WATCH LIVE: Public holiday gatherings blamed for Vic’s record COVID-19 cases - Sky News Australia

Premier Daniel Andrews has described "poor choices" by "hundreds and thousands" of Victorians attending social gatherings during the AFL Grand Final as the reason behind the state's record 1,438 cases.

Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged coronavirus cases will soar if "hundreds and thousands" of Victorians continued to flout restrictions.

"Given what we know from interviews in recent days, many of these cases were completely avoidable," he told his press conference on Thursday after the state reported a record 1,438 infections.

"I know it's frustrating, I know its incredibly hard, I know it's literally been the longest journey but we can see to the other side now so that's why it's so important we find it in ourselves to the right thing, do nothing to add to the spread of the virus, do nothing to add to the number of nurses have to care for."

He said it was "not a surprise" cases surged following the AFL Grand Final public holiday over the weekend and blamed "poor choices" by residents as the cause of the spike.

The Premier hinted the roadmap out of lockdown could be reassessed if behaviours of residents did not change.

"So we are not having to revise any of our roadmap targets at this stage. And I don't want to do that. I want to hit them," he said.

"What I'm saying to every Victorian is if we continue to see this sort of behaviour we will continue to see these numbers. This is not about one day. If you get this each day, every day for a week, all of a sudden you are putting avoidable pressure on all sorts of different systems, most notably our public hospital system."

COVID-19 Response Commander Jeroen Weimar described the big spike in transmission as "very challenging".

Contact tracers confirmed the 50 per cent increase in infections was due to a "significant number" of social gatherings held from Friday to Sunday after interviews with positive cases.

"(AFL) Grand final parties, other social gatherings, barbecues, backyard visits, all of this generating transmission and additional case loads," he said.

"That's now translated to at least 500 additional cases than we expected today. We can see it in the contact tracing interviews and mobility data, traffic data."

Six out of ten infections came from household gatherings with the transmission map "far more diverse than before".

Mr Weimar stressed Victorians - regardless of whether they attended any gatherings over the public holiday weekend - to come forward for testing.

Mr Andrews also announced the interval between the first and second dose of the Pfizer vaccine has been reduced from six to three weeks following conversations with General John Frewen and federal health officials.

The change will come into effect on October 4 and means Victoria could reach 70 per cent of its population fully vaccinated by October 24.

There are more than 10,000 first Pfizer vaccinations and 8,800 AstraZeneca jabs available over the next seven days.

In addition, more than 88,000 Moderna vaccines will be redistributed across vaccination hubs in the state from Sunday.

Victoria is sitting at 80.3 per cent of its population with one dose in arms and just over 50 per cent are double dosed.

Mr Andrews said an announcement is expected on Friday on when the construction industry will reopen following the two week shutdown.

"It's my hope that relevant ministers will be out tomorrow, hopefully, to provide clarity for that industry and not just about reopening but a pathway to being well above 25 per cent," he said. 

"And I make the point that it's incredibly important that everybody in that industry and understands those issues will be taken seriously let's get the open, let's have an expanded over time, growing back to 100 per cent."

Victoria recorded 1,438 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths in the 24 hours to midnight. One third of the new infections received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

A woman in her 70s and a man in his 80s – both from the local government area of Whittlesea - a man in his 70s from Moreland, as well as a man in his 60s and another man in his 90s from Hume died overnight.

There are 398 Victorians in hospital, 83 in intensive care - 57 of whom are on a ventilator.

The results came from more than 65,000 tests and takes the number of active cases in the state to 11,018.

Mr Andrews said no additional cases have been reported from last week's protests in Melbourne.

The latest infections smashes the previous high by 488 infections after 950 cases were reported on Wednesday.

Victoria's infection rates have continually increased over the past fortnight.

The state surpassed New South Wales' daily figures this week as the northern state's cases began to slowly fall.

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2021-09-30 02:07:43Z
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