Victoria has just recorded 317 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily increase to date across Australia.
Of the new cases, 28 have already been connected to known outbreaks. Two men in their 80s have also passed away.
The entire Melbourne Metropolitan area was placed into Stage 3 lockdown last Wednesday, amid spiralling daily coronavirus figures. Premier Daniel Andrews said it was still too early to judge how effective the resumed lockdown has been, simply because the virus has a lifecycle of two weeks.
“That’s why this is a six week stay-at-home lockdown, that’s three full lifecycles of this virus,” he said.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Stutton said there’s no guarantee numbers would drop over the next few days, and that the idea of lifting lockdown restrictions at the moment was “absurd”.
“I said earlier this week that we hadn’t hit our peak – we may still not have hit our peak,” he added.
“It’s a big number it needs to turn around.”
Meanwhile, Andrews said that like elsewhere, the only way to squash the second wave is to comply with the current, stricter restrictions.
“There are a long, long list of nations around the world that are dealing with second waves,” he said.
However, he also said restrictions wouldn’t be tightened to Stage 4 just yet.
“We of course plan for every single contingency, but it’s way too early for us to move to that stage,” he said.
More to come.
