Victoria has recorded its second-worst daily total of Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began, with 374 new infections and three deaths announced, but the state’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, said he was encouraged numbers are not increasing exponentially.
“There has been a flattening,” Sutton said on Tuesday. “We are not seeing that exponential increase day by day. I think that’s encouraging.”
However, Sutton acknowledged that while cases in some suburbs were stabilising, there was concern about some settings, with new cases emerging in aged care and linked to health workers.
Of Tuesday’s new cases, 62 are connected to known and contained outbreaks, while 312 are under investigation. The premier, Daniel Andrews, said: “I’m sorry to have to inform you of three further deaths bringing the total number of fatalities due to this virus to 42.”
A woman aged over 100, a woman in her 90s and a woman in her 80s had all died overnight, Andrews said. “We send our best wishes and condolences to the families. It will be a particularly difficult and challenging time for them.”
There are 174 Victorians in hospital, with 36 in intensive care.
The state is set to make masks mandatory from Thursday with some exceptions, including for people with certain medical conditions and for those undertaking vigorous exercise such as jogging, running or cycling. Comprehensive mask advice will be posted on the health department’s website from midnight Wednesday.
Asked about the few Victorians who were resisting wearing a mask, Sutton said: “There is no greater loss of liberty than the loss of your life.
“There have been challenging settings that continue to drive the numbers each day,” the chief health officer said.
While community cases were coming down, some settings were causing issues, Sutton said, with growing cases in aged care and among health workers.
The four reasons people are allowed to leave home – which include caregiving and grocery shopping – were “still opportunities for transmission”, he said. That was another reason why masks were important.
Wednesday will mark two weeks since the new lockdown began, but Andrews said it was too early to be talking “next steps or trying to be definitive about what the third or fourth week would look like”.
“But it is heartening to see so many people listening to those messages, changing their … normal habits and embedding mask and face-covering wearing as part of just the normal daily routine,” he said.
“It’s a small thing, but again a bit like coming forward and getting tested, it makes a significant contribution given the amount of virus we have out in the Victorian community and our absolute determination as part of this six-week strategy to bring stability to those numbers and to drive them down.”
With so many cases in the community, the premier was asked how contact tracing staff would ensure those who tested positive had close contacts quickly identified and tested, with some people reporting delays in being contacted by health staff.
“I don’t accept that we are having [issues with contact tracing],” Andrews said.
He said if someone tested positive “it’s not like ... moments later someone from the health department is going to ring you”.
“There is always time that will be needed to get in contact with you, conduct an interview that could take an hour or more, then begin the painstaking process of contacting each and every person you may have been in contact with.”
The Labor leader said people should not wait until someone from the health department rang before self-isolating if they had tested positive. People who needed support could get it without leaving their home, he said, and if they had symptoms they should isolate immediately even if a test result had not come through.
Andrews said the state’s team of contact tracers would continue to be boosted with staff from the private sector and interstate.
Meanwhile, New South Wales recorded 13 new cases of the virus in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday, including 10 people associated with the Thai Rock restaurant in the Stockland mall at Wetherill Park. Four people dined at the restaurant and six were close contacts of people who dined there. Two people were contacts of cases linked to the Crossroads hotel cluster, which now totals 50.
“As cases resulting from community transmission continue to be reported, NSW Health is calling on people across the state to redouble their efforts to stop the virus spreading,” the department said in a statement.
“Everyone needs to be aware that there has been transmission in venues such as hotels and restaurants, gyms and social gatherings and therefore they should exercise particular caution in those situations. While it is not a legal requirement, it would be preferable and safer for the time being to avoid all non-essential travel, and not host or attend gatherings of more than 10 people at home (not withstanding that the legal limit is 20 people).
“Everyone should observe social distancing and hygiene measures and consider wearing a face mask in situations where social distancing is not possible.”
