Victorians have passed a welcome milestone in their battle against COVID-19, with daily infections falling below 200 for the first time in nearly six weeks.
Victoria reported 179 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the lowest total since 177 on July 13.
There were also nine more fatalities, bringing the state’s overall death toll from the pandemic to 385.
Premier Daniel Andrews will give more details at a briefing later on Friday.
Victoria’s recent COVID tally
- August 15 303
- August 16 279
- August 17 282
- August 18 222
- August 19 216
- August 20 240
- August 21 179
Friday’s breakthrough figure brings Victoria’s seven-day average of coronavirus infections to 246, down from 368 for the previous seven days.
It came as Mr Andrews pledged to raise the impacts of COVID-19 border closures on communities at national cabinet on Friday, with Victoria still shut off from the rest of the nation.
New measures preventing border residents from crossing into South Australia, or leaving the state and then returning, came into effect for the Victoria-South Australia border on Friday.
A permit system also remains for Victoria-NSW border residents. NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has called for it to be overhauled after meeting with Albury-Wodonga stakeholders.
Mr Andrews has vowed to fight for workable arrangements.
“We’re doing everything we can to try and make the fact that others have closed their borders to us as workable as possible,” he said on Thursday.
“It’s not easy by any stretch. Hopefully, we’ll have some progress.”
Victoria has had better news this week, as it nears the halfway mark of six weeks of Stage 4 restrictions aimed at quelling its deadly second wave. The most glaring figure was a 2291 decrease in active cases from 7155 to 4864 on Thursday.
Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services attributed the sharp daily drop to additional processing capacity, which allowed more cases to be cleared.
Active cases among healthcare workers fell similarly by 312, from 1065 to 753, despite an unexplained outbreak spreading across a public healthcare network in Melbourne’s south-east.
The health department is investigating the source of a cluster at Peninsula Health that has infected 51 staff and forced another 211 into self-isolation.
A further 48 COVID-19 positive patients remain in the care of the public healthcare provider.
On Thursday, despite a fifth straight day of cases under 300, Mr Andrews said it was too early to tell when Melbourne’s 8pm-5am curfew would be lifted.
His government also announced a freeze on evictions and rental rises would be extended until December 31.
-with AAP
The post Victoria’s six-week milestone: Daily COVID tally falls below 200 appeared first on The New Daily.
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