Victoria has recorded 108 new cases of coronavirus, an alarming increase from 66 cases on Friday.
It’s just the second time the state has had a daily increase of more than 100, with the only higher tally 111 on March 28.
A massive total of 69 cases are under investigation, while 24 were linked to routine testing and 14 linked to known outbreaks, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Saturday.
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Two extra postcodes 3031 and 3051 - which cover Flemington, Kensington and North Melbourne will go into lockdown from 11.59pm tonight.
But about 3000 residents in nine public housing towers in those suburbs will be in lockdown effective immediately.
Mr Andrews said no one living in the towers will be allowed to leave their homes for at least five days.
“This is a very significant step we have never taken before,” he said.
“Given the very high density of that nature of housing, the number of shared facilities — everything from laundries to obviously access and egress points, lifts — the public health advice is to close those nine towers.”
There are 1345 housing units in the nine towers.
“We know and understand it is a big cohort, a big group of people many of whom are amongst the most vulnerable,” Mr Andrews said.
“The risk to public health at a personal and family level, the health and wellbeing of those residents who live very close to each other, the fact that there are positive cases in some of those towers and logical patterns of movement, friendship and family groups mean that the best and most appropriate step is it hard lockdown in those nine towers.”
The following public housing towers will be affected:
3031 (Flemington)
- 12 Holland Crt
- 120, 126 and 130 Racecourse Rd
3051 (North Melbourne)
- 12 Sutton St
- 33 Alfred St
- 76 Canning St
- 9 Pampas St
It comes after two Melbourne Kmart stores closed overnight after two team workers tested positive to coronavirus.
The Footscray and Barkly Square, Brunswick stores have both shut for deep cleaning, with Kmart confirming the two situations were not linked.
Victoria’s Health Minister Jenny Mikakos on Friday confirmed the 3064, 3047, 3031 and 3060 postcodes had recorded the most cases since the government’s suburban testing blitz started last week.
Of the four postcodes, 3031, which covers Flemington and Kensington, was not included in the State Government’s priority list, sparking fears of even more suburban lockdowns.
Alarmingly 10,000 Victorians had also declined to be tested so far, with Ms Mikakos revealing some people thought the coronavirus was a conspiracy.
“It is concerning that some people believe that coronavirus is a conspiracy or that it won’t impact on them, so what I want to stress here is that coronavirus is a very contagious virus,” she said.
Ms Mikakos also warned of a potential “superspreader” who could be responsible for “many cases” across Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs.
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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMivgFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVhdXN0cmFsaWFuLmNvbS5hdS9icmVha2luZy1uZXdzL3ZpY3RvcmlhLXJlY29yZHMtMTA4LW5ldy12aXJ1cy1jYXNlcy1hcy1nb3Zlcm5tZW50LWVudGVycy1pbnRvLWNyaXNpcy10YWxrcy13aXRoLWhlYWx0aC1idXJlYXVjcmF0cy9uZXdzLXN0b3J5LzY3MmFiZjU5YWE2NzUzZGMwMzU2NmQ5MTVlOWZlZTFk0gEA?oc=5
2020-07-04 05:17:00Z
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