38 NEW CASES FOR CITY

GREATER Geelong has recorded its highest daily number of new Covid cases so far this year.

Thirty-eight new cases were reported for the municipality on Monday.

It’s understood to be among the highest daily numbers of new cases Geelong has recorded during the pandemic.

However, Victoria’s Covid commander Jeroen Weimar on Monday said most of the new cases in Greater Geelong were connected to known cases or exposure sites.

Asked whether he was worried about Geelong, Mr Weimar said: “We are concerned about any cases we see in any setting.”

“I think the Barwon Health team have a really, really effective contact-tracing approach, they’ve got a very good grip on the active cases in their community,” Mr Weimar said.

“We have a known and understood set of clusters.

“We are seeing some regular new cases coming in … but our sense is it is pretty much under control.”

Mr Weimar said Geelong was very highly vaccinated.

“We are moving to a world where lockdowns will not be something that we can reimpose to give everybody breathing space,” he said.

“It will increasingly become about how do we chase down those positive cases, how do we isolate effectively, but also for the rest of us to make sure we are vaccinated and protected.”

Two new Covid cases were reported for the Surf Coast and one for Colac-Otway.

Barwon South West public health unit director Professor Eugene Athan confirmed a number of the new cases in the region were known contacts of confirmed cases and had been isolating.

He said any unlinked local cases continued to be investigated by the public health unit.

Prof Athan said that as of Monday morning there were 34 patients in Geelong hospital with Covid-19, nine of whom were in ICU.

“In keeping with our role as a Covid-streaming hospital, the inpatients come from Geelong and across the state,” Prof Athan said.

“We ask the community to remain vigilant and to get tested at the earliest sign of Covid-19 symptoms or following attendance at an exposure site. It is also important to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“More than 3000 doses were administered across the Geelong region by Barwon Health over the weekend.”

Victoria reported 1903 new locally acquired cases on Monday.

WE HAVE A KNOWN AND UNDERSTOOD SET OF CLUSTERS. WE ARE SEEING SOME REGULAR NEW CASES COMING IN … BUT OUR SENSE IS IT IS PRETTY MUCH UNDER CONTROL.

VICTORIA’S COVID COMMANDER JEROEN WEIMAR