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Victoria sees drop in new COVID cases amid hope second wave is almost over

Victoria has recorded a drop in coronavirus cases.

The state recorded 303 new cases of COVID-19 and four deaths on Saturday.

Of the four who died, three were people in their 80s and one was a woman in her 90s.

Premier Daniel Andrews said two of those deaths are related to aged-care outbreaks.

An Australian Defence Force personnel checks the permit and ID of a driver at a checkpoint in Little River for traffic coming from Melbourne into Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula.
A member of the Australian Defence Force checks the permit and ID of a driver at a checkpoint in Little River for traffic coming from Melbourne into Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula on Friday. Source: Getty Images

“Our thoughts and best wishes are with the families of each of those four Victorians,” he said.

“This will be an incredibly difficult time for them and we send our best wishes and our support and condolences to them.”

It follows 14 deaths and 372 cases reported on Friday.

A man in his 20s was among those who died making him Australia’s youngest victim to the virus.

Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters on Friday 12 of those 14 deaths were linked to aged care outbreaks.

On Saturday, Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told reporters numbers are beginning to stabilise.

“The number of new cases, as I've said, is trending down,” Professor Sutton said.

“As they always reinforce, (there is) no room for complacency but I do think it's important that people understand that the actions they have taken, especially in recent weeks, showing up in our numbers now and so people should have hope and confidence that the things that we know work are now manifesting in our daily counts.

“Our new outbreaks every day are in single figures now. At one point in time there were 20 or 30 new outbreaks every day. We are at four or five now each day, which is another positive sign.”

Numbers still ‘too high’

While Victoria's daily coronavirus case numbers appear to be gradually decreasing, there is much progress to be made before easing restrictions is possible.

"We could not conceive of opening up with 200 cases a day," Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said on Friday.

"We couldn't do it with 100 cases a day.

"We have to head for the lowest possible number."

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media at the daily briefing in Melbourne, Australia.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media. Source: Getty Images (file pic)

Over the past four days Victoria recorded 372, 278, 410 and 331 cases respectively.

"The seven-day trend indicates the peak was probably four or five days ago and we will continue to see lower numbers overall from here on in," Professor Sutton said.

with AAP

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