Source: ABCnews
Victoria has recorded 1,188 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths.
There are now 12,913 active cases of the virus in Victoria, and 538 people have died during the current Delta outbreak.
There are 289 people in hospital with COVID-19, of whom 43 are in intensive care and 22 are on a ventilator.
The new cases were detected from 63,214 test results received yesterday.
There were 3,772 doses of vaccine administered at state-run sites yesterday, as well as more vaccinations at GP clinics and other venues.
Pandemic bill passes parliament
The laws, which will replace the state of emergency powers due to expire on December 15, passed the upper house yesterday afternoon 20 votes to 18, with the support of four crossbenchers.
It then returned to the lower house for final approval.
The legislation will give the Premier and Health Minister the power to declare pandemics.
The bill was substantially amended in recent weeks to include the creation of a new joint parliamentary committee that was not controlled by the government to review public health orders.
An independent panel will also have the power to review detention orders.
Amended pandemic bill ‘very different’
The bill sparked widespread protests, some using violent imagery directed at politicians including Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
Crossbencher Rod Barton, who received death threats over his support of the legislation, said he thought anger around the bill would settle down now it had passed.
“People have genuine concerns and we need to address those by education and … a lot of people still don’t understand what this … what we’ve achieved with this bill,” he said.
Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass, who previously expressed concern over a lack of independent oversight in the proposed legislation, said the amendments had been a significant improvement.
“This bill is very different from what we saw a couple of weeks ago,” she told Channel Seven.
The bill will now go to Victorian Governor Linda Dessau for royal assent.
