- 317 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the last 24 hours, the biggest number ever recorded in the state
- Along with the new cases, two more people have died after contracting the coronavirus in Victoria
- However, the state’s Chief Health Officer warns bigger numbers could still be recorded as Victoria hasn’t hit its peak
- The Prime Minister has labelled the situation in Victoria as ‘very concerning,’ while detailing Australia’s latest jobless figures
- Meanwhile, NSW Authorities said this was a ‘critical’ time in the state’s coronavirus recovery plan, as more cases are recorded there as well
Victoria has hit another grim new record, with 317 new COVID-19 cases identified in the last 24 hours, the biggest number since recording began.
The previous record of new daily cases was reached on July 10, when Victoria recorded 288 infections in one day.
The state is in the midst of a massive second wave of COVID-19 outbreaks, bigger than the initial outbreak in late March where total daily cases never exceeded the low hundreds.
Health impacts
Along with today’s record number of cases, officials also confirmed two men in their 80s died in hospital in the state overnight, after contracting the coronavirus.
More than 100 people are currently in hospital in Victoria due to COVID-19, with 29 of those in critical conditions in intensive care units.
As demand for hospital beds grow, Victoria’s Health Minister, Jenny Mikakos, announced more than 1,000 critical care beds have been set up in hospitals across the state, while thousands of non-critical surgeries have been cancelled.
Financial impacts
Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, said the situation in Victoria was ‘very concerning’, during a press conference today about jobless figures.
Australia’s unemployment rate has risen from 7.1 per cent to 7.4 per cent in June, the highest it’s been in 22 years.
However, the re-introduction of lockdowns across Melbourne this month is likely to push that number even higher in August.
Support is being offered to those who need it, with the PM using today’s figures to introduce a new $500 million package to help Australians obtain more skill training.
Apprentices and small businesses will also benefit from $1.3 billion in extended funding.
Facing the peak
Despite hitting a new record in the number of daily cases today, Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton, warned the worse was yet to come.
“We may still not have hit our peak. It’s a big number. It needs to turn around,” he said.
“In some ways, I expected it to turn around this week. But as I always said, it’s no guarantee. It’s upon all of us to be able to turn this number around,” he added.
Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, said the focus right now was on suppressing community transmission of COVID-19.
“We’re essentially in the midst of trying to establish whether we can suppress and not have multiple waves. That’s the real time work we’re doing now,” he said.
The Premier also warned the state had a long way to go in achieving this goal, and he again can’t rule out imposing further lockdown restrictions for Melbourne.
“It will take some time to bring stability to the numbers and start to see a pattern where they are driven down,” he said.
“This is in the hands of every single Victorian, though. If you want to make [more restrictions] less likely, you want to get out of these sort of restrictions as fast as possible, then we all have to play our part and not rely on our doctors and nurses as the last line of ultimate defence against this virus, but instead acknowledge we’re the ones on the front-line,” he added.
Every state on alert
In NSW, 10 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the last 24 hours, three of which are linked to the Crossroads Hotel outbreak.
It brings the total number of coronavirus infections linked to the Sydney pub up to 40, one of the biggest clusters in the state.
Another one of today’s 10 new cases in NSW is linked to a Jetstar flight from Victoria to Ballina.
The person arrived in NSW on July 12 and has been self isolating ever since. Contact tracing is now underway though, to check if anyone else on the plane contracted COVID-19.
Meantime, following Victoria’s surge in cases, NSW’s Chief Health Officer, Kerry Chant, said this was a ‘critical’ time in the state’s response to the coronavirus.
She urged anyone with symptoms to get tested and anyone who believes they may have been exposed to the virus to stay home and self-isolate.
“Now is the time if you have got any symptoms – I want you to go and get tested,” she said.
The Chief Health Officer also warned the rest of Australia to be on alert, saying we had a long way to go before the virus is eradicated.
“This is just the beginning. We are no way through the challenge of COVID -19. The world is no way through it,” she said.
“Until we have a vaccine we will continue to see COVID-19 spread.”