Victoria was notified of four new cases of COVID-19 yesterday. All were locally acquired cases.
There are 161 active cases in Victoria – 154 locally acquired and seven overseas acquired cases.
There are eight COVID-19 cases in hospital in Victoria. Three cases are in intensive care (including one case on a ventilator).
The total number of confirmed cases in Victoria since the beginning of the pandemic is 20,948.
Update: Outbreaks
There were four locally acquired cases yesterday. All cases are linked to the current outbreak and all were in quarantine for the entirety of their infectious period.
They include:
- Two cases linked to the Ms Frankie restaurant – both household contacts
- One household contact linked to AAMI Park
- One social contact linked Young and Jacksons.
A further 1266 people were cleared yesterday as primary close contacts. More than 4000 active primary close contacts remain.
147 messages have been sent to people who attended the new Tier 1 exposure site at Woolworths Doncaster.
The Department continues to support residents of Lacrosse Apartments in Docklands. More than 1000 tests have been conducted at Lacrosse and Day 6 testing is now complete. 437 of 490 results have been returned to date.
The Department is also working closely with residents of a small apartment complex in Richmond.
A full list of current exposure sites can be seen at Case alerts -public exposure sites.
The Department regularly manages exposure sites that it doesn’t publish online, particularly if these sites represent lower-risk exposures, or if they have comprehensive record-keeping and contact tracing measures, or if they identify small, private locations – including smaller apartment or townhouse complexes.
We continue to ask every Victorian to check exposure sites regularly, as they are subject to change based on follow-up interviews and further investigation.
Update: Permit zone changes
The Chief Health Officer has declared the following Queensland local government areas a red zone (other than for transit) under Victoria’s travel permit system from 8:00pm AEST Saturday 31 July.
- City of Brisbane, Moreton Bay Regional Council, City of Gold Coast, City of Ipswich, Lockyer Valley Regional Council, Logan City, Noosa Shire Council, Redland City, Scenic Rim Regional Council, Somerset Regional Council and Sunshine Coast Regional Council.
If you are a Victorian resident and have been in a red zone since current red zones came into effect, other than for transit, you can obtain a red zone permit to enter Victoria but you must travel directly home, get tested and quarantine for 14 days.
If you are a non-Victorian resident and you have been in a red zone since current red zones came into effect, other than for transit, you cannot obtain a permit and you cannot enter Victoria unless you have an exception or exemption.
The Department will also be contacting existing orange zone arrivals from Queensland who are currently in Victoria. They will be asked by the Department to get tested again on or after day 7 of their arrival back from Queensland, having already undertaken an initial test within 72 hours of arriving in Victoria as orange zone permit holders.
Permit checks are in place at borders and for relevant arriving flights at Victorian airports.
You must have a valid permit, exception or exemption to enter Victoria, even if entering from a green zone.
Permits can be obtained at Service Victoria.
See more about Victoria’s travel permit system at Victorian travel permit system.
Update: Current restrictions
Restrictions were eased at 11.59pm on Tuesday 27 July. For more information on the latest COVIDSafe settings, visit COVIDSafe Settings.
Update: Vaccinations
Yesterday, 15,841 vaccine doses were administered by Victoria’s state-commissioned services.
The total number of doses administered through these services is 1,646,952.
The Department analysed the vaccination status of 204 locally-acquired cases between 12 July and 28 July.
This is a small sample size, so it is not an analysis that should be applied universally.
Of those 204, at the time of their infection:
- 25 positive cases had received at least one dose of the vaccine
- And only ten positive cases were fully vaccinated – meaning they acquired the infection 14 days after their second dose.
Of the ten positive cases who were fully vaccinated – none of them were hospitalised, and all were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms.
Of the ten locally-acquired cases in this analysis who were hospitalised:
- One is in their 90s and had one vaccine dose.
- One is in their 80s and was unvaccinated.
- One is in their 60s and was unvaccinated.
- Three are in their 50s – two who had one vaccine dose, and one who was unvaccinated.
- One is in their 40s and was unvaccinated.
- One is in their 30s and was unvaccinated.
- Two are in their 20s and were unvaccinated.
State-run vaccination centres will now administer the second dose of Pfizer vaccine at least six weeks after the first dose from Monday 2 August. There is no change to the AstraZeneca interval advice.
This allows more Victorians to receive their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks. More first dose bookings will become available in the system in three to four weeks as a result of this change.
There are now 50 open access vaccination centres operating across Victoria and in the coming weeks and months there will be more pop-up community vaccination clinics in operation.
Victoria’s online booking system is now live at Book your vaccine
