Premier Daniel Andrews has warned Victoria's outbreak is being fuelled by people with symptoms waiting days to get tested, as the state records 80 new local cases.
Key points:
- Premier Daniel Andrews said some people with COVID-19 had waited up to eight days with symptoms before getting tested
- He said the state did not have "many more levers" to pull and compliance needed to climb in order to beat the outbreak
- The Victorian AMA branch said close to 1,000 staff were currently furloughed at hospitals
Of the new cases, 67 are linked to known outbreaks, and 39 have been in quarantine for their entire infectious period.
There are now 36 people in hospital, 11 of whom are in intensive care, and eight are on a ventilator.
The new cases were identified from 56,248 test results received yesterday, and there were 33,932 doses of vaccine administered at state-run sites.
Mr Andrews said a number of the new cases had experienced symptoms for a week or more before getting tested.
"You've got to go and get tested as soon as you get symptoms otherwise you will almost certainly give this to all the people that you love."
Mr Andrews said there were "not many more levers we can pull" to rein in rising case numbers, with compliance being the main factor which would see infection rates drop.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton also urged people with the slightest of symptoms to get tested.
"If you don't know your status, you could be putting others at risk," he said.
AAP: Luis Ascui
)"You are at risk if you're in Victoria, if you're in Australia, we simply can't assume that we're not at risk because we'll be surprised."
Mr Andrews said the state's vaccination booking line had taken around 200,000 calls yesterday from people wanting to book an appointment.
Younger cohort under fire
The Premier took aim at young people across the state, stating delays in getting tested for COVID-19 was more prominent in a younger cohort of Victorians.
"I think you'd have to say the bias tends towards a younger group. If people are unhappy with me being honest about that, they'll need to come to terms with it, because it's a fact," Mr Andrews said.
"We can't change that now, but I just appeal to them with a real sense of urgency and purpose," Mr Andrews said.
"Just think about the people you love most in the world on a machine to breathe."
The Chief Health Officer emphasised the transmissibility of the Delta strain among young people, with 341 of the 600 active cases in Victoria occurring in people under the age of 29.
Following the New South Wales CHO doing a TikTok live stream, the Premier was asked whether the social media phenomenon could be used to promote health advice to younger people.
"I don't know. We're kind of technology agnostic. I'm sure we'll use whatever platform we can. to get to everyone we need to get to. Sometimes that's word of mouth, or phone calls, or where safe, you know, door knocking and stuff like that," he said.
"That's pretty hard at the moment. Or it's using platforms like the one you reference."
No sign of a return to on-site learning in schools
The Premier has also resisted calls to consider the reopening of schools amid concerns the extended period of remote learning was affecting educational outcomes and mental health of children.
"If the best you've got is 'open the schools against medical advice and then have kids bring this home into family after family after family', that's not a strategy that I will pursue," he said.
There continues to be a high number of children infected in Victoria's current outbreak, with 128 of the state's 600 active cases in children under 9, and 106 in children aged between 10 and 19.
Earlier this week, the state government announced it was aiming to have all Year 12 students vaccinated by the time they do their end-of-year exams in October.
Today, Mr Andrews said priority lanes for students at vaccination centres was one measure likely to be introduced to help achieve that goal.
"The challenge with our senior students is even harder than the rest of the school group because they're leaving [school] a month earlier, if not more," he said.
There are now more than 800 exposure sites across Victoria, including the emergency department at the Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne's south-east.
An apartment complex in Preston and residential towers on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy have also been listed.
Victorian hospitals under 'enormous strain'
The Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association has warned that hospitals are under immense pressure from the furloughing of staff due to the outbreak.
It was announced yesterday that Victoria will fly in 350 medical staff from overseas to ease the pressure on its weary health system.
Victorian Australian Medical Association (AMA) vice-president, Sarah Whitelaw, said hundreds of staff had been taken out of the system.
"I would estimate we've got close to 1,000 healthcare workers on furlough, which does put an enormous strain on the system," she told ABC News Breakfast.
The AMA wants international medical graduates who are already in the country to have their rights to work in the hospital system fast tracked.
"What we need to be sure of is that there are no barriers to credentialing those international medical graduates who are already in Australia. We need to make sure that any delays to them sitting exams with the AMC [Australian Medical Council] or processing their applications through registration are removed."
More help sought to combat Shepparton outbreak
The Premier said the state would support the Shepparton community "in any way that we possibly can", as the regional community has been brought to a grinding halt by it outbreak.
The cluster in Shepparton had already reached 50 cases yesterday, and more infections are expected to be reported today.
People in Shepparton have reported struggling to buy groceries and receive deliveries of essential supplies, with thousands of residents in home quarantine.
Supermarket chain Woolworths said a large number of its staff were isolating and there were not enough workers to fulfil online orders.
Victorian Independent MP Suzanna Sheed said the supermarket staffing shortages were a major concern.
"We really need a lot more truck drivers, people helping in supermarkets and we need our multinational supermarkets to step up and send in the extra resources that are required to make our towns function around this area," she said.
Australian Defence Force personnel and health clinicians from metropolitan areas have been sent in to support testing efforts.
Emergency Management Victoria deputy commissioner Deb Abbott has been sent to the area.
Mr Andrews said she would be managing the situation "as if it were no different to a bushfire or a flood".
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Victoria records 80 new local COVID-19 cases, people with symptoms delay testing for days - ABC News
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