Australia's Victoria sees 'stabilisation' in new coronavirus cases

 

FILE PHOTO: Bourke Street mall, a normally busy shopping hub in Melbourne, is seen devoid of people after the city reimposed restrictions as part of efforts to curb a resurgence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), July 23, 2020. REUTERS/Sandra Sanders/File Photo

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's second-most populous state, Victoria, recorded 466 cases of the new coronavirus on Saturday and 12 COVID-19 deaths, though authorities expressed hope for a stabilisation in new infections thanks to strict mobility restrictions.

 

Victoria is at the centre of a second wave of infections in Australia, accounting for more than two-thirds of the national tally of nearly 21,000.

 

The southeastern state, of which Melbourne is the capital, has recorded 181 deaths, almost 70% of the Australia's fatalities from the pandemic.

 

Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews expressed concern over 2,584 "mystery cases," including 130 on Saturday, with unknown sources of infection.

 

"We have to assume there is more virus, more transmission, more cases out there than the data tells us," Andrews told a news conference.

 

Victoria's Chief Medical Officer Brett Sutton welcomed a "stabilisation" in coronavirus cases, saying the state had averted an exponential increase in infections due to its strict lockdowns.

 

"If we hadn't stabilised these numbers, we would have seen thousands of cases per day," Sutton said. Coronavirus cases in Victoria have averaged at 400-500 per day over the last week.

 

Melbourne, the country's second-biggest city, went under a strict Stage Four lockdown on Thursday, shuttering shops and business and requiring its five million inhabitants to stay home.

 

"We have a zero chance of driving these numbers down if we don't drive movement down, the amount of person-to-person contact, the amount of people moving through the community," Andrews said.

 

"This thing is... a public health bushfire, but you cannot smell the smoke and you cannot see the flames, it moves so fast that unless you make these changes, we just have no chance whatsoever of driving down these numbers."

 

Neighbouring New South Wales state recorded nine cases on Saturday.

 

(Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by William Mallard)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-08-08

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

They have finally ran out of test packs.

Unbelievable ! a hive of activity reduced to this, and for what ? L.F.T.W.P.T.A.N.W.O. Let,s **** the world population to achieve New World Order ????

Hard to remember a more incompetent act by any state of federal government in Australia.  Dan Andrews and co have single handedly set back the economic recovery immeasurably, not to mention the direct costs borne by all Australian taxpayers to bail out those in Victoria whose jobs were destroyed by these inept clowns.

 

To add insult to injury, Andrews now refuses to answer any reasonable questioning, cowering behind what he says is his shield of an inquiry in progress.  He implemented this inquiry for the sole reason of avoiding questions, and even the head of the enquiry says that he can be questioned as it is not a judicial inquiry.  Yet still he cowers and refuses to take responsibility for perhaps the greatest stuff up in the last 50 years.

Victorian's have always thought they were better than the rest. My impression only.55

17 hours ago, Mick501 said:

Hard to remember a more incompetent act by any state of federal government in Australia.  Dan Andrews and co have single handedly set back the economic recovery immeasurably, not to mention the direct costs borne by all Australian taxpayers to bail out those in Victoria whose jobs were destroyed by these inept clowns.

 

To add insult to injury, Andrews now refuses to answer any reasonable questioning, cowering behind what he says is his shield of an inquiry in progress.  He implemented this inquiry for the sole reason of avoiding questions, and even the head of the enquiry says that he can be questioned as it is not a judicial inquiry.  Yet still he cowers and refuses to take responsibility for perhaps the greatest stuff up in the last 50 years.

Don't forget the pay rise they "Vic Govt." gave themselves.. 

The Good News: The Victoria covid-19 virus infection rate has stabilized.

The Bad News: The Victoria human population has destabilized due to lockdown and the resulting cabin fever.

Its about as stable as the Titanic