Yesterday, 3,647 vaccine doses were administered by Victoria’s state-commissioned services. The total number of doses administered through state-run services is 4,879,545.
94.1 per cent of Victorians aged 12 and over have now had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 91.8 per cent have had two doses. This excludes the most recent Commonwealth data.
There are 315 COVID-19 cases in hospital in Victoria – 52 active cases in ICU, with 27 of those on a ventilator. There are an additional 44 cleared cases in ICU. Of those in hospital, 62 per cent were not fully vaccinated and of those in ICU 83 per cent were not fully vaccinated.
Victoria was notified of 1,232 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday. All cases were locally acquired except for two cases that were acquired overseas. The 10 Local Government areas with the highest number of new cases are Casey, Hume, Brimbank, Whittlesea, Melton, Mornington Peninsula, Moreland, Glen Eira, Wyndham and Monash.
All locations containing new cases will be published today at Victorian COVID-19 data.
There are 11,224 active cases in Victoria. The total number of confirmed cases in Victoria since the beginning of the pandemic is 132,542.
Sadly, the Department was notified yesterday of nine deaths of people aged in their 30s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. This brings the total number of deaths in Victoria since the pandemic began to 1,399. The death of the person aged in their 30s occurred in early November.
71,178 COVID-19 tests were processed yesterday. The total number of tests performed in Victoria since the pandemic began is 15,725,769.
There are currently more than 27,000 active primary close contacts in isolation in Victoria.
Updates
Omicron Cases Under Investigation in the Community
The Department of Health is leading a strong outbreak response to several suspected Omicron cases detected in the community.
The two suspected Omicron cases from yesterday are still under investigation.
Two new cases have also returned results with the “S gene dropout” – the absence of the S gene in screening tests is a signature of the Omicron variant.
Of the four total suspected cases, one has been identified in the City of Casey, one in the City of Wyndham and two in the City of Brimbank. Whole genome sequencing is being rapidly undertaken to confirm whether these represent the Omicron variant.
At this stage, it is known that three of these cases are not linked to international travel and their source of acquisition is under investigation.
Two positive wastewater detections for the Omicron variant have also been detected at Melbourne Airport.
The samples from two airport catchments were collected on 1-2 December and are consistent with a known suspected case of the Omicron variant who visited the airport.
Anyone who works at or has visited Melbourne Airport is urged to watch for the mildest of COVID-19 symptoms and get tested as soon as possible if symptoms develop.
The Department is interviewing the suspected Omicron variant cases and is taking a conservative approach to the designation of their contacts, including in non-household settings.
A number of contacts have been identified and instructed to quarantine for 7 or 14 days based on their vaccination status. Other people of lower risk have been instructed to get a test and isolate until they receive a negative result. Further contact tracing work is ongoing and is likely to produce more contacts.
People who have close contact with a confirmed case with the Omicron variant outside of their home may have to self-quarantine depending on the degree of contact, but as previously announced, “the Department of Health will continue to manage emerging outbreaks of concern and ‘superspreader events’ and can impose a quarantine period on contacts on a case-by-case basis, depending on evidence.”
If you are contacted by the Department with special advice – or you receive an SMS advice to get tested or quarantine after visiting a high-risk venue – you are required to follow this advice.
Should genomic sequencing results indicate a case does not have the Omicron variant, the Department may retract close contact advice and provide updated advice to contacts. If you are in this situation, please await direct advice from the Department.
To see the testing and quarantine requirements for international travellers entering Victoria, visit Information for overseas travellers.
All Victorians can play their part in reducing the spread of Omicron – or any other variant – by getting tested the moment they notice symptoms or as soon as they are told they are a contact, and practicing COVIDSafe behaviours such as wearing masks and checking in.
Cosmetic surgery update
From 15 December 2021, cosmetic surgery or other procedures not addressing significant medical conditions can resume in private hospitals and day procedure centres.
For private hospitals and day procedures in Melbourne and private hospitals in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and the Latrobe Valley, cosmetic surgery can resume within the 75 per cent of usual allocated elective surgery lists permitted per week at each registered facility, after providing required capacity to support the COVID-19 pandemic response, including to public health services operating COVID-19 streaming sites.
All patients requiring elective surgery must be prioritised based on clinical need. Time critical and urgent elective surgery patients are to be accommodated within the cap.
All activity undertaken on behalf of public hospitals and emergency surgery completed by private hospitals and day procedure centres do not count towards the cap in place at each registered facility.
- Information for overseas travellers has updates on inbound international restrictions
- Current COVIDSafe settings for living and working in Victoria
- Your COVID Checklist
