In promising news this afternoon, regional Victoria's 14-day average fell below 5 - the first key benchmark in advancing to the 'third step' of the government's roadmap out of restriction.
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Regional Victoria's 14-day average for new cases is now at 4.9 per day.
The other criteria that must be met - no mystery cases in the regions for 14 days - is a figure that has not been released by the government.
Australian Community Media asked the DHHS when this data would be released and how regional Victoria was situated. A response has not yet been received.
There has never been any public information released about mystery cases in the regions, so it is not known when the last case occurred.
There has not been a new case detected anywhere in regional Victoria for two days in a row.
Regional Victoria will advance to the 'second step' on Monday, September 14 and if there have been no mystery cases in the regions for 14 days, should immediately advance to the 'third step'.
Horsham has three active cases in the local government area.
Meanwhile, in Moorabool Shire there are still eight active cases, which is the same as yesterday, although there was a downward trend last week.
This number was as high as 14 at the start of last week.
In the Pyrenees Shire there remains one active case after the re-emergence of the virus more than a week ago.
According to the government postcode map, the case is in the Avoca postcode, but little more is known.
Traditionally one of the shires with the lowest virus numbers, there have been just three cases confirmed in the Pyrenees throughout the pandemic.
In Golden Plains there are zero active cases, while Hepburn also remains without an active case, having had two in total.
In Greater Geelong the decline in active infections continues, although it remains at 16 active cases. It had stood at 38 on Friday last week, while Surf Coast still has just one active case.
In Greater Bendigo, there are now just two active cases, two less than yesterday.
Colac-Otway remains the clear outlier among regional local government areas where the presence of the virus has been highest. It now stands at 25 active cases, the same as yesterday. Active cases were as low as nine in that shire at the start of the week.
Warrnambool now has just one active case.
MAKING NEWS ACROSS THE WIMMERA:
In total, Victoria has recorded 55 new cases of coronavirus since yesterday, with the total number of cases now at 19,615.
The overall total has increased by 41 due to 14 cases being reclassified.
Within Victoria, 31 of the new cases are linked to outbreaks or complex cases and 24 are under investigation.
There have been eight new deaths from COVID-19 reported since yesterday. Two men aged in their 60s, two men aged in their 80s and three men and one woman aged in their 90s. Five of the deaths occurred prior to yesterday.
Six of today's eight deaths are linked to known outbreaks in aged care facilities. To date, 683 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.
Today's daily average case number for metropolitan Melbourne is 78.6 and regional Victoria is 4.9. The daily average case number is calculated by averaging out the number of new cases over the past 14 days.
In Victoria at the current time:
- 4344 cases may indicate community transmission - a decrease of 25 since yesterday
- 1696 cases are currently active in Victoria
- 238 cases of coronavirus are in hospital, including 22 in intensive care
- 17,175 people have recovered from the virus
- A total of 2,412,092 test results have been received which is an increase of 8,704 since yesterday
Of the 1696 current active cases in Victoria:
- 1580 are in metropolitan Melbourne under stage 4 restrictions
- 82 are in regional local government areas under stage 3 restrictions
- 31 are either unknown or subject to further investigation
- 2 are interstate residents
- 1 is an overseas resident
- Greater Geelong has 16 active cases, Greater Bendigo has two active cases and Ballarat has one active case.
Of the total cases:
- 18,251 cases are from metropolitan Melbourne, while 1178 are from regional Victoria
- Total cases include 9357 men and 10,239 women
- Total number of healthcare workers: 3340, active cases: 260
- There are 863 active cases relating to aged care facilities
Active aged care outbreaks with the highest cumulative case numbers are as follows:
- 232 cases have been linked to BaptCare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee
- 215 cases have been linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping
- 206 cases have been linked to St Basil's Homes for the Aged in Fawkner
- 162 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer
- 139 cases have been linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth
- 127 cases have been linked to Twin Parks Aged Care in Reservoir
- 124 cases have been linked to Cumberland Manor Aged Care Facility in Sunshine North
- 120 cases have been linked to BlueCross Ruckers Hill Aged Care Facility in Northcote
- 119 cases have been linked to Japara Goonawarra Aged Care Facility in Sunbury
- 117 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg
In Victoria there are currently 22 active cases in residential disability accommodation:
- Total resident cases: 10; Total Staff cases: 12
- Active cases in NDIS homes: 22 (10 residents)
- Active cases in 'transfer' homes (State regulated/funded): 0
- Active cases in state government delivered and funded homes: 0
Outbreaks with the highest number of active cases include:
- 18 active cases are currently linked to Frankston Hospital
- 12 active cases are currently linked to Vawdrey Australia Truck Manufacturer
- 15 active cases are currently linked to Bulla Dairy Foods in Colac
- 13 active cases are currently linked to Dandenong Police Station
The Department is investigating cases linked to Crocmedia in Southbank, eStore Logistics in Derrimut and at Opal Hobsons Bay aged care facility in Altona North.
As public health work is undertaken throughout the day, outbreak totals are likely to change as the public health team identify links between cases and identified outbreaks. Organisation based outbreak totals include contacts as well as employees/residents/staff/students of that location/business.
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