Victoria has recorded 20 new COVID-19 cases as the state has once again become divided between regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Once again, those living in the regions have exited the strict lockdown as of Tuesday, but are still under closely guarded restrictions.
Of the 20 new cases, only five were in isolation while infectious. There are 111 active cases in the state and just over 12,000 primary close contacts linked to the outbreak.
However, it has not yet been declared exactly where the cases are located.
The news comes as the vaccine rollout steps up to another gear, with people aged between 18 and 39 able to receive an AstraZeneca vaccination at a mass vaccination hub from Wednesday. This isn't available in Warrnambool yet.
Yesterday Victoria saw the biggest day of vaccines since June 5, including 2366 first doses of AstraZeneca.
Health Minister Martin Foley said the AstraZeneca numbers were a three-fold increase on uptake last Monday, demonstrating young people's desire to get vaccinated.
"Clearly, young people have assessed their personal situation in a strong and informed manner, and many are determining that there are significant risks in remaining unvaccinated during a Delta outbreak," he said.
"They've made a balanced and pretty straightforward decision as to where the interests and the community's interests lie because they know it's not just about young people coming forward to get vaccinated, they're doing it for themselves.
"They're doing it for their family, they're doing for their local community, their sporting clubs, their cultural organizations that don't offer their workplaces.
"They're doing it because they want to get to a COVID normal world as rapidly as we possibly can.
"Getting vaccinated within the restrictions of supply that we are operating under is their contribution."
Regional Victoria's lockdown is over but people in Melbourne are still days from finding out when theirs will end.
The state's regional areas came out of lockdown at 11:59pm on Monday after no new COVID-19 cases were detected outside Melbourne, but some rules remain including a ban on home visits and compulsory mask-wearing.
"There is a degree of localisation, if you like, to these cases," Mr Andrews told reporters on Monday.
"Pleasingly we haven't seen cases in regional Victoria over these last four or five days."
IN OTHER NEWS
More than five million Melburnians are under strict stay-at-home rules until at least 8pm on Thursday, with no word yet on whether the lockdown will ease on time.
City dwellers trying to flee Melbourne and drive to regional areas will face fines upwards of $5000 as about 200 police are deployed to main and back roads across the state.
Businesses that are open in regional Victoria but closed in Melbourne, such as restaurants and beauty salons, must check the IDs of customers.
"If you live in Melbourne, you can't get out to regional Victoria to stay in your holiday home should you have one. That's not one of the five reasons to leave home," Minister Foley said.
Melbourne recorded 11 new local cases in the 24 hours to Monday morning, all linked to the Hobsons Bay outbreak, with only one case in quarantine throughout their infectious period.
The number of exposure sites has grown to more than 220, including a local football match at Shorten Reserve in West Footscray which dates back to July 31 and is classified as tier one.
See the exposure sites here.
We have removed our paywall from our stories about the coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we aim to make sure our readers are as informed as possible. If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe here.
