Man, 80, a victim as virus surges

A MAN in his 80s has died of coronavirus in Victoria, as the state records 20 new cases.

The man is the 20th person to succumb to the virus in the state and the first death in Australia in a month, taking the national toll to 103. Of the state’s 20 new cases reported yesterday, nine were identified through routine testing, seven are linked to known outbreaks and one is a returned traveller in hotel quarantine.

Three cases remain under investigation.

Three people have been linked to a Keilor Downs family cluster, three are staff members at Hampstead Dental in Maidstone, and another case has been linked to St Monica’s college at Epping.

One case has been linked to Northland H&M, bringing the total number of cases in that cluster to five.

There are currently 30 people with COVID-19 in hotel quarantine. It’s suspected a family cluster in Hallam began when a worker at the Stamford Plaza, which is hosting returned travellers, contracted the virus.

Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton said 241 cases had been identified as community transmission, an increase of eight since Tuesday.

“That number has been around 10 every day but a decrease of eight is somewhat encouraging,” he said yesterday.

“It certainly means we’re not getting an increase or an exponential increase in community transmission cases day-by-day, but there are 141 active cases in Victoria with over 1000 close contacts.”

It is the eighth day of double-digit growth in new cases, bringing the state’s total number of infections to 1884.

The steady increase in new cases prompted the State Government to pause easing of restrictions and to name six local government areas as coronavirus hot spots: Brimbank,

THERE’S A REAL SURGE ON TESTING (AND) THAT’S PUT A LOT OF PRESSURE ON THE TESTING SITES

BRETT SUTTON

Casey, Cardinia, Darebin, Hume and Moreland.

“There’s a real surge on testing,” Professor Sutton said.

“That’s put a lot of pressure on the testing sites but since the weekend we have worked with planning to get as many new testing sites up in those areas as possible.”

The health department has warned that testing may be temporarily suspended at drive-throughs if there is “unprecedented demand”, due to safety and traffic management reasons. Police were called to manage traffic at the Chadstone Shopping Centre site, just 20 minutes after it opened yesterday.