Source: ABCnews
Victoria has recorded 1,763 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and four more deaths of people with the virus.
The new infections were found from 62,189 test results processed on Monday.
It represents the highest daily number of local cases ever recorded in any state or territory, surpassing the peak of 1,599 recorded in the New South Wales outbreak.
It is a dramatic rise from the 1,488 that was Victoria’s previous high, which was taken from Friday’s tests.
On that day, authorities warned that if infection rates continued to rise, there would be grave consequences for the health system, which is already experiencing ambulance ramping and workforce issues.
Premier Daniel Andrews did not rule out changes to the roadmap out of lockdown if cases rose faster that projected, urging people to stick with the rules until it was safe to lift restrictions.
Under the current plan, which abandons the previous goal of completely suppressing the virus, the lockdown will lift once 70 per cent of the 16+ population has had both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The latest daily tally is the sixth in a row with a case count above 1,000, and the seven-day average of new local infections now sits at 1,340.
The spread is largely being attributed to the virus getting into large households, and banned contact in homes such as family or social gatherings.
The Burnet Institute modelling underpinning the roadmap forecasts a seven-day average of 1,400 to 2,900 daily cases between October 19 and 31.
There have been hopes the rapid rise would begin to stabilise in Victoria once the state hit the 50 per cent double-dose mark, as happened in New South Wales.
State and Commonwealth vaccination figures differ slightly, but indicate about 82 per cent of Victorians aged over 16 have received at least one dose of vaccine and around 52 per cent are fully vaccinated.
But according to health authorities, a large number of illegal social gatherings — especially around the AFL grand final long weekend — have helped the virus find its way into households and suburbs that were previously untouched by the virus.
In a rare bit of positive news, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton yesterday said the outbreaks in Melbourne’s hard-hit northern suburbs had begun to stabilise as vaccination rates were boosted.
Construction reopens as contact tracing changes
The tally comes as construction reopens after a two-week shutdown in locked-down parts of the state.
The closure of the industry came amid concern about hundreds of cases linked to construction sites and coincided with violent protests about vaccine mandates.
There are now 14,368 active infections across the state, which is another grim record for the state.
During the state’s deadly second wave last year, the number of active cases peaked at 6,717.
With that number projected to keep rising, the health department will stop listing tier 2 exposure sites — which require anyone who visited the venue at the specified time to be tested — on its website.
It is the latest in a line of changes made by a stretched contact tracing team, which recently started sending texts to inform COVID-positive patients of their status, or to release people from quarantine, rather than calling.
Strict quarantine rules for exposure at supermarkets and schools have also been relaxed.
