Source: SBS news
Health workers conduct COVID-19 testing at the Montague St centre in South Melbourne. Source: AAP Eleven new local COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Victoria in the 24 hours to midnight on Sunday, including the two cases at Melbourne’s Arcare aged care facility that were announced on Sunday.
Another nine coronavirus cases have been recorded in Victoria overnight, in addition to the two cases at Melbourne’s Arcare aged care facility that were announced on Sunday but not included in official figures.
It comes as health authorities updated the list of new exposure sites on Sunday night.
On Sunday, Victorians were warned there is no “magic number” of people getting vaccinated before future coronavirus lockdowns can be avoided.
Four new cases were reported on Sunday, including two linked to the Arcare Maidstone aged care facility in the city’s northwest.
One is a 79-year-old resident who has had both doses of the Pfizer vaccine. They live close to two other residents, aged 99 and 89, who have previously tested positive.
Despite being asymptomatic, the resident has been taken to hospital.
The other case is a registered nurse who worked at the nursing home on Saturday, is also asymptomatic and has received a first COVID-19 shot.
Only two to three per cent of Victorians have so far been fully vaccinated as Melbourne emerges from its second weekend of lockdown.
Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said it was difficult to say what proportion would need to be vaccinated to avoid future lockdowns.
“There isn’t one single magic number,” Professor Cheng said.
“Once you get up to much higher coverage rates, then it makes a whole lot of things easier.
“We may not need the intensity of restrictions. We may be able to only do contact tracing without having to do other things quite to the same level, and that is the benefit of vaccination.”
Two cases reported earlier on Sunday were primary close contacts of previous cases.
One is a worker in their 50s at Stratton Finance in Port Melbourne and was isolating for their entire infectious period.
It takes the Kappa variant-related Port Melbourne outbreak to 30 cases, with four previous “mystery” infections now linked through genomic and epidemiological investigations.
The other is a primary school teacher linked to the West Melbourne outbreak, which has infected 10 people with the Delta variant.
Professor Cheng expects Melbourne will be able to ease restrictions on Friday.
“We don’t want to be in this any longer than we need to. So if we can, we will lift it early,” he said.
