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Victoria records 12 deaths, 466 new coronavirus cases

Victoria has recorded 12 deaths and 466 coronavirus cases overnight.

Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the deaths include one male in his 30s, two males in their 70s, two males and three females in their 80s, and four females in their 90s.

Six of those deaths are linked and associated with aged-care settings. The youngest victim is the second person in their 30s to have died following infection.

The Victorian death toll now stands at 193.

There are 636 Victorians in hospital with COVID-19 infections. Of those in hospital, 44 are receiving intensive care, with 29 on ventilators.

There is a total of 2584 cases with an unknown source, an increase of 130 since yesterday. Those mystery cases, 136 yesterday and again, that doesn’t relate to data.

Mr Andrews took the opportunity to thank Melburnians and Victorians for “playing their part, doing the right thing and following the rules”.

“I think the data from ADF door-knocking, I made this point yesterday, to have done 1,150 door knocks in one day and to have 1,000 of those people found, I think that shows you the percentage of people doing the wrong thing is coming down, which means more and more Victorians are doing the right thing and that is critically important to making sure this strategy works,” Mr Andrews said.

Premier Daniel Andrews has thanked Victorians for their efforts in fighting the virus. Photo: AAP

Victorian Chief Health Office Professor Brett Sutton said going into stage-three restrictions averted 20,000 cases, but they were still too high.

“Certainly we are seeing some stabilisation in numbers. We are 400- 500 cases each day, more or less the average over the last week,” Professor Sutton said.

“That is not good enough but it’s a positive that we have averted an exponential increase through the last couple of weeks.

“If we hadn’t stabilised these numbers, we would have seen thousands of cases per day and there are estimates that we’ve averted 20,000 or more cases by virtue of the stage 3 restrictions but that hasn’t been enough.

“Stage-four restrictions will make a difference but we won’t see them for another week or more. We can drive numbers down and we will drive numbers down.”

He added that care needed to taken in disability care settings to avoid outbreaks seen in aged-care settings.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and state and territory leaders on Friday agreed to ongoing audits of the aged-care sector after recent deadly outbreaks in Melbourne nursing homes.

The audits will look at preparedness to cope with the disease, which has killed 187 aged care residents Australia-wide.

Acting Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly said they would examine preventative measures and training to respond to outbreaks.

“Preparing for the worst, hoping for the best,” he said.

The stress testing is expected to aid a national aged care outbreak response plan in two weeks.

The Premier was questioned about the supply of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, who have reported a shortage.

He noted there were 68 million gloves, 19 million surgical masks and two million face shields warehoused and ready for deployment.

“Everybody in the world is after this at the same time. That always makes it very challenging. The team has done a mighty job to have what we need,” Mr Andrews said.

While Mr Andrews thanked Victorians for their efforts, almost 200 people have been fined for breaching the state’s coronavirus restrictions, including a man caught breaking curfew to buy cigarettes and lollies.

Victoria Police did 3554 spot checks on homes, businesses and public places in the 24 hours to Saturday morning, fining 197 people for breaching the chief health officer’s directions.

Sixty-two were fined $1652 for breaching Melbourne’s 8pm-5am curfew, while a further 36 were penalised $200 for failing to wear a face mask.

One man was slapped with both fines after he was caught at a service station just before 1am buying cigarettes and lollies. He wasn’t wearing a mask.

Another was found riding a city-bound train between Lalor and Thomastown, outside the five-kilometre radius from his home.

He told police he was out to “get some fresh air”.

-with agencies

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