Victoria records 222 new cases of COVID-19, 17 new deaths

Victoria has recorded its lowest number of coronavirus cases in a month, as the premier pleaded with residents to keep getting tested even if they show the mildest symptoms.

Additionally, 17 more people have lost their lives to the virus in the state, taking Victoria’s death toll to 334.

The fatalities include a man in his 60s, a woman and a man in their 70s, two women and four men in their 80s and four men and four women in their 90s.

Of the deaths, 13 were linked to aged care. A total of 230 people in aged care have died in the state and 1970 shifts have been filled by hospital nurses.

There are 665 Victorians in hospital, including 45 patients in intensive care and 32 on ventilators.

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton described today’s figures as “another good number”, adding “the trend is good”.

However, he had concerns people were opting not to get tested if they only presented mild symptoms.

“The number of overall active cases is coming down by the hundreds each day, but it is still a pretty big number,” he said.

“I do expect that to decrease by a couple of hundred every day for the rest of this week and more next week.

“I would hope that we are in the hundreds, not in the 200s, next week but it all depends on everyone doing the right thing, including stepping up for testing.

“Of course, people get severely unwell, those individuals are always going to get tested if they are presenting to hospital, but I’m concerned about people who might not be so unwell as to need to see a GP or go to the emergency department or be admitted to hospital.”

Almost two million Victorians have been tested for COVID-19. However, the number of tests conducted had dropped by 17 per cent in the past week, with 30,000 less tests completed.

Premier Daniel Andrews echoed the Chief Health Officer’s testing plea, urging all Victorians with symptoms, no matter how mild, to get tested.

Mr Andrews said the more people got tested for COVID-19, the easier it would be to see when restrictions could be lifted.

“If you have got symptoms, even really mild symptoms, please come forward and get tested. Do it quickly and don’t wait two or three days, that can sometimes be the most dangerous time in terms of your likelihood of infecting others,” he said.

“Come forward, get tested, stay at home until you get your results and that will serve all of us really, really well.

“We don’t want a situation where we have numbers that are in the hundreds or even lower, but we have seen also a decrease in the number of tests and we don’t have that sense of clarity and certainty the picture is big enough for us to then move to a new set of rules, which of course we all desperately want to do as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Yesterday an inquiry into Victoria’s COVID-19 hotel quarantine program has heard that almost all cases of the state’s second wave stem from just two hotels.

Genomic testing by the Doherty Institute confirms that 99 per cent of the second wave cases all stem from two Melbourne hotels, an inquiry into the quarantine fiasco heard yesterday.

“Essentially all current cases bar a few are from those transmission networks and that cluster,” Professor Ben Howden of the Doherty Institute told the inquiry.

The inquiry examining the quarantine bungle, being led by former judge Jennifer Coate, is investigating the COVID-19 outbreaks among staff and private security guards at the Rydges on Swanston hotel and Stamford Plaza.

It has already heard evidence of serious flaws in the training given to guards consisting of just a 30-minute training module, which experts say was more suited to raising general public awareness than for someone dealing with the virus.

The inquiry is expected to expose lessons critical for Victoria and the rest of the country to prevent future waves of COVID-19.