Victoria has recorded 26 new local COVID-19 cases, the highest daily figure this year, but authorities say there are clear signs the lockdown is working.
Key points:
- Two of the new cases were in the community while infectious, but the rest were in quarantine
- The Chief Health Officer has warned more people will likely be hospitalised in intensive care
- Small businesses and the music industry are calling for more financial support to get through the fifth lockdown
All the new cases are linked to known outbreaks, and 24 of the 26 cases were in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period.
The new infections were detected from 43,674 test results received on Wednesday.
"Their contribution is so vital to our public health team having the confidence that in fact we are getting ahead of this," Health Minister Martin Foley said.
It brings the number of cases in the outbreak to 133.
By Thursday morning, five people were in hospital with COVID-19 in Victoria, including one person in intensive care.
There has been concern about the number of recent cases who were not isolating through their infectious period, meaning they could be unwittingly spreading the virus.
With all but two of the new cases in quarantine before returning a positive test, Mr Foley said the lockdown measures "are starting to work".
ABC News: Crystalyn Brown
)There are now more than 19,000 primary close contacts of confirmed cases undergoing 14 days of quarantine.
"And we have to work on that basis until we run down every single case."
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton yesterday said he believed the number of cases infectious while in the community had peaked, but that the number of new cases overall may continue to rise.
He warned while the state was "on track" to suppress the virus, more people would likely end up in intensive care as more people were infected.
One of two cases not isolating for their entire infectious period visited one exposure site on their return to Melbourne from East Gippsland to isolate.
They were praised by authorities for only making one stop for petrol and "exemplary" COVID-safe behaviour like sanitising their credit card as they paid for fuel.
The other is linked to the AAMI Park outbreak and was only in the community for one day while infectious.
They were sitting in a part of AAMI Park designated a tier 2 exposure site and returned a negative test, but then was sent back into quarantine after parts of the stadium were upgraded to tier 1.
The change in zones was made after health officials examined CCTV footage outside the ground.
"We've seen this case mingling. We know it's another case of transmission in the queues outside the ground getting in this case to gate 7," COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said.
"Again we're seeing this evidence of transmission in those unstructured crowds outside those major events. That's why it was so important for us to have expanded this tier 1 transmission."
The Prahran Market and a Northcote cafe have been linked to the AAMI Park case for the one day they were allowed in the community.
Business groups call for more support
ABC News: John Graham
)The state government yesterday announced a further $282.5 million in cash grants for businesses which have to close during the extended lockdown.
Businesses that do not pay GST because they do not meet the turnover threshold of $75,000 will not be eligible for the grants.
Instead, the state government has referred those businesses to the federal government's COVID-19 disaster payment, which is less than the minimum wage.
Alexi Boyd from the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia said successful businesses were falling through the cracks.
"To find out that we're locking down, we're stopping from trading to support our community, our customers, our workers, ourselves, and then to be told that there's nothing in place to support us when we weren't responsible for the lockdown in the first place is absolutely gut-wrenching," she said.
Ms Boyd and the council are calling for Victoria to implement a similar scheme to New South Wales, where micro businesses are eligible for up to $1,500 per week if they are affected by the restrictions.
The music industry has welcomed news of grants up to $7,000 for live performances which have been cancelled due to the restrictions.
But Music Victoria's CEO, Simone Schinkel, said more was needed for an industry which is often first to close and last to open.
"The scale of the impact is not matched by the scale of support that's on offer," she said.
"The money announced today is very much tied to the most recent lockdown but for live music we've been experiencing this for the past 16 months."
Research by music management organisation APRA AMCOS revealed live performances had been operating at just 4 per cent of their normal capacity until March this year.
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Victoria records 26 new local COVID-19 cases, only two infectious in the community - ABC News
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