Coronavirus update for Victoria – Saturday 16 October 2021

Victoria was notified of 1,993 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday. All were locally acquired cases.

There are 21,647 active cases in Victoria.

There are 798 COVID-19 cases in hospital in Victoria. 163 of those cases are in intensive care, with 106 cases on a ventilator.

Of the people in hospital yesterday, 89.2 per cent were not fully vaccinated.

Of the cases in intensive care yesterday, 95.9 per cent were not fully vaccinated.

Sadly, the Department was notified of seven deaths yesterday:

  • Two men in their 80s from Darebin and Moonee Valley
  • Two women in their 60s from Casey and Darebin
  • One man in his 70s from Whittlesea
  • One man in his 50s from Hume
  • One 15-year-old

This brings the total number of deaths in Victoria since the pandemic began to 957.

The total number of confirmed cases in Victoria since the beginning of the pandemic is 63,836.

Update: Restrictions extended in Mildura

The Chief Health Officer has determined the lockdown in Mildura will be extended for an additional seven days until 11:59pm on Friday 22 October.

There were an additional 16 cases in Mildura yesterday that have been linked to community transmission between households and social settings. The total number of active cases in Mildura is 202.

The majority of cases in Mildura are in people aged under 50 years with a large cohort of cases in people aged in their 20s.

There has been a strong response to testing from the Mildura community with an average of 1,000 tests a day being undertaken since the local lockdown started.

Restrictions in the Rural City of Mildura are the same as those in metropolitan Melbourne (excluding the curfew).

For information on current restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne, visit How we live: metropolitan Melbourne and Mildura Rural City Council.

Overhaul of the travel permit system

Changes to Victoria’s travel permit system announced yesterday will allow fully vaccinated people travelling from NSW to enter Victoria without facing 14-days quarantine, effective from 11:59pm on 19 October.

This brings NSW into line with people from other states and territories wanting to enter Victoria.

More information can be found at Permit overhaul to make safe border changes.

Vaccines

Yesterday, 40,386 vaccine doses were administered by Victoria’s state-commissioned services.

The total number of doses administered through state-run services is 4,125,732.

88.5 per cent of Victorians aged 16 and over have now had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 64.3 per cent have had two doses. This excludes most recent Commonwealth data.

More than five million Victorians have now received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

This weekend, the Department is partnering with the Melbourne Football Club, Monash Health and the Casey City Council to run a pop-up vaccination site at the second home of the Melbourne Demons at Casey Fields. The site will be offering Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, with both bookings and walk-ups available.

There are 19 pop-up vaccination sites operating in Victoria this weekend including 16 school pop-ups, eight of which are being supported by local GP clinics.

Those 16 school clinics are at: Thomastown Secondary College, Lowanna College Newborough, Carrum Downs Secondary College, Packenham Secondary College, Tarneit Senior College, Gleneagles Secondary College Endeavour Hills, St Albans Secondary College, Elevation Secondary College Craigieburn, The Lakes South Morang College, Coburg High School, Chaffey Secondary College Mildura, Forest Hill College Burwood East, Western Port Secondary College Hastings, Bayswater Secondary College, Seymour College and Northern Bay p-12 College in Corio.

Next week we will run two tailored pop-ups for the LGBTIQA+ communities. These specialist pop-ups will be staffed by rainbow-friendly health professionals that can provide tailored healthcare conversations in a safe environment.

These pop-ups will be at the Pride Centre on St Kilda Road, running from Monday to Sunday and at Queerspace on Drummond Street, Carlton, running from Tuesday to Friday.

Victoria is also opening neighbourhood pop-up vaccination centres in suburban streets, shops, gyms and community clubs: Local vax pop-ups coming to streets and shops across city.

The small, targeted pop-ups are designed to vaccinate 20 to 30 people a session. Suburbs in scope for neighbourhood pop-ups are concentrated in Melbourne’s mid and outer north, west and south east.

