'A good sign': Victoria records 216 new COVID-19 cases
Victoria's Chief Health Officer has described the state's latest tally of new cases of coronavirus - a jump of 216 cases in 24 hours - as "a good sign" and said lower daily numbers were the result of mandatory mask-wearing and stage three and four restrictions.
Victoria has recorded 216 new cases of coronavirus and 12 more deaths in the past day, bringing the state's total death toll to 363.
The deaths have all been linked to aged care and include three males in their 70s, four females and one male in their 80s and three females and one male in their 90s.
Wednesday's tally of new COVID-19 cases marks the fourth consecutive day of numbers below 300 - down again from the 222 daily cases recorded yesterday.
The last time Victoria recorded a daily new case tally close today's number was on July 18 when there were 217 new cases.
Active cases were down by 119 cases on Wednesday, while numbers linked to aged care and hospitalisations were stabilising, Professor Brett Sutton said.
“It is very good to reflect it is not ten times that amount, which it could have been,” he said.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton believes new daily cases could be in the 100s by next week.Credit:Darrian Traynor/Getty Images
Wednesday was the day that stage three restrictions were originally meant to end, before Victoria escalated to stage four.
Professor Sutton said if the state had stayed at that level infections would have slowed far too slowly and the wave of infection would have had “a long, long tail”.
Professor Sutton and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews have renewed calls for more Victorians to get tested, noting that testing numbers have dropped too much since the imposition of stage four restrictions.
"In our fight against this wicked enemy, come forward and get tested even if you've got a really mild symptom," Mr Andrews said.
Mr Andrews said there were 3,751 'mystery cases' without a known source in Victoria on Wednesday - up 82 since Tuesday.
Premier provides update on aged care outbreaks
As of today, the total number of cases associated with aged care facility outbreaks since the start of January is 3,337 with 2050 current active cases.
"Five of those are in public sector aged care and 2,045 of those are in private sector aged care," he said. "Similarly, as you would expect, in terms of outbreaks, there are 120. Six of those outbreaks with two co-located on the one premises are in public-sector aged care and 114 of those are in private sector aged care."
Mr Andrews said there were now 79 active cases in disability facility settings including 60 total resident cases.