Source: ABCnews
Victoria has recorded 246 new cases of COVID-19 as the state races to vaccinate people to curb the spread of its Delta outbreak.
Contact tracers have so far linked 121 of the new cases to existing outbreaks, but the number of cases who were in the community while infectious is no longer being reported each day.
The new cases resulted from 42,258 test results processed on Sunday, when 29,955 vaccine doses were delivered at state-run sites.
Last week the Victorian government shifted away from trying to reach zero cases of coronavirus in the community, and is instead focusing on keeping case numbers as low as possible while getting people vaccinated.
Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged that restrictions may ease this week in regional areas that have seen very few or no cases during this outbreak.
More than 60 per cent of Victorians aged 16 and above have now had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
Once 70 per cent of eligible people have had at least one vaccine dose, the government has flagged a minor easing of restrictions for Melbourne residents.
Yesterday, the state recorded 183 new cases and Mr Andrews warned that once things open up, the virus will “tear through the people who are not vaccinated”.
The Premier has flagged the state’s shift to what he is calling a “vaccinated economy”, with trials to begin that grant greater freedoms to people who have been fully vaccinated.
Under the plan, some events, facilities and services would only be open to those who have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
A list of more than 1,000 exposure sites across the state remains, with apartment buildings in Docklands and North Melbourne recently added.
A section of the emergency department at Frankston Hospital has been listed as a tier 1 exposure site.
Expert says kids should be vaccinated by Christmas
An epidemiologist predicts COVID-19 case numbers will peak at around 3,000 a day in New South Wales and 2,000 a day in Victoria before vaccines have an impact.
University of Melbourne’s Professor Tony Blakely said cases would continue to grow as businesses and schools reopen, which would pose a challenge to the health systems in both states.
“We need to find ways, elsewhere in society, that we can reduce [transmission] so we can walk our way through to about the first week of November when the case numbers should peak and the vaccine numbers [should be] catching up with it,” he told ABC News Breakfast.
Professor Blakely said governments would be weighing up the benefits of reopening, with the likely increase in cases that that would bring.
“How much do we value getting kids back to school versus the pressure on health services and this is where we’re at at the moment,” he said.
Professor Blakely said getting children vaccinated by Christmas should be a priority for governments.Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
