away from claiming the unwanted title of world's most locked down city.

The state's Department of Health reported on Sunday 1220 new local cases and three deaths in the 24 hours to midnight, with 71,275 tests carried out and active cases at 11,785.

In the same period, 36,248 vaccines were administered at state-run locations, bringing the total number of jabs to 3,641,164.

The latest Covid update comes a day after Victoria recorded its highest daily peak for the state since the pandemic began with 1488 infections on Saturday.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews addresses the media during a press conference in Melbourne, Friday, October 1, 2021. Source: AAP
Victoria has recorded 1220 local Covid cases on Sunday morning. Source: AAP

It eclipsed the previous record of 1438 set on Thursday.

The Victorian government continues its criticism of its federal counterpart, with the state's treasurer Tim Pallas unleashing on Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Saturday.

He accused Mr Morrison and his government of "unfair" and "mean spirited" treatment for failing to co-fund a new support package for Victoria's construction and building sector.

The Victorian government announced $196.6 million to provide one-off payments to more than 70,000 eligible businesses, including sole traders, to cover periods of restrictions throughout the current outbreak.

Melbourne set to claim unwanted world title

Meanwhile Melbourne has racked up 245 days in lockdown since the pandemic began.

That draws the city level with Buenos Aires, which has also spent 245 days under stay-at-home orders.

Melbourne will surpass the mark set by the Argentinian city on Monday.

It comes with news a contracted service provider at Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation in Broadmeadows was among the record cases in Victoria announced on Saturday.

Contact tracing, quarantining, testing and deep cleaning is underway at the facility, which as of June housed 239 people. It is unclear how many of them have been vaccinated.

More than 100 people were arrested and fined on Saturday when anti-vaccine protesters again took to the streets of Melbourne, a day after the state government announced a vaccination mandate for all Victorian authorised workers.

Timeline of Melbourne's 245 days of Covid lockdowns

Lockdown one

  • Statewide, March 30 to May 12, 2020, 43 days

Lockdown two

  • Ten Melbourne postcodes, July 1 to July 8, 2020, seven days (not counted in the overall citywide figure)

  • Melbourne, July 8 to October 27, 2020, 112 days

Lockdown three

  • Statewide, February 12 to February 17, 2021, five days

Lockdown four

  • Melbourne, May 27 to June 10, 2021, 14 days

Lockdown five

  • Statewide, July 15 to July 27, 2021, 12 days

Lockdown six

  • Melbourne, August 5 and ongoing, 59 days to Sunday, October 3

with AAP

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