Victoria was notified of 511 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday. 510 cases were locally acquired, and one was acquired overseas.
There are 4,697 active cases in Victoria – 4,693 locally acquired and four overseas-acquired cases.
There are 208 COVID-19 cases in hospital in Victoria. 49 of those cases are in intensive care, with 32 cases on a ventilator.
Sadly, the Department was notified yesterday of the death of a woman in her 50s.
The total number of confirmed cases in Victoria since the beginning of the pandemic is 27,439.
Restrictions
Restrictions on outdoor social interaction and gatherings, outdoor exercise and the distance people can travel from their home will ease in the lockdown areas of metropolitan Melbourne and Ballarat at 11.59 pm tonight.
In regional Victoria (excluding Ballarat), gyms and swimming pools can also reopen with capacity limits.
For more information, refer to New Freedoms When 70 Per Cent First Dose Target Reached.
Update: Testing and vaccination services on 18 September
COVID-19 testing sites on Bourke and Russell streets will be closed on Saturday 18 September due to protests planned to take place in Melbourne’s CBD.
Vaccination centres, including the Melbourne Museum and the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, will operate as scheduled, with no walk-in appointments accepted.
People with pre-booked appointments must provide their confirmation booking email or SMS to pass checkpoints and enter a vaccination centre.
All on-site staff, including healthcare workers, will need to show their Authorised Workers Permit or photographic ID issued by their employer.
The Department of Health is sending information to everyone with a confirmed vaccination booking, advising them how to safely attend their appointment on Saturday.
PTV has advised that public transport will not run in or out of the CBD between 8 am and 2 pm on Saturday, while Victoria Police will set up vehicle checkpoints on roads leading to the central city.
Anyone impacted by these disruptions should consider rescheduling their vaccination appointment by using the online booking portal or calling the Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398.
Vaccines
Yesterday, a record 43,993 vaccine doses were administered by Victoria’s state-commissioned services. The total number of doses administered through state-run services is 3,029,762.
More than 70 per cent of Victorians have now had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
There are currently around 5,600 Pfizer appointments and 7,700 AstraZeneca appointments available over the next seven days.
Under current public-health directions, getting vaccinated is not a reason to travel from a restricted area to a non-restricted regional area and vice versa.
Outbreaks
Of the 510 local cases diagnosed yesterday, 124 were linked to current cases as of this morning. More cases are expected to be linked to current cases and outbreaks as investigations continue.
The following Local Government Areas recorded more than one newly diagnosed case yesterday:
- 3 cases in Ballarat
- 9 cases in Banyule
- 27 cases in Brimbank
- 7 cases in Cardinia
- 15 cases in Casey
- 17 cases in Darebin
- 3 cases in Glen Eira
- 4 cases in Greater Dandenong
- 2 cases in Greater Geelong
- 11 cases in Hobsons Bay
- 188 cases in Hume
- 6 cases in Manningham
- 4 cases in Maribyrnong
- 2 cases in Maroondah
- 11 cases in Melbourne
- 9 cases in Melton
- 2 cases in Mitchell
- 2 cases in Monash
- 10 cases in Moonee Valley
- 57 cases in Moreland
- 2 cases in Mornington Peninsula
- 3 cases in Port Phillip
- 2 cases in Whitehorse
- 44 cases in Whittlesea
- 52 cases in Wyndham
- 7 cases in Yarra
- 3 cases in Yarra Ranges.
Data on Victorian coronavirus cases is available at Victorian COVID-19 data page.
Around 63 per cent of cases identified in Victoria yesterday are in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
Around 85 per cent of all active cases in Victoria are people under 50 years of age, while almost one quarter of cases are people in their 20s.
Of the COVID-19 patients in hospital yesterday, 87 per cent are not vaccinated and 12 per cent are partially vaccinated. Two people are fully vaccinated.
There are currently more than 19,250 active primary close contacts in isolation in Victoria.
At midday today, there were more than 820 published exposure sites in Victoria.
For more information on each exposure site, including dates and times of exposure, please visit Case alerts – public exposure sites page.
There may be occasions when the Department is unable to make contact with a business or residential premises before their listing as an exposure site. At all times, we take the decision of when to publish these sites in the interests of public health.
The Department regularly manages exposure sites that it doesn’t publish online, particularly if these sites represent lower-risk exposure, or if they have comprehensive record-keeping and contact-tracing measures, or if they identify small, private locations – including smaller apartment or townhouse complexes.
Wastewater testing
COVID-19 has been detected in wastewater samples taken from the following regional areas:
- Aireys Inlet and Fairhaven – repeated unexpected detections. The period of interest is 7 to 15 September.
- Ballarat East – repeated unexpected detections in suburbs including Ballarat East, Ballarat North, Bakery Hill, Black Hill, Brown Hill, Buninyong, Canadian, Eureka, Golden Point, Mt Clear, Mt Helen, Invermay Park, Wendouree, Lake Wendouree and Warrenheip. The period of interest is 12 to 15 September.
- Moe area – including Moe, Newborough, Trafalgar, Yallourn and Yarragon. The period of interest is 13 to 14 September.
The detections could be the result of one or more people in these areas who have recovered from COVID-19 but are still shedding the virus, or the detections could be an undiscovered new case.
Anyone who lives in, works in or has visited the areas above is urged to watch for the mildest of COVID-19 symptoms and get tested as soon as possible if symptoms develop.
For more information on wastewater testing, visit Wastewater testing page.
Testing
55,476 COVID-19 tests were processed yesterday, with 2,079 tests in the Ballarat area.
Ballarat Health Services has opened an additional drive-through testing clinic at Federation University’s Mount Helen campus. The clinic is open from 8 am to 6 pm every day. Enter via Gear or Bell avenues to access East Terrace.
Getting tested as soon as you have symptoms will help health authorities identify new positive cases and provide proper care for your family.
If you are concerned about losing money from missing work, support is available – including the $450 test isolation payment. For more information, go to Financial and other support for COVID-19 page.
To find your nearest COVID-19 testing site, visit Where to get tested for COVID-19 page. Operating hours and wait times will vary.
More information
To access the most up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Victoria, visit Coronavirus (COVID-19) Victoria