In addition, five new community pop-up vaccination sites will open next week, all offering walk-ups. They are at:

  • East Reservoir Senior Citizens Centre on Strathmerton Street (open Monday and Tuesday)
  • Kingsbury Bowls Club on Dunne Street (open Wednesday and Thursday)
  • Craigieburn Sports Stadium on Craigieburn Road (open Tuesday and Wednesday)
  • EACH Building, Warburton Hwy, Yarra Junction (open Monday to Friday)
  • Fawkner Community Hall on Jukes Road (open Monday to Thursday)

Victorians are encouraged to book their COVID-19 vaccination through their local GP or community pharmacy, community health service or state vaccination centre. To find a GP or pharmacy provider and make a booking, visit Australian Government Department of Health.

Outbreaks

Of the 1,993 locally acquired cases reported yesterday, the following Local Government Areas in metropolitan Melbourne recorded more than one newly diagnosed case:

  • 28 cases in Banyule
  • 25 cases in Bayside
  • 12 cases in Boroondara
  • 181 cases in Brimbank
  • 40 cases in Cardinia
  • 191 cases in Casey
  • 58 cases in Darebin
  • 33 cases in Frankston
  • 32 cases in Glen Eira
  • 127 cases in Greater Dandenong
  • 37 cases in Hobsons Bay
  • 136 cases in Hume
  • 40 cases in Kingston
  • 32 cases in Knox
  • 19 cases in Manningham
  • 26 cases in Maribyrnong
  • 10 cases in Maroondah
  • 67 cases in Melbourne
  • 124 cases in Melton
  • 46 cases in Monash
  • 36 cases in Moonee Valley
  • 80 cases in Moreland
  • 12 cases in Mornington Peninsula
  • 11 cases in Nillumbik
  • 42 cases in Port Phillip
  • 14 cases in Stonnington
  • 21 cases in Whitehorse
  • 121 cases in Whittlesea
  • 171 cases in Wyndham
  • 23 cases in Yarra
  • 17 cases in Yarra Ranges

There were 457 new cases in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, 642 new cases in the western suburbs, 602 cases in the south-eastern suburbs and 111 cases in the eastern suburbs.

There were also 168 new cases notified in regional Victoria yesterday. The total number of active cases in regional Victoria stands at 1,473. New cases in regional Victoria yesterday were:

  • 5 cases in Ballarat
  • 7 cases in Bass Coast
  • 22 cases in Baw Baw
  • 1 case in Benalla
  • 3 cases in Golden Plains
  • 17 cases in Greater Bendigo
  • 26 cases in Greater Geelong
  • 22 cases in Greater Shepparton
  • 1 case in Horsham
  • 1 case in Indigo
  • 17 cases in Latrobe
  • 2 cases in Macedon Ranges
  • 16 cases in Mildura
  • 7 cases in Mitchell
  • 6 cases in Moorabool
  • 1 case in Moyne
  • 1 case in Murrindindi
  • 2 cases in South Gippsland
  • 5 cases in Swan Hill
  • 2 cases in Towong
  • 1 case in Wellington
  • 3 cases in Wodonga

Data on Victorian coronavirus cases is available at Victorian COVID-19 data.

There are currently more than 58,300 active primary close contacts in isolation in Victoria.

At midday today, there were 130 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.

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.

The Commonwealth Government publishes a weekly Common Operating Picture, which includes the effective reproduction number for all states and territories. For more information, refer to Coronavirus (COVID-19) common operating picture.

Wastewater testing

COVID-19 viral fragments have been detected in wastewater samples taken from the following regional areas:

  • Yarrawonga – unexpected detection for the period 12 – 14 October.
  • Mallacoota – repeated unexpected detections for the period 5 – 13 October.
  • Lakes Entrance – repeated unexpected detections for the period 6 – 15 October.
  • Cobram – repeated unexpected detections for the period from 29 September onward.
  • Apollo Bay – repeated unexpected detections for the period 28 September – 8 October.

The detections could be an undiscovered new case or cases or could be the result of one or more people in these areas who have recovered from COVID-19 but are still shedding the virus.

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.

Testing

79,214 COVID-19 tests were processed in Victoria.

If you are concerned about losing money from missing work to get a test, support is available – including the $450 test isolation payment. For more information, go to Financial and other support for COVID-19.

To find your nearest COVID-19 testing site, visit Where to get tested for COVID-19. 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

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