Victoria records another 116 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours and 15 deaths – the lowest since Stage 4 restrictions began
Victoria has reported its lowest rise in COVID-19 infections in seven weeks with 116 new cases and 15 additional fatalities on Monday.
The number is the embattled state’s lowest amount of new COVID-19 cases since July 5, when 67 cases were diagnosed.
The latest fatalities bring the state’s COVID-19 death toll to 430 and the national figure to 517.
But the number of new cases plummeted to 116 from Sunday’s figure of 208.
Victoria has reported its lowest rise in COVID-19 infections in seven weeks with 116 new cases and 15 additional fatalities on Monday (Bourke St Mall in Melbourne pictured during Stage 4 lockdown)
The once popular Royal Arcade mall in Melbourne CBD is quiet and deserted with Stage Four lockdown closing almost all non-food retail
It comes as halfway through lockdown, Victoria’s chief health officer has defiantly declared he won’t let the state’s hard-fought COVID-19 gains slip.
Brett Sutton had predicted on Sunday that numbers could dip below 150 this week.
He added although the daily case numbers had been ‘jumping around’, he expected they are on a downward trajectory.
He was still upbeat after the new cases went back above 200 on Sunday.
‘We’re not going to see 300 and 400 (cases) again in Victoria under my watch, at least,’ he told reporters.
‘We’re applying a strategy that is driving cases down.’
With 3,920 so-called mystery cases, Prof Sutton warned restrictions would not be lifted in full until community transmission is eradicated.
Iconic Hosier Lane within Melbourne CBD is also empty as no one is allowed to wander around
Medical staff conduct a COVID-19 test on a patient at the drive through coronavirus testing facility in Ballarat on Friday
Premier Daniel Andrews said the weekend’s bad weather was an ‘absolute blessing’ and hoped it meant more people stayed at home.
The premier warned that Victoria will be smashed by a ‘third wave’ if lockdowns are lifted too early.
The crippling Stage Four lockdown is scheduled to end on September 13, but the government has refused to rule out extending it.
Melbourne residents still have at least another three weeks of stage four restrictions including an overnight curfew, while regional Victorians are living under slightly less onerous level three restrictions.
Hearings for the state’s inquiry into the failed hotel quarantine program will resume on Monday with more testimony from hotel security staff.
The inquiry last week heard poor-performing security guards were moved between the quarantine hotels, while returned travellers feared catching COVID-19 during their stay.