Vic hits cases record, but hope of peak

VICTORIA’S second wave of COVID-19 could be close to its peak as the state had six more deaths and hit a national record 532 new cases on Monday.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said modelling suggested Monday’s numbers could be the peak of the state’s large daily case numbers, but the days ahead would be most telling.

“Modelling, with our effective reproduction number that I have seen most recently, suggests that today should be the peak,” he said.

“Now, I’m not going to sit back and say today is the peak. We have to see what happens in coming days.”

The latest case record prompted Premier Daniel Andrews to warn that if workplace transmission continued to rise, some industries would be forced to shut down.

“If we were to continue to see outbreaks, if we were to continue to see people quite obviously attending work when they shouldn’t be, then every option becomes on the table,” he said.

“The next steps may well have to include closing a number of these industries if we continue to see people attending work.”

Mr Andrews implored Victorians who were experiencing symptoms of coronavirus not to go to work or there would be more deaths.

“Otherwise, these restrictions will be in place for longer than they should be, and I’m sorry to say, we will see more people die, particularly in aged care,” he said.

Mr Andrews said the six new deaths included women in their 70s, 80s and 90s and men in their 50s, 70s and 80s and five are connected to outbreaks in aged care.

Victoria has reported 58 deaths in the past six weeks, taking the state’s toll to 77 and the national figure to 161.

In that period, active cases of the virus have leapt from 51 to 4542.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton remains disturbed about outbreaks at aged care facilities.

“These are very challenging numbers. We’re at a very challenging stage with this wave,” he said.

Prime Minster Scott Morrison said it would take the efforts of the entire state to drive down Victoria’s case numbers.

“In Victoria, there is still a long way to go. We are still seeing case numbers at elevated levels and so, as we have seen from other jurisdictions, when you get community-based transmission, it does take some time to get that down,” Mr Morrison said.

“We just ask for the continued cooperation and goodwill of the people of Melbourne and Victoria … to ensure that we can get on top of this.”