A beleaguered Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Saturday that the authorities had recorded 216 new Victorian cases of COVID-19 on July 10, following another 288 recorded on July 9. The state has until now recorded 3560 cases of coronavirus and 1249 of those are active cases in the state.
Of some solace is the fact that of 216, 35 cases have been reclassified and the net increases is only of 181 new cases.
A Victorian man in his 90s died of COVID-19 complications on Friday.
Offering condolences to the family of the man who passed away, the Premier was joined by his Health Minister in thanking Victorians for coming forward to get tested.
“Without this data and sense of how the virus is moving, you can’t get to their close contacts or put in place a strategy to get them isolated at home,” Mr Andrews said.
The state government is now recommending people to wear masks in areas where social distancing was not possible. It remains critically important to keep observing the measures taken up with discipline during first lockdown.
49 Victorians in hospital with COVID-19, of those15 are in ICUs. 30 of the new cases are connected to known outbreaks.
According to Victoria’s chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton it could be a couple of weeks before the current lockdown measures are reflected in new infection numbers.
“We will see an increase in hospitalised and ICU cases and in deaths in the coming days because of the spike that we have seen,” Prof Sutton said.
Joining the Premier and Health Minister, Prof Sutton exhorted Victorians to wear masks if and when leaving home. He said masks can reduce transmission of the virus by about 60 per cent.
While the state is grappling with arresting the spread of the deadly virus, experts in the World Health Organisation (WHO) warn that the world is “unlikely” to eradicate the coronavirus any time soon.
Daily infections globally are hitting a new record each day passing. The WHO says countries that had achieved zero new cases were also witnessing second wave spikes – with people arriving from overseas and unwittingly bringing with them the covid-19 second wave from outside.
“In our current situation, it is unlikely that we can eradicate or eliminate this virus,” said WHO executive director of Health Emergencies Dr Mike Ryan.
Looking at these new Victorian cases of COVID-19 infections, Australians are being warned to brace for even worse figures in coming days. Experts believe the second wave in Victoria could easily replicate itself anywhere in the rest of the country.
The message is – there is no room for complacency when it comes to hygiene and discipline in social distancing to keep Australia healthy and out of rampant COVID-19 infections.
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